Thanksgiving FAQ for the whole AW Community

Oooo. Got to have brown gravy, made fresh with flour and the juice from the turkey. Mix that up with the mashed spuds with the skin left in, a little bit of corn and leftover turkey-yum!

Sweet potato pie! Sweet potato pie! The best part of that pie is that I'm the only one who eats it, so I get the whole thing to myself.

We usually make 5 sweet potato pies: 1 to take/give to Thanksgiving guests...and 4 to be shared between the two of us. What can I say? Sweet potato pie is the perfect dessert, but it's also the perfect breakfast. And the perfect lunch. And the perfect dinner. It's made out of vegetables, people! This year we are having 9 dinner guests. It's possible they will each need their own pie, even the baby. I know I ain't sharing.

I have never tried that. I think I will this year. My MIL is always looking to try new things.

This one's for Mac.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2 cups warm sweet potatoes, boiled & mashed
1/2 cup shortening
2 tsp. baking powder
3 cups sifted flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt

Sift together flour and baking powder in one bowl. In larger mixing bowl, mix the warm potatoes with sugar, salt and shortening. Beat until just blended. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

The dough will be sticky. Flour your board/counter and your hands. Roll dough out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until just browned. Watch the first batch carefully. Too brown and they get dry. These biscuits are supposed to be moist.

ChaosTitan said:

This one's for Mac.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

2 cups warm sweet potatoes, boiled & mashed
1/2 cup shortening
2 tsp. baking powder
3 cups sifted flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt

Sift together flour and baking powder in one bowl. In larger mixing bowl, mix the warm potatoes with sugar, salt and shortening. Beat until just blended. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

The dough will be sticky. Flour your board/counter and your hands. Roll dough out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until just browned. Watch the first batch carefully. Too brown and they get dry. These biscuits are supposed to be moist.

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I think I love you. I'm going to go make these now...


I've been trying to get my siblings to try sweet potato anything, but they think it's too nasty in appearance to try it. Really, any vegetable that is topped with marshmallows and brown sugar can't be bad. Oh well. More for me.

Dawnbird said:

I think I love you. I'm going to go make these now...


I've been trying to get my siblings to try sweet potato anything, but they think it's too nasty in appearance to try it.

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I saw this neat recipe for French Toast that had you mix a few tablespoons of pureed sweet potato in with the egg and cinnamon. It sounds fantastic, and an easy way to sneak sweet potatoes into someone's diet. Cuz they really are good for you.

I'm going to try something new this Thanksgiving. I'm trying them today to make sure they work out well. But I'm thinking Whoopie Pies would be a fun change.

icerose said:

I'm going to try something new this Thanksgiving. I'm trying them today to make sure they work out well. But I'm thinking Whoopie Pies would be a fun change.

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They give them out for Halloween in Maine and N.H.

The tricky part is not letting the cake part over-cook, for me.

Growing up everything was "from scratch". My musts included homemade cranberry relish and candied yams (though as a kid I only ate the marshmallow off the top).

On a side note, the first Thanksgiving I had at my mother-in-laws was quite and experience. Let me preface this by saying I love my mother-in-law. Cranberry glob from a can, instant mashed potatoes, canned green beans... Do I need to mention I do the cooking now LOL.

Turkey and stuffing.

That's it.

Everything else is just getting in my way of enjoying those two items.

Medievalist said:

They give them out for Halloween in Maine and N.H.

The tricky part is not letting the cake part over-cook, for me.

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I've never had them. They don't appear here in Utah, at least no where that I've seen. So I'm heating up the oven today and seeing how they turn out. I'd have to make them anyway for my kids so it's just as well.

Kitty Pryde said:

... What can I say? Sweet Potato Pie is the perfect dessert, but it's also the perfect breakfast. And the perfect lunch. And the perfect dinner. It's made out of vegetables, people!

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Amen Sister!

And here they are.



I might try some pumpkin ones for thanksgiving see how they turn out.

icerose said:

And here they are.

I might try some pumpkin ones for thanksgiving see how they turn out.

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I'll be right over.

icerose said:

And here they are.


I might try some pumpkin ones for thanksgiving see how they turn out.

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Recipe please. I have pregnant wife that is demanding I start Thanksgiving early this year...like yesterday.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Turkey and stuffing.

That's it.

Everything else is just getting in my way of enjoying those two items.

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I'm all about a minimalist meal: turkey, mashed taters, pie. Repeat.

MattW said:

Recipe please. I have pregnant wife that is demanding I start Thanksgiving early this year...like yesterday.

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The chocolate or pumpkin ones?

For the pumpkin ones this is the recipe I'm going to try. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Whoopie-Pies/Detail.aspx But I'm going to use a cream cheese filling instead of the one they have.

MacAllister said:

I've heard this rumor that Sharon Mock makes maple/allspice butter that would go well with these...

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The rumor is true, though the poster is slow...

Maple-Allspice Butter:

1 stick butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Mix together. Goes wonderfully on baked sweet potatoes and winter squash. I will have to try Kelly's sweet potato biscuit recipe before Thanksgiving. For the first time in years, we're not hosting.

MacAllister said:

Thanksgiving morning starts with either orange sweet rolls or sticky buns, and really good coffee. Which morphs into Irish Coffees, at some point about mid-morning...

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In my house, it's cinnamon and nutmeg crepes with butter and jam (always homemade, typically peach) or orange sugar and hot chocolate with marshmallows.

backslashbaby said:

What, nobody else needs the obligatory sweet potato bake with melted marshmallows on top?

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My kids would go on strike if I didn't make candied Yams (NO, *holds her hands up* let's not start up on what is a yam and what is a sweet potato) I get yams from the market *points to the label that says Yams).

My mom always made up some dream whip, added drained fruit cocktail, chopped apples, sliced bananas and if we were lucky, miniature marshmallows.

I've kept my ex mother-in-laws tradition and make homemade orange rolls.

This year, because I cooked a turkey not long ago and froze a lot of the left over meat, I'm making a turkey pot pie with a gluten free crust. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Oh and I have to make pumpkin pie, my kids eat it for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving.

What? It's a vegetable.

I like simple for Thanksgiving. One of my favorite simples is: Winter squash (butternut, acorn, hubbard, etc., virtually any variety will do), halved, seeds scooped out, cavity filled with some butter, honey, cinnamon, baked uncovered on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes at 325 degrees or so, until soft (will depend upon size of squash). When I lived in the U.K. I amazed some of my Brit friends with this dish on more than one occasion; twenty years ago, winter squashes were a real exotic edible to Brits, but perhaps that's changed since then. I hope so.

caw

Dear Lord I'm HUNGRY now!!!!!

I seriously can't pick my ONE favorite side. It can't be done. They all just .... go together. One scrumptious harmonization of so many distinct flavors. I can't bear to single any out!!!

Mashed Potatoes (lots of cream and butter), apple-sausage stuffing, both smothered in turkey drippin' gravy... Green bean casserole and zucchini squash casserole... corn souffle... Vanilla spice bread with pecan butter...

These are the things which dreams are made of

GRAVY!

...on stuffing, on bread, on rice, on potatoes, on EVERYTHING!

Mmm, yes. All the lovely traditional and not so traditional sides mentioned above, plus, this year I'm trying out a creamy cauliflower gratin. Also, I hate pumpkin pie (but love sweet potato - go figure) so I do a pumpkin cheesecake every year. We're all going to die of coronary failure before the morning.

A note on the turkey, I cook the bird breast side down for the first half, then flip it over for the last half of the cooking time. All that thigh and backbone fat bastes the breast. I've brined, cooked in a bag, basted every fifteen minutes, etc. and this is my favorite method.