Welcome to Thanksgiving in Alisa’s kitchen. Alisa writes about her family and all of the fun things they do at her blog We Do Things. Back in July, Alisa shared her kitchen adventures with us all, including her family’s Fourth of July celebration. You can read Day 1 of her week here.

Hello again! It is so nice to be invited back to share my Thanksgiving with you.

For us, Thanksgiving is all about family and tradition. If we don’t travel to The Grandparents’ house, then we have a small gathering at our house with The Aunt, The Uncle, and a few good friends. Last year, we tried something entirely different though! We went camping with our good friends. While that was a great weekend, I’m not sure I will ever volunteer to prepare a holiday meal in a trailer again.

The Dad and I do most of our prep work the day before. He is in charge of the turkey and I’m pretty much responsible for the rest.

The Dad will begin looking online a few weeks before Turkey day for brines that catch his interest. If you’ve never brined a turkey before, I think this is the year for you to try it out. It makes such a huge difference!

The day before, I will make the pie(s), cornbread dressing, and cranberry sauce. The cornbread dressing is a recipe that has been in my family since the beginning of all time — or so I’ve been told. Let’s get this dinner started out the right way.

Baker Family Stuffing

First, have The Dad clean out the turkey. Not only does he need to get started on that delicious brine, I need the giblets.

You will need:

• 2 batches of cornbread (I have done homemade or box, no difference)
• 1 1/2 loaves of white bread (left out overnight to stale up)
• Sage
• Poultry Seasoning
• Butter
• Large onion, diced
• a bunch of Celery, diced (save your leaves)

Directions:

1. For one hour, simmer the turkey giblets with the celery leaves. Let cool.
2. Saute onion and celery in about a 2 tablespoons of butter (no worries, you can’t use too much butter!) Let cool.
3. Mix the cornbread and bread together in a large bowl. This is the perfect job for those kiddos, let them shred the bread into small chunks.
4. Strain the giblet juice into a glass bowl, feed giblets to The Dog. Mix the juice and the onion/celery alternately into the bread mixture. Add sage and poultry seasoning to taste.
5. You can stuff it in your turkey (I know, I know, but this is how we did it when I was a kid), or bake it in a Pyrex dish at 325 degree for 30-45 minutes, until golden brown on top.

One of my new favorites is a recipe that I got up the courage to try my hand at three years ago, and I’m so glad I did. Growing up, our cranberry sauce always came from a can. It tasted good, but I wanted great. I found a wonderful recipe site that just cried out to my cooking and baking style. It has become my favorite go-to site for birthday menus, holidays, and just general baking — Diana’s Desserts.

Jellied Cranberry Sauce

(If you’ve never attempted homemade, this is your recipe!)

You will need:

• 4 (12oz) bags of Cranberries
• 3 cups Sugar
• 3 1/3 cups Water
• 2 Tbs. unflavored Gelatin (3 1/4 oz. envelopes)

Directions:

1. Bring cranberries, sugar, and 3 cups water to a boil in a 4-5 qt. heavy saucepan, stirring until the sugar is dissolved, then reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until all the berries have burst, 10-15 minutes.
2. Pour into a large fine-mesh sieve set over a 2 qt. glass bowl and let stand until all juices have drainde through, about 1/2 hr. If necessary, press on solids until there is enough juice to measure 3 cups. Discard solids.
3. Stir together gelatin and 1/3 cup water, let stand 1 minute to soften. Bring 1 cup drained cranberry juice to a simmer in a small sauce pan, then add gelatin mixture and stir until just dissolved. Add gelatin mixture to remaining cranberry juice and stir well. Pour cranberry sauce into a lightly oiled gelatin mold and chill, covered with plastic wrap at least 12 hrs.

Let’s move on to the pies. We usually have your run-of-the-mill apple. It’s all right, but I’m a pumpkin pie fan. Unfortunately, I was losing my love for the pumpkin. Thanks to Diana, I am now re-enamored.
First, please, for the love of pie, make a homemade crust. It is not that difficult, but — oh, my goodness — does it make a difference!

If you absolutely refuse to make a homemade crust, then just go with this version of the pumpkin pie. People will thank you.

Autumn Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

(again, from good old Diana!)

You will need:

• 1 Pecan Shortbread Crust Recipe (see below)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 3 Tb. Flour (whole wheat works fine)
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese and 3 oz Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. Ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground Cloves
• 3 Eggs
• 15 oz. of 100% pumpkin
• 1 Tb. Milk

Pecan Shortbread Cookie Crust

• 1 1/2 cups lightly packed crushed shortbread cookies with pecans (16 cookies)
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions for Cookie Crust:

1. Mix all ingredients. Press firmly on bottom and side of ungreased pie plate, 9×1 ¼ inches. Bake about 12 minutes or until light brown.
2. Heat oven to 375ºF. Bake Pecan Shortbread Cookie Crust; cool.

Directions:

1. Beat sugar, flour and both packages cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed until smooth; reserve ½ cup. Add remaining ingredients except milk to cream cheese mixture. Beat on medium speed, scraping bowl constantly, until smooth. Pour into crust.
2. Stir milk into reserved cream cheese mixture. Spoon over pumpkin mixture. Cut through cream cheese and pumpkin mixtures with knife in S-shaped curves in one continuous motion. Turn pie plate one-fourth turn and repeat.
3. Cover edge of crust with 2- to 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil the last 15 minutes of baking. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 30 minutes. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. Store covered in refrigerator.

Now, I’m all done until tomorrow. While The Dad slaves away with the turkey, I will goof off with The Family. We will just need to warm the rest of the food and make up the mashed potatoes, because what is Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes? The Dad will either saute us some green beans with almonds, or we’ll make a salad, and he’s in charge of gravy. He’s the gravy man.

Once we’re all at the table, with our full plates, we’ll go through one by one and tell each other what we’re thankful for. Mostly, we’re thankful to be together, celebrating another fine year.

Our biggest hope is that The Kids recall these holidays, as The Dad and I recall ours.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! May you truly enjoy being with your loved ones.

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