Oh yes!
Take a look at them happy kids!
I pre-made the slower cooker pumpkin spiced apples a couple days ago, so dessert is ready to go for today. This is pre-cooked apples below. We (er.. I mean, I) started eating dessert a couple days ago, so no after photo.
I picked up my farm fresh turkey on Monday, and it was spatchcocked and brined on Tuesday. Today I gave the bird its last massage of holiday herbed butter. Spatchcocking was no easy task.. it was a fight between the bird and I for a while. There was a bit of cursing and bruised hands to get the bird into this "flat lay down" position. It will be well worth it though, with an estimated 1.5 hour cook time and a sure-proof way of cooking the meat evenly.
Since we have a friend coming over day after Turkey day, I also brined a 4lb ribeye roast.. you know, for variety. In total, I'll be cooking 19lbs of meat (14lb turkey + 4lb ribeye) in two days for 3 adults and 2 kiddies. Given the rule of thumb.. 1/2 pound meat per person, I have enough to feed 38 people... we're going to have lots of leftovers.
Backwards Prime Rib Recipe
Kids and I spent the early afternoon playing and running around in the yard. I know we live here, but they haven't done that in a while as Liam and I have been sick and indoors. Today, they got to run around and dig in the dirt. I managed to get in a slow 1 mile jog; it's been 3 weeks since my last run.
I started cooking the sides first prior to turkey time. Instead of traditional mash potatoes, I made roasted mashed garlic cauliflower (modified NomNom's cooking method from steam to roasting) with a little bit butter and lots of chives.
Another side dish was the Crispy Sweet Potato Roast, no additional sauce.
Sweet potato pre-cook.
Sweet potato Cooked.
Current favorite salad.. Trader Joes Harvest Blend Salad with pumpkin vinaigrette!
And last side dish, boiled french green beans mixed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon.
For the grand finale... the turkey1 I prepped it following NomNomPaleo's Butterflied Turkey recipe, but in reality, I cooked it following Alton Brown's recipe. That's because I learned last year, that we have a really really old oven with ventilation that goes into the house! So, it cannot sustain cooking anything in the 400s temperature without setting off the fire alarm.
Alton Brown's recipe has a lower cooking temp, 350F, versus NomNomPaleo, 450F. Both recipes still cooks with a relatively short time. It took me exactly 70 minutes today (30mins @425F to brown, and another 40mins at 350F to cook thoroughly) to reach breast temp ~150F, and thigh ~165F.
Here's the bird.. sunny side up, fresh out of the tanning salon.
And here is us with our simple family Thanksgiving this year!
The kids were not too fond of the turkey. The meat came out tender and flavorful, and I think that was the problem. The kids are not too familiar with the sage, thyme, and rosemary spices. The sweet potato and green beans were probably their favorite.
This year was keeping it simple, especially since it is just us four. We definitely miss seeing family, especially the kids get so excited to visit family or have visitors during the holidays. My family did kept me in the loop as they planned their usual potluck-style Thanksgiving, so it was great to hear of all the yummy dishes (Asian style of course!) - baby back ribs, braised tendons, sticky rice, steamed crab, etc.
Downside of not being with family.. no over-indulgence! Haha! The upside of being on our own for the holiday was that the cooking did not take all day since there were only a few dishes with easy recipes; It was just here and there through out the day with plenty of time to do other things - play with the kids, do some exercises, take photos, blog in detail... =P
Family V-Up practice
Oh, and lot of leftovers. Two containers to eat for the next week, and the rest of it goes into the freezer.
Now on to round 2 and 3 and 4, etc of turkey usage... turkey bone broth soup, turkey mac'n'cheese, turkey pho noodles...
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