Happy Thanksgiving to friends, relatives and colleagues –near, far and from across the globe—safe traveling and to have fun eating too.
(Reprinted From: “Blog: A Dietitian’s Perspective” Thanksgiving Sunday, November 22, 2009)
Preparing Thanksgiving dinner is enough of a pressure cooker, never mind having to do math in your head just to get it right. Here are some of the numbers to have a safe, worry-free and meaningful Thanksgiving Day dinner.
Turkey
For turkeys under 16 lbs., estimate basically 1 pound per serving (this accounts for bone weight.) For larger birds, a bit less is fine;they have a higher meat-to-bone ratio. However, if your goal is plenty of leftovers, (that turkey sandwich with mayo and cranberry sauce to boot) aim for 1 1/2 lbs. per person whatever the turkey’s size.
- For 8 people: purchase a 12 lb. turkey
- For 10 people: purchase a 15 lb. turkey
- For 12 people: purchase an 18 lb. turkey
- For 14 people: purchase a 20 lb. turkey
The Thaw
Technically, the safest way to thaw a frozen turkey is in the refrigerator. Figure about 24 hours per 4-5 lbs. of turkey. Another method would be to put the turkey is sink filled with cold running-water. Change the water every 30 minutes, and plan for about 30 minutes per pound.
Holiday Hot Lines plus, a click-a-way
- Crisco Pit Hotline: 877-367-7436
- Butterball Turkey Talk-Line: 1-800-butterball or www.buterball.com
- Empire Kosher Poultry Customer Hot line: 1-717-436-7055 or www.empirekosher.com/index.html
- Fleischmann’s Yeast Baker’s Help Line: 800-777-4959 or www.breadworld.com/help.aspx
- Foster Farms Turkey Helpline: 800-255-7227 or www.fosterfarms.com
- General Mills: 800-248-7310
- King Arthur Flour Co Bakers Hotline: 802-649-3717
- Nestle Toll House Baking Information Line: 800-637=8537 or www.verybestbaking.com
- Ocean Spray Consumer Help Line: 800-662-3263 or www.oceanspray.com
- Perdue consumer Help Line: 800-PERDUW or www.persue.com
- Reynolds Turkey Hot Line: 800-745-4000 or www.reynoldskitchens.com
- US Department of Agriculture Meat and Poultry Hotline: 888-674-6854 or www.fsis.usda.gov/Food_Safety_Education/Ask_Karen/
LITE ‘n EASY CRUSTLESS PUMPKIN PIE
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp. water
- 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
- 2 1/4 cups Carnation Evaporated Low-fat 2% Milk
- 1 15oz.can Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin
- 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar or low calorie sweetener equivalent
- 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- Light whipped topping
- Fresh Fruit (optional)
Preparation:
- Coat 1” deep-dish pie plate with non-stick Cooking spray.
- Place water in a medium bowl; sprinkle gelatin over water. Let stand 5 – 10 minutes or until softened. Mixture may be firm.
- Bring 1 cup of evaporated milk to boil in saucepan. Slowly stir in hot evaporated milk into gelatin. Stir in the remaining evaporated milk, pumpkin, sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract.
- Pour mixture into prepared pie plate. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.
- Garnish with whipped topping and fresh fruit, if desired.
Enjoy!
Makes 8 servings; Adapted from Nestle Carnation
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