SouthernAngel's Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes (2024)

Below is a list of favorite Thanksgiving dishes from my files and other SouthernAngel Readers.

This is a plain old baked turkey recipe.

Take out giblets (this is important, because if you leave them in, your family will make fun of you for the next 20 Thanksgivings, right Sherri?). Mix butter with all spices. Take about a third to half of the butter mixture and rub between skin and meat of bird. Place most of the onions and celery inside turkey and the rest on the outside. Cook inside broiling bag until done. We usually set the oven on 250º and bake it a good 8 hours, but you can cook it at 350º for about 4 hours until the minimum internal temperature is 165°F as measured with a food thermometer. Check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast. When you remove your turkey to carve, let the turkey sit about 10 minutes uncovered before you begin cutting it up.

This is hard to write down, we always make this by taste, so the amounts listed are a starting point.

Saute onion and celery in bacon grease until tender. Mix chicken boullion in to broth and taste to see if it is rich enough. Break up cornbread, and mix in all ingredients. The texture should be wet - about the consistency of a thick muffin batter. Taste to see if you need any additional spices. Bake at 350º for about an hour until the top begins to slightly brown. If it turns out too dry, pour addition broth over it.

Every person that has tried this loved it! It is great for parties and especially for the holidays. You can freeze this recipe up to a month. Option: substitute 1/2 cup stale beer for milk and add 2-3 tablespoons chopped chives, if you're feeling frisky.

Mix together HVR dressing and milk. Blend in cream cheese. Next, gradually mix in cheddar cheese.

Form mixture into either one big ball or 2 smaller ones. Roll the ball(s) in nuts (optional) and refrigerate to cool (for around an hour).

Make this a day ahead to allow for all the flavors to combine. Use pineapple packed in its own juice, not heavy syrup -- you don't want this to be too sweet. This has a great flavor.

Gradually stir in pineapple, 1 cup finely chopped pecans, green pepper, onion, and salt to cream cheese. Chill well. Form into a ball and roll in the remaining coarsely chopped pecans. Chill until ready to serve.

Yup, this is my pie. The men in my family love this! The amounts listed are to be used as a base, add as much as you like. You can top this pie with another crust, or better yet, use a Streusel topping. Secret: the more tart the apples, the better the pie. The amounts listen are to be used as a base. I just add them until they taste "just right". Option: instead of topping your pie with a crust, use my Streusel Topping (listed below). **NOTE: If topping your pie with a pie crust, to keep the edges from burning, tear tinfoil into 4 rectangles and wrap around the edges.

Preheat oven to 350

Pour apple mixture into piecrust; dot with butter. Cover pie with other piecrust, turn edges under rim of dish, pressing to rim firmly. Cut off any extra crust hanging over edge. Brush top piecrust with beaten egg and dredge with cinnamon sugar. Cut slits in top to allow for steam to escape during baking.

Bake for 2 to 3 hours or until apples are tender and liquid thickens.

This is the number one favorite pie of my family! My mother-in-law, Gen gave the recipe to me. Don't be afraid to use the low fat Sweetened and Condensed milk; it'll be our little secret!

Preheat oven to 350

Mix together lemon juice, lemon zest, and Sweetened and Condensed milk. Beat in egg yolks. Pour into crust.

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until frothy. Gradually beat in remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar. Beat until stiff and glossy. Cover pie with egg white mixture and bake around 20 minutes. Completely cool before serving.

This is a family favorite!

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth; add sugar and peanut butter, beating well. Gradually add milk, beating until smooth.

Fold in Cool Whip, and spoon into/onto crust. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts or crushed cookies (if desired). Place in freezer until firm. Serve slightly thawed.

Boy is this recipe ripe with history! When I was much younger (probably pre-teen), my Dad worked for T. V. A. (Tennessee Valley Authority). And every morning he had to leave the house way before dawn, to go to Tennessee and then catch a bus or something to get to Alabama to work. One unfortunate day, My Dad's lunch was stolen. Poor ol' Leo was sitting over on the tailgate of a pick up truck with his stomach rumbling. Well, he made up his mind that he was never going to go hungry in Alabama again. When he packed his lunch, he just about took all of the groceries Momma picked up the day before. He should have just hooked up a chain to the fridge and carried it with him. With that said, my sweet Meme used to make a great congealed salad (we called it "Green Stuff" at that time) that Daddy loved. Matter of fact, the entire family fancied it. One night, I made some Green Stuff and started to put it in the fridge when a little voice told me, "Heck no!" I know what would happen: Daddy would take the whole daggum thing in his lunch. So, I hid the salad under my bed. Sure enough, Daddy went looking for it the next morning when he was packing his groceries and he just couldn't figure our where it could be. Hee hee. Needless to say, the family enjoyed the "Concealed" Salad the next day.

Mix water, Gelatin, and marshmallows into a double boiler. On medium heat, stir constantly until the marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat and place into sink of ice water. When Gelatin mixture has cooled for about 5-10 minutes, add in rest of ingredients. Chill.

This is the slaw served in Cohutta. My mom didn't give specific amounts, so I assume you mix this by taste.

