Here are a bunch of traditional Thanksgiving recipes for holiday favorites like super easy no-fail turkey, sweet potato casserole, homemade stuffing, turkey gravy and homemade pies all in one place! You can make this Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people for under $25!
If you’re gluten free, check out our Dairy Free Gluten Free Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes!
Traditional Thanksgiving Recipes – Dinner For 10 People For Less Than $25!
We’ve included all of the traditional Thanksgiving recipes below, but here’s a breakdown of the costs to prepare this Thanksgiving Dinner For 10. Most of these recipes are from volume 1 of our Dining On A Dime Cookbook.
- Turkey – .69/lb. 15 lbs. $7 ($10.35 for the entire turkey. You won’t use the entire turkey)
- Stuffing – .50
- Gravy – $.25
- Dinner Rolls Homemade – .50 Store bought $2.00
- Mashed Potatoes $1.50
- Broccoli Salad – $2.00
- Deviled Eggs – $1.00
- Jello Salad – $1.50
- Sweet Potato Casserole – $2.00
- Chocolate Pie Homemade – $2.00
- Pumpkin Pie Homemade – $2.00
- Iced Tea – .25
How to Save on Thanksgiving Dinner
- Keep Thanksgiving Dinner Simple! You don’t need a ton of food.
- Don’t make a lot of side dishes. Just 2 or 3 will be fine.
- Save bread heels, bread that’s going stale, cornbread pieces, hot dog buns and hamburger buns for your stuffing.
- Make less expensive desserts like chocolate and pumpkin pies instead of pecan pie.
- One container of whipped topping with work for 2 pies.
- Cut small slices of desserts and dish out food for kids. They can come back and get more but then food isn’t wasted and thrown away.
- If others are coming, have them help with dinner and bring some dishes.
- Make it yourself. Homemade tastes so much better and it really is fairly quick and easy.
- Don’t use elaborate recipes with expensive spices.
- Make the table look nice and decorated. Then the food looks great even if it’s not a lot of food.
- Don’t drink soda, cider and other expensive drinks. Just have iced tea, coffee and water.
- Stock up now for your Christmas baking while sugar, flour, etc. are cheap.
Traditional Thanksgiving Recipes
Here’s an easy recipe and tips for how to roast a turkey! This is the best roast turkey recipe ever and everyone raves about how moist and delicious it is!
Traditional Thanksgiving – How To Roast A Turkey
Turkey isn’t expensive at all so stock up now. I got two turkeys today for .39/lb. I had the butcher cut them in half just like last year and the year before! If you know how to roast a turkey, you can stock up during the holidays, serve turkey in place of chicken and save a bundle on your food bill! Tawra
Thawing
Sometimes turkeys do not cook properly because they don’t get thawed. You need to allow 1 day of thawing time for every 4 lbs. of turkey plus you can keep a thawed turkey in the fridge for at least 3-4 days. Thaw your turkey with the breast side down so the juices will run into the breast.
No-Fail Turkey Recipe – Super Easy!
This easy no-fail turkey recipe makes the best turkey you will ever eat! It is super tasty, moist and tender! The meat will just fall off the bones so you will have to serve it already carved. It will be very juicy and moist.
Ingredients
1 turkey, 20-22 lbs.
1 stick margarine or butter
Instructions
- Defrost frozen turkey for several days in the refrigerator according to the directions on the package.
- Preheat oven to 250°.
- Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil.
- Remove the insides of the turkey and save for giblet gravy or for fried livers and gizzards.
- Lay turkey, breast side down, in the pan.
- Place the stick of butter on the inside.
- Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
- Bake at 250° for 1 hour.
- Reduce heat to 200° and roast for 10-15 hours. Cooking time can be longer to fit your schedule. Test with a meat thermometer to make sure the temperature in the thigh is 180°.
Notes
If I have a 20-22 lb. turkey, I put it in the oven one hour before I go to bed (that way I can turn it down to 200° and sometimes I go down to 180° before I go to bed.) It will be done by noon the next day. Because it cooks at such a low temperature, if you aren’t going to eat until 1-2 PM, it will stay just fine in the oven until then.
If I have a smaller 10 lb. turkey, I put it in the oven early on Thanksgiving morning (about 6 or 7 AM in order to eat at noon. You don’t need to worry too much about it getting done. An hour or two before the meal, check it and see how it is doing. If it isn’t cooking quickly enough, you can always raise the temperature to 350°.
If you use a smaller 10 -12 lb turkey, you only need to use half of a stick (about 4 Tbsp.) of butter. You can also place it in a large crockpot on low.
The BEST Homemade Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients
5 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
Instructions
In a large saucepan, place potatoes and enough water to cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender (about 10-15 minutes depending on your altitude). Drain. Transfer potatoes to a mixing bowl and mash. I use a hand mixer for this but you can use a potato masher. Add butter, milk, sugar and salt. Beat until smooth. Serves 5-6.
