Australian Thanksgiving

Since we were traveling over Thanksgiving and we were staying in an apartment, we thought it would be wonderful to celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional dinner. Australian’s don’t celebrate Thanksgiving of course, but I found that they don’t usually even sell turkeys in their grocery stores. So I felt very fortunate when Australian food blogger, Lorraine, Not Quite Nigella, suggested David Jones food hall as a place I may be able to buy a turkey. David Jones food hall is a great specialty food store on the bottom floor of an upscale department store. Not only did they have a wonderful bone-in turkey breast that we were able to buy, but we went back almost every day to buy something wonderful to eat. They had a great bakery and huge, delicious chocolate covered strawberries. I decided to bring from home many of the ingredients I would need to make our traditional Thanksgiving dinner – green jello, crushed pineapple, jellied cranberry sauce, stuffing spices, a Reynold’s roasting bag, pop-up timer and my recipes. The kitchen didn’t have many pans or utensils for cooking, so we had to buy disposable pans for the turkey, stuffing and jello, but they worked out great. Especially since I had brought the roasting bag and pop-up timer – the turkey was perfectly cooked, juicy and delicious! We completed our meal with some bake and serve rolls, corn and an apple tart from David Jones. Not the fancy Thanksgiving meal with lots of side dishes we would have had at home, but everything was delicious and we were very grateful for a wonderful year. And the wonderful opportunity we had to travel to beautiful Australia! The trip was amazing. The Australians were so friendly and helpful. You can view my pictures (there’s a lot of them) hereif you’d like to see them. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time this year to visit my blog. It has really been a fun adventure and everyone has been so great to comment on my posts. Meg was kind enough to give me an award while I was gone. I’ll blog more about that soon. Here are the two family favorite, traditional recipes I took to Australia.

Green Jello Cream Cheese Salad

1 large package lime jello
2 c. water, divided
1 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 small can crushed pineapple
1/2 pt. whipping cream

Dissolve jello in 1 cup hot water. Add 1 cup cold water. Chill. Mix cream cheese and pineapple, do not drain juice. Blend jello and cream cheese mixture. Chill until set. Fold in whipping cream that has been whipped. Chill.

Stuffing

3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup butter
1 cup celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 loaf bread *
2 t. salt
1 t. sage
1 t. poultry seasoning
dash pepper

Simmer butter, broth, celery and onion until tender. Add spices. Pour over bread. Mix well. Stuff into turkey or roast covered in the oven for 30 minutes at 350º, uncover the last 5 minutes to toast the bread slightly.

Update: *Cube the bread and toast on a rimmed cookie sheet in 350º oven for 20 minutes. Cool bread before continuing with recipe. If you are using toasted bread, you’ll need to add an additional 1/2 – 3/4 cup chicken broth.

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