16 • The Beacon November 11 , 2021

When my grandmother , Esther Scudder , would walk into a new restaurant , the wait staff and patrons would soon tell her their life stories . She drew people to her with her warm personality and bubbly laugh . Before she married my grandfather , she would gather with friends for a party . Young men would have bouquets of flowers delivered to her family home the next morning in hopes of being able to get a date with her .

G r a n d m a d ie d o n Thanksgiving Day . I was pregnant with my now adult daughter , Amanda . That Thanksgiving , none of us really felt like making the big traditional meal , so we ate at a buffet restaurant . We enjoyed being together , but it wasn ’ t the same . Not only did we miss Esther ’ s presence , but we

also wished for all her delicious dishes , especially her thick homemade noodles cooked in turkey broth and served over creamy mashed potatoes .

This Thanksgiving I experimented with a way to have convenience and homemade deliciousness combined into one sheet pan . The entire meal took about 45 minutes of prep and an hour of cooking time . Because I only used a sheet pan , clean-up was minimal .

Grandma would think experiencing more time with family and friends on Thanksgiving but still enjoying delicious food a marvelous idea . I doubled this recipe because I served about 20 people when I tested this . If you made this for your family , you would have enough leftovers for a killer turkey sandwich the next day .

Grandma made dressing with cornbread and biscuits , but I used a traditional boxed stuffing . You could substitute the green beans for brussels sprouts ( yum ), but the green beans crisped up in the oven nicely . I used a turkey breast that was in a cooking bag from the freezer section of the grocery store . Slicing it lengthwise made it thin enough to cook at the same rate as everything else .

One of the keys to juicy turkey is using a meat thermometer to bring it to exactly 160 F . Take it out of the oven so it can come up to 165 F before you slice it and serve it . Otherwise , you will have dry turkey meat , and that is one tradition that doesn ’ t need to continue .

SHEET PAN THANKSGIVING DINNER

Serves 6-8 1 oven-ready turkey breast in a bag ( freezer section of grocery store , defrost in refrigerator for 2 days prior to making this meal ) 1 box stuffing mix ¼ cup water 2 sticks butter divided 4 sweet potatoes ½ cup brown sugar 4 ounces chopped pecans A handful of mini marshmallows Fresh green beans ( I used the ones in a bag near the salad section ) 3 cloves chopped fresh garlic 1 can southern style biscuits Salt and pepper and granulated garlic to taste Large cooking sheet Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375 F . Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray . Slice turkey breast in half lengthwise . If your turkey breast is not already seasoned , season with salt , pepper and granulated garlic . Put on baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes . Take out of oven . Dump excess liquid .

Meanwhile , prick sweet potatoes all over with a fork . Put in microwave on high for 10 minutes . Cut sweet potatoes in half , score them and pull them a bit apart so they can trap the butter and pecan mixture later . Place halves skin side down on sheet pan in a row . Melt butter in microwave . Put half of butter in with stuffing and add water . Mix . Put stuffing on bottom of baking sheet next to the sweet potatoes

and place turkey on top of stuffing . Trim green beans . Toss with olive oil , salt , pepper and garlic . Put on other end of baking sheet . Bake in oven until turkey is 140 F . Take tray out of oven . Add brown sugar and pecans to other half of melted butter . Spoon over sweet potatoes .

Cut biscuits in half and put in rows in between turkey , stuffing and sweet potatoes . Bake until biscuits are done and turkey is at 160 F . Take out of oven and allow turkey to rest for 15 minutes to bring it up to 165 F . Sprinkle marshmallows onto sweet potatoes . Slice turkey and serve everything directly off the sheet pan .

Julie Dearyan is a writer , mother , grandmother and pastor ’ s wife . She enjoys making memories by planning meals for the people she loves .