For Garlic Mashed Potatoes: Add 15 cloves garlic, peeled and halved, to the potatoes when boiling.
The BEST Sweet Potato Casserole Recipe
This is the best sweet potato casserole recipe ever! It is so quick and easy and makes a tasty dish, perfect for holiday dinners and potlucks. And it’s easy to make the day before you need it and bake just before serving!
Ingredients
3 cups sweet potatoes, mashed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Topping:
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Mix all of the casserole ingredients.
- Put everything in a buttered 9×9 casserole dish.
- Mix topping ingredients.
- Sprinkle topping over the top of the sweet potato mixture.
- Bake uncovered at 350° for 20 minutes.
Notes
If your family isn’t fond of nuts, you can leave out the pecans and it will turn out just fine.
For Marshmallow Topping:
If you prefer, you can easily add a marshmallow topping instead. After mixing the main casserole ingredients and placing them in the casserole dish, spread 1 (10.5 oz.) package miniature marshmallows over the top and bake as directed. The marshmallows will turn a golden brown.
For Pecan And Marshmallow Topping:
Make the recipe according to the directions above. Before baking, spread 1 (10.5 oz.) package miniature marshmallows over the top of the casserole and the pecan topping and bake as usual.
This is my grandmother’s classic stuffing recipe! This is a yummy Thanksgiving traditional stuffing recipe made with bread, sausage and more and everyone loves it!
Homemade Stuffing Recipe
This is my Grandma’s stuffing recipe (Jill’s Mom). It is one of my favorite traditional Thanksgiving recipes! It has been in our family for years and is a family favorite! -Tawra
I have hesitated to include our stuffing recipe because it is one of those recipes where it is hard to give exact measurements. You can adjust any of these ingredients to suit your taste and if you want, you can add different things to the dish.
For example, you can replace some of the bread with cornbread or you can add mushrooms, celery, apples, or giblets and many other things according to your own taste. This is one of those recipes that looks complicated but is really easy once you make it.
For a drier stuffing, use less liquid and for a moister dressing, add more butter. Butter doesn’t evaporate and won’t make your dressing “soggy” instead of moist the way liquid will. You can also add a little milk if the stuffing seems too dry.
When you bake stuffing inside a turkey or if you cook it in a covered pan, it won’t dry out so keep this in mind when testing for moistness.
If you want your stuffing to be fluffier, beat the eggs in the recipe before adding.
Here is the basic homemade stuffing recipe:
Ingredients
8–10 cups dried bread, cubed or torn (You can use anything including hot dog buns, dinner rolls or French bread.)
1/2–1 lb. pork sausage
1/2–1 onion (or onion powder to taste)
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups broth*
1 chicken bouillon cube
1/4–1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 heaping tsp. ground sage
salt and pepper
1 small bag or box of seasoned croutons
Instructions
Cube and tear bread. Place in a very large mixing bowl and let it sit out overnight if not dry enough. Fry sausage and onion. I don’t like celery in my dressing but if you do you can add it at this time. Drain and add to the bowl of bread. Pour broth into a large measuring cup. Add butter and bouillon cube and heat in the microwave to melt butter and bouillon cubes. Pour this mixture and eggs over bread. Add sage, salt, pepper and onion powder if not using onions and croutons. Using your hands, mush it all together until well mixed. Place in a well greased casserole dish or pan. Cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.
If you like your stuffing soft on the inside with a crispy crust, just remove the cover for the last 15 minutes. If your dressing seems too dry, add a little milk for more moisture.
*For broth, I simmer the neck and giblets in a pan of water for an hour or two as soon as I take them out of the turkey. Then I use this water and some broth from my turkey, which has been cooking, to make my 1 1/2 cups.
If you are baking your stuffing in the turkey and can’t tell if it is done, just test with a meat thermometer and it should be 165 degrees.
Turkey Gravy
Ingredients
3–4 cups turkey juices/drippings
1/4 cup flour or cornstarch
Salt, pepper to taste
Instructions
Pour turkey juices/drippings into a saucepan. Whisk in flour. Add salt and pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring once in a while until it is the right consistency.
If the gravy is too strong or you need to stretch it just a little, you can add a small amount of water. Another way I used to make turkey gravy (either way works) is to dissolve the flour in 1/2 cup of cold water and then whisk it into the turkey juices.
Make Canned Cranberry Sauce Taste Homemade
Here’s an easy cranberry sauce recipe to transform canned cranberry sauce into a delicious, homemade-tasting side dish with just a few simple additions. This quick hack will take your holiday meal up a notch—without the extra time or hassle. Perfect for any festive table, this easy upgrade brings out rich, fresh flavors that taste like you made it from scratch!
- Yield: 1 1/4 cups
Ingredients
1 (15 oz.) can jellied cranberry sauce
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. mustard
1/4 tsp. ground clove
Instructions
- Mix together all ingredients.
