Today Show Recipes for Thanksgiving Dinner Turkey Ideas

Who knew the "Today Show" on NBC could be such a gold mine of great recipes? (Okay, so a LOT of people already knew this, so ignore my enthusiasm and allow me to champion the "Today Show" recipes to those who did not). With Thanksgiving just a few days away, there is no time like the present to plan your meal. Or, for that matter, your Christmas meal. Either way, the "Today Show" recipes can be found on their website at MSN.com. and accessed through the "Food & Wine" link.

There are two things people generally do during the Thanksgiving holiday: Eat and watch football. Since I don't really relish the idea of talking about the Dallas Cowboys and their present predicament, food and the traditional dinner seems to be the default Thanksgiving topic. In particular, Thanksgiving recipes. And, if you are like me, you do not enjoy eating the same stuff year in and year out. The "Today Show" Food & Wine section has a cure for that.

Tyler Florence of the Food Network was on the "Today Show" Friday morning and shared several recipes for a really great holiday dinner, one of which was a roasted turkey with an onion, celery, and carrot gravy. Florence showed how to prepare a 7-course Thanksgiving (or Christmas) meal. Besides the obligatory turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, Tyler Florence also shared a recipe for braised balsamic brussel sprouts that looks worthy of a try.

There was also a Cajun roasted turkey recipe of Jimmy Bannos' that looked especially appetizing as well on the site. It calls for six pounds of butter and Bannos' own spicy 'Angel Dust Seasoning.' Just below this recipe was something called Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes, which combines the intriguing flavors of sweet potatoes, garlic potatoes, cane syrup, and bourbon.

Another link led five different turkey recipes that were culled from Epicurious.com. One herb-roasted turkey recipe had an apple cider gravy that looked interesting, but what really caught my eye was the mole-roasted turkey with masa stuffing and chile gravy.

Epicurious.com also supplied a Thanksgiving menu that serves eight for less than $80. If you add a couple bottles of wine, it is still under $100. With the economy, one should be thankful if one can afford to spend $80 - $100, so the tips for creating a holiday meal given here are well worth noting.

Speaking of wine, Epicurious.com also pairs up wines with turkey recipes. One of the turkey recipes joined with a Boroli red wine (price: about $19), the turkey piccata with tarragon cream, sounded so good I thought about buying two turkeys for Thanksgiving. And simply because I enjoy any vaguely spicy, Southwest, or Mexican, a Joseph Drouhin Pinot Noir (price: about $25) paired with a citrus glazed turkey with chipotle gravy garnered my attention as well.

After bouncing around the site a bit, I came up with a menu for my table that is a bit eclectic:

Citrus-Glazed Turkey with Chipotle Gravy

Masa Stuffing (from the Mole-Roasted Turkey with Masa Stuffing and Chile Gravy recipe)

Jimmy Bannos' Bourbon Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Tyler Florence's Velvety Mashed Potatoes

Tyler Florence's Braised Balsamic Brussel Sprouts

Homemade Cumin & Cayenne Sweet Corn

Kroger's Private Selection Cranberry Celebration

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Turning Leaf Pinot Noir

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Thanks to the "Today Show," I now have a ton of recipes at my fingertips. Being the foodie that I am, this means one thing: time to ezperiment with new food ideas.

Of course, everyone's palate is different and you might not agree with some of my menu choices (or any of them, for that matter), but if you can't find something to your liking in all those hundreds (thousands?) of suggestion on the "Today Show" site, you just aren't trying.

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Sources:

MSNBC.msn.com

Epicurious.com

"Today Show," NBC Television