Homemade vs. Pre-Made: Bread Stuffing for Roast Turkey

When it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, my favorite thing my mom makes is her stuffing. Same goes for all three of my brothers. We've always piled it on our plates at Thanksgiving. And once we all started bringing spouses and significant others to Thanksgiving dinner as we grew up, they all dug into the stuffing and loved it, too. It's just that good!

Contrast that with the first time I tried stuffing that's made from a boxed mix (the Mix-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Rhymes with RoveTop.). Ugh. My mom totally spoiled me. I couldn't eat more than a bite of the pre-made stuffing. It was dry and flavorless -- it sort of tasted like it was made of the box it came in. 

Like so many things, the from-scratch version of stuffing is actually really easy to make. My mom's amazing recipe is actually really basic, no fancy ingredients whatsoever. I've never made the boxed kind of stuffing, but I can't imagine that making it from scratch takes that much longer. Seriously. 

Not only does this homemade version of stuffing taste a bajillion times better than the pre-made variety, but it's also much healthier in comparison. The boxed kind is laden with preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated oils. Ick. Another reason to make your own stuffing: it's actually a frugal dish to make (it's a great way to use up stale bread). You likely have every ingredient already in your pantry or fridge. 

My mom's recipe for stuffing comes from an old cookbook from around the 1940s.  The cookbook actually belonged to my grandmother. There's no cover on it anymore, so I can't even mention the title. My mom doesn't really follow that recipe closely anymore -- she just mixes it up, eyeballing the amounts and tasting it as she goes. Like with her potato salad, I decided to document the process and write it all down. The recipe I'm sharing with you today is sufficient for a 10-lb. turkey, but my mom always makes extra, too. 

So, please, for Thanksgiving this week, step away from the packaged stuff and make your stuffing from scratch. You'll never go back to the box. 

Mom's Bread Stuffing for Roast Turkey

(sufficient for 10-lb. turkey)

One 1 ½ lb. loaf of white bread

2 ribs of celery, diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and grated

1/4 cup onions, chopped

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, minced

1 teaspoon fresh sage, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup chicken broth

Remove the crust from the bread and cut into a 1-inch dice. White bread does taste best in this recipe, though my mom has used wheat in the past. This stuffing is a great way to use up stale bread. Mom has used up stale hamburger/hot dog buns and other breads (like French bread) in the past with this recipe.

Dice up the celery, chop your onions, and grate the carrots (I just use my box grater). Want to feel all cool and culinary? These three ingredients together are called mirepoix. Now you can regale your Thanksgiving guests with this bit of knowledge. ("Oh this stuffing? I made it from scratch. So simple. First you start with a mirepoix...") 

The orignal recipe my mom referenced didn't call for parsley or sage, but they do add a really great flavor to the recipe. Feel free to omit if you don't have them, but I highly recommend both herbs. 

In a large skillet or pot (I used my Dutch oven) on medium-high heat, melt the butter then saute the celery and onion until soft and yellow. 

Add carrots and herbs to the celery and onion. Stir and cook for a few minutes.

Add the bread and the poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Stir and add broth. Let the mixture cool a little before stuffing it into a turkey.

Sooo, I actually I don't have any pictures of using the stuffing in a turkey. Let me explain...

The reason is that when I made this batch of stuffing pictured it was to take to a Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws. I didn't have the turkey available. So, yeah, this stuffing can be enjoyed even if it's not actually ever stuffed in the turkey. Just serve it warm (put it in the oven or on the warm setting on a slow cooker) and it's ready to go.

That said, while this stuffing is good when it's not actually stuffed into a turkey, it's even better when it is. When you cook the turkey with this stuffing inside it, the juices from the turkey give the stuffing such a great flavor. Cooking the turkey with stuffing inside does slow the cooking time, but I think it's worth it.

When you stuff the turkey, make sure to do it lightly. Do NOT pack the stuffing into the turkey tightly. If you have extra stuffing, you can bake it in the oven alongside the turkey in a dish. You don't want to understuff the turkey, either -- all the the juices from the turkey can make too little stuffing soggy. From what I've read, a good guideline is 1/2 to 3/4 cup of stuffing per pound of turkey.

There are a few food safety concerns regarding stuffing a turkey. You have to make sure that everything is properly cooked and heated through before you serve the stuffing. All the juices should run clear when the turkey is done (including on the inside where the stuffing is). Stuffing, like the turkey, needs to reach a minimum temperature of 165°F. If the turkey is done before your stuffing has reached this temperature, put the stuffing in a dish and let it cook in the oven longer. 

