Turkey Day

This year, James will not be here on Thanksgiving so we decided to have our own little celebration on Veterans day. It turned out quite nice too. I picked up a 9 lb turkey, and let me tell you I loved cooking that thing. My oven is small and doesn't fit a large turkey very well. I stuffed it with Pepperidge farm's cubed herb seasoned stuffing (red bag), which is by far the best stuffing ever! It has great seasoning already and the cubes keep it from getting too soggy. Other items on the menu were mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, apple pie & pumpkin pie (of course).

After talking with Jen, I am including the recipe I use for my Turkey. I originally got it from Martha Stewart, but don't follow it exactly.

Turkey:

• Rinse and pat dry
• stuff slices of garlic and pats of butter under skin
• slather butter all over turkey skin
• sprinkle with salt and pepper
• tie legs together if not already done
• stuff with stuffing

Basting the turkey:

• 2 layers of cheese cloth cut to cover breast and legs (can be found in the fabric department at walmart if not in the cooking area)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 bottle white wine (if you don't want to use wine, chicken broth can be used instead)

In a pan melt butter and add wine. Soak cheese cloth and then place over the turkey.

Put turkey in preheated oven of 350. Every 30 min use baster to wet cheese cloth. Once you use all the butter and wine mixture, baste turkey with juices from the pan. My 9 lb turkey took 3 hours to cook stuffed. Here is a great site with cooking times for your Turkey.

When the turkey is done, use juices to loosen the cheese cloth. Move turkey to your serving dish and let sit while you prepare gravy and other items.

Gravy:

The wine mixture with turkey juices make a wonderful gravy. Very flavorful. I have a measuring cup that separates the fat from the juices, if you don't have one I suggest getting one ;)

In a pan pour in turkey juices and bring to a boil. Mix 2 tablespoons of flour with 2-3 tablespoons of water. Make sure it's not clumpy. With a whisk pour in mixture till it starts to thicken, you may need to make more if you want it thicker.

Well that's pretty much it. Let me know if you try this recipe :)

Enjoy!