Hi all, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I pray all the wonderful food turned out just right and that everything tasted delightful.
We had Sweet Potatoes….growing up in CA, sweet potatoes were baked and then cut into cubes and a little brown sugar, maybe some chopped walnuts, and then a few mini marshmallow’s were put on top and then back under the broiler for a few minutes. Moving out here to SC, I came across this delightful dish pictured above. Out here, they call it Sweet potato soufflé or something else…but I first came across it at a restaurant. I searched out a recipe on the internet that came close and then I came across another recipe and adapted it to my needs….uhm tastes! In any event the sweet potatoes were baked and then blended with a hand mixer, sugar was added, some milk, an egg, some salt, and then I added in my own nutmeg and cinnamon. The whole thing is then covered with a flour, brown sugar and walnuts and baked for about 30 minutes…..this does not last long at our house!!
The stuffing is a cornbread/sourdough mixture with celery and onions and then basil, thyme, and parsley are added in along with rosemary. When I made it a few days ahead of time, I could have eaten at least half the tray by myself!!
The other attendees were the jellied cranberries and Ambrosia. Not pictured but on the other side of the kitchen was the Gravy…the best gravy I ever made…and I’ll explain that down below, green peas, and rolls.
So this was my Turkey the night before Thanksgiving….if it looks a little green do not adjust your screen that is what it was!! I had watched the Food Network Bobby Flay Throwdown for Thanksgiving. I saw that BF had used an herb butter all over his turkey…so I went and found the recipe and decide to try and do the same….Well his butter was yellow with speckles in it because he used fresh herbs…mine not so speckly…quite green…it was sage, thyme, rosemary and parsley…so quite green…anyhow I used a stick and a half for a 20 pound turkey…I slathered it on pretty thick….I had some trepidations once it was all done but there was no going back at this point.
I follow Alton Brown’s technique for baking --30 minutes @ 500 degrees…so I put it in around 10 minutes to 9am and set the timer…we were planning for a lunch Turkey meal instead of a dinner… I took it out and the above picture shows what it looked like…At this point I was really kind of nervous. The herbs were stuck to the top of the turkey and I do not have a turkey baster…so I figured it was either going to be ruined or turn out half way decent. I then took and placed it in my counter roaster with two boxes of low sodium chicken broth…if you don’t have one of these, it is worth the 25 dollars at Wal-Mart….
I don’t know how it works but it actually cooks the turkey faster than in a regular oven. In an hour and a half at the most the outside thermometer read 160 degrees…just perfect…I was listening to Alton Brown on their Thanksgiving Live special and he said specifically not to pay attention to the thermometer that comes with the turkey that they are set to go off at 175 and that equals a well-done bird…to take the turkey out at 160 and let it rest for and HOUR….They also said to take and cut off the leg and thigh all in one piece and put those back in the oven to cook….
So that is what I did, I let the turkey rest for the full hour. I have never let it rest that long, I always thought 20 minutes was resting…HA…anyhow, before I put the lid back on the roaster I took out 4 cups of liquid to make my gravy. At the 30 minute mark I put my side dishes in my regular oven to heat up. When the 30 minutes was up, I had the gravy done, the rolls done and the green peas and then we cut into the turkey breast…..It was the MOISTEST, JUICIEST turkey ever!! The juice was just running out, the meat was so tender and flavorful!! The herbs on the skin…yes, quite thick, but we don’t eat the skin so it didn’t matter.
So those herbs that were in the butter….well I used 5 T. of butter and then added 5 T. of flour to make my roué and then I added in my 4 cups of herbed butter/melted with chicken stock from the turkey…it was the BEST GRAVY I HAVE EVER MADE!!! It was sooooo flavorful. Anyhow, I am going to try it again for Christmas and if it comes out the same, I know I have finally found the recipe for the perfect turkey!!
We enjoyed the turkey lunch and let everything digest and then around 6pm we all dived in for our Turkey sandwiches!!! Dessert was a choice of pumpkin, pecan and apple pies!!
Friday we stayed home most of the day, my one purchase on Thursday was at Home Depot where their window blinds were 75% off. I was able to find a real wood blind for my kitchen window which is about 6’ by 6’ for only 20.00 when normally they were 72.00. Friday was one purchase at Lowe’s for storage bins to start packing up our household goods and de-cluttering to get the house ready to stage…they were a buy one get one free so we bought 6 and received 6 free. First room up, the dining room. I have two book cases with school supplies and reference material to get down to one small box for all three students currently in school.
Saturday we went to a park in the next town over and the children had a fun time playing on this huge playground.
These pictures were not the best, they were taken with my husbands phone but you get the idea…lol Have a blessed day!!
This lil guy is such a sweetie pie, he smiles all the time, it is so delightful. He does not really cry, just to let you know he is hungry and that is it and if I have been diligent in feeding him then he doesn’t even cry period!! He is sleeping pretty good at night, maybe only up two times now instead of every two hours. Yes you can see he is doing well in the weight gain department. I think he must be around 15 pounds…he has that cute little double chin with full little cheeks that you just want to kiss all the time. He is making lots of little soft cooing noises. I can sit and look at him all day long and just fall in love more and more. He is just so happy, he will sit on my legs looking up at me and make the sweetest little sounds trying to share his contentment.