Thanksgiving Dinner with 12Tomatoes: Winners Announced; Let's Eat!

Since we won’t actually be able to sit down and share the meal with our 12Tomatoes friends, we thought it would be fun to build the perfect Thanksgiving meal together.

Congrats to our Thanksgiving Recipe Contest Winners! Libbie Bailey, Pam Mehnert, Susan Post Daniell, Mark Briand, and Danielle Maybury! E-mail us at twelvetomatoes@gmail.com so we can send your gift cards!

Thank you to everyone who submitted a recipe, they were all so delicious looking it was hard to narrow down. We hope some of you will find room for these mouth-watering dishes on your Thanksgiving table. We’re so thankful for our readers and the awesome ideas and recipes you all share with us every day.  Have a happy, healthy safe and delicious Thanksgiving with family and friends!

 

Thanksgiving with 12Tomatoes!

Roast Turkey with Herbs
By Mark Briand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 Turkey
• 1 Tbls unsalted butter. You can use regular butter if it's all you have on hand
• 2 Sprigs thyme
• 1 Sprig rosemary
• 1 Sprig oregano
• 1 Handful parsley, stalks and all
• 4 Large basil leaves
• 1 Lemon
• 4 Cloves garlic
• 1/2 Onion
• Sea salt
• Fresh ground pepper
• EVOO
• 1 Cup water

 Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• Place turkey on a cutting board or baking sheet.
• Place butter in a bowl along with thyme leaves from 1 sprig and mix together.
• Put your hand under the skin to separate the skin from the breast meat. You can try to get the skin away from the leg meat as well if you want.
• Grab some butter on your fingertips and start rubbing it all over the breast meat under the skin and onto the leg if you can get to it.
• Place the basil leaves flat on the breast meat under the skin. This will add flavor and make it look like a perfect little Martha Stewart turkey.
• Wash the lemon and punch a few holes in the skin with a sharp knife or fork.
• Put the lemon, the herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and the onion in the cavity and truss the legs with the skin or use butchers twine. Even if you don't truss the legs, it will still work well as this will aid in better airflow through the cavity.
• Add water to the bottom of the pan. If you are using a baking sheet, put the water in a ramekin or a small ovenproof cup.
• Rub a little EVOO on the skin and put it in the oven.

Additional Notes:

Other ways to add flavor are to take a couple of carrots and celery stalks and place them under the turkey to use as a rack. This helps with the flavor of the turkey and the gravy, if you are making it. Personally, I don't eat gravy. I use cranberry sauce or a little butter instead.

Turn the heat down after 1 hour to 300 F. Do not open the door. If you are using a convection oven, turn down the heat after 45 minutes. This gives the bird a good head start and helps keep the heat up after you open the door to put it in the oven. Cook until the thigh and breast meat reaches a temperature of 165 F. It still keeps cooking after you take it out of the oven, so the temperature will still rise a little. Place the turkey on a cutting board and tent it with a sheet of tinfoil for 20 to 30 minutes. Carve and serve.

 

Aunt Em's Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping
By Libbie Bailey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 4 large sweet potatoes (approx. 2 1/2 to 3 lbs.)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 eggs - beaten
• 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons butter – melted

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter the bottom and sides of the casserole dish (1 1/2 Qt.) Set aside.
• Peel and cut up the sweet potatoes into large chunks. Place in a saucepan with salted water.
• Bring the water to a boil over medium high heat, cover, and then turn down to medium low heat. Boil for 20 to 25 minutes or just until tender when poked with a fork.
• Drain the water off the sweet potatoes and then place them in large bowl. Mash the potatoes with a large spoon or a potato masher.
• Add the white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and beaten eggs. Stir until mixed evenly.
• Pour the sweet potatoes into the buttered casserole dish.
• Mix the pecans, flour, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, and melted butter together in a separate bowl. Sprinkle on top of the sweet potatoes.
• Place the sweet potatoes in the preheated oven. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

