ALT-1 Non Traditional Menu Ideas for Thanksgiving Dinner
If you are tired of the traditional turkey and dressing meal accompanied by a slice of pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving why not try something a little bit different this year? We have grandchildren and neither of them ever want the turkey and dressing, though our granddaughter will soon be ten years old and our grandson is seven. Both children have hearty appetites and will eat very well if presented with food they like. Last year I decided to make a chicken casserole for the main entree and made homemade cookies for the children and an Amaretto Italian Sour Cream Cake for the adults. The change in menu left us with little leftovers and a lot of happy guests.
To accompany the chicken casserole, I made baked beans, green beans, mashed potatoes, and boiled some miniature corn on the cob. We had a very nice and plentiful meal that everyone enjoyed without my having to overwork myself in the kitchen. Below are the recipes for the chicken casserole and the Amareto Italian Sour Cream Cake.
CHICKEN CASSEROLE
Note: For Thanksgiving, I doubled this recipe for the chicken casserole in order to feed everyone and used a disposable aluminum roasting pan to prepare and bake it in.
INGREDIENTS:
3 large chicken breast halves2 regular size cans of Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup1 Box Stove Top Stuffing Mix1 1/2 empty soup cans of Hot Water1 3/4 Cups Chicken Broth from boiling the chicken
DIRECTIONS:
Boil the chicken breasts until meat is tender and remove from cooking pot, leaving the broth you boiled it in set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bone and pull the chicken apart into bite side pieces. Place the boned chicken into the bottom of a 9 X 12 casserole dish.
Empty the 2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup into a blender. Put water in one of the empty soup cans and add 1 1/2 cans of water to the blender. Blend the soup until lump free and well mixed. Pour over the boned chicken in the casserole dish.
Put the Stove Top Stuffing Mix in a mixing bowl and add 1 3/4 cup of the chicken broth from the pot that you boiled the chicken in. Mix well with a fork. Spoon out over the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees 35-45 minutes, or until topping begins to brown a little.
AMARETTO ITALIAN SOUR CREAM CAKE
CAKE INGREDIENTS:
1 Package Duncan Hines Golden Butter Recipe cake mix2 eggs, seperated1/2 Cup firmly packed brown sugar1 Cup coconut1/2 Cup slivered almonds1 Cup sour cream3/4 Cup Amaretto1/4 Cup Water2 Eggs
GLAZE INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup powdered sugar2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder2 Tablespoons Amaretto1 Tablespoon softened butter1 Tablespoon corn syrup2-4 teaspoons water2 teaspoons slivered almonds7 maraschino cherries
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously grease a 10 inch tube pan.
In a small bowl, beat 2 egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the brown sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. This takes about 3 minutes. Fold the coconut and slivered almonds into the meringue. Spread the meringue on the bottom of the pan and on the sides to within an inch of the top of the tube pan.
In a large bowl, blend the cake mix, amaretto, sour cream, 2 whole eggs and the 2 egg yolks at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes on high speed. Pour the cake batter into the greased tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool upright in tube pan 10 minutes, then loosen from pan and invert onto wire cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before proceeding with the following glaze.
GLAZE DIRECTIONS:
In a small bowl, blend the powdered sugar, cocoa, butter, corn syrup, Amaretto, and water until smooth. Transfer cake from wire cooling rack to cake stand. Spoon this glaze over the cake, allowing some of the glaze to drip down the sides of the cake. Sprinkle with almond slivers and garnish with the cherries by placing 6 of them in a circle one inch from the outer edge of the cake and 1 in the center.
This makes a beautiful cake to serve for the Thanksgiving Holiday as well as being very delicious.
