My Pumpkin Pie/Cake thingy

Ingredients

Crust:

1pkg. Yellow Cake Mix

1/2 Cup Butter or Margarine, Melted

1 Egg

Filling:

15 oz. can pumpkin

2 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

Topping:

1 Cup reserved cake mix

1/4 cup sugar

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 cup margarine

Method

Grease bottom only of 13/9'' pan. Reserve 1 cup cake mix for topping. Combine remaining cake mix, butter and egg. Press into pan. Prepare filling by combining all ingredients until smooth. Pour over crust. For topping, combine all ingredients. Sprinkle over filling. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes until knife inserted near center comes out clean. If desired, serve with whipped topping.

Number of servings: 12

Side note: It took A LOT longer to bake in order for a knife to come out clean, and even then it didn't come out completely clean, so just use your best judgement. Do 45-50 minutes and then just keep checking it every 10 minutes or so after that but don't bake this and plan on having it done in that exact amount of time. Apparently that's normal for pumpkin pie. 

Thanksgiving Turkey

You will need:
1 14-16 lb turkey

For the Brine:
1 c salt
1/2 c light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 T black peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp allspice berries
1 1/2 tsp chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water

For the Aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 c water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
canola oil

Two or Three days before:
Put turkey in fridge to thaw.

The day before:
Combine veg. stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and ginger over med-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids, and bring to a boil. Remove brine from heat, and let cool to room temperature. Then refrigerate.

The night before:
Combine brine, water, and ice in a 5 gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down to make sure its fully immersed. Cover and refrigerate or put in cool area for 8 - 16 hours, turning once half way through.

The day of:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.
Place bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towel.
Combine apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 c water, and microwave for 5 minutes. Add to turkey's cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck wings underneath bird and coat liberally with canola oil.
Roast turkey on lowest level of oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Insert thermometer into thickest part of breast, and reduce oven temp to 350. Set thermometer alarm to 161 degrees F. A 14-16 lb bird should require 2 - 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Remove from oven and let rest, loosely covered with foil for 15 minutes before carving.

Pumpkin Chiffon Tart (or pie)

Combine in a large pot:

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon giinger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Stir in:

1 1/2 cups 2% milk (I used 1% and it was fine...)

4 large egg yolks...save the whites at room temperature

2 cups canned pumpkin (I just realized I accidently did 2 CANS...oops!)

Cook and stir over medium heat until boiling and gelatin dissolves.

Remove from heat. Let col a bit and then chill until paritially set...cool to the touch.

Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.

Add 1 cup sugar.

Beat until shiny and stiff peaks form. Fold gently into pumpkin mixture, making sure there are no white streaks.

Beat 1 cup whipping cream with a little bit of sugar. Fold into mixture, again, making sure there are no white streaks.

Pour into prepared (cooked) tart (or pie) shells.

I used premade pie crust...a biscuit cutter to make the little circles...and a mini muffin tin to make the mini crusts for the tarts.

Keep chilled until ready to serve, top with whipping cream.

Pecan Pie Sweet Potatoes

4 C. Cooked and mashed yams or sweet potatoes (I sliced the SP and boiled until cooked. The skin then peeled off easily)
1 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Butter melted
2 eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla

Topping:
1 C. Brown Sugar
1/3 C. Flour
1/3 C. Butter, melted
1 C. Chopped Pecans

Put Sweet Potato mixture in baking dish (I used 8x8.) Place mixed topping on Sweet Potatoes. Bake 30-45 min. @ 350.