Okay, these are a treat!  But still pretty frugal and way better tasting than storebought stuff.

I used to use my bread machine all the time. I would regularly make pizza dough in it, bake bread, and periodically make these fantastic cinnamon rolls. Now that it is just two of us in the house, I find myself using it less and less, however I still pull it out for treats like these cinnamon rolls that have become a Christmas morning tradition.  I figure the machine paid for itself many years ago. I could mix these up in my Kitchen Aid mixer but it’s easier just to dump in the ingredients when it’s convenient at some point point on Christmas Eve, then I make up the rolls and refrigerate them for tomorrow morning. Since we’re just 3 tomorrow, I made two pans up tonight, one with 5 rolls and the other with 8  or. I’m freezing the larger one, then will bring it up to our large family gathering tomorrow and share with the others on the 26th at our large breakfast.

Tomorrow, I’ll pull these out of the frig first thing and let them warm up and rise while we do stockings and such, then bake so they’re ready for a breakfast of scrambled eggs, orange juice, and cinnamon rolls.

• 3/8 cup milk
• 3/8 cup water (just make sure the total is 3/4 cup liquid)
• 1 egg
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 Tbs softened butter
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp yeast

Put all the above in your bread machine and set to the dough cycle.  When it beeps continue.

Melt

• 5 Tbs butter

and pour into a 9×13 pan or two 8 or 9″ round pans.

Sprinkle with

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Roll the dough out on a floured board to a 8×14″ rectangle.

Brush the dough with:

• 1 Tbs melted butter

In a small bowl combine:

• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 Tbs cinnamon
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional, we leave them out)

Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar and raisins over the dough.

Starting from the long end, roll up and pinch the ends to seal the seam.

Cut into 1 1/2″ sections. (An easy way to do this is to use dental floss!  Just slide a foot long piece of dental floss underneath the dough and pull up and cross over then pull together to slice the dough cleanly.

Place the pieces cut side down in the pan(s).

You can refrigerate overnight or freeze up to 1 month at this point. Just cover with foil and put in the frig or freezer. Before baking, allow rolls to come to room temperature then proceed with the second raising.

Cover and let rise in a warm oven or other warm spot for 45 minutes or so, until doubled.

You can warm your oven by turning it onto the warm cycle for 3 minutes then turning it off. Leave the interior light on to help keep the oven warm.

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes. Take the pan(s) from the oven and invert onto a plate or large serving dish so the sticky part is on top.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake 25-30 minutes.

Turkey enchiladas with red sauce

When you’re tired of turkey hash and turkey soup and turkey sandwiches, make these turkey enchiladas!  Totally not “leftovers” but just a great Mexican-oriented meal.  I made half green sauce and half red sauce enchiladas. The green sauce was store-bought, the red sauce was this enchilada sauce recipe.

For the enchiladas, chop up a bunch of turkey. Sorry, no measurements, maybe 2-3 cups for a dozen enchiladas. It depends on how stuffed you like your enchiladas. Any leftover chopped turkey can go into this turkey sandwich spread or be used for many other leftover turkey recipes.

Grate some Cheddar cheese or use a Mexican cheese blend. (2-3 cups for a dozen enchiladas)

Turkey Enchiladas with Green Sauce

Heat some corn tortillas in the microwave in a tortilla warmer.

Use about 15 ounces sauce for each half dozen enchiladas.

Pour a bit of sauce into the bottom of  a shallow baking dish. Roll up the tortillas with some turkey and cheese inside and place seam side down. Top the enchiladas with the rest of the sauce, sprinkle some more cheese on top, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so.

Pictures are linked to recipes where I have them posted.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Bread Stuffing

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples

I loved the Pink Lady apples in this. You can see the pink skins! These were the surprise hit of the evening.

Roast Turkey

Turkey Gravy! Yum!

Ham

Vegetarian Green Bean Casserole with Crushed Cheese-Its

Dill Dip and Two Kinds of Hummus

Veggies for Dipping

Deviled Eggs

Creamed Onions

This is not set in stone but here’s what I’m currently planning. Still need to decide how I’m going to roast the turkey, as I have several good options.

