Your most fabulous Thanksgiving ever!

Glamorous Life Blog

Your most fabulous Thanksgiving ever!

We are officially two days away from Thanksgiving. If you’re like me, you wait until the last minute to plan your menu, go shopping and get your house in shape. Luckily for me, I’ll be heading to the homes of my Grandmother and Great Aunts. These women are more than cooks. They are true chefs! I mean really, everything they prepare is more than amazing.

Now I’m a great cook myself and I have my own recipes for several dishes but I thought it might be fun to pass along some of my favorite recipes from a few celebrity chefs that I’ve actually prepared myself. Hopefully you caught my new show “The Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show” on DC50 over the weekend. If you didn’t, log onto to DC50tv.com and check out some of the recipes and holiday entertaining information from the show. Be sure to set your DVR’s for another new episode this Saturday at 8pm on DC 50. I hope this all helps to make your Thanksgiving more fabulous than ever before!

First up my girl B. Smith with her recipe for Herb Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey. Barbara is a tv chef with her own chain of fantastic restaurants! Here’s what you’ll need;

INGREDIENTS

• 1-1/2 cups kosher salt

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 2 tablespoons dried thyme

• 2 teaspoons ground allspice

• 1 teaspoon ground cloves

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon coarsely ground white pepper

• 3 bay leaves

• 1 18-to-20 pound turkey

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

• Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

The day before cooking, combine salt, sugar, cayenne, dried thyme, allspice, cloves, ginger, white pepper, and bay leaves in a stockpot. Fill pot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Cool to room temperature. Remove giblets and neck from turkey and rinse bird well. Place in cooled spice mixture, breast side down. Refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

To Roast: Heat oven to 425 degrees. Remove bird from brine, gently wipe dry, and bring to room temperature. Combine butter, olive oil, fresh thyme, and rosemary, mixing well. Season turkey generously inside and out with salt and pepper. Loosely pack sage stuffing into neck and body cavities.

Set turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Rub seasoned butter lavishly over turkey breast and legs. Roast 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to roast, basting every half hour, until temperature reaches 175 degrees or until juices run clear, about 3 hours. Remove from oven, spoon stuffing into an oven-proof bowl, and let bird rest 30 minutes before carving.

This Turkey is going to knock your guests out! Now you know I couldn’t compile a list of my favorite recipes without including my dearest darling Paula Deen! Didn’t you all love her on my show? She’s fantastic and so is her recipe for Good Old Country Stuffing! It’s different from what you’re used to and totally amazing! And you must make Mushroom Giblet Gravy to go with your stuffing. I happen to know from a friend that Oprah Winfrey loves this stuffing too!

INGREDIENTS

2 loaves oven-dried white bread
2 cups cooked white rice
1 sleeve crushed saltines
1 pound bulk breakfast sausage
2 cups chopped celery
1 large onion, chopped
7 cups chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried sage leaves
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
3 eggs beaten
1/4 stick butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Crumble oven-dried bread into a large bowl. Add rice and saltines.

Cook sausage in a large skillet until it starts to brown. Add celery and onion and saute until transparent, 5 to 10 minutes. Pour over bread and rice mixture. Add stock and mix well. Add salt, pepper, sage, and poultry seasoning. Mix well. Add the beaten eggs and melted butter. Mix well. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the stuffing mixture for the Mushroom Giblet Gravy.

Pour stuffing into a greased pan and bake until cooked through and golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Mushroom Giblet Gravy:

4 cups turkey or chicken stock

Giblets from 1 turkey

2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons reserved stuffing mixture
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup cold water
2 pints button mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons butter
1 hard boiled egg, sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring stock and giblets to a boil. Add bouillon and reserved stuffing mixture. Make a slurry by whisking together the cornstarch and water and add to the boiling stock; cook 2 to 3 minutes. Meanwhile, saute mushrooms until browned in butter. Add mushrooms to gravy with egg and salt and pepper, to taste.

This might seem like a lot but trust me, you’ll love these recipes! I’ll give you a few more tomorrow, I don’t to overload you!

If you have any problems in the kitchen, send me a message in the comment section!

Big Love to ya!

Paul xx