Thanksgiving Recipes - Love, BATF

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is upon us, so we thought it would be nice to help you prepare a bit. Whether you’re the one hosting or you’re the one responsible for bringing a side dish, we’ve got all the popular (and some non-traditional) recipes below. All tested and approved!

Here’s wishing you a happy, family-rich holiday full of feasting and drinking!

Love,

Beauties and the Feast

The Traditionals…

1)      The Turkey:

2)      The Stuffing:

3)      The Mashed Potatoes:

4)      The Gravy:

5)      The Cranberry Sauce:

And some non-traditional, vegetarian-friendly side dishes:

6)      Slow-roasted Tomato Tart:

7)      Zucchini Gratin:

 

The Dessert! (we forgot to take a picture...must have eaten it too quickly)

8)      Old Fashioned Apple Crisp

Top 5 Recipes of 2011

We at Beauties and the Feast want to thank you for a wonderful first year in the blogosphere!  And as is commonly done in the last week of December, we thought we'd honor a good year of eats (and drinks!) with a countdown of the year's most popular recipes.

#5 Jack's Trailer Park Margaritas

You can take the girl out of Nevada but you can't take the Nevada out of the girl.

#4 A BATF Thanksgiving: The Turkey Recipe

Best recipe for Turkey ever. The secret is in the brine!

#3 Puttanesca

Pasta originated from the brothels of Naples - it's easy

#2 Pie for Breakfast  

 Potatoes, cheese and creepy leprechauns

And, for the #1 recipe of all time with a whopping 552 pageviews (drum roll please)....

#1 Dirty Santa!

Get on with your bad self, Santa; you made the holidays a little brighter.

Honorable mentions go to 3 Ingredient Fudge, The BATF Stuffing Recipe and Zucchini Gratin.

Thanks for following us this year.  Hope to see you in 2012 for more eats, drinks and laughs!

Cook, Consume, Comment, Cocktail!

-Jolie, Emily, Rachel, Megan, Missy and Amber

A BATF Thanksgiving: The Turkey Recipe

We decided to do something a little different with this blog for the holiday season and rather than posting our monthly recipe, we will post a series of Thanksgiving-worthy recipes leading up to the big day on November 24.

But of course we had to try these delicious dishes first -- so Thanksgiving came a little early for the Beauties this year. During our girls spa/foodie retreat earlier this month, we each brought a dish (or two) to the dinner table resulting in an all-too-filling-but-amazing Thanksgiving dinner. Emily and Amber photographed the whole thing and we all agreed to do a blog post about our findings.

Now I would never in a bazillion-gazillion years sign up to do the turkey. I really wouldn't. Alas, I came across a turkey recipe I have to make for work, if you can believe it. The short story is the recipe is going in a work newsletter sponsored by Butterball. So I thought if there's ever a time in my life to try a turkey, I should do it with my Beauties. There's nothing like having six girls around to help me figure it out.

I signed up to cook the turkey and was immediately struck with fear and regret. Thankfully, throughout the 1,386 emails that flew around between us, I discovered a couple of these girls have cooked a turkey! Oh happy day! And, without further ado, I have to give credit to Amber and Rachel who guided my virgin hand in the process of cooking a Thanksgiving turkey.

Amber helped me clean the turkey which is what I dreaded most. Fortunately, this particular Costco bird was pretty clean already so we just pulled out the bagged gizzard, rinsed the inside, cut off some excess skin and we were good to go. 2 for 2.

Rachel and Emily then added a new word to my culinary language: brine. We brined that bird the night before in a Home Depot paint bucket with the word BRINE scribbled on it in permanent ink -- 'cause that's how we roll. In it we put a couple gallons of water, enough to immerse the bird. In the water mixture was about two cups of salt and whatever spices we had available: rosemary, oregano, basil, lemon wedges and whole garlic heads. It marinated overnight, soaking up that yummy salty juice to give us a tender and flavorful bird.

When the bird was ready to cook, Amber helped me load it onto her roasting pan and put it in the oven. I cooked it at 350 instead of 325 and watched it carefully to make sure it didn't brown too fast. Well, turns out I needn't worry about over-browning: As Amber and I were standing over our bird oohing and aahing at our pre-mature success halfway thru cooking time, Rachel happened to wander by with a questioning look and asked us if the bird was breast side up. With little but forced confidence, we both said yes only to learn we really don't know what breast side up looks like. 2 for 3.

The result of our mistake made for about an hour longer cooking time but I was still on track to serve it up before bed time. Okay well before bed time.

Now I have to back track a bit to my small part in this whole turkey process. The day before, I made the rub. I was excited because I picked the fresh herbs from my garden. Tho I have to admit, as I was chopping herbs and wondering what in the world is dry ground lemon peel, the thought crossed my mind, "I could just cheat and go buy a rub in a fancy, little jar." Once a cheater...

But I made that rub from scratch, taking no shortcuts whatsoever. And tho it is a small piece of this turkey cooking process, it makes for BIG results. This mediterranean rub recipe will not only fill your house with the smell of goodness on Thanksgiving day, it makes the bird pretty and oh OHHH so flavorful! I feel bad for you who has to slice this turkey as it tempts you for just another bite.... (I'm such a sucker.)

