By Gwen Vonderheide, Christy Wellman, & April Hawkins

Struggling with what to make for Thanksgiving? Here are a couple tried and true recipes from our families to yours!

Appetizers

Gwen's Stuffed Mushrooms

 Ingredients:

• 12 whole fresh mushrooms
• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 tbs minced garlic
• 8 oz block cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• ¼ tsp onion powder
• ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper

Directions: 

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel; carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding the tough end of stems.

2) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems; fry until any moisture has evaporated, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.

3) Stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder, and cayenne. The mixture will be very thick; use a teaspoon to fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange mushroom caps on the prepared cookie sheet.

4) Bake in the preheated oven until the mushrooms are piping hot, about 20 minutes.

Christy's Bread Bowl Garlic Cheese Dip

 Ingredients:

• 1 prebaked round sourdough loaf
• 8 oz block cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup Hellmann’s mayo
• 2 cups of Italian 5-cheese blend shredded cheese
• 1 tbsp minced garlic

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2) Cut off top of bread and scoop center out of bread loaf, leaving a 1-inch layer all the way around the outside. Bake bread bowl for 10 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, mix remaining ingredients together in bowl. Set aside.

4) Remove bread bowl from oven and carefully spoon dip into center. Put back into oven for about 10-15 minutes, until dip is heated through. 

5) Break up center bread portion into small pieces for dipping. After removing bread bowl and dip from oven, broil small bread pieces for 1-3 minutes (depending on how crunchy you want them). Serve immediately.

Side Dish

Sue's Noodles (April's Grandma)

(These must be made ahead of time. We recommend freezing batches in ziploc freezer bags until you're ready to cook them the day of the feast!)

Ingredients:

• 1 full egg
• 3 egg yolks
• ¾ - 1 cup flour

Directions:

1) Mix ingredients together.

2) Roll dough out very thin and cut into thin strips for noodles.

3) Sit noodles out on baking sheets overnight, covered with tea towels.

4) The next day, either cook or store in freezer bags until ready to cook.

5) To cook: Boil a mixture of chicken and turkey broth (if available), butter, sea salt, and cracked pepper. Add noodles slowly to mixture.

6) Constantly stir until cooked, and continue adding broth and butter until you reach your desired consistency.

*Makes 1 batch, which serves about 3 adults. 

Desserts

Christy's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Cake/crust ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 egg
• 8 tbsp butter, melted

Filling:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 15 oz canned pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 8 tbs butter, melted
• 16 oz powdered sugar
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Topping:

• 8 oz cool whip

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Mix together cake ingredients. Pat cake mix into bottom of greased 9 x 13 dish.

3) Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin and beat again until smooth.

4) Add eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together.

5) Add powdered sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and mix well. 

6) Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

    Hint: Make sure not to overbake, the center should be gooey!

7) Cool for 1 hour. Top with cool whip.

Tammy's Cinnamon Bread (April's Mom)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• ½ cup sugar

Directions:

1) Beat butter and sugar.

2) Add in eggs and vanilla.

3) Blend in sour cream and milk.

4) Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set batter aside.

5) Mix cinnamon and sugar together in small bowl and set aside.

6) Spread ½ of the batter in a greased and floured loaf pan.

7) Sprinkle ¾ of cinnamon sugar mixture over the batter.

8) Spoon the rest of the batter into the pan.

9) Cut lightly with a knife by dragging it vertically and horizontally through the dough (like straight lines for a tic-tac-toe game).

    Hint: Cut slowly and gently, lifting the knife out after every line and pushing the dough from the knife back down after each line.

10) Sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar on top.

11) Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. Let cool.

12) If desired, drizzle with icing.

Which recipe sounds the best to you? Let us know in the comments if you try any of them out!