The Turkey Report

With only hours until Thanksgiving, I'm giving you my update. 

So far, I've made the cranberry sauce. 

And I added sugar. And lemon zest and juice. 

The overall taste was good, but very bitter. I'm not sure if it was the lime zest and fresh cranberries, but there was a lot of bitterness going on. So I added the zest and juice of one lemon and more sugar. And then just a little more sugar. 

So it's not quite as healthy as planned, but the flavor is there. 

Dish #1 DONE

Next was to make the brine for turkey.

Turns out I don't have a large enough pot for roughly 3 gallons of liquid. So...I split the recipe between my two largest pots. 

Y'all (you know I'm about to speak the truth when I start with y'all) this brine smelled so good I could have slurped it up from the pot. I cooked it last night, let it cool overnight and then it was ready for the turkey. 

The Turkey.

Today I cleaned out the cavity of the turkey--a little ewww, but I survived--and then placed the turkey in an oven bag. I carefully ladled all the brine in the Turkey Bag. 

Behold: Turkey in Turkey Bag.

Some interesting facts about cooking/prepping/handling a turkey. 

1. turkeys are heavy

2. when you place them in a bag with 3 gallons of liquid, they are even heavier

3. always have something on hand to secure the top of the Turkey Bag after you fill it, or you'll be left with a very full bag of sticky, heavy liquid and no twist tie. Then you'll have to stretch out your leg, open the drawer with your feet and carefully grab a twist tie and several rubber bands. 

4. then you have to carry the Turkey Bag inside a huge roasting pan to the refrigerator. Heavy.

So half of the turkey is DONE

I've also baked the pumpkin bread for the pumpkin bread pudding, and that' been hanging out in the pantry.

I baked the sweet potatoes the other night, and tonight I'll be making them into a souffle.

And, I'll be making the deviled eggs. 

I'll keep you posted!