Recipe Review week of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is usually my big recipe week, but not so much this year - we had Thanksgiving over at my Folks place and dishes and dessert were divvied up almost potluck style. The Mother made the turkey, dressing, potatoes and gravy; I brought a root vegetable side dish, a cold broccoli salad, 2 pies and a vegetarian main dish; the SIL brought a pumpkin roll and cranberry pumpkin cake; and the SIL’s parents brought cranberry sauce. Needless to say, we didn’t go away hungry!

Here’s what I made last week:
(photo from eatingwell.com)
Glazed Root Vegetables (Eating Well, Dec 08, pg 82) 4.0
This was one of the better vegetable side dishes I’ve made for Thanksgiving, and it’s super versatile, calling for a 3 lbs of any kind of root vegetable. We used parsnips (from the garden), carrots and sweet potato. Rutabagas, turnips, beets, celeriac, any variety would work. Apple cider is mixed with brown sugar, salt and pepper and everything is tossed together in a 9x13 pan. This is covered and put in a 400* oven (I think - we modified the temp and times to accommodate le bird). Bake for 20 minutes, then uncover and continue to bake, stirring every 20 minutes until the vegetables are nicely glazed and cooked through.

This was supposed to be tossed with cinnamon glazed walnuts, but in the business of final prep, they were forgotten. Isn’t that how it goes? I would make this dish again.

(photo from eatingwell.com)

Crisp Turkey Tostadas (Eating Well, Dec 08, pg 29) 4.5
Joe over on Culinary in the Country made these a while back, but I had to wait till I actually had some poultry leftovers! I made this for the Folks on Sunday, as a thanks for helping the Husband with a tricky electrical conundrum.

A can of diced tomatoes are placed in a sauce pan and brought to a boil. Thinly sliced onion is added and simmered till soft. Thinly sliced turkey is added and heated through. Meanwhile, I had the Mother mash 1 avocado and combine with sour cream, salsa (homemade!) and cilantro. 8 corn tortillas are lightly sprayed with olive oil, placed in a piping hot oven and cooked till nicely crisp (watch carefully! They go from crisp to burnt rather quickly!).

Here is where I deviated from the recipe - I slathered the avocado mixture on the tortilla (refried beans for the Dad since he doesn’t do avocado) and layered with the turkey mixture and popped back into the oven to warm up. Then everything was topped with thinly sliced lettuce and a bit of cheese.

I really liked these, though I think 2 tostadas per person is a bit much when serving refried beans and fresh corn muffins on the side. I would make these again.