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So, I am back from my blogging break ! I was off taking a College Algebra class at Portland Community College. GREAT CLASS. It was actually fun, but I found the whole work, life, school thing to be terrifically challenging. Work is 40-50 hours a week (usually closer to 50). Life is everything after work, and school was pretty tough to keep up with. I dedicated just one Sunday a week to studying at Battle Ground Starbucks — my good buds Colleen and Taylor can attest to that !
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SO ! How does one fit a holiday meal into such a tough schedule ?
- I realized 2 days before Thanksgiving that I forgot to buy a turkey. Sent the hubs off to Winco to see if they had any defrosted ones. Thankfully they did ! Alternate game plan was to have him purchase Cornish game hens since they can be de-thawed in the sink.
- I generally have a decent amount of “good stuff” on hand, such as herbs and veggies since the hubs is an avid gardener.
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Getting down to business… the turkey was about 12 pounds. I took it out of the package and took all the “giblets” (aka GUTS) and saved along with all my veggie scraps for future turkey stock and gave the bird a little rinse. You can take all your onion skins, apple peels, carrot peels, broccoli scraps, celery tops, WHATEVER and freeze until you have enough to make some rich delicious broth (https://locarbjabberwockey.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/homemade-chicken-stock/)
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I plopped the turkey into a roasting pan breast side up, and stuffed some fresh sage and thyme into the cavity. We also had a ton of garlic so took an entire bulb, sliced in half, and stuffed in the cavity along with half a red bell pepper which was leftover in the fridge. If I had any apples, oranges, or lemons on hand I would have put some in there as well to add moisture.
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Drizzle the breast side with a decent amount of olive oil, and heavily salt/pepper it. ( I use Kosher salt and cracked black pepper). No need to tie legs with string or any of that nonsense, but do tuck the wing ends underneath of the bird if you are able.
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Turkey went into the oven for the recommended time and temp off the package. After about an hour and a half I checked it, and the breast skin was perfectly browned so just lightly covered with aluminum foil, and completed the cooking.
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And, for the MOST important step ! Always let the bird sit for 20-30 minutes after cooking. It will retain the heat, and lock in the juices. This is just enough time to get the gravy done, and layout the feast on the table or sideboard. For the presentation, remove the herbs etc. from the cavity, set the turkey on one of your favorite platters, garnish with leftover herbs, and arrange some pre-made stuffing (https://locarbjabberwockey.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/jabberwocks-quick-and-dirty-stuffing/) around the cavity to make it appear that you stuffed it. (Don’t ever stuff a bird it’s a total pain in the XXX).
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Low Carb Jabberwockey 