Appetizers:

• deviled eggs
• cut up veggies
• various dips and hummus
• stuffed radishes and cherry tomatoes
• Brie and French bread (being brought by a guest)
• smoked salmon and crackers

Dinner:

• roast turkey and gravy (or see roasting a big turkey or this one with butter, wine and cheesecloth)
• ham or maybe this one instead
• mashed potatoes
• sweet potato streusel
• rolls
• cranberry sauce
• roasted Brussels sprouts and apples
• dressing
• creamed onions
• green bean casserole (brought by a guest)
• green salad (brought by a guest)

Dessert:

• apple pie
• apple and cranberry pie
• pumpkin pie
• cherry pie

Thanksgiving Menus

Looking for ideas for your Thanksgiving menu? Here’s one Thanksgiving menu from 2004 and another from 2005 and another from 2008.

Thanksgiving recipes From past years:

Roast turkey -  Fantastic for smaller birds but impractical for larger ones as you turn the turkey a few times.

Roast Turkey with Wine Soaked Cheesecloth - Great for larger birds.

Olive Oil Dip and Marinated Olives - two fantastic appetizers that were a huge hit.

Cream of spinach – This is a nice side dish that is a bit rich but quite yummy.

Sweet potato streusel - This has become a must-have in my extended family. It was originally from Cooking Light magazine.

Collard greens - Cooked with a chunk of salt pork so not for vegetarians. These days with a vegetarian in the family I try to make all my side dishes vegetarian, but this was quite good!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Apples - This is good and lowfat.

Roasted Beets - You could also serve some cold beets in this yogurt dressing.

Onions Stuffed with Breadcrumbs and Spinach – I made this for a dinner party but I think I might be adding it to the Thanksgiving menu this year.

Braised Red Cabbage and Onions – Use vegetable broth to keep it vegetarian.

Pureed Parsnips - I never ate parsnips growing up but it’s a great winter vegetable.  I think you could easily make these a day ahead and refrigerate, then reheat.

Thanksgiving turkey leftovers recipes:

Rainbow Turkey Soup with carrots, celery, spinach, kale, olives and red peppers. Very colorful and good!

The Ultimate “Leftovers”  Soup – Another great turkey soup with leftover roasted root vegetables, leftover green bean casserole and leftover creamed onions.

A Simple Turkey Soup – much simpler with fresh green beans and a can of diced tomatoes.

Turkey Hash - Chopped turkey, fried potatoes and gravy. Mmmm.

Turkey Pot Pie - Pot pies are a great way to use up leftovers.

Creamed Turkey with Cheese – Serve this yummy comfort food over toast, English muffins, noodles, or rice.

Turkey Enchiladas - these are delicious and a family tradition. Make your own enchiladas sauce, too.

Turkey Flautas - A simple blend of chopped turkey and Mexican cheese, rolled in a corn tortilla and fried

Turkey Shepherd’s Pie – chopped turkey, carrots and celery cooked with some gravy and topped with mashed potatoes

Hope that gives you some ideas!  Share your favorite holiday recipes with us!

Last year I wrote a page of my Thanksgiving tips and recipes, including a couple of different ways to cook turkeys and collected some useful links about turkeys. I shared some of my do-ahead tips and favorite side dish and dessert recipes as well.

I need to sit down and plan out this year’s menu and decide how I’m going to cook the turkey. I think I’ve only got about a dozen to cook for this year, smaller than our norm. I usually try out a few new side dishes and appetizers but have to keep a few old favorites around too.

What are your must-have traditional dishes for your family?  Are you also going to experiment with some new recipes this year?  Please share!

When the girls were little, we tried to make something each Valentine’s Day. But it’s a challenge to not spend too much money, have something they can make, and have it be something everyone enjoys. We made airplanes out of chewing gum sticks one year (wrapped so the recipient could chew the gum!), various pretzel things, cookies, and so forth. But the favorite was red play dough hearts!  You’ll want to double this for about 24 hearts.

Play Dough

1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 Tbs vegetable oil

1 cup water
food coloring

Put everything in a heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it forms a ball. Remove from heat. Put the dough onto a board and let it cool a few minutes, then knead for 5 minutes or so.

Roll the dough out and cut into heart shapes with cookie cutters, put them in sandwich bags, and either write directly on the sandwich bag or slip in a paper heart with the recipeient’s name.

Enjoy!

