We were so happy with how our Thanksgiving meal turned out. We were so stuffed from everything “special” we made, we never even cut into our baked yams. So, I thought I’d share the recipes we used.
First up: Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Almonds from the Food Network.
We boiled about a pound or so of trimmed green beans in a high-sided skillet with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes. When they were done, we ran ’em under some cold water and set them aside. Next, in the same skillet, we toasted about a third cup of slivered almonds on medium heat for a few minutes, maybe 5, stirring occasionally. Then we put a couple tablespoons of olive oil and butter into the skillet with a sweet onion (cut very, very thinly) along with a little salt and some pepper and cooked them for about 25 minutes stirring frequently. When the onions were well caramelized we added what looked like a tablespoon of thinly chopped fresh thyme and cooked the onions for a couple more minutes before mixing in the prepared beans and almonds.
They were awesome!
The biggest surprise of the night was the Gluten Free Jalapeno Cornbread Stuffing that I found {here}. 
My version was *slightly* altered but mostly the same as Jeanine Donofrio’s. For the cornbread I used Bob’s Red Mill blue cornmeal and just doubled up on the GF all-purpose flour instead of using almond flour. For the stuffing I used jalapenos and some peppers from our garden, raisins instead of currants, green onions instead of scallions, a can of drained corn, and didn’t fret too much about measurements for the veggies but rather estimated quantities by what looked about right. Again, it was awe.some. It certainly wasn’t a traditional herb stuffing but the slight spiciness of it complemented our turkey and beans really well while still standing out as a distinctive flavor on our plates.
Finally, the Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey (breast) from the Food Network’s recipe archive.
On Wednesday morning we brought a large pot of water to a boil and added a cup of apple juice, half a cup of salt, a cup of brown sugar, a couple cloves of minced garlic, three bay leaves, a couple tablespoons of black peppercorns, a tablespoon of dried rosemary, and one and a half chopped up peeled oranges. After bringing the mix to a boil we removed it from the heat, let it cool to room temperature, submerged our rinsed 8 lb turkey breast in the mixture (and added water to fully cover the breast), and put the covered pot into the fridge to “brine” for 24 hours.
Thursday afternoon we discarded the brine, rinsed the turkey, and let it soak for about 15 minutes in cold water before wrapping it up in our dutch oven with foil over the top and cooking it in the oven at 275 for 80 minutes (10 minutes per pound). After pre-cooking the turkey we removed the foil, brushed the turkey thoroughly with a mixture of orange zest, melted butter, and finely cut rosemary from our garden and then roasted the turkey uncovered for about an hour and a half. Every thirty minutes we checked the internal temp of the bird till it reached 165 and basted it with melted butter.
A pretty new hummingbird feeder. $36.
Boom Goes the Dynamite 