Mix together vegetables a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Pour this mayonnaise mixture over the veggies. Season to taste and mix well. Refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 350º. Mix all ingredients and pour into ungreased 2-quart casserole dish. Bake 30 minutes or until center is set. Make Streusel Topping (listed below), place on top of tater mixture, and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

My sister Sherri gave me this recipe. Sherri turned into the Sweet Potato Police on Christmas 1996. She put this topping on her sweet potato casserole and took names of all the people who got a serving. (I think she was just insecure since she put too much butter in her topping and then tried to "dry it up" by adding additional flour. She ended up with a very hard pecan butter cookie on top of her casserole. Uh, yeah Sherri, it was good, yeah, OK.) Oh, don't worry, this recipe will not yield a hard cookie. Right Sherri?

In medium mixing bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon and flour; cut in butter until crumbly - you want to have small balls/bits of butter, so don't over mix. Toss in nuts. When your pie has 10 minutes of baking time left, sprinkle this mixture on top of the pie and bake the remaining 10 minutes.

This is from Janeal in Washington!

Peel and core the apple, and cut into 8ths. Wrap the biscuit around the apple best you can. Place in a greased deep dish pan (Janeal used a quiche pan).

In a bowl put in the sugar, water, butter and vanilla. Stir together then pour over the biscuit wrapped apple. Sprinkle with nutmeg or cinnamon or allspice. Bake at 350º for 40 minutes.

Pumpkin-Apple Dessert Pizza

This makes about 12 servings. NOTE: Recipe may be made in 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake crust at 350º for 15 to 17 minutes; 9 to 11 minutes with apple topping.

Preheat oven to 350º and grease 12-inch pizza pan.

Freeze cookie dough for 30 minutes; slice into 1/4-inch thick pieces (about 32). Place slices, edges touching, on prepared pizza pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven; prick with fork. Cool on pan on wire rack.

Combine pumpkin, cream cheese, 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in small mixer bowl; mix until smooth. Spread over pizza crust to 3/4 inch from edge. Mix apple slices with remaining sugar and dash cinnamon in small bowl; place on pizza. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes; remove from oven. Drizzle with caramel topping. Cut into wedges; serve warm.

Shoofly Pie

Shoofly Pie is of Pennsylvania Dutch Tradition (Amish) and is usually eaten as a breakfast cake. It is sort of like a pecan pie, but without the pecans. This recipe makes 2 pies.

Preheat oven to 450

Dissolve the soda in the 1/2 cup of hot water and add to mixture. Pour in 2 unbaked pie shells and top with reserved crumbs. Bake for ten minutes, then reduce heat to 375

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

Try the Streusel Topping on this pie.

Preheat oven 425

Cyndi's Pumpkin Roll

My friend Cyndi from Canada sent this recipe!

Then for the filling you need to beat together:

Preheat oven 350º. Grease a jelly roll pan (or cookie sheet with edges). Line with waxed paper and grease that too. Beat eggs and sugar together. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in dry ingredients except for nuts. Pour into the pan and sprinkle nuts all over (the batter not the kitchen!). Bake for 13-15 minutes until toothpick comes clean. Lay out a clean tea towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Invert the pan onto the sugared towel and then peel off the waxed paper. Roll up cake and towel together WHILE CAKE IS STILL WARM. Place seamed side down on rack to cool. Once cool, gently open it up enough to spread filling inside. Refrigerate until serving time.

Watergate Salad

From Donalyn's archives ...

Dissolve the pudding in the pineapple, stir in the Cool Whip, and fold in the marshmallows. Refrigerate for about half an hour.

Donalyn's Macaroni and Cheese

Cook the macaroni according to the box directions. Beat eggs well, add milk and beat til well mixed; add salt pepper and dry mustard, beat through. Drain macaroni put back in pot, add 1/2 stick of the butter stir until melted. Pour in egg and milk mixture. Stir constantly while simmering on low heat until the liquid is hot add the cheese and mix well. Pour macaroni and cheese into a buttered casserole dish (I prefer a deep dish), top with the cracker crumbs. Cut remaining butter into small pieces and dot on top of cracker crumbs. Bake at a 350 oven for about 25 minutes.

Church Lady Dump Cake

From Donalyn; you don't have to wear your coffee-colored hose when you make this!

Grease a baking dish (the oblong kind can't remember the size - Southern Angel Sez it's probably a 9x13-inch). Pour pineapple into bottom (with juice) spread evenly. Top with the cherry pie filling covering all the pineapple. Using your hand, pour the yellow cake mix (yes - the DRY cake mix) on top of the fruit mixture (cover all the fruit and use the WHOLE box). Top cake mix with pecans, and then top the whole thing with pats of butter making sure just about the whole top is covered. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes (or until bubbly and golden brown).

Don't worry about how the cake mix looks before you bake it. Once it cooks, it is like a cobbler. Try it warm topped with ice cream!

Lorri's Spinach-Broccoli Casserole

Lorri says to double the recipe for the holidays.

Cook Spinach and Broccoli ... mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl ... add Spinach and Broccoli. Bake 350º for 40 minutes

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