So every year, Kelsey has a Friendsgiving for the people in her life.
It is always fun, always delicious, and everyone brings a dish to share. Tommy and I brought appetizers and wine. I tried a new recipe that was gluten free and people liked it so that was good! It was for a cheesy chip dip that I also got GF crackers to dip in :)
When it was time for dinner, we some how all were able to squeeze in at the table.....which blows my mind every year, lol. {See amazing picture below}
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{Amazing Picture}
This year we had: two different kinds of rolls, mashed potatoes, corn cassarole, sweet potatoes, turkey, stuffing, green bean cassarole, and probably a few other mouth watering dishes that I'm forgetting some how.
We also had desserts that were, as my mother would say, to die for.
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Per usual, we had a great time :D :D :D
So this year, as I am wanting to host a dinner party for some friends, I decided to host a Friendsgiving myself. Also, I wanted to try my hand at cooking a turkey for real this time, lol. So this post is also part of my 101 in 1001 Days- #30/101 Host a Dinner Party for Friends
I have to tell you, I don't actually love Thanksgiving food. I mean, turkey is probably my #5 meat, and I generally dislike the other traditional side dishes- green bean casserole, cranberries, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie....I do, however, love rolls and mashed potatoes and there's always plenty of those so yay.
Anyway, what I do love about Thanksgiving is the tradition. I love the getting together of family and friends, the all day cooking experience, and the Fall themed decor. Warm colors are my jam. So it felt right to make a dinner party around this time a Friendsgiving one, especially since turkey was on sale after Thanksgiving and I had school off for break ;)
I sent out feelers to see who would be available, and many people were seeing family or not going to be in the area past Thanksgiving, but Liz and Lauren said they could come and we set the date for November 26th.
I ended up buying a frozen turkey from Jewel on Thanksgiving day for super cheap. It was a 15 pounder too! It thawed just in time, with a little help from my kitchen sink and a running water bath. The process of actually getting the turkey ready was semi gross, but way manageable you guys.
To prepare the inside- I cut up half a stick of butter into thin square sections. After separating the skin from the breast, I set the squares of butter on the breast and sprinkled some herbs.
To prepare the outside- I mixed sage and rosemary together with olive oil in a small bowl. Then I used a brush to spread it on the skin. My mother says you can use basically whatever herbs you want, but she recommended those together. I also sprinkled the skin with a bit of salt and pepper.
Then I stuffed some carrots, onion, potatoes, celery, and herbs inside of the bird and then tied the legs together a bit with some cooking string. I also trussed the turkey prior to dressing it, but the website that I followed for cooking the turkey recommended leaving it untrussed so that it would cook more evenly. I didn't have any issues with this though so I would probably do it again next year! The website also called for adding chicken broth to the pan, which I did....and ended up adding more as the bird cooked because it kept drying up and I needed it to baste the turkey whilst cooking. I think maybe they recommended doing this with the broth if the bird was sitting directly on the roasting pan...but I'm not sure. My turkey was on a rack in the roasting pan so maybe that made a difference?
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| {Turkey humor} |
I set the oven to 350 degrees, and once it was ready, I put the bird in and played the waiting game! The website said that you should schedule 13 minutes per pound, but cooking time can vary based on how you prepped the turkey and if you stuffed the bird. I was able to keep an eye on it though, and about every 45 minutes, I pulled that large lady out of the oven and went to basting. In the final 45 minutes of the cooking time, I used pan juices and melted butter to baste the turkey. It helped crisp up the skin a bit.
At about half way into her cooking time, I started checking the temperature of the turkey in the three places that are recommended: the breast, the outer thigh, and the inside thigh. It took a total of about 3 hours for it to fully cook and reach a temperature in all three places above 165 degrees. I did have to put a foil tent over the pan for the last 20 minutes or so because the inner thigh was almost to 165 when the rest of the places I checked were already there and I didn't want the outside to overcook. In the last bit of turkey cooking, I also put the green bean casserole in the oven, and warmed the mashed potatoes that Liz brought. We also mixed Lauren's salad. When it was time to take out the turkey, I also put in the rolls to heat them through.
The prepping and cooking parts of the meal were cake compared to the actual carving of the turkey...lol. Thankfully the boys were there to, um, distract themselves with football and polite conversation in the family room while the three of us tried to carve the thing.
Lauren did the actual carving because she's brave, and I had my doubts....but she did it!
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| {Liz did a great job holding the platter...lol!} |
Anyway, it was fun to host them and dinner turned out great! After eating, we played some cards in the family room, took waaaaaay too many Snaps, and then had dessert. It was a super fun night and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to cook with friends and hang! Can't wait for next year!
See last year's November Happenings
here.
