Cooking Best Thanksgiving or holiday recipes

[JodyLynC]

I am specifically looking for your favorite recipes for mashed potatoes. But with the holidays coming up, I thought it would be fun to post any tried and true holiday recipe.

 

[JodyLynC]

1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower)*
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can mushroom soup
1 cup grated cheese (I prefer Monteray Jack. Original recipe says Swiss)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 cup canned French fried onions

Combine vegetables, soup, 1/2 cup cheese, sour cream, pepper, 1/2 French fried onions. Pour into greased 1 quart casserole dish. Bake, covered, 30 minutes at 300 degrees. Top with remaining cheese and onions and bake, uncovered, five more minutes.

*The recipe calls for a 16oz bag. I think it comes out a little too wet so I usually add about 24oz of vegetables and cook it for an additional 10 minutes.

 

[MazdaUK]

This isn't specifically Thanksgiving as we don't have it here, but I peek and chop potatoes and ac ouple of sweet pots if I have them, then boil in salted water until tender (not muchy). Drain, mash, then beat together with a large knob of butter and a slop of milk, plus salt, ground white pepper and a generous tsp of nutmeg - use a wooden spoon rather than a mixer as they can go gluey. The more butter the better unless you are watching your weight!

 

[mel63]

3 ounces cream cheese -- softened
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
2 1/2 pounds baking potatoes -- quartered
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
paprika
parsley sprigs -- optional

In a bowl, stir together cream cheese, garlic salt, pepper and sour cream until smooth; set aside. Prepare and boil quartered potatoes; drain. Using an electric mixer or a potato masher, beat hot potatoes until they're fine lumps. Add sour cream mixture and continue beating until fluffy and smooth. Spoon potatoes into a well-buttered shallow 2-quart casserole; dot with butter and sprinkle with paprika. If made ahead, cover and refrigerate until next day.
Bake, covered, in a 400° oven for 25 minutes (50 minutes, if refrigerated); uncover and bake for 10 more minutes or until top is golden brown. Garnish with parsley sprigs, if desired.

 

[tiggerfan1]

Here's a recipe for a sweet potato casserole that I made last Thanksgiving.


Gourmet Sweet Potato Classic (from allrecipes.com)


5 sweet potatoes
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup (half a stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. heavy cream (whipping cream)

For the topping:

1/4 cup (half a stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Note: You may want to double the topping to make sure that there's enough to cover the sweet potato mixture.


-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.

-Bake sweet potatoes for 35 minutes or until they begin to soften. Cool slightly, peel and mash. (You can also microwave or boil the potatoes. Just be sure to poke holes all over the potatoes if you plan to cook them in the microwave.)

-In a large bowl, mix the mashed sweet potatoes, salt, 1/4 cup softened butter, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, granulated sugar and heavy cream. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.

-In a medium bowl, combine 1/4 cup softened butter, flour, brown sugar and chopped pecans. Mix with a pastry blender or your fingers until the mixture is the consistency of coarse meal. Sprinkle over the sweet potato mixture.

-Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F, until topping is crisp and lightly browned.

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Here's one of my favorite pumpkin recipes. It's a bit of a pain to make, but it's totally worth the effort! I make it only once a year.



Chocolate-Pumpkin Marble Cake (from Sunset magazine)


1 1/2 cups (3 sticks or 3/4 lb.) butter, at room temp.
3 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs (preferably at room temp.)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt (I always leave out the salt)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
3/4 cup Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder (I've used regular unsweetened cocoa powder and it turned out fine.)
2/3 cup buttermilk

Chocolate glaze (recipe follows)



- In a large bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Scrape half the mixture into another bowl.

- To make the pumpkin batter: Beat pumpkin into half the butter mixture until well blended. In another bowl, stir together 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt (opt.), cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and beat on low speed or fold in with a flexible spatula just until blended.

- To make the chocolate batter: In another bowl, mix remaining 1 cup flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt (opt.), and the cocoa powder. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the other half of the butter mixture (starting and ending with flour mixture), beating after each addition just until blended.

