A bone-in turkey breast, rubbed in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and baked. Pictured here with southern cornbread, dressing and skillet green beans with turkey gravy.

Classic Oven-Roasted Bone-in Turkey Breast

One thing that I have certainly learned in this world of cooking is that when it comes to large cuts of meat, you really need a digital in-oven probe-style meat thermometer (#ad), and not just the typical stick-in instant read thermometer.

I bought this Polder back in 2012 and so far it's still hanging in there!

Note: As an Amazon.com Services LLC Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases linked in my posts and marked as #ad or #affiliate links.

Since all ovens vary in the way that they cook, using a digital in-oven thermometer means that you can insert the probe, set the temperature you need the meat to reach and it will set off an alarm as soon as that temperature is reached. There's no need to keep opening the oven and removing the turkey toward the end of the cooking time to keep checking the temperature because every time you do that you lose some heat.

A simple spiral sliced ham, brushed with a brown sugar, mustard and pineapple juice glaze enhanced with optional holiday spices and baked.

Baked Spiral Sliced Ham

I have a pretty good collection of baked ham recipes here on the website, but you may have noticed that I haven't ever featured a spiral sliced ham here. Ever.

Until today.

There's a reason for that, and it's simply that I have never had a great amount of success in warming them through without it ending up dry. Until today.

I am happy to say that, as simple as this ham is, it turned out excellent!

Social Media Roundup HOLIDAY FAVORITES 3: Bacon-Wrapped Roasted Stuffed Boneless Turkey Breast, Slow Cooker Pepper Jelly Glazed Ham, Cajun Rice Dressing, Spinach Madeleine Bake, Slow Cooker Cheesy Creamy Corn, Cajun Cabbage Au Gratin Casserole and Pumpkin Crunch Dessert with Frosting.

Social Media Roundup HOLIDAY FAVORITES 3

Time's a wastin' y'all! Seriously. I don't know where the time is going, but it's sure moving fast. In case you haven't noticed, Thanksgiving is next week!

Let's get straight to business.

Here's the next round of holiday roundup summaries from Deep South Dish that have been shared across social media platforms recently.

Social Media Roundup HOLIDAY FAVORITES 2 - What You Missed!

Social Media Roundup HOLIDAY FAVORITES 2: Chicken, Andouille, and Oyster Filé Gumbo, Monte's Brown Sugar Orange Glazed Ham, Jezebel Sauce, Brown Sugar Butter Glazed Carrots, Chicken and Cornbread Dressing, Classic Corn Casserole, Traditional Southern Sweet Potato Casserole and Old Fashioned Pull Apart Pan Rolls.

Social Media Roundup HOLIDAY FAVORITES 2

Thanksgiving is right around the corner y'all, so no time to waste!

Here's the next round of holiday roundup summaries from Deep South Dish that have been shared across social media platforms recently. 

Social Media Roundup HOLIDAY FAVORITES 1 - What You Missed!

Social Media Roundup HOLIDAY FAVORITES 1: Everything Salad, Classic Chicken and Andouille Sausage Gumbo (Gumbo Ya-Ya), Cherry Bourbon Glazed Ham, Ultimate Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes, Corn Pudding, Bourbon Glazed Sweet Potatoes and Brown Sugar Cocoons.

Social Media Roundup HOLIDAY FAVORITES 1

Y'all. The holidays are upon us!

Course... it's way too hot here for November in the Deep South right now and I'm anxiously awaiting the return of some of those cooler temps we got a taste of recently. That sure felt nice! 

But y'all, seriously. In case you haven't noticed, Thanksgiving is early this year and Christmas roars in right behind that.

Time to begin our roundup summaries of some of the holiday recipes right here from Deep South Dish that have been shared across social media platforms recently. 

A classic Southern Thanksgiving meal in my family - roasted turkey with from scratch gravy, homemade mashed potatoes, baked ham, chicken and dressing, sweet potato casserole, spinach Madeline, corn spoonbread, hashbrown casserole and glazed carrots.

Southern Thanksgiving Dinner Classics

I have a huge collection of Thanksgiving appropriate recipes that covers everything from beverages, to appetizers, to salads, main dish meats, side dishes and desserts, and everything in between.

It's a perfect resource for those who are not committed to any set menu and for adventurous souls who just want to do something a little different every year.

A classic spinach casserole based on Spinach Madeleine, made with spinach, sauteed vegetables and a simple, cheesy cream sauce.

