Oh! well. I hope you had a fabulous and blessed Thanksgiving. I cooked and cooked and cooked.. and... then I cooked, with some cleaning in between. I ended up being exhausted and having sore feet and calves for 2 days... but it was worth it.
My turkey came out fabulous! I'm so proud of myself. I had never hosted Thanksgiving on my own before. My mother always did it and then after she passed away, and some years before she passed away, we went to my brother's and celebrated with his in-laws. We also went to my sisters a few times.
This year I invited my family to our new to us home. This was a big deal to me as this is my first home (not an apartment or living with my parents) since my first marriage. I haven't had a home of my own since my daughter was 2 years old (she's now 21)... so I was a bit excited, to say the least, to host Thanksgiving at our new home.
Everyone was invited!
My mother-in-law and my brother-in-law came along with my lovely daughter. Life is good.
Although exhausting... dinner was nice and yummy. Everyone said they enjoyed it and I'd like to believe it. Below is my turkey how to... I know I had to look this up on the net, so maybe you will find this helpful for Christmas or future holidays.
Dinner:
turkey
gravy
crockpot mashed potatoes
sweet bacon dressing (I should put this recipe on the blog!)
cornbread dressing
green bean casserole
corn
everything italian bread
cranberries
2 frozen pies (pecan and pumpkin) - I totally ran out of time for scratch and I am not a great baker.
Roast Turkey
Ingredients:
Whole Turkey (defrosted per instructions)
1 Stick of REAL butter - I use Kerry Gold
1 apple - quartered
1 orange - quartered
1 Sweet Onion - quartered or cut in smaller pieces
2 Stalks of celery - quartered
Seasonings of choice: I used garlic powder, onion powder, and pink salt.
Chicken broth for simmering the giblet package in the neck.
I purchased a 15.08 lb turkey from Ingles... at $ .57 a lb, I got a heck of deal on this bird. It was a Honeysuckle too! (no antibiotics and awesome)
I defrosted for 3 days in the fridge, but did need to soak it about 30 minutes in cold water the night before and the morning of to assist in defrosting.
I pulled the giblet pack out of the neck area and the package in the turkey's hiney and put them in a pan with some chicken broth and simmered all morning for the gravy.
I stuffed a quarter stick of KerryGold butter in the neck
I stuffed a half a stick of the butter in it's hiney with a quartered apple, a quartered orange, an onion cut up and 2 celery stalks cut up.
I rubbed the rest of the butter, about a quarter of a stick, all over the bird and sprinkled with onion powder, garlic powder and some pink himalyan salt.
I cooked at 325 degrees for 15 minutes a pound. It was done in 3 hours and 45 minutes.(160 degrees ish... as it continues to cook on the counter... fully cooked is 165 degrees).. then I pulled it out and let it rest while I baked the sides for about 30 - 45 minutes...
It was juicy and lovely.
photo and cooking credit
Tracy Hilbun
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