- Spoon half the pumpkin batter into a buttered and floured 12-cup Bundt pan. Drop half the chocolate batter by spoonfuls over (but not entirely covering) the pumpkin batter. Repeat to spoon remaining pumpkin and chocolate batters into pan. Gently run the blade of a butter knife around the center of the pan several times, then draw the knife across the width of the pan in 10 to 12 places to swirl the batters.

- Bake in a preheated 350 degree regular or 325 degree convection oven until a wood skewer inserted into center of cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 55-60 minutes. Let cake cool for 10 minutes in pan, then invert onto a cooling rack, lift off pan, and cool cake completely.

- Pour warm chocolate glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Let stand until glaze is set, about 2 hours, or chill about 30 minutes.


Makes 12-16 servings.


Chocolate glaze:

- In a heat-proof bowl or the top of a double boiler, combine 4 oz. chopped semi-sweet chocolate, 1/2 cup whipping cream (heavy cream), 1 Tbsp. butter, and 1 tsp. light corn syrup. Bring an inch or two of water to a boil in a pan that the bowl can nest in or in the bottom of double boiler, then remove from heat. Place chocolate mixture over water and let stand, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth, about 10 minutes.


Tip: It's best to make this cake the day before you plan to eat it (although I always want to dig into it the very same day ). Let the cake sit overnight, covered, and pour the glaze over the cake the next day. The first time I made this cake, I served it the same day that I made it and most people said that they couldn't really taste the pumpkin at all. When I tried the cake the next day, the spicy-pumpkiny flavor had really developed nicely.





I'll post a few more recipes later on.

 

[JodyLynC]

3 ounces cream cheese -- softened
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sour cream
2 1/2 pounds baking potatoes -- quartered
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
paprika
parsley sprigs -- optional

In a bowl, stir together cream cheese, garlic salt, pepper and sour cream until smooth; set aside. Prepare and boil quartered potatoes; drain. Using an electric mixer or a potato masher, beat hot potatoes until they're fine lumps. Add sour cream mixture and continue beating until fluffy and smooth. Spoon potatoes into a well-buttered shallow 2-quart casserole; dot with butter and sprinkle with paprika. If made ahead, cover and refrigerate until next day.
Bake, covered, in a 400° oven for 25 minutes (50 minutes, if refrigerated); uncover and bake for 10 more minutes or until top is golden brown. Garnish with parsley sprigs, if desired.

I made this for Thanksgiving. Awesome. Tonight we are having them leftover as potato cakes!!

 

[FormrCastMbr]

I always get rave reviews for this recipe:

CANDIED SWEET POTATOES
2 lbs. sweet potatoes
1 lemon
butter pats (one pat per potato slice)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Cook sweet potatoes in boiling water until peels can be easily removed, approximately 10 percent done (about 10 minutes). Cool potatoes slightly (about 10 minutes), peel then cut into diamond shape or rounds about 3/4 inch thick (I prefer cutting into rounds).

Place into a 2-quart baking dish.
Place one pat of butter on top of potatoes. Cut lemon into 4 wedges, squeeze juice over potatoes and place wedges in with potatoes. Combine sugar and spices and add 3/4 cup evenly over potatoes.

Bake in 450 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes or until candied, basting frequently.

 

[FormrCastMbr]

Here is the make ahead mashed potatoes that I serve...They are yummy!

***I heat this on low in the crockpot for about 3 -4 hours prior to serving...stir several times.

MAKE AHEAD MASHED POTATOES serves 12
9 lg. russet potatoes (6 to 6 1/2 lb.), peeled & cut into lg. chunks
1 c. sour cream
6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1/2 c. milk
3 tsp. onion salt
Salt & freshly ground pepper

Lightly butter 9 x 14-inch oval baking dish. Place potatoes in large saucepan and cover with cold water. Boil until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain. Using electric mixer, mash potatoes in large bowl. Mix in sour cream, cream cheese, 5 tablespoons butter, milk and onion salt. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer potatoes to prepared dish. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Place on top of potatoes. Bake until heated through and light brown, about 30 minutes.