NEIRAD Top 5:
Original Holiday Recipes
More by Katherine Minion
NEIRAD enilno edition
When the holidays come each year, most families start to buy the traditional comfort foods a few days in advance. These foods usually include potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, and of course, the perfect centerpiece turkey, lamb roast or cured ham. And while these things are important parts of the Christmas dinner, many families have a special holiday recipe that is prepared each year, and without it, their table would be incomplete. NEIRAD Enilno found out some students’ favorite festive foods and collected the recipes so this December, you can try one of these delicious, festive foods at your own Christmas dinner!
Junior Megan Archey (pictured right):
Sweet Potatoes and Marshmallows
“My cousins make this when I have Thanksgiving in Kentucky.”
Ingredients
-8 medium sized sweet potatoes
-2 tablespoons butter
-1/2 cup hot milk
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg
-1/4 teaspoon paprika
-1 cup chopped walnuts
-1/2 pound of marshmallows
Instructions
Cook sweet potatoes until tender. Remove skins and mash potatoes. Then mix with butter, milk, salt, and spices. Beat well. Add walnuts and put in a buttered baking dish. Put marshmallows on top and bake at 350˚F until marshmallows are golden brown. Serve warm.
Junior Katherine Dostal (pictured above left):
Deep Fat Fried Turkey
“It’s not as dry as regular turkey- my dad likes his turkey like this.”
Ingredients
-10 to 15 pound turkey
-oil (click for more info)
Instructions
- Place thawed turkey in fryer basket and fill with water until the top of the turkey is covered.
- Pull out the turkey and drain the water.
- Fill fryer with oil and heat oil (see link for chart on oil temperatures).
- Inject turkey with marinade of choice and let sit for at least 30 minutes to reduce spattering during frying. Deep fried turkeys shouldn’t be stuffed.
- Remove excess fat from turkey.
- Turn off burner and lower turkey into the heated oil.
- See link for appropriate cook times.
- Remove turkey from fryer and let sit on paper towels for 15 minutes.
There is an endless number of ways to deep-fry your turkey so click here for more details about how to cook your turkey according to your family’s taste and more information about deep fryers and oil temperatures.
Sophomore Jack Johnston:
Turkey Tacos
“Sometimes my family makes Turkey Tacos with the leftover turkey on Thanksgiving.”
Ingredients
-1 can of tomatoes
-1 to 2 cups of cooked turkey (diced or sliced)
-1/4 cups chopped green pepper
-1 tablespoon of oil
-12 taco shells or tortillas
-shredded lettuce
-shredded cheese
-taco seasoning of choice
Instructions
Combine tomatoes, seasoning, turkey, pepper, and oil in saucepan. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for five minutes. Heat taco shells/tortillas. Put turkey into the shells/tortillas and add lettuce and cheese. Serve hot.
Sophomore Claire Walker:
Banana Bread
“It’s the go-to thing that everyone in our family loves to eat on Thanksgiving.”
Ingredients
-4 ripe bananas
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-pinch of salt
-1 egg
-1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
-1/3 cup melted butter
-1 cup sugar
Instructions
Mash bananas. Mix mashed bananas and melted better. Then add in sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle in baking soda and salt. Add the flour. Pour mixture into a 4x8 loaf pan and bake for 1 hour at 350˚F. Serve sliced.
Junior Nina Preston:
Greek Stuffing
“It’s based on rice instead of bread and it’s sweeter.”
Ingredients
-2 lbs. ground chuck
-1 ½ cups uncooked white rice (Uncle Ben’s®)
-1 ½ cup white raisins
-1 cup pine nuts
-2 cups chopped onion seasoning
-2 cups chopped celery salt
-1 cube of butter
-1 teaspoon poultry
-Seasoning: parsley
-pepper, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar (to taste)
Instructions
Cook ground chuck until brown. Cook rice. Sautée onion and celery in butter. Add seasonings. Mix all ingredients together. Serve warm.
