Mountain Views News          Saturday, November 20, 2010

9

Happy Thanksgiving

 Mountain Views News Saturday, November 20, 2010

My Big Sister’s Best Macaroni & Cheese

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

11/4 cup half-and-half

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (grated)

1 cup 4 Year Old White Cheddar Cheese( grated)

 1/4 cup Unseasoned Bread Crumbs

salt 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Cook macaroni in boiling salted 
water according to package directions; drain well 
and set aside. Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium 
saucepan over low heat. Blend in flour, stirring 
constantly, until smooth and bubbly. Gradually stir in 
half-and-half. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture 
boils and thickens, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from 
heat and add paprika, pepper, and 2 cups of the mixed 
cheese; stir until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth. 
Combine sauce with the macaroni and add salt to taste. 
Place in a buttered 1 1/2-quart casserole dish. Garnish 
top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and bread crumbs 
and dot with additional butter. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. 

(Grace Sanders of Buford, Georgia, is the sister of 
MVNews publisher Susan Henderson.)

Good Eats Roast Turkey

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Prep Time: 15 min 

Inactive Prep Time: 7 hr 0 min 

Cook Time: 2 hr 30 min 

Level: Easy 

Serves: 10 to 12 servings 

 

Ingredients

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey 

For the brine:

1 cup kosher salt 

1/2 cup light brown sugar 

1 gallon vegetable stock 

1 tablespoon black peppercorns 

1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries 

1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger 

1 gallon heavily iced water 

For the aromatics:

1 red apple, sliced 

1/2 onion, sliced 

1 cinnamon stick 

1 cup water 

4 sprigs rosemary 

6 leaves sage 

Canola oil 

Directions

2 to 3 days before roasting:

 Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice 
berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir 
occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from 
the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed 
turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh 
down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool 
area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse 
inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine. 

Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper 
towels. 

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave 
safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the 
turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath 
the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil. 

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. 
Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven 
temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 
degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of 
roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 
15 minutes before carving. 

From the Pen & Kitchen of 
Deanne Davis - Sierra Madre:

Thanksgiving Day Breakfast 

 The festive bird is stuffed and in the 
stove, the potatoes are boiling for 
mashed potatoes, you’ve said the gravy 
prayer (please, Gravy Deity, let it be 
smooth this year). And people are 
saying, “we’re hungry!” 

 This is not a problem, put down that 
ladle and in just minutes, you can hand 
everybody an Eggnog-Brandy Muffin! 

 If you’re truly feeling like Wonder 
Woman, whack up some bacon and an 
onion into small chunks, sauté them 
together, throw in some eggs, scramble 
it altogether, and serve the Thanksgiving 
breakfast they’ll remember with delight 
all year long. 

 

Eggnog-Brandy Muffins

2 cups flour

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 TB. Baking powder

••• tsp. Salt

3/4 cup prepared eggnog

••• cup brandy

5 TB butter, (unsalted if you’ve got 
it...use a little less salt if you don’t) 
melted

1 egg, beaten

••• tsp. Grated nutmeg plus a little 
more for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 
12 muffin pan.

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, 
baking powder and salt. Add eggnog, 
brandy, butter, beaten egg and ••• 
tsp nutmeg. Stir only till mixed. 
DO NOT OVERBEAT or muffins 
will be rubbery and tough. 


Spoon batter into greased muffin 
cups and sprinkle tops of muffins 
with nutmeg. Bake about 20 minutes 
or until tester inserted into center of 
muffin comes out clean. Remove 
from tin, butter and enjoy.

They freeze nicely and are probably 
about 200 calories per muffin.

Happy Thanksgiving!

May your turkey be tender, succulent 
and juicy, and may somebody who 
really knows how..

 offer to carve it.


