From Our Tables to Yours :: Columbia Mom Thanksgiving Recipes

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There’s something wonderful about Thanksgiving — family and friends getting together to enjoy good food and time together to just be … THANKFUL. There’s no expectations, no gifts, no box of chocolates or card required … it’s really a time to just focus on the good things in life.

As we grow older and times change, our traditions can become different. What used to be a meal around the table at grandmas with our cousins and extended family becomes a dinner at our parents, or a meal with our closest friends, or a time to focus on the newly formed family of our own. Because we know families and traditions can change, we wanted to share our favorite (or family favorite!) dishes from our contributors in hopes you might enjoy them as much as we do and add them to your table this Thanksgiving.


Barbara’s Five Ingredient Beer Bread

5-Ingredient-Beer-Bread-11Ingredients

  • 3 cups flour
  • 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
  • 12 ounces of your favorite beer
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
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  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  • Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with nonstick spray.
  • Add the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt to a mixing bowl.
  • Pour in the beer and stir with a mixing spoon until just combined.
  • Pour the batter into the loaf pan.
  • Bake for 45-55 minutes or until the top of the bread is lightly browned and the middle is set.
  • Allow to sit 15 minutes before serving.

Marian’s Gravy

gravy 2I come from a family that Makes Food From Scratch. And so Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year, simply because of the food. Yeasty rolls, tart cranberry relish, sweet stewed apples, savory dressing. And then there is the gravy. My husband still remembers the gravy my mother made for Christmas 10 years ago; he says it’s the best he’s ever had.

Gravy is seriously so, so easy to make. It’s a simple formula: fat + thickener + liquid. In this case, the fat is drippings from the roasted bird; the thickener is flour; and the liquid can be anything flavorful such as water, milk, wine, broth or juice. Once you master this formula, you can change it up to make an endless variety of sauces. (That fancy bechamel sauce that scares you when you see it in the lasagna recipe? Gravy, with different ingredients.)

This is a great skill to have under your belt. And as a bonus, it’ll impress the heck out of your mother-in-law. Try it once and you will never, ever use gravy from a jar (or worse, from a packet) again.

Ingredients

  • Drippings from baked turkey
  • Water, milk, wine or broth (for deglazing the turkey pan)
  • A few tablespoons of flour

Directions

  • When you take the turkey out of the oven, remove the bird and set it on a serving platter. Let someone else enjoy the Norman Rockwell-esque job of carving the turkey; you’re going to perform a cooking miracle here.

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  • Pour the drippings and cooking juices from the roasting pan into a clear glass and let it sit for a few minutes. Set the roasting pan over two burners. (If you used a disposable foil one, get out a saucepan; you’ll have an extra step in a minute.)
  • Now it’s time to deglaze the pan. This means you’ll gather the “brown bits” of flavorful fat and meat that have stuck to the bottom of the pan. You can use water, milk, wine, broth — just about any liquid for this. If you used a roasting pan, pour in a cup or two of your chosen liquid, and turn the burners on medium. If you used a foil pan, heat up your liquid and then pour it in. Stir the liquid around with a wooden spoon, and scrape the bottom to get those brown bits off. Once the heat and the scraping have loosened the brown bits, pour the liquid into another glass.
  • Go back to your glass full of drippings. The fat in the drippings will have “sunk to the top,” as my mother says, and there’ll be an inch or two of clear fat above the golden broth. Take a few spoonfuls of the fat and add them to the roasting pan or saucepan. Add a few tablespoons of flour and mix together with the fat until it forms a light brown paste and there are no lumps. Cook this over medium heat for a few minutes until it bubbles just a bit.

gravy

  • Next, add liquid — you can use a combination of the deglazing liquid, the broth that came out with the drippings, and an additional mild liquid. Remember that whatever seasonings you used in your turkey will also be in the drippings, and they’ll be more intense. So if you have a strongly seasoned bird, consider using more mild liquid in your gravy and less cooking liquid. Add a little at a time to let it blend with the flour/fat mixture, and taste occasionally. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
  • Once the mixture is well blended, let it simmer until it reaches the desired thickness. If you like smooth gravy, strain it or give it a few pulses in an immersion blender. Then you’re done. You’ve made gravy! Serve it to your mother-in-law and try not to look smug.
  Gravy Photo credit: SliceOfChic / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND; Gravy on Stove Photo credit: bjosefowicz / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Mary’s Yams

yamsThis twist on traditions yams is sure to please!