Spinach Madeleine Bake - My Way

Known by a couple of names with some variations - Spinach Madeline, Calhoun's Spinach Maria, Spinach Supreme, Spinach Justine, Spinach Gratin, Spinach Pauline, Spinach Dorinne, or just simply Spinach Bake - if you enjoy spinach you're sure to like this.

It's really a basic skillet dish made of spinach, seasonings, some kind of cheese, half and half, milk, or heavy cream, sometimes eggs and is sometimes topped with cheese or buttered bread crumbs. Each recipe has its own unique twist and variation. I've even seen one recipe that uses phyllo! Spinach Madeline is a holiday favorite for sure - be sure to double the recipe!

Unbundled Green Beans with Brown Sugar Sauce

Fresh green beans, blanched, tossed with bacon and onion, then baked in a brown sugar sauce.

Unbundled Green Beans

No doubt at some point you have seen or made bacon wrapped green bean or asparagus bundles. Marinated with either a brown sugar sauce or a seasoned olive oil vinaigrette, then wrapped in bacon and broiled, baked or grilled, they are indeed delicious, but pretty time intensive to make. This recipe gives you the flavor, in a casserole form, without so much work.

Mirliton (Chayote Squash) Seafood Casserole

Mirliton (Chayote Squash) Seafood Casserole, a casserole made with mirliton, the trinity, shrimp, andouille, crab, bread crumbs and seasonings. Increase bread crumbs for a mirliton dressing.

Mirliton Seafood Casserole

It's mirliton season in the Deep South! I'm guessing that some of you are likely thinking right now... what the heck is that?

Mirlitons, or in Cajun Country, Alligator Pears

My classic oven roasted turkey begins with a brine, then is left uncovered in the fridge overnight, is trussed, then stuffed with aromatics, and basted with a turkey or chicken stock or broth that is infused with apple cider throughout the roast.

Classic Oven Roasted Turkey with Cider Gravy

It took me a few years to get the Cooking of the Holiday Turkey down, but this method has worked out so well over the years that it is how I have finally settled on doing my holiday birds.

I would love to show you step by step pics, and the finished slices, but they are currently being held hostage by my iMac, thanks to me stupidly doing an OS update, that I should have waited on. 

Green Bean Casserole made with a homemade, butter roux based cream sauce, enhanced with bacon, fresh vegetables and mushrooms.

Green Bean Casserole with Homemade Cream Sauce

Let me first clarify here before anything else, that I have no opposition to cream soups. None. Nada. I have them in my pantry and I use them all the time - always have, always will.

And, like bacon, sausage, deli meats, bologna, hot dogs, red meat, grilled and otherwise, and all those other things somebody else is always trying to tell us that we shouldn't be eating, I love the cream soups! They are convenient and tasty and Southerners have been using them as a shortcut cream sauce in recipes since they were created, somewhere around the early 1930s. I suspect we always will. There's a reason our southern béchamel has been around for this long y'all!

 

  An old-fashioned heirloom fruit salad recipe, made with whole seedless grapes dressed with a sour cream and cream cheese dressing, whipped cream folded in and finished with a brown sugar and pecan topping.

Grape Salad

This is a retro fruit salad recipe from waaay back. You'll see versions of it all over the internet with very little variation in the base recipe of seedless grapes tossed in a creamy, sweet dressing, usually made with cream cheese, sour cream and sugar and finished with a brown sugar nut topping.

Fresh green beans, blanched then seasoned with onion, garlic and herbs, and tossed with bacon and pecans and a browned butter pan sauce.

Browned Butter Green Beans with Bacon and Pecans

When I'm putting a meal on my table, Mrs. George's voice still rings in my conscience when it comes to menu planning.

She was my Occupational Home Economics teacher at Biloxi High School and I truly loved her.

The term "Occupational Home Ec" probably sounds odd, but it was the way that the Future Homemakers of America were addressing the fact that women had transitioned from being full time homemakers to working women - who happened to still run the home too.

 

Fresh baby spinach, blanched then chopped and cooked with butter, cream and a light sprinkle of shredded cheese. Garnish with chopped or sliced, hard-boiled eggs.

Creamed Spinach

This recipe is only going to appeal to the spinach lovers passing by, but if you enjoy fresh spinach like I do, and you haven't had the opportunity to try it creamed this way, you really don't know what you're missing.

