Oven Roasted Herbed Turkey

Are you afraid of the big bird??  I was.  What if it was dry?  What if it was bland??  What if it burned?!?!  And how in the world do you cook a huge turkey?!

The first year I cooked a turkey, I used this Roasted Herb Butter Turkey recipe from Sandra Lee,  It was... pretty good.  But it wasn't perfect.  The skin was soggy from the butter and while the flavor was nice and the turkey was moist, it just didn't scream "Make me every year!"

The next year I decided to use a little of the Sandra Lee recipe and a little of this Herb Roasted Chicken recipe.  And, WOW!  That was it!!!  Poultry perfection!!!

Butterball has an AWESOME website dedicated to how long to cook your turkey, how much turkey you need for how many people, how long to thaw it, etc.  Check it out.  Everybody should use this every year!

So, here is my version of a great Thanksgiving Turkey!

REMINDER -- It is important that you take the size of your turkey into consideration when planning this recipe and cooking.  I used a 14lb turkey and it cooked a little over 3 hours.  You also need to adjust your seasonings based on the size of your turkey.  So plan accordingly!!

Oven Roasted Herbed Turkey

Ingredients:

Turkey

2 lemons, halved

Bunched fresh sage, rosemary and thyme

1 yellow onion, quartered

1 whole pod of garlic, peeled and gently crushed

1 cup carrots

1 cup celery sticks

4 cups chicken broth

For every 4 lbs of your turkey you will need the following:

1 Tbsp fresh Sage

1 Tbsp fresh Rosemary

1 Tbsp fresh Thyme

1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp kosher salt

1 tsp pepper

Directions:

THAW your turkey!!!  Make sure your turkey is thawing several days before Thanksgiving.  It takes DAYS to thaw in the fridge and hours to thaw in water.  For some reason, you can not leave a whole turkey out on the counter to thaw.  So don't try it!  Plan ahead and thaw the baby out right!

Once your turkey has thawed, open the packaging and remove the bag inside the cavity.  Also... you may chose to remove the butt.  Just sayin'... some people do like to eat it though.  Hm.

Preheat your oven to 350°.  

Chop the sage, rosemary and thyme, finely.  Place in a small bowl and add vegetable oil, salt and pepper.  Stir thoroughly.  This can be done early and refrigerated.  The earlier you do it, the more the flavors of the herbs will infuse the oil.  But it can also be done right before baking and that is fine too!  No fuss!  Also, make sure you use the above measurements for EVERY 4 POUNDS of turkey.  

OK... you're ready to go.  If you are using a turkey roaster with a rack, place the rack in the roaster and place the celery and carrots in the bottom of the turkey roaster.  Pour enough chicken broth over the carrots and celery to cover them and fill the pan about an inch high.  You need to keep an eye on this as you roast your turkey.  You do not want to let the juices burn off because you will start to burn the turkey drippings as well.  If it starts to get low, just add more broth. 

Rinse your bird and pat it dry with paper towels.  This will help the herbs stick.  Place the turkey atop the roasting rack and rub down with the oil and herb mixture.  Cover the whole bird, make sure you get inside the wings and legs and the bottom of the turkey.  Once you've used all of the herb mix, stuff the turkey with the lemon, garlic, onion and remaining herb clippings.

I should say that after about 90 minutes, you should baste your turkey every 20-30 minutes.  However, we forgot to do this and still had an AMAZINGLY moist and tasty bird, so..... apparently it wasn't a horrible sin!!

The size of your turkey will determine the cooking time, but it should be 180° internally before removing the turkey.  

Once you remove your bird from the oven, let it rest 20-30 minutes before carving.  

ENJOY!!

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Cranberry Sauce

Did you like it as a kid??  Cranberry sauce...???  Was it served from a can??  Did you have the jelly kind or the whole fruit kind?  *blech*  I never liked it.  Ever.  So, in trying to figure out what may make me like it more... I decided to make my own!  Well, well... what have we here?!  Oh, it's just THE BEST CRANBERRY SAUCE EVER!!!!!  Um, yeah... it's THAT good!  In fact, it is so good that my kidney challenged husband, who has had more cranberry juice, pills, sauce, etc. forced down his throat that he cares to admit, and who will tell you every chance he gets that he HATES cranberry... LOVES this!  Yeah.  It's THAT good.

Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
12 oz bag fresh cranberries
3/4 cup orange juice
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar

Directions:
Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan and cook on medium-high for 15-20 minutes or until most of the liquid has reduced, stirring occasionally.  You’ll hear the cranberries popping - don’t worry!!!!  That’s what you want them to do!  Remove from heat and serve immediately.

You can make the sauce days ahead, just bring it to room temperature or slightly heat before serving.