Ingredients

  • 1 medium sized sweet potato for each person eating
  • 1-2 apples and/or oranges and/or pineapples
  • Dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice

Directions

  • Wash potato and cover with tinfoil (shiny side out)
  • Place at 500 degrees in the oven for an hour, then turn the heat off. You can leave the potatoes in there for a few more hours, or take them out.
  • Let potatoes cool and remove tin foil. The skin will fall off, and the potatoes will be perfect for smushing.
  • If you are using apples, stew them. Any citrus fruit can be mixed in as-is.
  • Mix potatoes and fruit in a big bowl.
  • Add a dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, etc. to taste. (If you don’t like a seasoning, feel free to leave it out!)
Yam Photo credit: mbrubeck / Foter / CC BY

Kristi’s Southern Corn Pudding

corn casseroleIngredients

  • 1 can cream-style corn
  • 2 T melted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 T sugar
  • 1 T flour
  • 2 t salt
  • 1/2 t baking powder
  • 3/4 C milk

Directions

  • Mix corn, melted butter and eggs; pour into buttered baking dish. (A shallow dish will work better than a deep one.)
  • Mix sugar, flour, salt and baking powder and add to corn. Add milk.
  • Bake 1 hour at 350 until solid and not runny in center of baking dish.
Casserole Photo credit: mhaithaca / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

Lindsey’s Sweet Potato Casserole

sweet potato casseroleIngredients

  • 4 or 5 sweet potatoes
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon (or more)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup brown sugar (or more to taste)
  • ¼ stick butter or margarine cut into portions
  • ¼ cup milk or half and half (if needed)
  • 2 eggs
  • Bag of miniature marshmallows

Directions

  • Clean and wash sweet potatoes. Boil until soft when you stick a fork in them. (Check after 30 minutes – the time will vary and may take longer).
  • Remove, cut in half and let cool slightly (or longer, doesn’t really matter, just don’t burn yourself with them).
  • Scoop out sweet potato into food processor. Add cinnamon, vanilla, brown sugar and butter. Blend just until smooth. Don’t over-process – use the pulse if you need to. Since you boiled the sweet potatoes, you may not need to add any milk. It needs to be like a thick pudding.
  • Taste and add any ingredients you want more of – cinnamon, brown sugar or milk to thin it out a little. Don’t add the two eggs until it tastes the way you want it. Don’t make it too sweet because you will be adding marshmallows on top.
  • Pour into 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 for 1 hour. Add marshmallows and cook for a few more minutes until marshmallows are brown and puffy. You can broil them, but watch them carefully.
Casserole Photo credit: notanyron / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

Catherine’s Makeover Creamy Cranberry Salad

makeover creamy cranberry saladIngredients

  • 3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, thawed and coarsely chopped
  • 1 can (20 ounces) unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained
  • 2 cups miniature marshmallows
  • 1 medium apple, chopped
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen reduced-fat whipped topping, thawed
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

  • In a large bowl, combine the cranberries, pineapple, marshmallows, apple, sugar and salt. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
  • Just before serving, fold in whipped topping and walnuts.

Ashleigh’s Pumpkin Dump Cake

pecansCombining the flavors of pumpkin and pecan pies, this dessert is a cinch to make and will be a great addition to your Thanksgiving dessert table! Serves 12 to 15.
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Ingredients
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  • 1 (29 oz.) can pumkin
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1 (13 oz.) can evaporated milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 4 tsp. pumpkin pie spices
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 box yellow cake mix (you can substitute spiced cake or butter pecan)
  • 1 1/2 cubes (3/4 c.) butter, melted
  • 1 c. pecans, chopped
Directions
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  • Combine pumpkin, sugar, evaporated milk, eggs, pumpkin pie spices and salt in mixing bowl. Beat well. eggs
  • Pour into greased and floured 9 x 13 inch glass pan. Pour melted butter into cake mix and then sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin mixture, then sprinkle on the pecans.
  • Bake at 350°F for 50 to 60 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Watch closely at end. Burns easily.
Serve with whipped cream topping or try this easy cream cheese frosting recipe from Food Network.
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Easy Cream Cheese Frosting

cream cheese frostingIngredients

  • 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 Directions
  • In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.
  • With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy.
  • Beat in the vanilla extract

Just reading all these recipes makes us hungry and so very ready for Thanksgiving! What recipe would you add to the list?

Frosting Photo credit: Emily Barney / Foter / CC BY-NC; Thanksgiving Table Photo credit: Schill / Foter / CC BY-NC

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