- Serve.
This cranberry sauce recipe is good as-is, but it also makes a great topping for ham or turkey.
The Very Best Pie Crust Recipe
Here’s mom’s famous homemade pie crust recipe which really is the VERY BEST! Super light and flaky, this pie crust is melt in your mouth delicious! Everyone raves about it! Make some extra to freeze and use later and you’ll cut your preparation time for your next pie!
- Yield: 3 pie crusts
Ingredients
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/4 cups shortening, cold
1 egg, cold
1 Tbsp. vinegar, cold
5 Tbsp. cold water
sugar
Instructions
- Mix flour, salt and 2 Tbsp. sugar in a bowl.
- Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or 2 knives.
- Add egg, vinegar and 3 tablespoons water.
- Mix lightly with your hands. Don’t over mix. If the dough is too dry, add more water. Mix just until the dough sticks together.
- Divide into thirds.
- Roll out to make 3 pie crusts.
- When using the crust for the top of the pie, sprinkle sugar on top.
The crust can be frozen in slightly flattened balls and then defrosted and rolled out when ready to use. Makes 3 crusts.
Grandma’s Easy Apple Pie Recipe
Ingredients
6–7 cups of medium apples, cored, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. butter
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl except the butter.
- Microwave this filling mixture 2-3 minutes.
- Pour into the pie crust.
- Dot with chunks of the butter.
- Top with the other crust.
- Cut steam slits in the top crust.
- Sprinkle the top with sugar.
- Bake at 450° for 15 minutes.
- Then turn down to 350° and bake for 35-45 minutes, until apples are tender and juices are bubbling nicely out of the steam slits.
French Apple Pie is the same as a regular apple pie except with a different topping. To make the French topping, follow the recipe below and sprinkle it over the top of your pie instead of using a top crust.
PrintEasy French Apple Pie Topping
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
Instructions
- Mix ingredients in a small bowl until crumble-like.
- Sprinkle over the top of the apples.
- Bake as usual.
The Best Pumpkin Pie Recipe
Ingredients
1 pie crust
2 eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Bake pie crust for 1-2 minutes until crust starts to puff with small bubbles. Watch carefully.
- Then remove from the oven.
- Increase oven temperature to 425°
- Blend all remaining ingredients together in a bowl.
- Pour into pie crust.
- Bake at 425° for 15 minutes.
- Then turn the oven down to 350° for 45 minutes.
When a knife is inserted into the center of the pie and comes out clean, it is done. Makes one pumpkin pie.
The BEST Easy Pecan Pie
Ingredients
1 stick butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
dash of salt
1 1/4 cups pecans, chopped
1 (8–9 inch) unbaked pie crust
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Brown butter in a pan until golden brown. Do not burn.
- Cool.
- In a separate bowl add other ingredients in the order given.
- Mix well.
- Add cooled butter and blend well.
- Pour into pie crust.
- Bake 10 minutes at 425°.
- Then turn down oven to 325° and continue baking 40 minutes at 325°. Makes one pie.
Many of these traditional Thanksgiving recipes are in volume 1 of our cookbook:
Save Money On Groceries And Make Meals Easier! (Sale Up To 50% Off!)
Click here to get our Dining On A Dime Cookbooks SALE Up To 50% Off NOW! They’re filled with tasty recipes and tips to make your life easier!
Yum! Thanks… youre making me hungry! Glad y’all are blogging again :-)
I meant to say I am glad I found your blog :-)
Your mashed potatoe recipe is a favorite by my family and I don’t dare serve boxed ones anymore. Although I’m not a fan of pumpkin pie I’ve made your recipe several times and others say it’s very good. I actually have to make 2 pumpkin pies tonite for my daughter to take to school tomorrow. Your “Dining on a Dime” book has been a lifesaver for me!!!
An even easier and tastier recipe for mashed potatoes is: bake the number of potatoes you need. I usually microwave about six for ten minutes and then finish in the oven at 350 for an hour. Cut in half, scoop out the insides, put in a mixing bowl with butter, a little salt and a little milk, and mash.
The good thing about doing it this way is you can eat the skins!
Thank you so much Tawra. You and your mom are amazing. I loved your cookbook so much that I bought one for my daughter and friend. I greatly appreciate all you and your family do for us. You all are a blessing and you have made my life easier. May God bless you all this Thanksgiving and Christmas and in the new year.
Never heard of putting sugar in mashed potatoes. Sounds interesting.
And Harriet, don’t think I’ve ever heard of baking them before mashing. We’ve always peeled,cut and boiled in a big pot o’ water, then drain, mash & whip. I hardly ever add salt when I’m cooking because I rarely can taste it, then have to add more. So I always add it at the table.
Learn new things every day. :)
same here with the sugar; it is toooooo hot here to be baking anything much
Hi Jill and Tawra
This receipe is from my grandmothers collection for sweet potato pie and it is a southern receipe and is quick and easy !