If you have not yet discovered your best turkey recipe or want to try something new, this is the one for you. Good luck -- tho I don't think you'll need it.

ROAST TURKEY WITH MEDITERRANEAN RUB, courtesy of Butterball®

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients:

1 Turkey (14 to 16 pounds), thawed if frozen

1 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

¼ cup ground dry lemon peel (I messed this up and used chopped lemon zest instead -- totally worked)

4 tsp sugar, granulated

4 tsp sea salt

4 tsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1 tbsp dry oregano leaves

2 tsp ground black pepper

½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Remove neck and giblets from turkey. Pat turkey dry with paper towels. Turn wings back to hold neck skin against back of turkey. Place turkey breast side up on flat rack in shallow roasting pan.

3. Roast turkey approximately 1-1/2 hours. Then, cover breast loosely with Reynolds Wrap® Aluminum Foil to prevent overcooking.

4. While turkey is cooking, combine parsley, lemon peel, sugar, salt and spices to make rub. Set aside.

5. Roast turkey another 1-1/2 hours, or until meat thermometer reaches 180°F when inserted into the deepest part of the thigh muscle.

6. Let turkey stand 15 minutes before carving.

7. Sprinkle rub on sliced Butterball Turkey or rub over entire turkey when it is removed from the oven.

NOTE: Recommend using rub within 24 hours for best results. Amber poured orange juice in the roasting pan and stuffed a whole orange inside the turkey which I'm told contributes to its moist and awesome flavor. Since the turkey was awesome I have to agree! 

 
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Brine spices

Brine-master Emily

Oh baby...just how this turkey likes it.

Some of this turkey did make it to the dinner table.

The Guiltless Wonder Meatballs - Missy's Review

I basically followed the recipe, if you can call it that when you don't measure anything out. Measuring takes more time and effort (whiiiine), and really, who wants to wash another measuring cup? So I didn't measure a thing, although my trusty 1/4 cup hung out beside me willing me to use it. I decided much faster and more exciting to be risky and just eye it. As a result, I'm pretty sure I used more tortilla chips, garlic and pretty much more of everything than what the original recipe called for.

The other semi-important thing I did was go non-dairy on this one. In fact, I used turkey breast from Whole Foods, gluten-free rice penne pasta and soy-alternative Mexican cheese blend. I also used a big dollop of non-dairy mayo instead of an egg for binding.



Since I used turkey I let the meatballs simmer on low about triple the time so they could really soak in the flavor. I probably would've gone longer but I had an impatient, hungry husband on my heels. Finally, I didn't add much water to the sauce. 1/4 cup maybe? Nah, didn't measure that either. I let the sauce thicken and I cut up the meatballs during the last few minutes of simmer/stirring so it ended up being more of a meat sauce over penne dish.



The result was surprisingly awesome! My husband said it best: "I don't feel like this is so heavy but it's really flavorful." My thoughts exactly. And the other kick I'm on right now besides less dairy (less, not non) is herbal teas, so for dessert I kicked my feet up and sipped on some Kava tea.



This recipe was too easy, too yummy and too healthy not to make again. Great pick Rach!

May Recipe: Mexican Meatball Subs

Let me start with a confession - I love Mexican food. In fact, one might say I am obsessed with Mexican food. Someone asks - where should we go for lunch? I say - Mexican. My husband asks - what should we have for dinner? My list of possible answers - tacos, fajitas, enchiladas, nachos or take out Mexican. So since I'm responsible for the May recipe, I have to go south of the border in honor of Cinco de Mayo. As I was searching for the recipe, I did a little reading about the holiday. Cinco de Mayo recognizes the Mexican army's defeat of French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. It is mainly celebrated as a regional holiday in the state of Puebla in Mexico but has taken on a life of it's own in the United States, where it is viewed as a celebration of Mexican culture. And food of course :)

Instead of standard fare, I wanted to try something a little different. I thought this recipe looked fun, easy and most importantly, delicious! Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 pound ground meat (beef, pork, turkey or any mixture of these)

1/4 cup finely crushed tortilla chips

1 large egg, beaten

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped plus 3 whole sprigs

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 teaspoons ancho chili powder, separated

2 teaspoons ground cumin, separated

Kosher salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 cups canned fire-roasted diced tomatoes

4 crusty sub rolls, halved

Diced avocado, chopped green onion and crumbled Mexican cheese for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix the meat, tortilla chips, egg, chopped cilantro, onion, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon cumin and salt to taste in a bowl. Roll into 16 small meatballs.

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the meatballs and lightly brown, turning as needed, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining minced garlic, chili powder and cumin. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, the sprigs of cilantro and 1-1/2 cups water and season with salt. Bring to a simmer, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until the sauce thickens and the meatballs are tender, about 15 minutes.

About 5 minutes before the meatballs are done, toast the rolls in the oven. Place the rolls in individual bowls and top each with 4 meatballs. Drizzle sauce over the meatballs, then pour the remaining sauce into the bowls so the bread can soak up the sauce. Top with avocado, green onion and Mexican cheese.