Thanksgiving Turkey Stuffing (or Dressing)

 There are three things you need to know about this recipe:

1) It slaps. No other turkey stuffing comes close. Thanks, Mom.

2) The folks in charge of food safety have declared that stuffing a turkey is potentially dangerous, so if you're going to do this, please be careful. Holidays are always more festive without a trip to the ER for food poisoning.

3) If you brine your turkey, do not stuff it. The stuffing will be like a salt lick, completely inedible (unless you're Curtis and your taste buds were shot off in the war). Make it as a dressing instead. If you want good turkey flavor in your dressing, save the turkey neck and lay it over the top of the dressing so they cook together.

THANKSGIVING TURKEY STUFFING (OR DRESSING)
1 large or 2 medium onions
2 ribs celery
2 large carrots
1 lb. pork sausage (get Jimmy Dean or other breakfast sausage with sage in it)
2 loaves bread, separated into slices and allowed to dry out
OR 1 large bag prepared bread cubes
2 eggs, whisked
parsley to taste (you can use fresh or dried parsley)
sage to taste (add quite a bit)
salt and pepper to taste
broth (if needed)

Finely chop onion and celery and grate carrots. Saute them together with the sausage until the sausage is cooked through (food safety for the win!). Place in a large mixing bowl and allow to cool to lukewarm. Dice bread into cubes if you're using bread. Add all ingredients to the sausage mixture and stir until thoroughly combined. The stuffing should be somewhat dry; it will get additional liquid from the turkey juices. Stuff cavity of turkey (gently; don't compact it) and bake.

If there's any remaining stuffing or if you're playing it safe, you can bake it as a dressing instead. Add a little more broth, turn into a lightly greased 9x13" pan, lay the turkey neck over the top, cover with foil and bake in a 350° oven for 1 hour. 

Serves a lot. Om nom.

Contributor: Karin Buck by way of Norma Eriksson, who got it from Grandma Kest (who used to stuff her turkey with RAW SAUSAGE, horrors!)

Aunt Marcia's Warm Elixir

When you need something warm and comforting and sweet and spiced, but you don't quite want cocoa, this is what you need.

AUNT MARCIA'S WARM ELIXIR
1 cup milk
ground cinnamon to taste
ground cardamom to taste
just enough sugar or honey to sweeten
dash of almond extract

Stir together and heat through, but don't boil. Serve warm.

Serves 1.

Contributor: Marcia Hetzler

Aunt Anna's Green Dip

Grandpa's sister Aunt Anna was a GOOD cook, and she was very generous when it came to feeding people. But she could get cagey about giving out recipes. She would sometimes strategically leave out one or two ingredients, just so other people's versions of her recipes would never turn out as well as hers. (Scoundrel.)

We don't know if this dip has all the ingredients, but it's plenty toothsome as is.

AUNT ANNA'S GREEN DIP
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 package frozen spinach, defrosted, pressed dry and chopped
2-3 green onions, chopped very fine
1 can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 envelope Knorr Leek Soup (sometimes sold as "Leek Recipe Mix")

Mix everything together very well. Store in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving so the flavors blend. Serve with crudités, baguette slices or chips.

Makes about 3 cups dip.

Contributor: Anna Hartelius

Pickled Herring

I know you're all keen to find out how to make pickled herring from scratch. (And if you're not, I don't want to hear about it.) This is the recipe straight from Grandpa Eriksson. He didn't bother to give much information by way of proportions, but if you've ever looked over a jar of pickled herring, I'm pretty sure you can figure things out.

PICKLED HERRING
salt herring fillets
water
white vinegar
sugar
carrots
red onions
fresh root ginger
whole allspice
whole mustard seed

Soak salt herring in cold water 6 hours or overnight, changing the water every two hours. Drain herring, pat dry with paper towels and cut into neat bite-sized chunks.

Make a brine of about 4 parts water to 1 part vinegar (for a small batch: 1 quart water, ½ pint vinegar). Saturate brine with sugar (it should taste sweet). Bring brine to a boil, then allow it to cool completely. Get out a large, clean glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Cut carrots and onions into thin rounds. Slice ginger very thin and place a thin round at the bottom of the glass jar. Layer in herring chunks, allspice berries, carrots, onions and mustard seed; repeat until jar is full. Add brine to jar, completely covering herring, and pack down to make sure no air bubbles remain. Tighten lid and let herring pickle in the refrigerator for at least five days before eating.

When not scarfing down nommy silver fish, store in the fridge.

Contributor: Karl Eriksson

Kari Sue's Barbecue Sauce

It's barbecue season, so it's time to make barbecue sauce. Mom and Grandpa put this sauce together one summer years ago. Since Mom just makes it "to taste," there are few specific amounts in this recipe. Just fiddle with the ratios until it tastes right.

KARI SUE'S BARBECUE SAUCE
ketchup
some shakes of Worcestershire sauce
1 onion, blended to a paste
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 T. vegetable oil
brown sugar
a few shakes of liquid smoke

Put it all togetha. Slather it on ribs, chicken, or whatever's gone on the grill (it's even good on corn on the cob).

Contributor: Karin Buck

Chicken-Corn Soup

For our occasional Soup Nights in fall, winter and early spring, I try to make at least one offering that can be enjoyed by people with dietary restrictions (in the past, our guests have been Type 2 diabetics, celiacs, vegans, and people with food allergies). Here's one I put together for a guest whose doctor had taken her off onions, garlic and dairy products. It takes some extra prep work because dairy, onions and garlic are in many, MANY prepared foods. Despite the ingredient restrictions, I think it turned out pretty tasty.