Another food safety tip: stuff the turkey right before you're going to roast it. Don't let the stuffing sit in the bird for any extended period of time -- that creates a perfect environment for bacterial growth. (For more tips about stuffing turkey safely, you can read here.) 

Once your stuffing has reached the proper temperature, remove from the turkey and put it into a serving dish (alongside a couple of the other sides I've put on this blog: homemade cranberry sauce and the only yam side dish I like). I hope you'll love it as much as my family does!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! Hope your celebration is wonderful!

A Summertime Staple: The Best Classic Potato Salad

I wasn't always a fan of my mom's potato salad.  In fact, I wouldn't touch the stuff when I was a kid. Thing is, I don't know if I even tried it back then. I probably did what my own kids do whenever they see something new on their plates: assume it's gross before even trying it. Another reason I might have avoided it was that I didn't really like eggs when I was a kid, especially the hard-boiled ones.

Fast-forward to my later teenage years when I overcame my prejudice and tried it. When I did, I finally understood why everyone else was heaping it onto their plates at family picnics and barbecues. Mom's potato salad is simple but delicious, balanced in its flavors, and even kind of colorful. I may be just the teensiest bit biased, but I think my mom makes THE BEST classic potato salad. And I won't even go into how it's superior over the store-bought stuff in the deli section of the grocery store or in tall tubs at Costco. I mean, that just goes without saying.

The recipe was my grandma's first (it's actually her birthday today). Even though my grandma passed away many years ago, whenever my mom makes this recipe, it's like part of her is back at the gathering. Last year, when my mom planned a picnic with a few of her brothers, they all requested that she make their mom's potato salad.

I've asked for the recipe a couple times, but my mom doesn't have it written down. She makes it from memory, eyeballing the ingredient amounts and consistency of the salad, tasting it all as she goes. This past weekend she made it again for a Father's Day picnic, so I took notes.  I figured I should write it down, you know, for posterity's sake -- and yours.

Grandma Erickson's Potato Salad, aka The Best Classic Potato Salad 
5 lbs. potatoes (my mom uses Yukon Gold, but you can use any variety), boiled, peeled, and cut into bite-sized cubes
2-3 ribs celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup chives (or green onions), finely chopped
8 large eggs, hard-boiled, finely chopped
1/2 cup sweet pickles, finely chopped, with some of the pickle juice reserved (we used these pickles we canned, but the store-bought sweet pickles work fine, too)
1/2 cup peppers, finely chopped  (we used these pickled peppers, but you can use pickled peppers, pimientos, or fresh red bell pepper)
1 tsp. yellow mustard
1 cup mayonnaise (Mom swears by Best Foods/Hellman's mayo)
2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
1 tsp. ground pepper

Boil potatoes until soft. My grandma always boiled them with the skins on -- makes them easier to peel. Peel potatoes then chop into bite-size cubes

Boil the eggs. Be sure that the eggs are thoroughly cooked. Word to the wise: before you peel all of them, check one of them first. You wouldn't want to boil a dozen of your chickens' lovely eggs, peel them all, realize that they weren't cooked through all the way, and have your mom tell you that they can't be used. Not that I would know from experience or anything. (ahem.)

Perfectly cooked eggs have a tender white and the yolk is pale yellow, fluffy but firm. Undercooked hardboiled eggs (like the one on the left in the picture above) have a damp yolk that is more dark-gold than pale yellow. Be careful not to overcook them, though, or the yolk will have a harmless-but-ugly grayish-green ring around it  (Helpful tutorial for hard-boiling eggs can be found here.)

Cut the eggs up well, so that they're almost crumbly. My mom likes to use a paring knife to cut the egg up in her hand. I helped her out and did the same, holding it as I cut it the way I would an onion.

IMPORTANT: let the potatoes and eggs cool completely before you make the potato salad. If you don't, it will turn into this hot, mushy mess instead of a cool, refreshing salad. Who wants that?

Put the chopped potatoes in large bowl. Drizzle with reserved pickle juice (and the juice from the pickled peppers, if you're using them), about 1/2 cup (if you're using the juice from pickled peppers, too, do 1/4 cup pickle juice and 1/4 cup pickled pepper juice).

Add salt, pepper, and chives. Stir gently so the potatoes don't get mushy. For the best results, stop at this point and let the mixture chill overnight. This lets the flavors really seep into the potatoes. This step isn't completely necessary, though.

