During November the grocery store had a promo for a free turkey or ham after you've spent $300. That's not really that hard to do with regular groceries and ingredients for holiday baking. I picked up a 21 lb. turkey as my reasoning was to get a big one since it was free.
Into the frig it went on Sunday to thaw. This morning when I took it out, I was really surprised to find out that the inside was still frozen so I kept running cold water inside it in the sink. In about a half hour, it was fine and I could rinse it out and get it ready for the oven. I sprayed PAM on it, sprinkled seasoned herb salt, pepper and lots of dried parsley. According to the directions on the turkey, it should have been done around 6:30.
Off to OLD Navy and the grocery store I went. I had to get ingredients for turkey soup and several turkey cassroles. The store was out of celery and scallions so I bet lots of other people planned on making turkey soup this weekend. The next grocery store had it and celery hearts were on sale. The bags were small and there were just two left so I took both. The man next to me then told me he needed celery so he bought the organic one not on sale.
Came home and made fancy mashed potatoes and butternut squash with maple syrup to have with my turkey. Oh, it looked wonderful and was browning beautifully. Come 6:30, it wasn't done. Same at 7:00 so at 7:40, I took it out. I couldn't wait for it to cool and cut a big piece for supper. Oh so good.
Later in the evening I cut all the meat off and it's in the frig. I broke up the carcass and it's simmering in my big pot. I'll let it cool, pick off the meat and store the big pot in the frig. Tomorrow is soup and casserole making day. I will have to rearrange my freezer as it's full. I might have to drive some things over to my friend's freezer again.
The dog is going nuts with the turkey smell and looking for anything that might have fallen on the floor while she was safely tucked away in her crate while I was working on the turkey. She's never had turkey but her nose is telling her that it's mighty good stuff. She didn't find any on the floor but she keeps hoping.
I can tell you that a 21 lb. turkey that only one person ate from yields a LOT of turkey. The best part is that it was free.
last time bidding
6 months ago
Gobble, gobble! :-)
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteOlga
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Did you watch the Holiday Inn? I love this movie, but we only have very poor quality tape. Was yours a good quality CD?
On the turkey front - I made very good progress in making turkey bones soup this year. I separated all the bones in small portions and put them in the freezer. Used only few bones to make soup and it came out great. I put some potatoes, leeks, celery, parsley and couple of frozen tomato cubes. My mistake before was that I used too many bones at ones and the soup would come out too reach and fat. Hope you enjoyed yours. I know we will eat ours all winter. I still have at least 6 big leeks in the garden.
Olga