Southern sweet potate pie
3 tablesppons all purpose flour
1 and 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes ( I use one large can of yams and mash up) grandma would turn over in her grave!)
2 eggs
1/4 cup light karo syrup
1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of butter or margarine
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 9 inch pie shell (I buy mine, she made hers)
In a large mixing bowl combine the flour and sugar. add the sweet potatoes,eggs, Karo syrup,nutmeg,salt,butter(I soften mine just a little)and evaporated milk.Beat well and pour into pie crust bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes Best eaten if let stand for about an hour
I’m following most of these recipes today since today will be my first time cooking Christmas dinner. I put the turkey in a little late (I was busy doing other things) at 11am starting at 325° for an hour then I’ll turn it down to 250° . If you have any other tips please let me know .
Oh my Roxanne not sure about this because I if I do about a 15-20 turkey I leave it in over night because this is a slow cooking recipe that takes awhile for it to cook. I am afraid you maybe got it in way to late – if you wanted to eat it by early afternoon.
Curious as to why you add sugar to mashed potatoes?
Thanks!
My mom has always done her potatoes like that and they are so good. It isn’t that much but just enough to enhance the flavor of the potatoes for some reason. I think it works the same way as when you add a couple of spoonfuls of sugar to spaghetti sauce or chili. You don’t really taste the sugar it just brings out the flavor of what you are cooking.
I can tell a big difference in the mashed potatoes when people don’t use the sugar. I also find I don’t need to add as much butter. Sometimes we add a lot of “extras” to potatoes because they don’t have a strong flavor but as I said the sugar gives you a richer potato taste.
They started using a bit of sugar when the potatoes were stored in the root cellar or some such place over the winter.
They got wilty and sometimes pretty tasteless. It added a bit of flavour and the starch was better incorporated.
Myself I use salt.
I do the baked potatoe mashed potatoe thing but put the potatoe back into the skin. Called twice baked potatoes. Seems like more work to do it for a big bowl of mashed potatoes though.
Wondering how much sugar instead of corn syrup for the pecan pie?
I’m not sure but you do have to be careful in some candy and recipes like pecan pie when you start substituting. The corn syrup isn’t always just sweetening it can sometime control the texture – hardness, softness, smoothness of a recipe.
Normally how much celery would a person use in the Grandma’s Stuffing recipe?
Oh around a cup or 1-2 stalks. You can add more or less depending on how much you like it. In recipes like this they often do equal amounts of celery and onion. Those are both things you can add more or less of to your preference.
I don’t use either because I don’t like onion or cooked celery so I just onion powder.
oven not working get the gas grill and fire up in a roasting pan it works great for more than one meat cooking at a time just keep an eye on the temp. have a great turkey day
Gosh, thanks to all of you I belive I am now drooling all over my keyboard! I think I will bake pumkin or sweet potato pie this weekend. I have never made a SWEET POTATO PIE, but many people think they are much better than pumpkin. Has anyone done both to compare? Do they taste pretty much the same?
Grandma-my stores are having 10lb. sacks of potatoes on sale for 47 cents a bag. I’d like to stock up on several bags. I have no root cellar-just a garage with a concrete floor. What temp would they need to stay at to keep them over the coldest months? Any thoughts on whether I should wrap them in something?
Barb I don’t know if you have a dehydrator or not but I have been finding potatoes on sale too and I have been cooking them, grating them then dehydrate them into hash browns and they are so handy and good. I can’t tell the difference between them and fresh ones and I am very picky about those things so you could try that too if you have one.
If you store them though you can do it in something like a brown paper sack with holes in it. The temp needs to be around 45-50 degrees and it needs to be dark. When exposed to light it will cause the potatoes to turn green, if they get to cold they will turn dark when you fry them and if it is to warm they will sprout. Don’t ever store them in the fridge. It causes them to break down and sometimes that is why they don’t cook up or mash right.
We had a go at growing our own potatoes this year and I keep them in my garage, in a sack – this keeps them in the dark yet doesn’t allow frost to get to them (they can go mushy). I’d never tried growing potatoes before and used 3 sacks, rather than sowing them in the ground, and I think I must have put too many in because they were all very small, no matter how long I left them in!! (I’m still VERY much a beginner at all this LOL) I think next year I’ll put them in the ground and give them chance to grow!
I dig my spuds in late July. Some of them are small but, if you leave them to grow, the slugs or something similar, excavate tunnels through them.V. frustrating.
sure wish potatoes were on sale like that here.
10 lb bags are over $5 a bag here.
I have got to get to the city to stock up before the snow and wind make it impossible to get there.
Might have to take the car instead of the van as we seem to have a lot of wind storms. Wind storms are nice but not driving 90 K along an open cliff beside Lake Superior.
