Easy Breezy Recipes

Five Tasty Thanksgiving Treats

Author: Patrick Carpen

The nearer Thanksgiving draws, the more we seem to find ourselves instinctively pulled towards the kitchen to create comforting and scrumptious food. For some of us, this means pulling out a dusty old book full of perfected family recipes. For others, this means Googling "easy Thanksgiving recipes." To save you the trouble, we've got five great recipes here that are a scrumptious way to satisfy your craving for holiday comfort food.

One of the first cravings you might start to feel nag at your taste buds is the yearning for anything pumpkin. This is likely a result of the pumpkin decoration littering almost every lawn on the street. So, for starters, we have an easy recipe for pumpkin nut bread. The best thing about bread recipes is that you usually get at least two loaves from one batch, which means you can eat one now and freeze one to have on-hand in case company stops by.

Famous Pumpkin Nut Bread

Ingredients: 1 cup butter, melted 4 eggs 1 can (14-1/2 oz.) pumpkin 1/2 tsp. salt 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. ground cloves 1 tsp. ground nutmeg 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2-3/4 cups flour 1 cup chopped nuts

Instructions: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter. Add eggs and pumpkin. Beat thoroughly. Add sugars, baking soda and powder, and spices. Beat thoroughly until all lumps are removed. Add flour. Beat thoroughly. Add nuts and mix. Spoon into 2 greased bread pans. Bake for 1 hour. Test with toothpick to ensure loaves are ready.

The next item on our list of Thanksgiving dishes is the ever-famous cheese ball. This particular item is usually present at most Thanksgiving get-togethers, but that doesn't mean you have to wait until the end of November to whip up this easy snack!

Cheese Ball

Ingredients: 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained 1 tablespoon diced onion 1 tablespoon chopped green bell pepper 1/4 tablespoon seasoning salt 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions: Mix together the cream cheese, pineapple, onion, bell pepper, and seasoning salt. Form into a ball and roll in chopped pecans. Chill and serve with butter crackers.

If your craving leans more towards sweet potatoes, then we have the perfect recipe for you! Sweet potato balls are an easy dish to prepare and are just as great on their own as they are when complimenting turkey, ham, or any other meat you fancy.

Sweet Potato Balls

Ingredients: 1 (40 ounce) can sweet potatoes, drained 1/4 cup butter salt to taste 3 cups crushed cornflakes cereal 3/4 cup real maple syrup 10 large marshmallows

Directions: Drain sweet potatoes and put into large mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes with butter or margarine. Salt to taste. Hand-pat mixture into 3 inch diameter balls. Roll in crushed corn flakes and put into 9x12 inch greased baking dish. Pour maple syrup evenly over all balls. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 40 minutes. When the timer gets to the last fifteen minutes, put a marshmallow over each ball.

For those of you who are craving some serious Thanksgiving meat, we've got a great turkey recipe for you to try out. The best part about this recipe is that you don't have to cook an entire bird?which means you don't have to deal with carving up the leftover meat and storing it.

Turkey Breasts Stuffed with Cranberry

Ingredients:
2 boneless and skinless turkey breasts
1 (12 ounce) package herb-seasoned dry bread

Stuffing Mix
1 1/2 c. of dried cranberries (sweetened is preferred)
1 c. of pecans (chopped)
1/2 c. halved pecans
2 tbsp. olive oil

Directions: Make the stuffing as usual and set aside. Cut the chicken breasts open so that they lay flat, place between waxed paper and flatten with a meat tenderizer. Remove the wax paper and spread the stuffing over each breast (leaving a bit of room around the edges), then sprinkle with most of the dried cranberries. Add all of the pecans. Starting at the longer side, roll the breast up similar to a Swiss roll. Tuck in the ends and tie it together with string. You'll probably need about four bits of string to tie the middle and one to go length-wise.

Place the olive oil in an oven proof skillet and let it heat. Try to brown the meat on all sides, but don't cook it thoroughly yet. Put the skillet in the oven and bake in at 350 degrees F for about an hour or until meat is white all the way through. Try not to let these get too dry. Let the turkey rolls sit for 15 minutes before removing the string and slicing into 1/2 inch circles. You can garnish with any leftover cranberries or pecans.

Finally, we have a recipe for one of the greatest Autumn-time drinks: apple cider! What's better than cozying up with a book or movie and a steaming cup of spiced cider? It gets better, because this simplified version of spiced cider allows you to keep your cider warmed in a slow cooker for easy re-fills.

Easy Apple Cider

Ingredients: 1 (64 fluid ounce) bottle apple cider 3 cinnamon sticks 1 teaspoon whole allspice 1 teaspoon whole cloves 1/3 cup brown sugar

Directions: In a slow cooker, combine apple cider and cinnamon sticks. Wrap allspice and cloves in a small piece of cheesecloth and add to pot. Stir in brown sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and keep warm.

Now that you have a few recipes to tide you over until Thanksgiving, you can hit the kitchen! Enjoy!

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