Thanksgiving feast recipies (Find the short love story lower down the site)

Razzleberry Pie (Delicious!) You might plan on sharing one of these pies, but you’ll want to keep the rest. Served with vanilla ice cream, you won’t mind that your jeans no longer fit.
This recipe fills three LARGE pies
Cook, stirring constantly, first 6 ingredients until thick:
5 cups water
1/2 cups lemon juice
1 1/4 cups corn starch
3 1/2 cups white sugar
16 oz package frozen blackberries
16 oz package frozen boysenberries
Note, I usually have a hard time finding those specific berries, so I use two 16 oz packages of blended berries that usually include blueberries, black berry’s and raspberries.
When thick, take off heat and add:
 16 oz package of frozen raspberries
1 teaspoon vanilla.
cool mixture
Fill three large or 4 medium pie crusts (recipe below) with filling, cover with top crust, slit in middle for steam escape. Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes until golden.

Truly-Never-Failed-Me-Piecrust. (this will make three or four pie crusts, so you’ll need two batches for the razzleberry recipe because of the top crusts.
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups shortening (butter flavor is good)
1 large egg
6 tablespoons ice water
1 tsp vinegar.
Mix flour and salt, cut in shortening until small crumbs size. Add egg, cold water and vinegar. Mix well. Unlike most pie crusts, you can actually work this one smooth with your hands without making it tough. Roll it out between two sheets of wax paper, fit into pan, fill and add top crust. Crimp, decorate, (little leaves cut out of dough scraps or whatever) bake as recipe directs.
Note, you can reuse the scraps, too, without making it tough. It’s very forgiving, tasty and tender!

Light and lucious potato rolls (This makes fantastic cinnamon or orange rolls, too.)
2 T active dry yeast
7 cups of warm water (baby bath temperature)
1 cup of white sugar
dissolve yeast in sugar water
add:
1 1/2 cups potato flakes
4 large eggs
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
2 1/2 Tablespoon salt
Stir in 7 cups bread flour. Use hands to knead in 4-5 more to make soft, rather sticky dough
Knead only until blended,
Let rest 45 minutes. Divide in quarters. Roll first quarter in to quarter-inch-thick circles and cut into wedges like a pie, (about sixteen slices apiece.) Roll from widest to narrowest and place point down on greased cookie sheet or baking pan.
Let rise until more than double, (almost triple) Bake in 375 oven for about 12 minutes until golden.
Oh MY they’re delicious!

Green bean casserole
Saute a medium onion in a couple of tablespoons of butter (I ususally use canola oil for this)
when golden, add 1/4 cup of flour,
Add a pint of sour cream (non-fat works great)
add six cans of green beans, stir well and dump in deep casserole dish
top with cheddar cheese and french fried onions (from the can) for about 30 minutes until heated through.

Yams and Apples (the yam dish that my yam-hating mother had thirds of.)

Cook (boil, bake or pressure cook) about three pounds of sweet potatoes. slice to about 1/3 inch thick (1 cm)
Peel, core and slice thinly 6 med granny smith or other tart apples.
in a 9×13 baking pan, or casserole, line up in rows, alternating sweet potato and apple slices.
In a saucepan, mix 2 tablespoons of cornstarch, 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, with 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 1/2 cups water. Cook and stir until thick, (just before it boils.) pour over yams and apples in casserole dish. Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes. (If you want to top with marshmellows, add at the last 5 minutes. (I don’t usually add them).

  Turkey
take out the giblets (there are often two sacks, one in the chest and one in the neck cavity). (I admit I throw the giblets away or give them to the dogs. I hate their consistancy)
Rinse inside of Turkey.
Stuff both cavities with favorite (dry) stuffing.
Safety pin or skewer the neck skin closed.
Place in roasting pan with the breast down. (This is not the way they show them in the pictures.) The legs are up. (This is so the juicier dark meat will moisten the white meat by gravity.)
Cover  and roast for time and at temperature on package. (If you’re cooking a wild turkey, it’s about 15 minutes per pound at 325.)
Remove from oven 1/2 hour before serving time and lift turkey onto platter. Let sit for 15 minutes, and unstuff and carve.
Gravy YUMMY
Skim fat off of drippings (if desired) by adding ice to the roaster and letting the cubes float on the top. The grease will congeal around the ice. When you’ve collected as much as you want, (you can get almost all of it) put drippings in sauce pan, add one or two cans of cream of mushroom soup and whisk smooth. If it’s too thin, dissolve a tablespoon of cornstarch in  a little cold water and stir in. Stir until desired consistancy. Taste and season if desired. (if turkey is storebought it may not need any additional salt. They inject salt water into the turkey to give it a good flavor)