Not this weekend though. Getting the new laminate over the hardwood floor today and probably tomorrow. It will be so nice sort of an early Christmas for us.
I think if you replace the corn syrup with sugar you would have something more like the Canadian Butter Tarts.
There are many different recipes for those and many use sugar instead of corn syrup.
People are always trying to top the best of Butter Tarts and since they are a Canadian thing they take pride of place at many festive meals.
Hi Jill,
The dehydrater sounds like a good solution. I’ll start looking for one. Meanwhile, all the other tips are really helpful..I’ve had them turn green, sprout, etc. and never knew exactly what I was doing wrong.
Grandma-
I used to live in a small town of about 8,000. We were held hostage to high prices all the time! It’s criminal the way merchants do that to small town people. I can understand if you live in a remote area where it’s costly to deliver food then there is a real justified reason for charging more.
You can use your oven to dehydrate on cookie sheets, usually 200 degrees for a few hours, prop door open to allow moisture to escape. I use a wadded up tea towel lol. you can also blanch thinly sliced potatoes and dehydrate for scalloped type potatoes. Google dehydrating in your oven for more specific instructions.
I think this newsletter really gave someone who is new at making a Thanksgiving dinner some really good and easy recipes to work with. I really enjoy your newsletter and even though I have been cooking for a very long time, you give me some great ideas. Thanks for a great read.
Barb food prices in Canada are more than in the States. We have to import more from other countries because they simply don’t grow up here in large enough quantities.
What we lack in warm climate foods we more than make up for in scenery and wide open places.
So it is a very good trade off for myself and my family.
I love cooking reading fishing canoeing and hunting. Couldn’t do the last 3 in a city where prices might be better but the company would not be as good.
Small towns off the beaten track do pay more not only because the transportation costs but because it is harder to get in different items that are popular in big cities in smaller quantities.
A trip of 3 hours 4 hours to shop and then 4 hours home is no big deal. We prefer one day trips as it is easier on me and we like our own beds. Sometimes overnight can’t be avoided so we do stay and don’t scrimp on things we enjoy.
Nice motel dinner out lots of books at the used bookstore and we spend the evening reading, sometimes we even do room service just so I can rest up for the next day.
To be honest as long as the mine here in town stays working I wouldn’t change where we live. so another 6 years at least. Then it will onto another small town out in the boonies.
As long as I have the computer to come here and talk to people and other sites I am easily contented.
Regarding using a a dehydrator – small table-top ones are now available over here, but they’re more designed for dehydrating slices of strawberry and apple, the kind you’d eat as a dried snack or on top of your breakfast cereal or something. I haven’t seen any over here in England that would be large enough to dehydrate cooked potatoes to make hash browns, but that sounds a brilliant idea, given the price most supermarkets charge for a bag of frozen hash browns!
Love the site, by the way – I received your book a couple of weeks ago and there are so many great ideas in it! We don’t seem to think that way in England, to be self sufficient and thrifty – I always do my own cooking and I can’t remember the time I last bought a ready meal, but most people seem to live in a throw-away world, where people pay through the nose for something it would cost them a few pence to make. I do keep telling people about your site though!
I just saw a video with a lady dehyrdrating potatoe slices and she put 2 layers on tray by using the screens for small items. She put a layer then the screen and another layer.
I don’t do potatoes but do a lot of other things and tried it with apples and celery and it worked great. You double the trays for about the same length of time.
In my dehydrators just the round table top ones I use 2 apples to a tray so the screen idea was great as that way I can do 4 apples to a tray.
turkey gravy
turkey juice/droppings
milk (for the desired amount of gravy)
flour to thicken
salt and pepper to taste
Heat up the turkey juice and milk add flour whisking all the lumps out as you do. When desired thickness remove from heat and add salt and pepper.
My Uncle Roderick used to tell me about stuffing his turkey with RAW UNCOOKED POPCORN. He said that as the turkey roasts, the popcorn pops and the turkey is done when the popcorn blows the rear end out of the turkey.
Uncle Roderick would be 106 years old now, but colon cancer got him at age 89.
Our landlady told me this story when I was a new bride at 30 some 50 years ago. I laughed so hard when she came to the punch line.
I love your plain and simple recipes so much. It is a joy to find recipes where you don’t have to run to a couple of stores to find exotic spices, etc. Food tastes so much better when it is cooked simply. Thank you again for this.
And a great Thanksgiving to you and yours!!!!
I believe the sweet potato casserole can be prepared ahead and frozen, then baked for the Thanksgiving dinner after thawing in the fridge for a couple of days. This certainly saves time on the big day.
I usually make my sweet potato casserole (except for the topping) the day before TG and don’t bake it yet…cover & keep chilled in fridge. On TG day let it come to room temp for 30 min. While doing that make the topping and put on top of casserole when ready to bake.