Add the chopped pickles, peppers, celery, eggs, mustard, and mayonnaise. Fold these ingredients in gently, too. Taste the salad and add more salt and pepper, if needed, depending on your preferences. You can also add more mayonnaise, too, if you want a creamier consistency.

Keep the salad chilled until served -- and be prepared for future requests.

Homemade vs. Pre-made: Basic Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is like whipped cream. Whenever I make whipped cream from scratch, I get all sorts of impressed expressions like, "Wow! Real whipped cream!" or "I wish I had the time to do stuff like that!".  I'm always torn between the prideful part of me that wants to look awesomely domestic and the side of me that is ever-eager to dispense any sort of knowledge (hence this blog). Usually I'll come clean and tell people how incredibly easy it was to make and how it only took a few minutes.

The same goes for cranberry sauce. People think it's fancy when you make your own, but, really, it's a cinch to make; it only takes around ten minutes hands-on time. I know that for some people (like my dad) Thanksgiving isn't quite Thanksgiving unless the cranberry sauce belches out of a can and has lines imprinted on it. To each his own. That said, the canned stuff does have high fructose corn syrup in it and I'm all for avoiding that stuff completely. And, as it is with most homemade foods, the from-scratch version tastes so much better than the canned kind.  There are a bunch of different recipes for homemade cranberry sauce (some use orange juice, some have sugar, some have maple syrup, some have oranges or pineapple added to it), but the recipe I'm sharing with you is a basic, whole-berry cranberry sauce.

So, do you want to impress your guests at Thanksgiving dinner? Here's how...

For this recipe (it yields around 2 cups of sauce), you'll need:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• One 12-oz. bag of cranberries

Rinse the cranberries in a colander. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and the sugar. Bring to a boil.

Once the sugar-water mixture is boiling, add the cranberries. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir occasionally.

This is my favorite part...

I can't quite explain why, but I like to watch the cranberries start to split (they get these fun lines and designs on them) and then pop. Yes, I am easily entertained.

Let the mixture boil gently for about ten minutes. By then, the cranberries have all burst and have broken down nicely.

Pour the cranberry sauce into a bowl, cover, and let it cool completely at room temperature. Don't worry if the sauce looks kind of soupy at this point -- as it cools, it will reduce and get firmer. It reminds me of jam -- as it cools it begins to set.

Once it has cooled, refrigerate the sauce until you're ready to serve it. Your family and friends will appreciate and admire your efforts. It's up to you whether or not you tell them how easy it was.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

{This post is linked up to Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.}

One of My Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dishes (a.k.a., the only yam recipe I like)

I understand that yams can be pretty divisive. Most people either love them or hate them. If you like yams, I think you'll love this recipe. If you don't like them, I'll just ask you to keep an open mind. I mean, there are no marshmallows in this recipe. The yams are mashed and sweetened and then topped with sugary pecan crumble. So it is different than the others I've seen. Maybe you won't hate this recipe?  Like the title says -- this is the only yam recipe I like. Give it a try.

There are two parts to this recipe: the mashed yams and the toppings. To get started with the mashed yam mixture, you'll need:

3 cups of mashed yams (how many yams this is totally depends on the size of the yams you use. I used about 4 large to medium sized ones)
4 Tbsp. of butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar (this year, my mom substituted some of the white sugar with pure maple syrup -- gave it a nice flavor)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Boil the yams, with the peel still on, until tender (if you can stick a fork all the way through them, they're ready).  Once they're cooked, transfer them to a clean surface and peel; the peel will come off easily.

Once peeled, mash the cooked yams like you would mashed potatoes. I used my KitchenAid, but you could also use a hand mixer or mash it with a potato masher. Get it nice and smooth.

In a mixing bowl, combine the mashed yams with butter, eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla, and salt.  Once mixed, pour it into a round or square baking dish.

One nice thing about this recipe is that you can break it into different days -- you can make the mashed yam mix days before you need them and then on the day you're going to serve them, mix up the topping and bake.

For the topping, you'll need:

4 Tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the butter, sugars, flour, and pecans. The topping resembles one you'd see on a fruit crisp -- yum!

Sprinkle the topping all over the mashed yam mixture.  Bake for 45 minutes.

And there it is -- the only yam recipe I like. It's really good -- a sort of cross between a side dish and a dessert. Like I said, approach it with an open mind.

Speaking of desserts...

I couldn't help posting a link to this 'pie' I made today. It's the Pioneer Woman's Nantucket Cranberry Pie.  I just baked it. It was so, so easy to make and it smells AMAZING!

Happy Thanksgiving!