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thanksgiving dinner
We’re pretty traditional when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner. Roger isn’t a HUGE fan of turkey, so I usually only make it for Thanksgiving. That way it’s still special and unique enough that he’ll eat it and enjoy it. 
Our menu generally consists of turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, gravy, dinner rolls, green beans, green salad and cherry cream cheese pie. I also make sparkling raspberry lemonade and hot cranberry apple cider. At times there are other additions, but these items are always present. This year I’m adding pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting (I got the recipe from a friend on Facebook).
Several years ago I discovered a recipe for a poultry brine that sounded so good I wanted to try it. We loved it, and have used it every year since. It’s a very simple brine: 1 cup kosher salt, 1 lemon cut into wedges, 1 organge cut into wedges, 1 medium white onion cut into wedges, 3 cloves garlic, 4 bay leaves, 1 Tbs. dried thyme, 1 Tbs. black pepper and 1 1/2 gallons (or more if needed) of water. Rub the salt into the turkey, and place remaining salt, lemons, oranges, onion, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and pepper into a large pot. Place turkey in the pot, then fill pot with water. Refrigerate overnight. Discard brine after removing turkey. Do not rinse turkey before raosting.
Another trick to make your turkey moist and flavorful: roast it breast-side down. I know, I know ~ all of the cookbooks and online cooking sites say you should tie up the turkey and roast it breast up. It does make for a pretty turkey, if presentation is what you’re going for. Personally, I don’t care about the presentation. We have always carved up the turkey in the kitchen, put the meat on a platter and put the platter on the dinner table. So presentation is not even in the equation for me. I want moist, flavorful turkey. Even without brining your turkey can be yummy, if you roast it breast-side down. That way all of the juices from the dark meat run down into the breast. You can even get away with NOT basting your turkey if you roast it breast-side down. That makes the turkey a snap ~ I’m all about easy Thanksgiving turkeys! I’m just sayin’…
One more recipe I’ll share today ~ cranberry apple cider. Yuummmm. This is another one of those items I save for the holidays, which only serves to make it all the more yummy! It’s simple, too: 2 quarts apple cider, 2 quarts cranberry juice, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 4 seedless oranges cut in half, 2 teaspoons whole cloves, 8 cinnamon sticks, 2 teaspoons whole allspice. Mix the apple cider, cranberry juice and brown sugar in a large pot or crock pot. Add the oranges. Put cloves, cinnamon, and allspice in a spice bag and add to juice. Simmer on stovetop for about 30 minutes or warm in crock pot for at least 2 hours (up to 6 hours).
I love to make special foods during the holiday season. My family seems to look forward to them just as much as I do. They’ve become part of our holiday traditions ~ traditions I hope will be passed down through more generations in the years to come.
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Yum! I will have to see if hubby is interested in trying the brine. He does make a good turkey but it might be nice to try something a little differently. I don’t know if I can roast it upside down though, I feel accomplishment in seeing a “pretty” bird!
Let me know if you decide to try the brine, Kristine.
Hubby doesn’t like to have a gazillion things on the table while we eat, so we’ve never done the turkey presentation thing. Maybe someday when I have a huge dining room and a really large table….then I’ll have to rethink roasting the turkey breast-side down…