Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

Menu:
Savory Herb Dressing
Tasty Sage Rosemary Seasoned Roast Turkey
Flash steamed green beans topped with cranberry hazelnut topping
Spring mix salad with Balsamic vinaigrette
Apple Cranberry crumble for dessert

The Turkey and Stuffing recipe is below. The recipe can be found if

Savory Herb Dressing (GF, DF Options)
Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

10 cups gluten-free or grain-free bread croutons, cut 3/4x3/4-inch in size
(approximately 1 to 1 1/2 loaves of your favorite GF bread; the better the bread, the better the stuffing)
Step Two: Preparing Stuffing
3/4 cup finely diced organic celery
3/4 cup finely diced organic carrot
3/4 cup finely diced yellow onion
5 tbsp butter (if DF, omit butter & increase olive oil to 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp dried poultry seasoning
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 heaping tbsp minced fresh sage
1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 cups homemade chicken stock
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk of your choice (I use unsweetened coconut milk)


Step One: Baking Homemade Croutons
1) Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Using large chef knife, stack the bread two to three slices high and cut into 3/4-inch cubes. (You want at least 10 heaping cups of bread cubes. I used the GF white bread option from Costco looking to make it as kid friendly as possible).

2) Arrange the bread cubes evenly on an ungreased baking sheet so they are not overlapping. Repeat process with remaining bread cubes. (You may not be able to fit all the bread cubes onto one baking sheet. So if you don’t have a second baking sheet, you will need to bake in batches).

3) Bake bread cubes for approximately 1-2 hours (or more), making sure to check them every 20-30 minutes, until they are dried out and firm (like a salad crouton).

4) Once they are dry, remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Then proceed with making the stuffing. (See time and money saving tips below in the notes). I made the bread crumbs a couple days in advance.

Step Two: Preparing Dressing
5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Finely dice the celery, carrot and onion and set aside in medium bowl.

6) Pluck leaves only from fresh sage and mince, set aside two heaping tablespoons (freeze the rest for future use). I didn't have fresh sage averrable so I used approximately 1 tbls or dried sage.

7) Preheat large skillet to medium-high; add butter and olive oil. Immediately add celery, carrot and onion. Sauté until onion is translucent and carrot begins to soften (about 5 minutes).

8) Add poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, sage, cranberries and broth; bring to a slight simmer. Cook about 3-5 minutes, just until cranberries begin to plump. Turn off heat and remove skillet to a cool area of stovetop.

9) In a small bowl, add milk and eggs and whisk to combine. Slowly pour a half cup of the hot veggie-broth mixture into the milk-egg mixture while rapidly whisking (this is done to temper the milk-egg mixture, so you don’t get scrambled egg pieces). Then, slowly add the milk-egg mixture to the veggie-broth mixture while rapidly stirring.

10) In a large bowl, add your homemade croutons (dried bread cubes) and slowly pour the veggie mixture over them. Using a rubber spatula or your hands, gently combine until bread cubes are moistened. If still dry, you can add a bit more milk or chicken stock to moisten. I wasn't sure how much moisture I wanted so I went with the recipe and when it was done I added some of the homemade stock from the turkey and let it cook another 5-10 minutes.

11) Add mixture to a well-oiled 9x13-inch baking dish, cover with foil or a silicone baking sheet resting on its surface and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until completely heated through.
Remove foil and bake another 8-10 minutes, until stuffing begins to turn slightly brown on edges. Enjoy!

Notes:

Time-Saving Tip - Make the bread cubes for the stuffing ahead of time and freeze them until ready to use. You can also make the veggie-broth mixture a day ahead of time. Just follow steps 5-8 (no need to preheat oven) and place the veggie-broth mixture into the fridge up to one day ahead of time. Then, when you're ready to make the stuffing, remove the croutons from the freezer and the veggie-broth from the fridge and allow them to come to room temp. Then follow the remaining steps to incorporate the eggs and milk, and bake as directed.

Money-Saving Tip - Here's a frugal way to make croutons, simply save all of the heels from your favorite bread, making sure to place them in a big airtight bag in your freezer. Once the bag contains about 20 or so heels, let them defrost completely and then follow the baking instructions above to make croutons.

Adapted from this recipe: thenourishinghome


Simple Roast Turkey

INGREDIENTS
1 turkey (10 to 12 pounds)
Coarse kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 lemon, zested and quartered
1 bunch fresh thyme or rosemary
1 bunch fresh sage
12 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 bottle hard apple cider (12 ounces)
Dry white wine, as needed
2 onions, peeled and quartered
3 bay leaves
Olive oil or melted butter, as needed

PREPARATION
Remove any giblets from the cavity and reserve for stock or gravy. Pat turkey and turkey neck dry with paper towel; rub turkey all over with 1/2 teaspoon salt per pound of turkey, the pepper and the lemon zest, including the neck. Transfer to a 2-gallon (or larger) resealable plastic bag. Tuck herbs and 6 garlic cloves inside bag. Seal and refrigerate on a small rimmed baking sheet (or wrapped in another bag) for at least 1 day and up to 3 days, turning the bird over every day (or after 12 hours if brining for only 1 day).
Remove turkey from bag and pat dry with paper towels. Place turkey, uncovered, back on the baking sheet. Return to the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to 12 hours to dry out the skin (this helps crisp it).
When you are ready to cook the turkey, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for one hour.
Heat oven to 450 degrees. In the bottom of a large roasting pan, add the cider and enough wine to fill the pan to a 1/4-inch depth. Add half the onions, the remaining 6 garlic cloves and the bay leaves. Stuff the remaining onion quarters and the lemon quarters into the turkey cavity. Brush the turkey skin generously with oil or melted butter.
Place turkey, breast side up, on a roasting rack set inside the roasting pan. Transfer pan to the oven and roast 30 minutes. Cover breast with aluminum foil. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of a thigh reaches a temperature of 165 degrees, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours more. Transfer turkey to a cutting board to rest for 30 minutes before carving.


cooking.nytimes How to Cook a Turkey