Thanksgiving Day Baking

Thanksgiving Day Baking

This year for Thanksgiving, we spent it at Maumee Bay.  Maumee Bay is a family friendly resort on Lake Erie.  They have the main lodge which has a heated indoor pool, soft play area for kids, lots of places to sit and relax, lots of windows, fireplaces, and a restaurant. There is a campground there and cottages and a nature center and nature trails.  We have spent many weekends there with my parents.  This year, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving at Maumee Bay and we stayed in a cottage.  My parents stayed in the main lodge.

I agreed to do all the baking for Thanksgiving Day.

So, Tuesday night of Thanksgiving week, after a long PTO meeting, at 8pm I started baking.

I made a chocolate chip pumpkin bread, regular pumpkin bread, a pumpkin pie, and got those started in the double oven.  While those were baking, I cut up the apples for the apple pie.  I prepared the apple pie, and a pecan pie.  While the apple pie and pecan pie were baking, I made the Make-Ahead Breakfast Casserole.  

Wednesday, I got off work a little early to start packing everything.  We got to Maumee Bay around 9pm.  Unloaded everything into the cottage.  The kids were so excited and started exploring right away.  My parents watched the kids while Trish and I went to Meijer to get some groceries for the week.

Thanksgiving Day - I started with the Breakfast Casserole.  My parents came over and joined us for breakfast.  After breakfast, my parents had some errands to run and I started baking.

I made the sweet potatoes first.  Then I made the mashed potatoes.  The kids loved the mashed potatoes.  Trish likes sweet potatoes.  Then I made the Broccoli Cheese Casserole.  Then I made some stuffing which I was missing half the ingredients for.  

The mashed potatoes and the sweet potatoes were a Betty Crocker recipe that just involved mashing the potatoes and adding a little butter and salt.  The Broccoli-Cheese Casserole from Cook's Illustrated was really good and I posted that in a separate blog entry.  The recipe I used for the stuffing didn't turn out very well.  I will need to try another stuffing recipe at some time.

We had pre-ordered some turkey from Honey Baked Ham.  I had everything ready around 3pm.  However, everyone had finished a light lunch, so I kept everything warm until around 4:30/5ish.

We had turkey.  We had mashed potatoes.  We had sweet potatoes.  We had broccoli cheese casserole.  We did have some stuffing even though that didn't turn out very well.  Then later on we had some pie.  

We had enough leftover turkey, sides, and desserts that lasted us for several more meals over the next several days.

Then, every morning, I made breakfast for everyone at the cottage including my parents.  I made turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, and homemade pancakes.

It was a great Thanksgiving.

Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:

1 loaf Italian bread

1 pound breakfast sausage (I used turkey sausage)

1 small onion

12 ounces shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, about 3 cups

12 large eggs, slightly beaten

4 cups whole milk

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon hot sauce (optional)

Instructions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Cut bread into 1/2 inch thick pieces.

3.  Spread bread on two baking sheets and bake until golden - 15 to 20 minutes.  Flip the bread and rotate sheets halfway through.  Let cool for 15 minutes.

4.  Cook sausage and cut into smaller pieces.

5.  Add onion and cook until golden - about 5 minutes.

6.  Grease 13x9 baking dish.

7.  Pour half the bread in baking dish.

8.  Pour half the sausage-onion mix over the bread.

9.  Pour 1 cup cheddar over the bread-sausage mix.

10.  Pour in remaining bread.

11.  Pour in remaining sausage-onion mix.

12.  Pour in remaining 2 cups cheddar.

13.  Whisk eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and hot sauce together in large bowl.

14.  Pour evenly over casserole.

15.  Wrap casserole with plastic wrap.

16.  Place a second casserole dish on top of the plastic wrap.  Weight second casserole dish (I used some milk and juice cartons).

17.  Refrigerate for at least an hour and up to 24 hours.

18.  When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees.

19.  Let casserole stand at room temperature while oven pre-heats.

20.  Remove weights, second casserole dish, and plastic wrap.

21.  Bake casserole until edges and center have puffed and top is golden brown - about 1 hour.

22.  Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

23.  Enjoy.

Mark's Notes - 

I made this casserole late Tuesday night the week of Thanksgiving.  I finished it at midnight.  I served at Maumee Bay for breakfast Thursday morning.  So, it was in the refrigerator for 32 hours - a little over the recommended 24 hours.  It was delicious.  It was a huge hit Thanksgiving morning.

For this, I didn't have any whole milk.  I had 2% milk and some half and half.  So, I looked up a conversion.  3/4 cup 2% milk and 1/4 cup half and half is a substitute for whole milk.  So, I did 3 cups 2% milk and 1 cup half and half.  

I got this recipe from Cook's Illustrated's Holiday Baking.  It is their Make-Ahead Breakfast Casserole by Kris Widican.  

Widican, Kris. “Make-Ahead Breakfast Casserole”
Cook's Illustrated All-Time Best Holiday Baking.

Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

Broccoli and Cheese Casserole

Ingredients:

Topping - 

2 slices white sandwich bread (torn into quarters

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Filling - 

2 pounds broccoli

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press about 1 teaspoon (somewhat optional)

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

pinch cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup whole milk

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

8 ounces shredded Colby cheese (about 1 1/3 cup)

4 ounces shredded sharp cheddar cheese (about 1 1/3 cup)

Salt (optional)

Pepper (optional)

Instructions:

For Topping - 

1.  Process bread and butter in food processor until coarsely ground then set aside.

For Casserole - 

2.  Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

3.  Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in large pot.

4.  Add 1 tablespoon of salt to water (optional).

5.  Add broccoli to boiling water - cover and cook until broccoli is bright green 3-5 minutes.

6.  Drain the broccoli in a colander - set aside.

7.  In medium saucepan, melt butter.

8.  Stir in garlic, mustard, and cayenne with the melted butter.

9.  Cook butter mixture for about 30 seconds.

10.  Add the flour to the butter mixture - stir constantly for about 1 minute.

11.  The flour should turn golden after mixing for a minute.

12.  Slowly whisk in the broth and milk.

13.  Bring to a simmer and cook.

14.  Whisk often until large bubbles appear and is slightly thickened - about 5 minutes.

15.  Remove from heat.

16.  Whisk in the colby and cheddar.

17.  Season with salt and pepper (optional).

18.  Spread the broccoli in a 13x9 baking dish.

19.  Whisk cheese sauce again and pour over broccoli.

20.  Sprinkle with the bread-crumb topping.

21.  Bake until golden brown and bubbling around the edges - about 15 minutes.

22.  Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

23.  Enjoy.

Mark's Notes - 

The salt, pepper, and garlic in my opinion are completely optional. The cheese provides plenty of favor without the garlic, salt, and pepper.

I made this dish at Maumee Bay for Thanksgiving.  It was one of everyone's favorite sides.

For the  1 1/2 cup whole milk, I had 2% milk and some half and half.  I looked up a conversion.  It said for 1 cup whole milk to use 3/4 cup 2% milk and 1/4 cup half and half.  So, I made the conversion for 1 1/2 cups whole milk based on this conversion from cooking light website.

I got this recipe from Cook's Illustrated with my online subscription.