Culinary Secrets with The Hills
A Simple Holiday Dinner
By Maralyn Hill and Brenda Hill
 

We’re going to show you how to prepare a holiday dinner with some short cuts which will enable you to join in and enjoy the dinner.

Maralyn was a Special Co-Host and Brenda was a guest on our online radio show Eat, Drink & Be Merry! on November 7, 2008. To listen to the entire, unedited show, click here. To listen to Maralyn and Brenda talk about the recipes below, please double click on the Play Button below.


Our menu consists of:

Appetizer: Spiced Pecans
Dinner: Turkey, Sweet Potato Stuffing, Tequila Gravy, Green Bean Casserole, Green Chili Corn Bread and Cranberries
Dessert: Cheesecake
PAMA and Champagne

Spiced Pecans
We did not want something complicated or filling as we wanted everyone to have room for the turkey. The Spiced Pecans can be made a week ahead of time. Just be sure to hide them, so they don’t disappear.

1 pound of pecans
3 cups of water
½ cup brown sugar or stevia equivalent
1 tablespoon cinnamon
½ to 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons kosher salt (keep 1 teaspoon aside)

1. Bring water to boil and add all ingredients except the 1 teaspoon of salt you are keeping aside.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Drain well and let sit for 10 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
5. Line two cookie sheets with foil.
6. Divide nuts between two sheets and spread evenly.
7. Sprinkle lightly with remaining salt. You may want a little more.
8. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
9. Cool and put in containers. You can make this a few days early.
Optional: if you want the nuts to shine, brush lightly with egg white before baking.

Roasted Turkey
We use fresh turkey. They stay moister when cooking.

Check the weight of your turkey. The package will give you the estimated cooking time. Usually, you allow 22 minutes a pound for an unstuffed turkey. But, check the wrapper recommended time and use a meat thermometer and roast to 170 degrees. As you let the turkey rest for 30 minutes before slicing, it will cook the additional 10 degrees necessary. Or, if it has a red button inserted for temperature, when it pops up, your turkey is done. We are not putting stuffing in the bird as it is safer to cook it in a casserole and the turkey stays moister if it is not stuffed. When you bring your turkey home from the store, even though it may be in a plastic bag, we place ours in a pan in the refrigerator as the bags usually leak.

1 turkey
2 or 3 lemons (cut in quarters)
3 or 4 onions (peeled and cut in quarters)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 bunches parsley (chopped)
1 bunch of cilantro (chopped) or 1 tablespoon cilantro paste
½ teaspoon salt
1 pound of butter softened
1 ½ cups water

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Wash the turkey inside and out with cool water. (Remove neck and giblets. The giblets may be in the neck of the turkey.) Pat dry with paper towel.
3. Carefully, lift the skin over the breast and slide your hand between the skin and the breast and loosen it. Separate this as far around the breast as you can. Set aside.
4. Combine butter, parsley, cilantro, and salt. Mix well. Place between skin and breast and spread evenly.
5. Mix lemons, onions and minced garlic together. Toss inside the turkey cavity. Tuck wings in, tie, or use metal skewer to hold them against body of bird.
6. Place on rack in roasting pan. Add 1 ½ cups of water.
7. Place in preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Baste all over and reduce heat to 325 degrees. Continue to baste every 30 minutes.
8. When skin is golden brown, make a tent of foil and place over the breast.
9. Remove when turkey reaches 170 degrees.
10. Remove from oven and let set for 30 minutes before you carve.

It took our 14 pound turkey 4 hours.
While your turkey is roasting, you can prepare your stuffing, green bean casserole and cornbread.

Cornbread
First we prepared the cornbread and we used a shortcut. We used  2 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread Mix
Follow directions with three variations.
Two boxes called for 2/3 cup of milk. We used 1/3 cup of milk and 1/3 cup of mayonnaise.
We also drained a small can of chilies and added those to the mix.
The third change was using a loaf pan instead of muffin tins.
Everything else was as the directions said.
The preparation took us about 5 or 6 minutes.
We turned the oven back up to 350 degrees so it took 15 minutes off the time for roasting the turkey and added 7 minutes to how long we had to bake the cornbread.
I have a wonderful cornbread recipe that is from scratch. If any of you want it, let me know and I’ll post it.

