[Sca-cooks] Turkey day odds and ends

[Huette von Ahrens]

> > Buy your pumpkin at Halloween, if kept in a
> cool, dry place, it'll stay
> > good for a long time. Just don't let it
> freeze.

Every year, our church does a "bountiful harvest"
altar display for our Thankgiving service.  The
fruits and veggies go either to a family in need
or to a womens shelter.  Last year, someone
donated a huge pumpkin for the display, but no
one wanted it afterwards, so I took it home and
canned it.  What I did was scoop out the seeds
and membrane, cut it into pieces, cut off the
rind and ran it thru the finest shedder on my
food processor.  I then put it dry into quart
jars and took it thru the canning process.  If I
remember correctly, I kept it in the canning bath
for 1 hour, so that all the pumpkin was
thoroughly cooked.  I got six quarts from that
one pumpkin.
I gave one quart to Bonne of Traquaire [Have you
used it yet?] and I just used my first quart this
Thanksgiving.  Because it didn't have all the
dyes and stabilizers that the storebought pumpkin
has, my pumpkin pies tasted great but didn't have
the usual color that you associate with pumpkin
pies.


> I always cook my
> > dressing separate from my turkey.  Every time
> I've tried stuffing the
> > turkey, I didn't like the way things turned
> out.  The turkey was dry and
> > the stuffing very wet.

I just made my first recipe of dressing that
wasn't stuffed into the turkey.  I made it in the
crockpot and it came out beautifully.  If you
want the recipe, I will bring it in to work on
Friday and post it here.  Let me know.

I have never had dry turkey.  I always roast it
with the fatty side up, so that the fat will
moisterize the meat.  Also, I baste the turkey
every half hour.  This year I alternated basting
it with lemon juice and madeira wine.  It came
out
very juicy and flavorful.

Huette

=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they
shall never cease to be amused.

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