Turkey meatloaf with Feta and tomatoes

1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup chopped garlic and herb marinated sun-dried tomatoes (buy packaged sun dried tomatoes add 1 clove of garlic minced, and 2 tbs of lemon juice and mix together and refrigerate)
2 garlic cloves minced
2 large eggs lightly beaten
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium size tomato
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 lb ground turkey

Pre-heat oven to 350
Spray a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan and heat in the oven
In a large bowl stir together bread crumbs, parsley, sun dried tomatoes
garlic, eggs, olive oil, feta, salt, and pepper. Then add turkey and gently stir to combine - do not be careful to not over mix/stir the meat too much. Take mixture and put it into the preheated pan and top with sliced tomato. Bake for 45 minutes (internal temperature around 160 degrees)

Sweet Potatoes

8 to 10 medium to large sweet potatoes
16 oz bag of marshmallows
1/4 pound of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk

place the sweet potatoes in a large pot and bring the water to a boil. Continue to low boil until the sweet potatoes are soft - about 45 minutes. Take the sweet potatoes and peel the skin off the potatoes and return to the pot. Mash the sweet potatoes with the butter and add milk as you mash until smooth. Add more/less milk as needed to make the mixture smooth. Place into a pre-greased cassarole dish and cover the top of the potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallows. Cover the casserole and bake for an hour at 350. Fifteen minutes before the end of the cooking time, uncover the dish and finish cooking. Constantly monitor the dish because the marshmallows can quickly burn.
Allow to sit for 15 minutes then serve.

Chocolate Cream Pie

The key to chocolate cream pie is this pudding mix.  It is a better quality and smoother than any other.  And the use of milk, whole milk, in the mixture.
Two pie shells
Three boxes of pudding mix
Milk as required

Pre-Cook the pie shells
You must constantly stir the pudding mix -- if not it will stick te the bottom and that's an awful mess believe me.
As soon as the pudding mix is ready, pour immediately into the pie shells and the extra into small dessert dishes.  Chill in the refrigerator before serving topped with whipped cream.  Try real whipped cream.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Despite the hype about Butterball Turkey, I've really only been disappointed by one turkey I cooked over the years.  It was a fresh turkey and for whatever reason just did not taste the same.  Anyway, I use everything on the turkey - nuts to assholes it is either eaten at the table, in the gravy, or in the soup. So here goes.

Defrost the bastard in the refrigerator at least four full days before Thanksgiving morning.  Some take forever for some reason but it is better to be safe than sorry.  Place the turkey into the sink and throw out the instructions and that little bag of twine they give you -- for rookies.  Slap that puppy a few times -- go ahead -- feels kinds good!  Run cold water through the body making sure as you run the water through you reach in the main cavity and take out the neck (save that for the brother-in-law on Christmas Vacation) and the gizzards and place them in a pot of water on medium warm on the stove in the back and forget them for a while (think gravy and the pups! -- wait -- don't give the neck to long dogs, they get it caught in the stomach and then your daughter will razz you about it forever -- one lousy mistake in life ...)
Run water through the turkey until it is relatively clear of blood and body parts.  Make sure to check the neck cavity as well.
Bloody Marys are appropriate drink at this time as well as playing Spike Jones on the victrola!
I use about a stick of butter to place pats of butter on and in the turkey along with spraying the turkey itself with Pam to prevent sticking to the plastic cooking bag.  Salt and pepper the outside and inside lightly.
Inside the plastic cooking bag place about a handful of flour and shake it well to coat the sides of the bag.  Place the turkey in the bag -- this can be a goat rope so you may need some help here.
I use a disposable cooking pan but I also use a small rack on the bottom so the turkey does not sit in its own juices.
Whatever the cooking temperature says I usually reduce it by 50 degrees to cook it a little longer, slower, to retain as much moisture in the turkey as possible.  About an hour to 45 minutes before the turkey is supposed to be done check to see if it is turning a light brown.  If not you might want to open the bag to expose the skin for the remaining of the cooking time.
Do let the turkey sit for 30 minutes before slicing -- makes the slicing soooo much easier and the meat stays together better.
Save all the bones and all the meat and place into a giant pot filled halfway with water and let that sit on the stove and cook -- for soup.
The smaller pot with the gizzards can now be used for gravy or take the stock for gravy and cut up the heart and gizzards for the pups.  Toss the neck into the soup.  Yessssss make some soup.

Thanksgiving Stuffing - Two variations

The only difference in the preparation of this stuffing is one uses a non-wheat based bread for those with Ciliac's disease and the other uses Pepperidge Farms Original Herb Stuffing Mix
So for the non-wheat based stuffing it is important to use a loaf of glucose free bread - sold in many stores now, and it is best if you can make the bread yourself.  Make it a week in advance, cut the bread into slices and the slices into cubes and let them sit-out and become stale.
The amount of stuffing is impossible to gage because of unknown factors:  how many people are eating/how big is the turkey/how much do you like stuffing?
Here's what I have always used:

2 and 1/2 bags of stuffing
4 eggs
3/4 lb of butter = 3 sticks
garlic salt
two small/medium onions
2 cloves garlic
thyme
poultry seasoning
1 carton of chicken broth
1 can of chicken broth
4 stalks of celery
Fennel seeds

Melt the butter in a large frying pan
Chop up the onion and add to the pan
Chop up the celery and add to the pan
Cook until the celery softens
Chop up the garlic then and add it to the pan.
Now pour the stuffing mix into a large bowl while heating the chicken broth in a small pot.  Take the contents of the frying pan and pour onto the stuffing mix and stir.  pour the stock into the frying pan to pickup any remaining onion or celery pieces and then pour on to the stuffing mix.  Stir.  Forming a small pocket in the middle of the stuffing with your hands crack open two of the eggs and scramble them in the bottom of the bowl then using your hands mash the eggs into the stuffing.
Mix in a half teaspoon each of thyme and poultry seasoning along with garlic salt to taste and a pinch of fennel seeds.
Now this is where the extra eggs and broth come into play.  If the stuffing is still too dry, add another egg and some of the canned broth until it is entirely moist and "sticky."

Place handfuls of the stuffing into the main cavity of the turkey and a half a handful into the neck.  Do not pack the turkey because the center of the turkey will not finish cooking and you'll be sicker than dogshit if you eat it!  Use wooden sticks or butchers twine to close the turkey opening as much as possible.  Remember adding stuffing to the turkey increase the cooking time anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the turkey.

The remaining stuffing I cook in the oven in a covered glass casserole dish.  Spray the sides with pam, and after placing the stuffing into the dish add a few slices of bacon and a few tomato slices for garnish.  You use the bacon to determine when the stuffing is done.