Food is an important part of the Thanksgiving celebration for many households across America. Many families have traditional dishes they make each year, some passed on from generation to generation. We all have our favorite Thanksgiving dishes at the table, and here are some of our faculty’s favorite Thanksgiving recipes! Take a look, and maybe you can add some of these dishes to your table this year!

Mrs. Herndon-Cintron’s Low-Calorie Sweet Potato Pie

“My Favorite!”

Note:
282 calories
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients
– 3 medium sweet potatoes, baked ( or boiled to softness)
– ½ cup butter
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
– 2 large eggs (beaten)
-1/2 cup evaporated milk (or whole)
– 1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

Instructions
1. To bake the sweet potatoes: preheat the oven to 400° F. Scrub the sweet potatoes until clean, prick them 4 to 5 times with a fork. Place onto a baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes until the sweet potatoes are tender when pricked with a toothpick.
2. Make the Pie Filling. Add butter to the sweet potatoes and mash until smooth. Add the sugar(s) to the sweet potatoes and mix until well combined. Add the vanilla extract, milk, and the eggs. Mix until well combined. Pour into the unbaked pie crust.
3. Bake the Pie. Bake the pie until the center of the pie is set, about 1 hour. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool slightly.
Serve the pie warm or allow it to cool before slicing. Top with whipped cream (or your favorite topping) and serve.

Mr. Curtin’s Take on the Turkey

Note:
Do not do this with a frozen bird. If your turkey is frozen, you can just smear the butter on the outside and will get some of the same flavors, but it won’t quite work exactly the same way.

Directions:
Take garlic herb butter and rub it between the skin and the meat, as far into the turkey as you’re willing to go (it’s a little gross, but trust me, it’s worth it). You can also smear some on the outside if you like: butter is awesome.

In the bottom of your roasting pan, put two onions, cut into quarters, and about an inch-and-a-half of apple cider.

Cover the bird and the pan with aluminum foil, making sure that you’ve sealed it well. The idea is to keep the moisture in, so you don’t want to give steam any easy places to escape. This is likely to take several overlapping sheets of foil.

Put it in the oven carefully! The cider in the bottom of the pan will slosh and become quite heavy.

Cook it until it reaches 165 degrees, measured in the thickest part of the breast and thighs.

If basting is an essential part of the turkey experience for your family, You can baste it once or twice during cooking, but the foil tent should keep it moist regardless. Basting is a decent opportunity to check on how the skin is doing and to make sure that the bottom of the pan hasn’t run dry. You don’t want to ever run out of liquid in the bottom of the pan.

Take the foil off about 30 minutes before the turkey is finished cooking; if the skin is browning and crisping under the tent, you can keep it tented the whole way, but if it isn’t crisping up, take the tent off and let the turkey finish uncovered so the skin will get nice and crispy.

Mrs. Kusbit’s Savory Sweet Potato Classic

“Enjoy!”

Ingredients:
5 sweet potatoes
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ cup butter, softened
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, or about 175 degrees C. Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.

2. Bake your sweet potatoes for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until they begin to soften. Cool slightly, peel, and mash.

3. In a large bowl, mix the mashed sweet potatoes, salt, 1/4 cup butter, eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sugar, and heavy cream. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.

4. In a medium bowl, combine 1/4 cup butter, flour, brown sugar, and chopped pecans. Mix with a pastry blender or your fingers to the consistency of course meal. Sprinkle over the sweet potato mixture.

5. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the topping is crisp and lightly browned.

Mrs. Miller’s Kale Recipes

“Now I am hungry!”

Recipe 1
Couple pounds of fresh kale cooked in chicken broth and dried onion soup. Cook until tender, adding wine and a little butter to the pan.

Recipe 2
Couple pounds of fresh kale cooked in water, uncooked bacon (the more, the better) till tender. After cooking, top with onions and apple cider vinegar.

Mr. Curtin’s Candied Pecans

Ingredients:
1 pound raw pecan halves
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
A dash of cayenne or smoked paprika (optional, but I strongly recommend the smoked paprika)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 250°.
Whisk together the egg white and water in a bowl until frothy.
Pour pecans into the bowl and toss to coat. Pour in other ingredients and toss to coat.
Spread the pecans evenly in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Bake for 1 hour, until the egg white coating has crisped and candied but not burned. When they come out, they should be pliable, and the cooling will make them brittle.
Let cool until brittle before storing or eating.

Mrs. Marzen’s Soul Sweet ‘Taters

“My favorite Thanksgiving recipe! It’s so good. I don’t like the marshmallow toppings, but this one has a really good brown sugar/pecan topping that I love. Even my kids like this one. I cut back on the sugar when I make it because it’s a lot otherwise, but even with less sugar, it’s still delicious.”

Ingredients :
4 whole medium sweet potatoes
1 c. sugar
1 c. milk
2 whole eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. pecans
1/2 c. flour
3/4 sticks butter

Directions :
Wash 4 medium sweet potatoes and bake them in a 375-degree oven until fork tender, about 30-35 minutes. When they are finished cooking, slice them open and scrape out the flesh into a large bowl.

Add 1 cup of (regular granulated) sugar, 1 cup of milk, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of salt. With a potato masher, mash them up just enough—you don’t want to be perfectly smooth.

Now, in a separate bowl, add 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup pecans, chopped (that means measure a cup of pecans, then chop them), ½ cup flour, and ¾ stick of butter. With a pastry cutter or fork, mash together until thoroughly combined.

Spread the sweet potato mixture into a regular baking dish and sprinkle the crumb mixture all over the top.

Bake in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.