Sweet Potato Dressing
1 package of Pepperidge Farms Herbed Dressing Mix (or similar type)
1 pint chopped red onions
1 pint chopped white onions and celery
4 to 6 sweet potatoes peeled and diced
3 cups chicken broth (you can use water if necessary but broth has more flavor)
¼ pound of butter cut in chunks

1. Bring broth to a boil and turn off.
2. Add butter (it will melt in a couple of minutes.
3. But dressing mix in large bowl.
4. Add onions, celery, and sweet potatoes.
5. Pour broth and butter mixture over mixture.
6. Spray casserole dish with cooking spray.
7. Mix well and place in a casserole dish.
8. Put cover or foil on top and cook at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. Or, you can cook at 325 with turkey for 30 minutes and turn oven up to 350 for another 30 to 40 minutes.
9. Remove cover/foil the last 15 minutes so dressing is crunchy on top.

Optional: Adding ½ cup of chopped pecans or walnuts will add a nice flavor.
Next we prepared the green bean casserole. We did not have a recipe, but first has this at holiday dinners in the 50’s.

Green Bean Casserole
1 package frozen green beans (cook ½ time package says since you also will be baking)
1 can mushroom soup
1 can French’s French Fried Onions (next to canned green beans in grocery stores)

1. Cook green beans and drain.
2. Put in casserole dish.
3. Pour can of mushroom soup over green beans.
4. Sprinkle French’s French Fried Onions over top.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

We cooked these while the turkey was resting before being carved.

Tequila Gravy
1 or 2 jars of turkey gravy
Heat and put in serving dish.
Drizzle 1 or 2 teaspoons of tequila over gravy.

Do we ever make gravy? Yes. But we wanted today to be quick and simple.
Cranberries - we used canned.

Cheesecake
Cheesecake was a perfect ending. Jonathan, one of our guests made an old family recipe. It was delicious. We do not have Jon’s recipe but we do have a good one to include for those who want to make one. You will need a spring form pan or deep pie plate. We make this a day ahead of time.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Graham cracker crust:
1 ¼ cups gram cracker crumbs
2 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
Mix and press into bottom of spring form pan or deep pie plate.

Blend together:
½ cup white sugar
1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs beaten
Blend then pat into crust.
Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes and cool for 30-45 minutes.

Mix together:
1 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons white sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
Spoon on top of cooled pie and bake 10 more minutes at 325 degrees.
Cool and keep in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Garnish with fresh fruit if desired.

This is a failsafe recipe that we’ve been making for more years than we care to count. However, if you don’t want to mess around, grab a Sara Lee, take it out of container and garnish. It will be difficult to tell the difference.

PAMA and Champagne
Last but certainly not least!

3 oz PAMA Pomegranate liquer or Pomegranate Juice (you can adjust to taste)
1 oz champagne or dry sparkling wine

Pour PAMA and champagne into a shaker over ice.

Strain into a flute glass or a shape of your choice.
The Pomegranate Sip will be simply perfect for your holiday dinner...

Hill Team Hints

Get your ingredients all out so they are handy.
Clean up as you go along.
Wash your hands a lot.
Have your serving dishes out.
Set your table while your turkey is roasting or the night before. We only needed silverware, napkins, and wine glasses as we had the plates on the island where we would set buffet.
Serve buffet style so you are not trying to find room for everything on the table.
Remember, fix enough but not so much that you are exhausted and everyone is too full to enjoy the turkey.
Clear dishes and stack before you serve dessert. It will make cleaning up easier.
Be sure you have zip lock storage bags to quickly store food.
Enjoy your guests and dinner!!!