Don't serve it cold, it's not the same!!

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French's Fried Onion Green Bean Casserole

I don't know about you, but I've never made it any other way... French's Onion Green Bean Casserole!  It is perfect, why mess with that?!

French's Onion Green Bean Casserole

recipe here

photo courtesy of French's

We double the recipe everytime we make it.  It is so good, warms up beautifully, AND *bonus* you can make it the night before and warm it up the next day!  Just don't add the top onions until the next day and you're good to go!  I want some now... haha!

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Steamed Carrots

These were SO cute and so easy!  Well, they were tedious, but easy!  My mom is on a very strict diet - she counts fat grams instead of calories.  And it has done WONDERS for her.  She lost 60lbs in 8 months.  Healthfully.  But, sometimes it is challenging to keep to her diet when eating in other people's homes.  I wanted to be conscious of not only her need for less fattening foods, but also her need to not have me make 10 separate sides just for her!  I LOVE carrots and I've always wanted to make these fancy little cuties, so this was the perfect time to do it!

Steamed Carrots

First of all, I didn't know you couldn't just buy the carrots like this in the store...?!  Well, maybe at specialty stores you can.  But not at HEB.  So, you have to buy full sized carrots with tops.

Ingredients:
3 bunches full size carrots with tops

Directions:
Cut the greens to about 1" tall.  Wash the carrots thoroughly.  I did this the night before.  They don't oxidize, so this worked perfectly. 

Peel the outer layer of skin off the carrots and trim them to the size you want.  For me, this meant cutting off some of the tip and for some, slimming them down.  I used the shavings and what I cut off in the bottom of my turkey roaster while I cooked my turkey, so nothing went to waste!

Using a steaming rack in my 4qt pot, I steamed the carrots about 20 minutes.  Until they were tender to the fork.  Salt and pepper them, to taste.

If you are not worried about counting fat grams, you should probably add some butter to them when you remove them from the pot.  A little will go a long way.

So easy!  So cute!!  So healthy!!!

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Mashed Potatoes

Easy, right?  Well, they aren't for everybody!  Here is what I do to make traditional mashed potatoes!  And remember, the type of potato you use MATTERS!  Russet and Idaho's will break down and become mealy when boiled, so Yukon are my faves.

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:
5 lb bag Yukon Gold potatoes
2 Tbsp salt
1 stick butter
3/4 cup milk

Directions:
Peel and slice potatoes into 2" cubes.  I don't even try to wash my potatoes before peeling them, there is no point.  After you peel the potato, but before you dice it, wash it well with cold water.

Place chunks in a large pot and cover with water.  SALT your water!  Potatoes will take on a lot of water, so add a good amount over the top.  Usually about an extra inch of water and make sure you check on them.

Bring to a boil and boil about 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender to the fork.

Drain the water and place the potatoes back in the original pot.  Add the butter and mix with a masher until blended and the butter is melted.  Add the milk slowly.  Depending on how much water your potatoes took on, you may need more or less milk.  After you've mashed them thoroughly, check the consistency.  If needed add more milk.  Also, if you prefer more butter, salt or pepper, add it now.

Not for Thanksgiving, but other times, I often make garlic mashed potatoes.  I follow these same directions except that I add whole garlic cloves in with the raw potatoes and boil them together.  Then, when I mash they just get mashed up together as well.  This is SO good and a family fave!!

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Paula Deen's Cornbread Dressing

I've made this dressing for three years.  I will NEVER make another dressing!!!  It is amazing.  Of course, it's Paula Deen - how could it NOT be amazing?!  It is so moist and the veggies have just the right texture and, oh... the flavor!  Amazing.  Absolutely amazing.

I might even make this for Christmas!

Paula Deen's Cornbread Dressing

recipe here

For starters, I don't follow her cornbread recipe.  You could.  I don't have a real reason I don't, except maybe ease.  I buy Jiffy cornbread and I use three boxes, but two would be MORE than plenty.  You just may not need all the chicken stock.  Which, BTW... I've also NEVER used 7 full cups.  Ever.

You may think the use of the cornbread, white bread and saltines is too much.  It's not.  Do it.  Exactly like she says.  You will not be disappointed!!!  It is wonderful!

Enjoy!

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Thanksgiving Meal

I have this thing about Thanksgiving... I LUH-OVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have a freakish obsession with Thanksgiving.  Most of it is because the food you eat at Thanksgiving is some of my fave food of all time... but, part of it is the history of the day and the meaning on the day.  I get VERY upset that Thanksgiving is so passed by these days with retailers starting Christmas so early... but that's a story for another day!

