Sorry for the hiatus, Thanksgiving break made me really lazy. Anyways, I decided to do a whole Thanksgiving post (I'm not waiting until next for this). So a typical "Hayes Thanksgiving" comprises of us going to dinner on Thanksgiving night and then having family Thanksgiving the next night where we (me) do all of the cooking and have a big ol' merry time... well kinda. To be honest, we do this because we all want the leftovers but we really like going to our club for Thanksgiving. On the Wednesday/day before TGives my mom sends me to the grocery store to get everything for Friday night... including the turkey. That makes sense right? On our Hayes TGives (the Friday after real TGives) my mom usually makes the turkey and I make everything else. In the early years, I would be very overzealous and do fancy shit that I didn't know how to do but I've smart up lately by just going to the classics. I apologize because I did not do step by step photos this time because I was way too overwhelm making everything with my brothers coming in everything 5 minutes asking when dinner is--usually they offer to help at the end to speed things up. ANYWAYS sorry for my Hayes TGives rant... LETS DO IT.
Let's start with the most important part, the turkey and stuffing. I do NOT make my own stuffing, I mean I easily could but why? Stove Top is really, really good and it takes maybe 5 minutes. I mean shit I am not going to make all of this effing cornbread and then chop up all of these veggies and bullshit when I could do it in 5min.
Anyways, I digress. So first make your stuffing (however you want to) and preheat the oven for the bird. For the bird, take out all of the insides and then rinse it to make sure its clean and there aren't any stray feathers. Now stuff the bird. Then season with salt and pepper the bird and put some butter on it....
For cooking a bird, the oven should be at 350 degrees and you should cook it for about 15-20min per pound or until the little thermometer thing pops up.
The 2 sides we had were green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. Every year we have mashed potatoes because you have to and then the next side is a free for all. Sometimes I'll add an extra side dish if we have more than 6 people.
For the green bean casserole, I used Paula Dean's recipe, which I doubled and probably should of tripled because it was epic.
So chop up the fresh green beans, mushrooms, and onions. After all of the chopping, melt butter in a skillet and then saute the mushrooms and onions and boil the green beans in chicken stock for 10 minutes.
After the 10 minutes, drain the green beans and add to the skillet with a can of cream of mushroom and some salt and pepper (Paula says to use her "house seasoning" and yeah right like I was going to to make that). Also, you're suppose to add those French's Onion Rings but my mom doesn't like those because it reminds her of the "shitty" green bean casserole from when she was a kid. After everything is melted together in the skillet, place it all into a greased 1 1/2 quart glass baking dish or bowl. Bake for 20 minutes on 350 degrees and then dump some cheddar cheese on the casserole and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
Paula Dean's Green Bean Casserole
Ingredients:
1/3 stick of butter
1/2 cup of diced onions
1/2 cup of sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cups of sliced green beans
3 cups of chicken stock
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can of cream of mushroom soup
1 (2.8-ounce) can French-friend onion rings
Salt and Pepper
1 cup of grated Cheddar cheese
Instructions:
Preheat the over to 350 degrees.
Melt the butter in a large skillet. Saute the onions and mushrooms in the butter. Boil green beans in chicken stock for 10 minutes and drain. Add the green beans, mushroom soup, onion rings, and salt and pepper to the onion mixture. Stir well. Pour into a greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes, then top the casserole with the Cheddar and bake for 10 minutes longer, or until the casserole is hot and cheese is melted.
For the mashed potatoes, I used the recipe I use every year, which is Ina's Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes. I usually double this recipe because the original I think only serves 4 people. So I usually get all of the potatoes (Idaho) and bring them over to the TV with a trash can and a peeler and just peel them all while watching TV. No, seriously. After peeling all of the potatoes and feeling like I was punished for something, I return to the kitchen and chop up all of the potatoes...
My dicing has become pretty awesome over the years, if you can't tell. So boil a big pot of water with some salt in it and let that boil until its fork tender. While its boiling, get out a saucepan and heat the milk and butter-- do not bring it to a boil. When the butter is melted and its combo-ed with the milk, take it off the heat and put it aside until the potatoes are ready. After the potatoes are done and drained either mash them with a masher or use a hand-mixer. While mashing, add the butter/milk and it will become a lot easy to mash. After its all smooth and awesome, add enough buttermilk until you reach your desired constancy and finally add salt and pepper, to taste.
Ina's Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
Salt
1 1/2 pounds of potatoes
1/4 cup of milk
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
Instructions:
In a large pot, bring water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and dice them into cubes. Add potatoes to the boiling water and bring the water back to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer uncovered until potatoes are fork tender.
Meanwhile, heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan, making sure it doesn't boil. Set aside until the potatoes are done.
When the potatoes are fork tender, drain and return to pot. Begin mashing the potatoes with either a hand-mixer or a masher. Add the milk mixture to the potatoes gradually while mashing. When smooth, whisk in enough buttermilk to make the potatoes creamy. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper. Serve hot.
The dinner turned out pretty awesome and was maybe the best TGives dinner we've had at home. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and realized what they really are thankful for. Food, family, friends.
Peace out,
Liz
Cooking Tips:
~While cooking any meat (chicken, turkey, beef, etc), you have to let it rest after cooking. For example, once you take the turkey out of the oven you need to let it sit for 10-15 minutes. You do this so all of the juices stay in the meat and don't come pouring out when you cut it. This keeps the flavor in the meat.
~ While making casseroles, make sure all of the ingredients/vegetables are about the same size so it cooks evenly.
~While making mashed potatoes, start with little liquid and then add more as needed. You'll regret not doing this because you don't want soupy mashed potatoes.
~Never use salted butter for cooking. Unsalted butter helps you control your flavor in dishes and the salt in the butter could over power the flavor you really want out of the dish.
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