Frozen Turkey

Our turkey thawed in time for Thanksgiving but it was close since I almost forget to buy one. Our turkey came straight from the grocery’s freezer into our refrigerator to thaw.

But what can you do if that bird is still frozen on Thanksgiving morning? First of all do not panic and don’t try all those fast thawing methods that you read about. The only safe way to thaw a turkey is days in the refrigerator.   Inform your guest that the dinner will be about three hours later or 50% later than expected and bring out the chips and dips.

You can roast a frozen turkey – it will just take 50% longer to roast. A thawed 14 -18 pound turkey usually takes about four hours to roast but a frozen one will take about six hours to roast. You will still need to add an additional 30 to 45 minutes to allow the turkey to rest before carving.

Preheat  your oven to 325°

Line a roasting pan with foil and use a roasting rack to keep the turkey above any liquid juices. Remove all wrapping from the turkey and place it on the rack. Don’t worry about the bagged giblets just yet because they will be frozen in place and you will not be able to get them out short of hitching up a bulldozer to them. Lucky for us most of these are now bagged in paper and not plastic.

Put the bird in the oven and do not open the door for the next two hours. After two hours open the door and insert a meat temperature into the thigh area.  Brush the skin with melted butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper and remove the bags of giblet.

At the three-hour mark check the thermometer to make sure it is inserted correctly and not hitting bone. Roast the turkey until the thigh area temperature reads 175°. Double check in different areas of the breast to make sure the whole bird is at 165°F. Normally in a thawed bird there is no need to punch a bunch of holes in the breast to take temperature readings but this isn’t a normal bird.

If all the reading are 165° or higher than you did it! Remove the bird from the oven – cover it with foil and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutes before carving.

One word of caution: Do not I repeat Never ever try to deep fry a frozen turkey. NEVER! The hot oil could/ will explode causing serious injuries, fires, and possible death.

 

Kitchen Clean Up

I usually wait until January to straighten up the kitchen but decided to do that chore yesterday. I don’t mean just put things back were they belong ( yes I did that also) I mean taking things out of the cabinets and checking expiration dates and getting rid of things that are past the date. I try to do this a few times a year but January is usually my purge month when I check all the spices and canned goods.

I needed to find were the Indian meal moths were coming from so I could get rid of them before Thanksgiving so the hunt was on. I didn’t have many “boxed” items since most of my grains and pastas are in plastic containers so they were easy to find ( a half used box of quick barley). I had gotten lazy and left the barley inside of the box and not poured into a plastic seal container. Since I was already into the containers I checked them all for bugs. Yes, bugs can get inside these containers because they can actually be inside the original boxes before you pour the stuff into the plastic. They fall into the plastic container and hatch once inside but they are trapped and can not spread unless you open the lid and let them out. I did find some in the cracker container so they got tossed. I found a few things that were out of date and a few other boxed items that needed to be pour into their labeled plastic containers. My mom liked to use glass containers but after dropping a few of these in the past I prefer plastic.

There are a few more deserts waiting for Thanksgiving dinner since I found a some things that needed to be used by the end of this month. We will be eating brownies, Jell-O, caramel, and cookies as well as the planned pies.

I like the fact that the kitchen is organized and nothing is going to fall down or out when I open a cabinet. I also love the fact that what ever I pull out of the cabinet is still good since I really get upset when I have something half made only to find out that the spice is no longer good and I use a lot of spices.

The refrigerator also got cleaned out and restocked for tomorrow.

Now the trick was to stay away from the snacks, candy, and desserts until this morning.

This morning I will get the turkey in the oven and go watch the National dog show. My mother always timed her dinner so she could watch the big parade but I prefer the dog show. Then I will fix the apple raisin dressing, egg noodles, vegetables, and mashed potatoes. The hardest part is peeling all those potatoes.

Raise a glass of wine and toast:

“For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful.

Here’s to the blessing of the year,
Here’s to the friends we hold so dear,
To peace on earth, both far and near.

The American eagle and the Thanksgiving turkey­
May one give us peace in all our states,
And the other a piece for all our plates.”

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving Week

I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is this week. I know I have had the Thanksgiving tree up for a while but Thanksgiving really sneak up on me this year. We made a quick run to the store Saturday to get the turkey so that it could start thawing in the refrigerator. This is the part that I really hate – you know the time when every time you open the refrigerator you check to see if it is thawing. First you worry that is isn’t going to be thawed in time and then you worry that it will thaw to soon. Today I am still in the “is it going to be thawed in time” mode.

Thanksgiving has not been my favorite holiday for a very long time. I use to love it when I was younger because if meant that the house would be full of people and my mother loved to cook for people! Mom, Dad, Aunt Betty, Uncle Don, Yogi, Nick and his wife, Larry and Pam and all their children, and me would spend the whole day gathered together at the table and later in the living room watching TV and playing games. As time moves on so do people some are gone from this earth, others moved from the area, and others followed new family traditions. Life moves on.

Thanksgiving was the first holiday that we spent without my mother and I clearly remember being scared to make the dinner. I really didn’t want to bake that bird bit yet I wanted to have a Thanksgiving just like the ones my mother always fixed. I had all her recipes and spent days preparing food from scratch. The meal turned out okay but it was not the same as mom’s.  I had so many leftovers and I was so tired afterwards. I quickly realized that only mom and I ate the molded cranberry salad, date pudding,pecan pie, oyster dressing, and sweet potato fluff and it was way too much work for only me so those recipes were taken off the Thanksgiving menu.