CHICKEN-CORN SOUP

Cashew cream:
Get a package of raw cashews (Trader Joe’s sells them), dump them in a bowl, cover with water and let sit in the fridge overnight. Blend cashews and water very thoroughly, until the mixture reaches the consistency of cream. This keeps in the fridge for about a week.

Chicken prep:
1 whole raw chicken
your favorite gluten-free soy sauce (I used San-J Tamari)

Roast the chicken using your preferred method, basting with gluten-free soy sauce for a flavor boost. Let it cool a bit, pick the meat from the bones and reserve for later, and make chicken broth from the carcass (taking care not to add onion or garlic to the broth). Now forge boldly ahead with the recipe!

Soup:
3 cups frozen corn kernels
1 quart homemade chicken broth (see above)
2 T. Nucoa or other dairy-free margarine, or use oil
4 T. cashew cream (see above) or other dairy-free cream substitute
2 t. cumin seed, freshly toasted in a dry pan, then ground in a mortar
A good dash of nutmeg
A couple good dashes of cayenne pepper
Salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste
Reserved chicken meat (see above)

Additionals/optionals:
cooked crumbled bacon (check that the bacon is gluten-free -- all bacon should be, but sometimes cross-contamination occurs in processing)
chopped chives (NOTE: some folks who can't eat onions also can't eat chives, so keep 'em separate)

In a medium stockpot, melt margarine. Add corn, chicken stock, cumin, nutmeg, cayenne and pepper and let it simmer until the corn is cooked. Transfer in batches to a blender and blend about 4 minutes, or until it’s really velvety smooth. Return to the pot and add chicken meat and cashew cream, and heat through. Salt to taste. Serve with bacon and chives on the side for diners to garnish as desired.

Feeds many.

The freshly-toasted and ground cumin and soy sauce give this soup a great savory note that offsets the sweetness of the corn and cashew cream. In fact, if I were to do this again I'd add more cumin, but try it this way first, then adjust to your taste.

By the way, guests who didn't have dietary restrictions also OM NOM NOMmed this soup until it was gone, so really, it's good.

Contributor: Soozcat

Grandma Kest's Christmas Soup

I know, David, you hate this stuff. But some of us loooove it. Mm mm good!

GRANDMA KEST'S CHRISTMAS SOUP
Soup:
2 packages meaty soup bones
1 gallon water
1 onion, chopped
¼ cup barley
1 large can tomatoes
2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste
allspice to taste

Meatballs:
1 lb. ground beef
1 egg
¼ cup onion, diced
about ½ cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
dash of nutmeg
dash of allspice

In a large soup pot, combine bones and water. Add onion and bring to a boil; cover and boil gently 3-4 hours. Remove bones. Add barley and cook 30 minutes.

While barley is cooking, in a food processor whirl together all ingredients for meatballs until meat mixture is smooth and there are no visible chunks of onion. Roll mixture into walnut-sized balls and add them directly to soup when the 30 minutes are up. Cook another 20 minutes.

(At this point you may refrigerate the soup and skim the fat from the top, then reheat, but it's completely up to you.)

Strain canned tomatoes directly into the soup, then add remaining ingredients, heat through and serve.

Makes a whole lotta soup, and happy people if they happen to like homemade tomatensoep met balletjes, which is the Dutch name for it.

Contributor: Catharina Kest

Grandma Kest's Chocolate Applesauce Fruit Cake

I know, you may think you don't like fruitcake. But you're WRONG.

We think Grandma Kest came up with this one herself.

GRANDMA KEST'S CHOCOLATE APPLESAUCE FRUIT CAKE
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 can applesauce
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ginger
½ cup shortening
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts, chopped
½ cup maraschino cherries
1 teaspoon maraschino cherry juice
2 tablespoons citron peel, chopped

OK, ready?

In one bowl, blend together flour, cornstarch, cocoa, salt, leavenings and spices. In another bowl, cream together shortening, sugars and egg. To this bowl, add alternately applesauce and flour mixture. Then add raisins, walnuts, cherries and juice, and citron peel and mix well.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a tube pan. Turn batter into pan and place in the middle rack of the oven. On the rack below it, place a small pan of water (this will help keep the cake moist as it bakes). Bake for 1½ hours or until a toothpick placed into the center of the cake comes out clean.

You will eat it! And you will like it! If you don't, Grandma's ghost will haunt you! So there.

Aunt Anna's Almond Cookies

Anna Hartelius was Grandpa Eriksson's sister. She spoke "Swenglish," a mixed amalgam of Swedish and English that was equally unintelligible to both native Swedes and English speakers. She was also a very fine cook and a fantastic baker. These almond cookies are her creation.

AUNT ANNA'S ALMOND COOKIES
1 lb. butter, at room temperature
1⅓ cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 cups flour
⅔ cup chopped almonds
2 teaspoons dark Karo syrup
1 teaspoon almond extract

To butter, add sugar, dry ingredients, syrup and almond extract; mix together, kneading with hands until dough is a soft ball.  Divide dough into 4 equal portions, form into long rolls, roll in wax paper and store in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cut rolls into cookies (about ¼" in thickness) and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet 20-25 minutes. Makes grundles of cookies!

Good with milk, cocoa and Auntie Marcia's Warm Elixir.

If you want, you can get all fancy-pants with this recipe and half-dip the cookies in melted chocolate, but really, they're good all on their own.