Recipes for Turkey Day

Pennsylvania Scouts spent an entire weekend preparing Thanksgiving dinner for hundreds of hungry guests. Here are the recipes they used for the side dishes.

Read more about Troop 344’s Thanksgiving feast in the November 2010 issue of Boys’ Life magazine.

Troop 344’s Sweet Potato Pie

Makes enough to fill one medium-size Dutch oven.

• 120 oz. canned sweet potatoes, well drained and mashed
• 2 tsp. salt
• 3 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 tsp. vanilla
• 3 cups sugar
• 12 eggs, beaten
• 3 cups milk
• 1 1/2 cups margarine, melted

Troop 344’s Sweet Potato Pie Topping

• 3 cups chopped pecans
• 12 tbsp. margarine, melted
• 4 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup flour

Combine potatoes, spices, sugar, eggs, milk and 1 1/2 cups of margarine. Place in a foil-lined Dutch oven. Separately mix pecans, remaining margarine, brown sugar and flour, then sprinkle atop potato mixture. Cover with Dutch oven lid. Use charcoal briquettes to bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Troop 344’s Stuffing (for 125 diners)

• 9 to 10 loaves of bread
• 6 pounds of onions
• 4 pounds of celery
• Tear bread and chop onions and celery the night before.
• 18 to 24 eggs
• 1 to 2 gallons of milk
• 2 jars poultry seasoning

In a tub large enough to hold the bread, onions, celery and other ingredients, add 18 eggs to the bread, celery and onions (fewer onions is O.K.). Have two Scouts use their hands to mix together ingredients. Pour in milk a little at a time to make bread mixture sticky, but not soggy. Adding more eggs will also help moisten stuffing without making it soggy. Mix in poultry seasoning. Cook mixture in birds or Dutch oven.