“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare.  They are consumed in twelve minutes.  Half-times take twelve minutes.  This is not coincidence.”  ~Erma Bombeck

I hope this humorous Erma Bombeck quote is not true of your Thanksgiving dinner this year. 🙂 I hope that you all have a wonderful day, surrounded with the people you love the most,  delighting yourselves with scrumptious cuisine, festive drinks and an abundance of convivial spirit,( and definitely for more than halftime.)  🙂   From my vignette “A Traditional Thanksgiving Gala,” here are a few recipes from our household to yours. Enjoy and have a blessed and HAPPY THANKSGIVING and may your hearts be filled with gratitude for all your many blessings!

 These are recipes for : My homemade sage sausage stuffing and sweet potato souffle, as well as simple ways to make your gravy, turkey and pumpkin pie.  (All very popular in our household! ) Enjoy!

Sweet Potato souffle.

YOU WILL NEED:

4 large sweet potatoes, 1/2 stick of butter,1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 3 TBSP maple syrup, 2 eggs beaten, 1/2 cup half and half, 1 TBSP vanilla, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 package chopped pecans, 1 bag miniature marshmallows, 1/4 tsp allspice, (a dash of cinnamon if you like.) 🙂

Preheat your oven to 350

Either microwave or boil your sweet potatoes until cooked, let cool a little, then mash with 1/2 stick of soft butter. Add your beaten eggs, spices, both sugars, maple syrup, pecans and vanilla. Spoon into an 8 inch greased pan, bake for 30 minutes. Take casserole out of oven, top with marshmallows and place back in oven for 5 minutes, allowing the marshmallow to melt and get just a bit toasty,(lightly browned.) This recipe is always a hit at any occasion!

 Sage sausage stuffing.

YOU WILL NEED:

1 pound Jimmy Dean sage breakfast sausage, 1 onion  finely chopped, 2 stalks celery finely chopped, 1 package Pepperidge farm season bread crumbs, (cornbread preferred but the original is fine as well,) 2 & 1/2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 stick of butter, ground black pepper, (I add a touch of Tabasco sauce for spiciness.) 🙂

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Crumble and cook your sausage over medium low heat ’til cooked. Drain and set aside.

In 3 quart sauce pan, add your butter, chicken broth, pepper, chopped onion and celery and cook on medium heat, stirring often and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low, cover and allow to cook for five minutes. (You want your vegetables to be tender.) When cooked, remove from heat and add your bread crumbs, and sausage, mix well, place in casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes. (Can be made the day before if you like.)

For our dinner, I only bake half of my stuffing for a delicious side dish. I set the other half aside to stuff my turkey…it not only flavors the turkey with savory spices and an abundance of  superb flavor but it is very moist, and gives your guest two choices of stuffing to have with their turkey. ( The stuffing from inside the turkey is my husbands very favorite side dish.) 🙂

Susan’s turkey gravy.

For my gravy, I do not use the turkey giblets :) I bake our turkey in an oven cooking bag, saving all the juices from the turkey at the bottom of the bag…In a large sauce pan, I mix  1/2 stick of softened  butter with 2-3 Tablespoons of flour and make a rue…over low heat as the butter melts with the flour, I slowly  add the juices of the turkey  as I continue to whisk my gravy. (From then on out , its eying the texture of your gravy…if you want it thicker, add more flour, constantly whisking, if a thinner consistency  is desired, add more of your turkey juice or chicken broth. It’s “simply marvelous”, as Billy Crystal would say,  over your mashed potatoes and rice.

Our Turkey!

For my turkey, I always bake it in a oven bag, (found at the grocers…) it comes out so tender and juicy! Directions for the baking time of your particular turkey is inside  the box . All I do is defrost my turkey, clean it out and fill it with the unbaked portion of stuffing, rub it with softened butter and use fresh ground pepper to season, place it in the bag, tie it and bake.) I wish I could tell you what to do with the giblets… 🙂 (Some of you may love them.)

And lastly, you can’t beat the recipe for pumpkin pie on Libbey’s pumpkin pie filling in the can. I buy  Pillsbury pre-made pie crust in the refrigerator section at the grocer and line my pie pan, and create the pumpkin pie filling, according to the cans directions. Fill the pie shell and bake as directed. (Actually, Kit does all this as he is the pie maker in our family. 🙂 (Served with freshly, sweetened whipped cream, this dessert is mouthwatering and always envelops our hearts with cozy, nostalgic memories of holidays past.)  Pumpkin pie just does that! 🙂

All this delicious food is making me wish that Thanksgiving was today! 🙂

PHOTOGRAPHS: In placing your computer mouse upon any of the photos or graphics, it will display where the picture originated from.