To me, Thanksgiving is a purely happy and usually stress free time.  I get to see all of my family (well, half of it anyway!) and watch football with the boys and be filled with happiness all day... oh, and eat my FAVE foods!!  How could that be any better???

My father's mother, my Bippy, has almost ALWAYS cooked most of our Thanksgiving meals, at least the big parts of it.  With the help of my aunt and uncle they usually provide the turkey and dressing and ALWAYS the giblet gravy!  Bippy's gravy makes the day for me.  My Thanksgiving is not complete without it.  I could eat it as soup... and I'm sure I have at some point!!  Is that eww?!  LOL

As a kid, I wouldn't touch dressing.  Hated it.  Well, as an adult even!  Until I tried my mother-in-law's dressing and decided I'd been MISSING out!!!  It was moist and delicious and that day I decided I'd never miss it again!  I'm not sure what turned me off about dressing before, but I would assume it was the texture.

When we moved to San Antonio, we decided that we could still split Christmas between our hometowns but we just couldn't do that with Thanksgiving, so we'd start switching every other year.  The second year we lived here, we were going to my husbands family for Thanksgiving, which... dun, dun, dun........ meant.... NO BIPPY GRAVY!  I was crushed.  So... I pulled my big girl pants up and said "If I can't go to Bippy's gravy, I will make Bippy's gravy come to me!"  I called my aunt for the recipe and viola!  A new tradition was born!!  Thanksgiving in the Muegge house!

Our first year, we invited friends to share in the day with us.  I bought a 7lb turkey... hahaha!  Do you know how hard it is to find a turkey that small?  And I had no clue I actually needed MORE than that!  After buying the turkey this year, I realized that tiny turkey cost me twice as much as the 14lber I bought this year! We tried all of our recipes for the first time and got the hang of planning and creating a large meal.

After that, I thought "I can do this!"  So I asked my mom and aunt if I could do the entire meal.  My aunt Cheryl did still bring some of the sides and Kyle and I planned the turkey, dressing, gravy, green bean casserole and some others.  It ended up being a blessing in disguise that we planned it this way because the day before Thanksgiving, one of my aunts... one of my most favorite aunts... Marvine, suffered a massive aneurysm and was Halo Flighted to the hospital.  My entire family was in and out of the house, going to the hospital and visiting my uncle and cousin.  The prognosis was grim and my heart was broken.  I realized that no matter what the day brought, our family needed to eat and we already had all the food.  So I cooked.  And cooked and cooked... and fought through some really hard emotions.  And my husband and sister and brother-in-law were right there with me.  We pulled through and cooked an amazing and HUGE meal.  I knew our family would be in and out all day and even if we didn't sit down to all eat together, at least we could all eat.  We were able to eat lunch with my parents, my sisters family, my grandmother and my aunt Cheryl and my uncle.  We'd just settled in to our meal when the phone rang that Aunt Marvine had passed away.  I wondered if Thanksgiving would ever mean the same thing to me afterward.  I made up my mind, right then and there, that her passing couldn't ruin a day of thanks and that made me MORE thankful for the memories I had with her.  I miss her every day.  But in these cool, crisp, fall-ish days (if you can call them that in Texas!), I feel her with me.  I feel her watching over me and comforting me and nudging me on, as she would have if she'd been here still.  I feel her watching Reagan growing and telling me how amazing Reagan is.  I feel her here.  And I love Thanksgiving even more, because that means I remember her.  Even more.  Even more real.  Even more loving.  Even more than ever.  And I miss her every single day.

This year, we're back with Kyle's family and while that does mean no Bippy gravy... it also means we get to see all the cousins, aunts and uncles and grandma!  And maybe my mother-in-laws dressing??  Or at least the same recipe?!  Maybe!  Since we won't see my parents for Thanksgiving, and since I MUST have Bippy's gravy, I invited my mom and dad to visit us and eat Thanksgiving at our house.  We had a wonderful day and an even more wonderful meal.  I don't toot my horn too often, but man... I rocked that meal!  And with the help of my awesome husband, we served a perfect meal and ON TIME!

So, Thanksgiving means more to me than just a day with a bird!  It means family and love... and memories made!  It means remembering what we have been gifted and thanking God for the gifts in our lives.  And... it means GREAT food!

I am going to post individual recipes and reviews so that I can easily link them to the blog, but here is a recap of the menu:

Herb Roasted Turkey
Cornbread Dressing
Turkey Giblet Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Carrots
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Dinner Rolls (not homemade)
Pumpkin Mousse

P.S.  I didn't get a ton of pictures... guess I need to tweak my schedule next year to include photography time!  HAHA... but I did get a picture of the end result and I'll provide detailed instructions.  Hope that works!  LOL

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