Peggy Briggs’ - Pasadena, CA

Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients 

2 9-ounce packages frozen French-style green beans 

1/3 cup chopped onion 

2 teaspoons margarine 

3 tablespoons fine dry bread crumbs 

1 10-3/4-ounce can lower-sodium condensed cream 
of mushroom soup 

1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt 

2 tablespoons diced pimento 

1/8 teaspoon pepper 

Directions:

Cook the green beans according to the package 
directions, except omit salt. Drain well.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan cook the onion 
in margarine until onion is tender. Stir in the bread 
crumbs; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the soup, yogurt, 
pimiento, and pepper. Stir in the beans. Transfer 
mixture to a 1-quart casserole. Sprinkle bread crumb 
mixture atop beans in casserole.

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or 
until the mixture is heated through and the crumbs 
are golden. If desired, garnish with additional pimiento 
pieces. Makes 5 side-dish servings.

Paul Nieby’s CORN BREAD DRESSING

 Ingredients:

 2 - 6 oz. bags Mrs. Cubbison’s Seasoned Cornbread Stuffing Mix

 1 cup chopped, raw white onions

 1 cup chopped raw celery

 10 dried apricots cut into pieces

 4 oz. Walnuts (they can be bought in a bag of about that size

 6-8 oz. Sausage, sauteed brown, defatted & crumbled. (Jimmy 

 Dean brand sage flavored is good

 2 cups heated Chicken Broth

 4 tbsp. butter melted in with 1 cup of the chicken broth

 Directions:

 Toss the vegetables and stuffing mix in a bowl. Add 1 cup of the 
heated broth with the melted butter and toss again. Load lightly in a greased 
covered casserole and bake for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Half way 
through, pour the additional cup of chicken broth over the dressing.

This recipe is modified from the one that appears on the Cubbison pack by 
the addition of the sausage, apricot, and walnuts. The additional broth added 
half-way through the baking, makes the dressing moist enough but still light 
and discreet.

Also from Paul Nieby: CREAMED PEARL ONIONS 

 Ingredients:

 Onions, small pearl as needed

 Milk, butter,flour, Worchestshire Sauce, Cayenne , Salt & Pepper

 Directions:

 Trim the bottoms of the onions but otherwise leave them unpeeled. Drop into 
boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Drain and peel when cool. Reserve the onion 
water.

Make a medium white sauce (2/2/1) using half milkd and half onion water. You 
may make a Mornay Sauce by adding shredded cheddar if desired. Flavor 
with Worchestshire, Cayenne and salt and pepper. The sauce should be fairly 
thick as the cooking onions will add liquor.

Pour the sauce over the onions in a casserole and bake covered in a medium 
oven for 30-40 minutes.

Dixie Countant’s - SIerra Madre, CA

Easy Anti-marshmallow Yams

For those of us who don't like marshmallow on our 
yams, here's the family recipe for Candied Yams.

Ingredients:

Yams or sweet potatoes Butter Light Brown Sugar

Directions:

Buy as many yams as you need depending on 
how many people are coming to dinner. I plan two 
medallions per person if I'm doing a full-blown dinner 
with all the trimmings.

Wash and slice yams (or sweet potatoes) into one-
inch medallions. Steam medallions until barely done. 
(Not too soft) Skin the medallions by gently cutting 
the skin and lifting - it will almost fall off.

Arrange medallions in baking dish. (They can touch, 
but don't stack them) Put a small pat (aprox 1/4 tsp 
of butter on top of each medallion. Sprinkle light 
brown sugar over medallions. Cover and bake in 350 
oven for 1/2 to 1 hour. 

MUSHROOM TOAST APPETIZER

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter 

2 pounds white button mushrooms, 
stem ends trimmed (not cut off) and 
halved if very large 

2 celery stalks, cut into 1 inch pieces 

2 large shallots, minced 

3/4 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon black pepper 

1/3 cup medium dry sherry 

1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs 

1/3 cup finely chopped parsley 1/4 cup 
finely grated Parmegiano-Reggiano 
cheese 

10 slices firm white sandwich bread 

Directions:

Melt butter over medium heat in a 
large skillet. While butter melts, pulse 
mushrooms in a food processor until 
very finely chopped, transferring into 
skillet with butter. Pulse celery in food 
processor until very finely chopped and 
add to skillet, then add shallots, salt and 
pepper. Cook over medium-high heat, 
stirring occasionally, until mushrooms 
are browned and dry, 20 to 25 minutes. 
Add sherry and cook until evaporated, 1 
to 2 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl 
and cool to warm.