 

Kicked Up Heavenly Spinach
By Pam Mehnert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds fresh spinach, washed (vs. frozen spinach)
• 1 pound sliced cremini mushrooms (vs. canned mushrooms)
• 1/2 cup light mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup light sour cream
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 1/2 oz artichoke hearts (prepared from scratch or from a jar if it's too much trouble)
• 3 sliced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup sourdough breadcrumbs (made from bread made from scratch)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon thyme

Directions:

• In a large saute pan, heat up the olive oil and add the fresh spinach in batches, cooking until the spinach has wilted. Add the mushrooms and saute until slightly tender.
• In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream and parmesan cheese. Stir in the artichoke hearts, along with the cooked spinach and mushrooms. Add the lemon thyme and season with salt and pepper. 
• Pour mixture into a greased 13 x 9 baking dish. Add the sliced tomatoes to the top of the dish.
• In a small saute pan, saute the breadcrumbs in the butter until they are browned, and sprinkle on top of the assembled casserole. Bake at 325° for 20 minutes.

 

Cornbread Sausage Dressing
By Susan Post Daniell

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 6 cups cornbread crumbs
• 5 cups toasted soft breadcrumbs
• 6 chicken bouillon cubes
• 4 cups boiling water
• 1 cup each:  finely chopped celery, onion and green pepper
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 lb bulk pork sausage
• 1-1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 4 eggs, beaten
• Optional:  1 cup finely copped pecans

Directions:

Combine crumbs in large bowl.  Dissolve bouillon cubes in boiling water; pour over crumb mixture and stir well.  Sauté celery, onion, and green pepper in butter until tender.  Add to crumb mixture, stirring well.  Brown sausage in skillet; drain.  Stir sausage and remaining ingredients into the cornbread mixture.  Stuff turkey.

 

12Tomatoes’ Southern Biscuits
Based on Alton Brown’s recipe

(We didn’t get ourselves a prize, but we didn’t receive any roll recipes and thought that it was a must have for Thanksgiving!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1 cup buttermilk, chilled (plus extra for brushing)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.
• Turn dough onto floured surface,dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. Brush tops with buttermilk.
• Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

 

Pumpkin Pie with Walnut Streusel
By Danielle Maybury

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Walnut Topping:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• Pinch cinnamon

Filling:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• pinch of cloves
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup heavy cream

Crust:

• 1 pie crust, store bought, personal recipe or all-butter

Directions:

Topping: In a small bowl, mix flour, walnuts and brown sugar. Add melted butter and toss together until crumbly.

Filling: Beat together brown sugar, eggs, and spices. Add pumpkin and cream and mix until smooth. Place the crust in a 9-inch pie pan and pour in the filling. Sprinkle streusel evenly on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 45 minutes or until middle is set. Reduce oven to 325 degrees and bake for 15 minutes longer or until filling is completely set. 

 

Comments

[Coach Collection]

Nature, time, and patience are the three great physicians every living creature you meet a smile.

[Business Coach]

You may believe these four proverbs:
Life is not all beer and skittles.
Other man live to eat, while I eat to live.
Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.
Live as though you intend to live forever, and work as though your strength were limit less.

[Somporn]

We are also looking foawrrd to coming to this interesting, and probabely quite different to the one we live in, city. I read the city is famous fot its distinctive icecream called in Turkish Dondurma (literally freezing) . Dondurma typically includes the ingredients milk, sugar, salep, and mastic. It is believed to originate from the Turkish region of Kahramanmaraş and hence also known as Maraş Ice Cream (from Wikipedia). I really like icecream, so it will be the first thing I'm going to taste even if the weather will not be typical summer one. In December it's rather cold there but it is still warmer than in the north of Europe. I can't wait to see Recep, his school and students. We have met twice so far, but never in his hometown. It will be our first time in Turkey and we hope to grap as much as we can of this old culture and share it with our students and colleagues.