One year I was trying to make more short cuts so pre made the topping in advance and put it all together in one Zip lock bag overnight. Bad idea…the next day the flour, sugar, butter and nuts were all gooey in a clump. After that I made it fresh to go on the casserole.
Your suggestion to place the mashed potatoes into a crockpot AHEAD of time is a sweat-saver, yet I never thought of it.
Thanks for the light bulb moment this morning!
clean up would be a breeze if you have liners or use foil to line it.
Do you need to chill the pie dough before rolling it out?
I don’t but you can if it’s too soft.
I suspect that the colder the crust dough is when you bake it, the flakier it turns out–like the frozen pies or piecrusts you buy at the store, the crusts are better than those that you buy ready-baked (which I don’t because they usually aren’t so great). I refrigerate shortbread cookies too, before baking, just for that purpose, the texture is a little better.
Does anyone have a good cranberry salad recipe that does not involve a meat grinder or food processor (I don’t have either). Thank you!
Teri, I take it you are using fresh cranberries.
here is one for low carbs.
I have never made it but I think with a few changes it could fit your needs.
Ingredients:
2 cups Cranberries
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 cup Splenda, or liquid equivalent
Water
1 packet Sugar Free Jello, Cranberry or Raspberry
1/2 packet of Unflavored Gelatin
Serves 8 people
Nutrition Info:
74 Calories, 6g Fat, 3.5g Carbs (1g Fiber) , 2g Protein
What he did was take 2 cups of berries add sugar cover with water and cook until the berries pop. He drained it back into the pan and put the berries aside while he boiled the water and added the jello and the gelatin. When it boiled and the powders were dissolved he added the berries and set it in the fridge until it hardened a bit.
He folded in the whipped cream and it was ready to serve or put back in the fridge until dinner.
I thought the whipped cream did not make it look too appetizing and I would probably just let people top it with the whipped cream as they wanted. Or put it into a cake pan and when it set cut it into squares and top with a dollop of the whipped cream.
For other recipes where you need a processor you could either just chop them fine or grate them on a cheese grater. I have done both and prefer the chopping as I like my fingers with skin on.
Terri from Nebraska: You might like my quick and easy Cranberry “salad”. I just add a can of whole berry cranberries to a large packet of red jello. I add it right in the beginning when it is still hot to dissolve it Put it in the fridge just like regular jello. It turns out great.
Hi I am from Texas and we had Luby’s Cafeteria (which are mostly gone now). They a 50th anniversary cookbook that came out in 1996. They have pecan pie I have eaten (Sorry Grandma)! If you are interested in the recipe and any other Luby’s recipes in the cookbook Please reply to this posting. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving. If at all possible spend it with Family and Friends. May God Bless
Would love the pecan pie recipe you spoke about. Thank you, Anne Walton
Scroll down a bit and it is near the bottom. If you have more trouble trying to find it holler.
Am having a problem seeing Brad’s pecan pie recipe. I can’t locate it “near the bottom”.
Penny this was a comment that was posted awhile ago I think and I can’t seem to find it. I am sorry.
I am sorry for the missing words, I have 8 thumbs and 2 big toes for fingers. Please understand!!!!!!
As an Australian, sometimes these recipes are hard to covert. Can you please give me a substitute for light corn syrup (as in pecan pie recipe), and how many gram for the ‘stick of butter’. We have all different sizes here!
Hi Louise. I researched light corn syrup substitutes. For every cup of corn syrup needed use 1 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water. I will get back to ya on the butter.
I’ve substituted golden syrup for light corn syrup in pecan pie and it turned out just fine. A stick of butter is approx 110-115 grams.
As a fellow Australian I use glucose in place of corn syrup . You can buy it at Coles.
Two tablespoonfuls of sugar in your mash? Honestly? I’ve never heard of such a thing.
It is different but sugar like salt when added to certain things enhances the flavor so much. In other words the mashed potatoes taste richer and with more potato taste. You really don’t taste the sugar at all just extra flavor.
these recipes look so good .. we cant wait for the turkey .. i can smell it now .. and with the carcass . hubby will be making soup .. :D
Happy Thanksgiving! I am so grateful that I found your article years ago in a Woman’s World magazine and I have been with you since. Thank you for the wonderful ideas for thriftiness & delicious recipes
Wow! Thanks for staying with us so long! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
We are fixing all the food now (my hubby and I), we just put the turkey in the deep fryer, it will be done in around 2 to 2 1/2 hours, YUMMY. Our dressing is hard to measure because we jus throw stuff in and it never taste the same.
I also want to say that I am thankful to the Lord for my nice cozy apt, my 2 jobs and most importantly my family and friends.
Happy Thanksgiving to you too Linda. Enjoy those friends and family and your hubby. :)
What day is your thanksgiving.
hope everyone celebrating either with family or without has a great day.
if you don’t have family invite a friend.
be thankful for all you have and for a day forget the things you don’t have.
a hamburger and fries is wonderful if the company you eat it with is a friend.
