Crockpot Sweet Potatoes

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled, grated
1/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup coconut, flaked
1/4 cup coursely chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a slow cooker, combine potatoes, sugar, butter, coconut, pecans and cinnamon. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours. Stir in vanilla extract.

Source: http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotvegetables/r/bl87c10.htm

COMMENT: I made these for Thanksgiving 2007 at Maw's house. Everyone liked them. I liked them too. It was also nice to free up a space in the oven. So many times you have SO many things to bake that day. One less thing to time in the oven was GREAT! Try it, let me know what you think.

Sweet Potato & Apple Gratin

Sweet Potato Layers:
2 Tbs margarine or butter
3 large Golden Delicious Apples (peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 slices)
1 jumbo onion
2 Tbs applejack brandy (or white wine)
6 medium sweet potatoes (2 1/2 pounds)
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (maybe cinnamon too or allspice)
1 cup apple cider or apple juice

Pecan-crumb topping:
2 Tbs margarine or butter
3 slices firm white bread (cut into 1/4-inch pieces)
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Prepare Sweet-potato layers: Grease shallow casserole. In skillet, melt butter. Add apples and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until tender and golden (25 min). Stir in wine and cook 1 more minute, remove from heat. Meanwhile peel and slice sweet potatoes. In a cup mix salt, pepper and nutmeg. Preheat oven to 400. Arrange 1/3 of sweet potatoes in pan over-lapping. Sprinkle with 1/3 of salt mixture. Repeat till all ingredients used. Pour cider over layers and bake covered for 1 hour. Meanwhile make pecan-crumb topping.

Topping: Melt margarine in skillet. Cook bread pieces and pecans until bread and pecans are lightly toasted (about 5 minutes). Put on top of casserole just before serving.

Source: Ann (a Secretary from Halliburton)

Green Bean Casserole

1 can (10 oz) Cream of Mushroom soup
4 cups Green Beans, cooked or canned
1/8 tsp Pepper
3/4 cup Milk
1 1/3 cups Fried Canned Onions

Mix soup, milk and pepper in a 9 x 9-inch casserole dish. Stir in beans and 2/3 cup of the fried onions. Bake for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Top with remaining 2/3 cup fried onions and bake about 5 more minutes, until onions are lightly browned.

***COMMENTS: This is that Thanksgiving standard that everyone needs to know. A must have for Thanksgiving pot lucks. Believe it or not, I wanted to make it one year and couldn't find the recipe ANYWHERE! WOAH! So I made sure to include it in my favorites...and now on my blog.

Servings: 6

Giblet Gravy

3 tbs Flour
3 tbs Butter
2 - 3 cups
Giblet Broth

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Boil Giblets from the chicken or turkey in water to make a broth. Meanwhile, combine flour and butter over medium heat until browned. Add the giblet broth until you reach the consistency desired. Add salt and pepper to taste.

***COMMENT: She always makes good gravy at Thanksgiving...and she is one of the few people that uses what comes out of the turkey to do it. I love it! So, one year I watched her do it and took notes. This is what I came up with. Now I'm craving stuffing and gravy. OH. She makes good stuffing too...I don't have the recipe for that yet though. :)

Source: Sue H (my Mother-in-law, nickname 'MAW')

Cranberry Sauce

1 lb fresh cranberries
4 cups chopped apples with skin
1 cup crushed pineapple
2 packages of cherry Jell-O (or substitute one of the packages with Cranberry Jell-O)
1 1/2 cups sugar (a little more if desired to help taste)
1/2 lb walnuts

Chop each of the following separately in the food processor till semi-fine. Cranberries, apples and walnuts. Mix all ingredients well in a bowl and chill. Makes about 2 quarts.

***COMMENT: I think I've had this as part of my turkey dinner all but maybe one or two years of my life! I really, like it. It is my Mom's recipe. This is one of those you either like or you don't. There is no in-betweens on this one. If you are the type that only has the jelly cranberry sauce, the kind with no cranberry chunks in it? You might not care for this. But all the normal people out there really like it. Just kidding. You should try it once. It makes a pretty big batch though.

Source: Sherie K (my Mom)

Brine Marinade for Turkey

1 Empty turkey cavity and rinse turkey under cool water, place in cooler, fill over turkey with water. (tip: Measure with gallon jugs to find out how many gallons it takes-also, freeze 2 1-gallon jugs overnight so that you will not have to use so much water (and salt) to marinade the turkey.) For every 1 gallon of water used put 1 cup of kosher salt and ¼ to ½ cup of sugar in. Add some lemons or other citrus fruit. Cut fruit in halves or wedges. Squeeze the juice into the brine then throw the fruit in as well. Add thyme or bay leaves and some peeled, roughly chopped onions.


2 Submerge turkey in brine and keep in a refrigerator or a cool place overnight. (if you have frozen water jugs in the cooler it will help it stay cool.) Before cooking rinse turkey well, discard brine and cook as you normally would.

3 8-12 pound turkey 325º for approximately 3 to 4 hours (more if stuffed)

4 12-16 pound turkey 325º for approximately 4 to 5 hours (more if stuffed)

Source: Jess K (Brother-in-law from first marriage)