Turkey Dinner

Two weeks ago I decided to make an Early Turkey Dinner - I mean why only eat turkey one day a year right? I got all the recipes from one of my many Everyday magazines (Rachael Ray). They can all be found online and I've provided links below. Since I didn't change the recipes at all, I thought that would be the easiest way to show you how I made them. I did take some fabulous pics so you can drool over how amazing our meal was. Since it was just the two of us that night, I decided to whip up the most amazing turkey soup I've made in a long time. That post will follow with how I pulled that one off. Ah, homemade stock from the bones is really the most perfect way to make soup.

Turkey Dinner

Turkey, Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes, Rolls

The main event in any meal like this is always the bird... I had a 10 lb bird in my freezer that I used for the recipe and I used the same measurements and it turned out fantastic! It was juicy and the butter makes the skin oh so crispy. The recipe can be found here:  Kiss of Lemon Roast Turkey.  I also used her recipe for homemade stock for the gravy in this meal and the recipe can be found here:  Easy Turkey Stock.

Kiss of Lemon Roast Turkey

Now onto the savory, delicious, make your mouth water gravy... you basically make it in the pan you roasted the turkey in and it picks up the drippings and yumminess the bird left behind. My mom and grandma used to make their gravy this way so it brought back memories at the stove with this kind of meal:  Old Fashioned Pan Gravy.

Old Fashioned Pan Gravy

The mashed potatoes turned out creamy and decadent.... not too many ingredients but lots of flavor. The recipe is as follows:  Buttery Mashed Potatoes.

Buttery Mashed Potatoes

This was a really great "green side" dish, the original recipe called for green beans but the asparagus was on sale so I picked that up. It was really delicious. I kept everything the same and the crunchiness of the salty pumpkin seeds is a great touch... here is how to make it:  Sauteed Green Beans with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds. 

Sauteed Asparagus with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

For the cranberry sauce, I had leftover fresh cranberries in the freezer from last year and they tasted just as fresh as can be. So, buy those when they are on sale and you just freeze them in the bag they came in. We didn't love this recipe because it was way too tart for our tastes - reminded me of how tart margaritas are and I really don't like those. It's good - if you like the tartness factor. Here's how to make it: Cranberry-Lime Relish.

Cranberry Lime Relish

All in all this was such a great meal - you can do so much with the leftovers - sandwiches, pasta dishes, turkey soup - just have to use your imagination or a cookbook :-).

Enjoy!

These recipes were adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray.