Thanksgiving Reviewed

As promised, here is my review of the recipes I used for Thanksgiving dinner:

Brined Roast Turkey - THE best way to fix a turkey. The saltiness of the brine soaks into the flesh of the bird. The light herbs give it a perfect scent. And the sugar of the brine gives a perfectly crisped and browned skin.

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes - Oh, my gosh these were so good! I was a little unsure when I pulled them out of the fridge yesterday, but after they warmed up and the butter was added they fluffed right up. They were really, really delicious. I will use this recipe again!! Oh, by the way, I warmed mine covered in a 400 degree oven (with other dishes cooking). Just took them out a few times to stir them up a bit.

Pepperidge Farm Stuffing - how can you go wrong? :)

Holiday Waldorf Salad - Very, very good. I would recommend doubling the dressing recipe, though. I thought my salad needed more dressing, but I hadn't made enough. (It might have also been because I made a slightly larger salad than called for in the recipe.) The sweet with the crunchy, slightly bitter romaine was delicious.

Lighter Green Bean Casserole - Ok - this was WAY better than the stuff made with canned soup! I doubled my recipe, but I think I didn't double the salt...so mine needed a bit more salt on the plate. I also used a short cut and just purchased the French's Fried Onions rather than making them. (Although, the recipe for making them didn't seem too hard.) I found that I needed to keep this in the oven longer than it called for and then the onion-topping needed to be covered as it was browning up a bit. So, keep that in mind if you try this recipe.

Sweet Potatoes with Mini-marshmallows. - Delicious, of course. How can you mess this up? We mashed the sweet potatoes the day before and had them all ready to go in the baking dish, so that cut down on the time in the kitchen.

Orange-Cranberry Relish - Wonderful, Yummy, Scrumptious! This recipe calls for "grinding" - I used my CuisineArt and really chopped them up finely. This made for an almost paste like consistency, which became wonderfully jelly-like when I added the sugar and macerated. This dish was beautiful on the table, too - bright, ruby red!

Now, about the pies (Pecan-topped Pumpkin Pie and Black Walnut Custard Pie)...I didn't get to make them. My mom-in-law had offered to bring pies, but hubby forgot to tell me that before I planned out my dinner. So, instead we had MIL's homemade Apple-Cranberry, Pumpkin, and Black Walnut pies. (She even makes homemade crust.) They were wonderful!

But I still want to try these pies out. We are going to her house for Christmas, so I will see if I can make them for her and then I'll let you know how they are!

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