In the past we have ask friends over to share the meal but usually it is just the immediate family. I no longer “knock myself out” over the dinner. I plan it for around 2 on Thanksgiving because I don’t want to miss the National dog show at noon.

The pies are no longer made form scratch – if fact most or simply taken out of the freezer that morning and put in the refrigerator to thaw. The apple pie is baked the day before and warmed up in the microwave if desired. Jello is made the day before because there is always room for Jello.

The egg noodles are no longer made from scratch _ I have mom’s noodle maker but I will never use it.  I use dry Amish wide noodles and cook them in the morning allowing them to simmer most of the day. The cranberry sauce which only a few people will touch comes out of a can now days. The vegetables from the garden via the freezer so they pop into the microwave.

That leaves only the turkey, mashed potatoes, and dressing to actually fix on Thanksgiving.

I actually love mom’s dressing but even that has under gone a few changes over the years. First Shawn refused to eat raisins so they were put in only half the dressing. Than I could no longer find the bread crumb brand that she used and it took a while to find a good substrate so I had to update that recipe.

I do not look forward to fixing the meal because that turkey still makes me nervous – will it be thawed in time? Will it roast nicely? Will the electric stay on or will we have a storm that knocks it out? Yeah, I worry a lot about fixing the Thanksgiving meal.

On the other hand the rooms are ready for the kids when they get here and all I have to do is run the vacuum and mop the floors.

I spent yesterday moving more stone mulch and have the west side of the house finished. The north side needs to have the landscape fabric laid before I can lay the stone so I started on the bird garden.

Shoes ate her morning meal slowly which was strange and when she came inside for the evening she spent most of the time asleep. She farted more than usual and her bowels were runny so will be watching her closely tomorrow. She never howled at the train tonight which is very unusual for her but she is snoring as normal. Hopefully it isn’t anything to worry about – but I always worry !

Black Friday Disease

I can remember when Black Friday was a single day of shopping. The deals were good and people were respectful of others. It seems to me that Black Friday has become almost like a disease that slowly spreads each year. It now starts on Thanksgiving day and runs the whole weekend and into Cyber Monday. People skip being with family so that they can camp in front of the store to get the “deals.” Do they not know that they are missing the real deal – spending time with their families.

As the years pass, the material things that they skipped Thanksgiving for will be forgotten and unfortunately many of the people that they love will have passed on. God has given you a limited number of minutes – it is our job to use them wisely.

We have found that you usually do not have to wait in line to get the deals. Doug loves to shop so if there is a big deal on something we really want, he and his Dad usually go after dinner and simply pick up a voucher without having to stand in line all day. True we have to go on-line and fill out the form and we do not walk out of the store with the item; however, we have always gotten the item of choice at the special price before Christmas.

This allows us to relax and enjoy family time on Thanksgiving day.

(Guess I should have Photoshop Chris into the picture because he was upstairs at the time these were taken,)

We usually put up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving night but the last few years we have waited until December 1. The family prefers to play games and talk around the dinning room table whenever they get together.  I guess putting up the tree is just too much work. So Shoes and I will get that job done this week when everyone has returned to their jobs. Shawn and Desiree have returned to their home and Doug will be heading back to his place on Sunday afternoon. Doug and I spent this afternoon watching football and I addressed the Christmas cards. I need to finish the yearly Christmas letter and print that off before sealing up the cards. Then off to mail them and do some Christmas shopping later in the week.

Our Christmas shopping list has slimmer down to a much smaller number since we have retired and the boys are grown. The boys have come to the point in their lives that they want money to pay bills more than a bunch of gifts. I am not sure if Christmas is cheaper this way  but it sure is easier and not as much of a hassle having to look for just the right action figure or game. We still do a little Christmas shopping but it is at our leisure and we can spend the time enjoying the decorations.  We no longer have co-workers to buy for   but usually buy for a needy child or family of our choice.

The down side is that the tree looks bare compared to when they were small and the opening of gifts only takes a few minutes.

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Thanksgiving Eve

Thanksgiving  is my most stressful holiday. I  don’t mind cooking when I want to cook but I dislike having to cook on demand.

My mother loved to cook and her simplest meals equal my Thanksgiving one. She sat the bar high when it came to Thanksgiving – Roast turkey, raisin apple dressing, oyster dressing, plain dressing, homemade egg noodles, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied sweet potatoes, baked beans, green beans with ham, molded cranberry salad, cranberry sauce, corn, home – made yeast rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, date pudding, persimmon pudding, jello, cake,and  ice cream.  I tried to keep her tradition alive after she died but it was just impossible especially when I had to work the day before and the day after. My Thanksgiving is based more or the fact that the family is all together for a few hours and not on the food. We still have the roast turkey, raisin – apple dressing and plain dressing (but they are combined in the same dish), egg noodles (I do not make the noodles from scratch), mashed potatoes in gravy, cooked frozen vegetables, brought rolls, baked frozen apple pie, jello with cool whip, and brought pumpkin pie. If they are lucky I may bake some banana bread this year.

Chris is at work and Bill is working at the apartment today. They had to take the rental car back so I do hope that at least one of the cars makes it out of the repair shop today because I am tired of not having my truck.

While they were doing their thing I finished  the photo ledges in the studio.  This is what the short wall looked like before. Not bad but it did not allow me to change out the pictures without adding new nail holes.

Short wall

I decided to put up two new photo ledges each measuring four-foot long.

These are the painted pieces that I had to mount on the wall today. For instructions on making these ledges see How to make a photo shelf.

I even have room for more pictures in the same space! This looks so much neater. I would love to work on that trim board today but ran out of time. I have jello, banana bread, apple pie and a blueberry pie to bake this evening.

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