I have several great recipes for roasting smaller turkeys, say under 18 pounds. If you can easily turn the bird on its side, I like this one. If you don’t mind adding some butter, this cheesecloth covered turkey one is good as well, but requires frequent basting. I haven’t yet started brining, as is all the rage. I bought a fresh turkey at Costco for .89/pound. I followed the guidelines from The Perfect Recipe, which hasn’t failed me yet.

I rubbed some butter all over the bird and salt and peppered it. Inside the cavity, I put some chopped celery, carrots, and onion, plus some fresh parsley and a bit of dried thyme.

I put the turkey breast side down on an adjustable V-rack, inside a large roasting pan. I used some kitchen twine to truss the bird a bit, and hold the wings in close to the body. I used a few pins to pin up various other loose parts. I poured a cup of water into the bottom of the pan. Oh, when I cleaned out the turkey I put the neck in a larger saucepan (I had to break it in half to fit it) and added the gizzards and heart, threw in a carrot and a stalk of celery and half an onion, then covered with water (at least a quart). This simmered very low until the turkey was done.

And here’s where things varied from my normal.

I preheated the oven to just 250 F. Yes, 250. I cooked the turkey for 3 hours, breast side down, basting now and then. Yep, 3 hours at 250.

I turned the bird then, breast side up, and baked another hour still at 250, basting again. When the bird is as big as this, turning it can be a bit tricky and I would recommend two people. Have one hold the pan and maybe the rack if needed while the other uses old clean towels (or paper towels in a pinch) to flip the bird over.

For the 5th hour, I basted and turned the heat up to 400. In another hour, it was done perfectly. My thermometer read a little lower than is suggested but my brother pulled on the wing and leg and pronounced it “almost overdone.” I pulled it out and covered it very loosely with foil while we popped all the side dishes into the oven (dressing, sweet potato streusel, green bean casserole, and creamed onions), while I started the rolls baking in the convection oven above.

After half an hour, I lifted the turkey up and drained all the juices into the pan, then moved the bird onto the cutting board for my brother to carve while my mom and I made the gravy. We need LOTS of gravy so don’t bother skimming much out. We place the roasting pan over two burners and turn to medium. We just sprinkle flour over and stir it in until enough flour has been added to make a paste. We stir that another minute or two, then started adding the broth we made from the neck and gizzards, using a whisk to incorporate it. We kept adding broth and simmering and stirring until the gravy was the consistency we like. It needed no salt or pepper to be declared perfect!

The turkey truly was perfect. The thighs and dark meat were done thoroughly. The breast was also fully cooked but not dried out. My brother is a convert. He mentioned that when I’d cooked the prime rib from this same cookbook a few years ago he’d been doubtful but it had also been PERFECT and he’s saved my writeup to use later. So now he’s a convert to this lower temp roasting for larger birds.

Thanksgiving feast

I never got a chance to post my Thanksgiving menu prior to the holiday but will post it here today so I can refer to it next year.

Appetizers

Green olive dip
Humus
Salmon spread from my sister
Spinach dip from my niece
Various vegetables cut up for dipping
French bread cut up for dipping and spreading
Deviled eggs

Dinner

22 pound turkey – roasted this way
Mashed potatoes
Dressing, with pears, contributed by my Mom
Creamed onions, a family tradition
Sweet potato streusel, a new family tradition and much beloved by a few nephews
No-Knead Dinner Rolls, a recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Green salad with blue cheese
Cranberry sauce
Green bean casserole from my sister
Red hot gelatin salad

The desserts

Desserts

Cherry pie
Pumpkin pie
Lemon meringue pie, baked by my daughter
Hazelnut pear torte from my niece
Cranberry cheesecake from my niece

What a feast!

Awesome Pork Loin
Twice Baked Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli with Orange Sauce and Sesame Seeds
Rolls
Fried Apples and Onions
Deviled Eggs
plain applesauce
sliced strawberries and shortcakes with Cool Whip

The broccoli recipe you’ll have to beg my niece for. I know we steamed the broccoli but she brought the orange sauce already mixed up and the sesame seeds and just poured them over the freshly steamed broccoli. It was a great traveling recipe!

My neighbor and his daughter brought some wine and his nephew came as well, who’s out here from Illinois. The nephew gave my piano a nice workout both before and after dinner, which I just loved! Very talented guy.

Great food. Great music. Great conversation. All in all, a nearly perfect holiday dinner!