Our Thanksgiving was on the 22nd the day you posted this so thank you Lynda.
You put sugar in your mashed potatoes ?????????
I do only about a 1 Tbsp. or so per 4 medium potatoes. Most people don’t even know it is in there. It doesn’t sweeten them just enhances the flavor. People love my mashed potatoes and most don’t know why – that I use sugar in them.
Some years ago, my eldest daughter, Ely, did a “Gap Year” visit to a lovely school in New York State. The staff there were very kind and she was taken home for Thanksgiving and for Christmas .I am still grateful for the kindness she met, She is still in touch..(I was the one weeping through the carols at home.:)
I have to laugh at those who are surprised about the sugar in the mashed potatoes. I live in Canada and have never heard of it before either, but when I was a teenager, I came into the kitchen just in time to see my foster mom putting peanut butter into a meat gravy. I thought she had lost her mind and asked her what she was doing. “Making peanut butter gravy,” was her reply. She said they made it all the time when she was growing up on the Canadian prairies. I didn’t believe her. A few weeks later, she called me into the kitchen to read a passage from the library book she was reading… “the smell of peanut butter gravy wafted on the evening breeze…” it said. She smiled her triumphant sweet smile, and I learned something new. I do know that a half a teaspoon of sugar cooked in water in a pot with some too-old peas left over from the end of the garden, will make them taste more like early peas. I also remember an older gentleman from my childhood, who said the only way to really enjoy a fresh tomatoe sandwich was with a sprinkling of table sugar over the freshly sliced tomatoes, before putting the top slice of bread on.
I love sugar on my tomatoes too. It is always a toss up on whether I want sugar or salt. :) Sugar like salt can really enhance the flavor of so many things. I will have to see if I can find a recipe for peanut butter gravy. That really sounds interesting. Thanks for telling us about it.
Goodness Gracious! How timely these recipes are. I was just getting ready to take out a search for my sweet potato souffle recipe and dreading it because I never put it in the same place twice. It is one of my family’s favorites and your recipe is just like mine. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Diane in North Carolina
I do that too all the time Diane. I really get frustrated with myself when I put a recipe on the web site and want to use it later but can’t remember the name or anything but that I wanted to try it. : )
I have been using a very similar pie crust recipe for a few years. I do mine in my mixer with the bread hook.
So simple and freezes beautifully. Just thaw and roll out. I could not make a decent crust until this recipe appeared.
I like to make a double batch (my recipe makes four crusts) so I can have them In the freezer (in flattened balls).
Really makes pie making easier. Tommie
My husband loves to deep fry the turkey so I never have any drippings for gravy. Anyone have a good suggestion?
1. you can make the dressing without drippings by using chicken brother. You may want to replace a bit of brother with butter to enrich it.
2. I like baked potatoes at Thanksgiving. Less work, more vitamins and roughage
3. One stick of butter is 1/4 pound or 4 ounces.
4. Sweet potatoes are SO good for your health. They are one of the reasons Okinawans live so long.
3. My pecan pie recipe is similar to yours. What does the LEMON do to it?
Mary Jane wrote about peanut butter gravy which reminded me of another unusual use for peanut butter. I was eating refreshments after worship service in my church many years ago and one of the sandwiches was tuna salad. I remarked how good it was and the young mother who had made the sandwiches said that she put peanut butter in with the mayonnaise. She saw the recipe in Parents’ Magazine and tried it out at home with her youngsters. They loved it, so she decided to make it for our refreshments. Delicious. Just a couple of spoonfuls made all the difference in taste.
We had 2 walnut trees. I have never liked pecans. So when I make a pecan pie I put walnuts in place of pecans. If you are a walnut lover you will love this. Just use your regular recipe for the pie. Plus I add about 1 and 1/2 cup walnuts. My family loves this. Enjoy.
Where can I get the recipes for the Reindeer and other “poop?” I gave all my grandchildren the book “Dining on a Dime” so if it’s in there, I need to order one for myself.
Of course we would love for you to order a book Gerry : ) : ) but here it is on the web site Snowman Poop, Elf and Reindeer Poop. It is so much fun to do for the grandchildren. Have fun with it.
To make gravy without turkey drippings: use chicken broth, corn starch and butter. Mix the starch and butter together according to the Corn starch box’s directions for thin white sauce. Heat until mized. Mixed in appropriate chicken brother with a whisk and follow package directions.
You have the butcher cut your turkey in half? Can they do that with frozen turkey?
Some places do and some don’t. They do at mine but others haven’t been able too. But one thing, when we first did this post to get the best deal (and I mean a really good deal) you had to buy a turkey that was 20 lbs or more. Now you can get smaller turkeys (10 lbs) for the same good deal so there really isn’t as much need to get the turkeys cut when you can get 2 smaller ones for same price.
