Southern Thanksgiving Dishes: 2 Recipes

With Thanksgiving coming up some of us may be interested in trying out a few new southern style dishes. In the south we have a lot of wonderful produce available year round and those make an excellent addition to the Thanksgiving table. With these wonderful ingredients and southern twists on familiar favorites a southern style Thanksgiving is enjoyed.

Sunny Cranberry Orange Stuffing

1. Take a loaf of cheap bread of your choice and break it up into bite sized pieces.

2. Mince a quarter of an onion, two celery stalks, and zest one orange. Put these in the bowl with the bread along with two handfuls of dried cranberries.

3. Take about ½ a stick of butter and melt it. Pour the butter over the bread mixture and work it with your hands. The bread mixture needs to be able to stick together without being soggy. Add a little more butter if the bread ball quickly falls apart.

4. Stuff the turkey with the bread stuffing and cover the opening with a piece of aluminum foil.

5. Cook the turkey until it is done. It will take a little longer with the stuffing inside. With those little pop up things they use you can just wait for that. I would estimate around 15min per pound at around 350 degrees.

6. When the turkey is done simply use a spoon to pull the stuffing out of the turkey cavity into a serving bowl. The stuffing with be moist and delicious.

Tip: Putting slices of bacon on top of your turkey will naturally baste the turkey with the bacon fats and this will also create a nice flavorful skin.

A very popular vegetable at the southern Thanksgiving is squash. Below are some of my favorite recipes.

Butternut Squash

1. Peal the squash

2. Cut the squash into large cubes

3. Boil the squash like you would potatoes

4. When the squash is tender to the fork drain the water off and mash with a fork

5. Add butter, salt, and pepper to taste

Acorn Squash

1. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop the seeds out of the cavity

2. Put pads of butter, raisins, and a sprinkle of brown sugar in each cavity

3. Bake the squash at 350 degrees for a half an hour or until the flesh is tender