Once mixture is cooled, stir in 
breadcrumbs, parsley, and cheese. 
Season to taste with salt and black 
pepper.

Trim crusts from bread. Arrange slices 
on a large baking sheet. Lightly toast 
bread under broiler, 3 to 4 inches from 
heat, turning once, 45 seconds to 1 
minute per side. Remove from oven. 
Spread 1/4 cup mushroom mixture 
evenly over each toast. Return to broiler 
until just a shade darker and warmed 
through, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Cut into 
quarters.

Make ahead: Mushroom mixture can 
be made 1 day ahead and kept chilled, 
covered.

Patricia Carpenter’s - Torrance, CA

Cranberry Pecan Crumb Relish

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds fresh cranberries 

2 tablespoons light brown sugar 

1 orange zested and juiced 

1 cup crushed amaretto cookies 

1/3 cup toasted pecan halves 

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse 
several times until ingredients are incorporated. The 
texture of the relish should remain chunky. Allow to 
sit for 30 minutes at room temperature so flavors can 
blend

Mary’s Confetti Stuffed Mushrooms

Thanksgiving Potluck Vegan-style Mushrooms

1-1/2 Mushrooms, preferably Brown or Cremini: Separate into 

 caps & stems.

1/3 cup Celery, 1/8” dice

1/3 cup Carrots, 1/8” dice

1/3 cup Baby Bell Peppers - Yellow, Orange, Red - 1/8”

1-1/2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3/4 cup Vegetable Broth, divided

1/4 cup Apricot, Peach, Orange or Blackberry Brandy

3/4 tsp Lindberg Porterhouse & Roast Seasoning (from Taylor’s)

1 cup Parsley, Finely Chopped 

2 Tbsp Lemon juice (fresh) 

1 cup Bread Crumbs - slightly dry

1/4 cup Pecorino-Romano Crumbled Cheese

Clean Mushrooms. Remove Stems, set caps in lightly greased baking pan with holes 
up.

Dice mushroom stems into 1/8” bits.. You should have 2 cups diced mushroom stems. 
If not enough, add more mushrooms (if you have them) to make 2 cups.

Put olive oil & ••• cup broth in sauté pan, turn heat to medium. Add Seasoning. Add 
celery and carrots. Layer with diced mushrooms, then diced peppers. Cover and cook 
slowly about 5 minutes, stirring once to ensure mushrooms and peppers get mixed 
with broth. 

Add Parsley. Simmer another 5 minutes. Taste and add more seasoning if needed. 
Remember - adding breadcrumbs will soften flavor intensity.

Drain broth from sauté pan into cup. 

Add remaining broth with brandy and lemon juice to mushrooms, and return to heat 
until broth boils. Drain this liquid also into the cup. Reserve. 

Add breadcrumbs and grated cheese to drained mushrooms. Mix well. If very dry, add 
1 - 2 tablespoons of reserved broth.

Stuff mushroom caps. Place neatly in greased table-ready stove top / baking dish. 
Carefully spoon some of the reserved broth into the dish;

Simmer gently for 5 minutes ... Add more mushrooms as the others shrink. Simmer 
another 5 minutes & repeat. When adding the last mushrooms, drizzle any remaining 
broth lightly over all the mushrooms’ stuffing for the final cooking.

Remove from heat and let cool. Serve room temperature. Or chill, and reheat just 
before serving. More fun to stuff the mushrooms with someone else - for sociability - 
after all, thanksgiving and social are what it’s all about.