I have always loved spinach. Fresh in salads, frozen, canned, doesn't matter to me. In soups, casseroles, and dips, sauteed in a skillet with a little butter, nothing like it. But... oh how much I love it creamed, especially with a beef entree, making it perfect for a holiday side dish.

Cajun rice dressing is a rice based mixture similar to dirty rice and often served during the holidays. Some folks say omitting the livers is what sets it apart, but I like to include them along with a small roux.

Cajun Rice Dressing

This Cajun Farre Rice Dressing is essentially a dirty rice recipe, sometimes called Dirty Rice Jambalaya, that's been jazzed up a bit with a small roux for the holidays, beef stock added and baked, resulting in a more moist dish than dirty rice. It often makes an appearance both stuffed into some kind of bird or beef, or just simply as a side dish. 

I most often make this with chicken livers, or I use all of the giblets, though some folks say that rice dressing shouldn't have the livers - only dirty rice. I say do what you like! Love them? Use them. Not so fond of them? Don't use them. I happen to like them and so long as I grind them up, The Husband, aka The Cajun, who wouldn't touch liver for the life of him, gobbles it up. Hey, don't judge! All I can say is it works, because not only does he eat it, but he always goes back for more. 

Turkey Bone Gumbo - Turkey Carcass Gumbo

A delicious gumbo made from the carcass of the holiday turkey.

Turkey Bone Gumbo

Turkey bone gumbo, Thanksgiving gumbo or Turkey Carcass Gumbo - no matter the name you use, it is a great way to transform at least one of your Thanksgiving leftovers into a whole 'nother meal, by extracting every ounce of flavor from that holiday bird. While everybody is busy traveling and gathering for the big feast on Thanksgiving, I wanted to remind you not to toss that turkey carcass after your Thanksgiving feast!

And by the way, once all the feasting is over, pop back by here and check out my list of Thanksgiving leftover recipes too. You're bound to find something to transform those leftovers into something else your family will be happy to gobble down.

Fresh sweet potatoes baked in a cane syrup and brown sugar, bourbon glaze.

Bourbon Glazed Sweet Potatoes

Here in The Deep South, we absolutely love our sweet potatoes. And we love our cane syrup. Oh yeah, and our bourbon. You'll find it expressed in an awful lot of recipes, especially around the holidays, so it's no surprise that we love our sweet potatoes glazed with a syrupy bourbon too. For us down along this way, that's most often made using Steen's pure cane syrup, a well loved and local favorite from Louisiana.

Another great way to enjoy green beans in a casserole is to add a little onion, bacon and cheese and top it off with a stuffing mix!

Stuffing Topped Cheesy Green Bean Casserole

I remembered seeing this cheesy green bean and stuffing casserole in Kraft's Food & Family magazine a few years back (okay, so I'm slow) and really liked the idea of a stuffing topped green bean casserole.

Or, I guess, technically this would be a dressing topped casserole since it's not stuffed into anything. 

But, anyway... I thought it'd be a great side dish anytime really, but especially for the holidays, if you are stuffing your turkey and always have that little bit of leftover stuffing. If you have leftovers, it sure would make a fantastic holiday leftovers casserole too!

Perfectly Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin

Perfect Potatoes au Gratin, made with thinly sliced potatoes in a cheesy dreamy cream sauce.

Cheesy Potatoes au Gratin

Hello Scalloped Potatoes, meet the best, perfectly cheesy, Potatoes au Gratin, evah.

Ya know, seriously... I am of the opinion that it'd be kinda hard to mess up a dish of potatoes au gratin no matter what you do to them - I mean c'mon now. Potatoes. Cheese. Butter. Cream. Hello. If you're making this for the holidays, you'll probably want to double the ingredients and do extra layers.

Well, I personally love Julia's way with this classic potato dish, however I decided to play with it a bit. You know. For the holidays. 

A souffle'd casserole of baked grits with cheese and sausage.

Baked Garlic Cheese Grits with Sausage

I love my stovetop version of garlic cheese grits. They are a creamy, cheesy, and perfect garlicky cradle for eggs in purgatory, shrimp and grits, or grillades and grits, or as a tasty side dish, great with scrambled or fried, dirty eggs.  Last week though, we were chatting over on the Facebook page about everybody's favorite way to make a baked, casserole-style cheese grits, like this one; souffle-like and fluffy.