Also if you don’t see smaller turkeys on display be sure to ask your butcher(the meat person at your store) if they have any smaller ones in the back.
I would appreciate any recipes that are easy to understand. Good ones for holiday meals.
Check out our website Jane. We have many recipes that people use to teach their children and for beginner cooks.
If I am making the stuffing with sandwich bread then about how many loaves would make 8-10 cups?
Also, the picture looks like partially cornbread…how much of that do I need?
Thanks
I would buy one loaf of bread and have an extra loaf in case you need more. I have never used just a loaf of bread because I just save stray end pieces of bread, those 1-2 dinner roll that got dried out, leftover hot dog or hamburger bun. I like to do it that way because it adds a lot of different flavor to the stuffing and they don’t become quiet as soggy. I keep a bag in the freezer and add to it for about 6 mons. before Thanksgiving. Also if you are using the fresh bread alone I would break it into large chunks and let it start drying out the day before Thanksgiving tossing it in the bowl every 4-5 hrs to make sure all sides of the cubes get dried out.
We don’t usually put the cornbread in our dressing but you can if you want. Bake a 8×8 pan of cornbread (let it dry out too) to just add in place of some of the bread. All in all I use the largest mixing bowl I have and fill it full of assorted bread (and cornbread). These measurements don’t have to be exact. If it doesn’t look moist enough when you get it all together then add just a bit more turkey broth or milk to it.
I see the comments are few years old. Do not expect to get a turkey cheap this year and pumpkin pie for $2….not going to happen unless you make the crust and have your own pumpkin…….all the other parts to the dinner will be much higher too……this post is very misleading!!!!
Well Sandra we all ready have bought a lot of the ingredients for our dinner and it is maybe just $3-5 more than last year. We have always made the pie crust ourselves. People seem to panic so much over Thanksgiving dinner when it is one of the cheapest meals you can make with turkey being one of the cheapest meats, gravy costs nothing, mashed potatoes are not an expensive veggie or green bean casserole. Homemade pumpkin pie is much cheaper than many chocolate and other fancy desserts often made. If you think about it even if you had to double this price it is still cheaper that 2 people going out to eat or going every morning to get a coffee on the way to work. You need to check you sales prices in different stores and how can you even make this comment because many haven’t put their sales prices out for Thanksgiving foods yet so you are assuming a lot. Plus we assume most people have enough common sense to know that prices will be different in different areas and countries.
Thank you for your helpful reply! I’m a long time follower of all of you, but finally getting around to implementing things! Haha! I think the key is what you said above, shop early and plan ahead. This is an area I’d love for your channel to address how to do that! I need help. I wait until the last minute, then don’t have time to shop around and spend way more than I should had I planned… Hope that you and Grandma feel better soon! God bless you.
Oh thank you for your sweet comment Lisa. This shopping early is really hard for many many people. Though once it becomes a habit it does become easier. Thanks for you well wishes. I am slowly but surely getting better and my mom (grandma) well it is almost like a miracle we can’t figure out what happened. The doctors actually thought she wasn’t going to make it and by the next evening she was like nothing was wrong or happened – really weird but am so grateful. I tell I firmly believe you guys prayers for us really make a difference and we do so appreciate them and can’t say that enoug
If you can’t afford pecans and have oatmeal laying around even the packet kind you can make a crumb topping for your sweet potato casserole!! Butter, sugar, oatmeal. We’ve even put marshmallows under the oatmeal topping for fun!
My plan if I had to cut costs would be as follows
Ham 1.39lb at my discount store a little more then Turkey BUT it’s what my family eats
Mashed Potatoes- Very cheap at aldi even walmart
Sweet Potato Casserole the cheapie way like above
Corn
Mac and Cheese because it’s a kid favorite
Rolls store bought for 1 dollar at the discount store or aldi
Dessert- Pumpkin Pie or Chocolate Pie and Cookies for 1 dollar from the discount store
Drink- water or a special cheap juice from the discount store.
I guess my point is find the cheapest stuff from the stores you have to work with and make family favorites!
LORD JESUS IS KING OF KINGS
Oh and I found pie crust for 79 cents to 1 dollar at United Grocery Outlet. But homemade is cheap to I’m just a lazy this year :P Also graham crackers you can find cheap would make a yummy crust for just about any pie!
LORD JESUS guide!
I just came across my comment above from 2008!! 16 years later, my life has changed so much…
Wow, that’s great! What a surprise. I hope it has changed for the better!
Well, no, my husband dumped me and now I’m divorced. Struggling, to be honest.
Does anyone have a recipe for candied sweet potatoes made with just butter and brown sugar? My mother died six months ago and I never quite got her recipe. Far as I know, she cut up raw potatoes and tossed them in the oven with butter and brown sugar. I guess I could try various amounts on my own.
Happy Thanksgiving, Tawra and Jill! I’ve been following you for more than 20 years and you have helped me so much. Love from Long Island.