Susie's Roasted Turkey

I never knew how dry my turkey was until I had this one!!! This is the BEST turkey I ever made and now, it is a family standard.

Susie's Roast Turkey
For Brine
1 cup coarse salt, plus more for seasoning
2.5 cups sugar
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
1 dried bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp whole black peppercorns, plus freshly ground pepper
14 lb. turkey, thawed
For Roasting
2 sticks unsalted butter, divided.
6 fresh bay leaves
4 stalks celery, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
2 lemons, zested
12 fresh sage leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
salt and pepper

1. For Brine

2. Put salt, sugar, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, peppercorns, and 5 cups water in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil, stirring until salt and sugar have dissolved. Remove from heat; let brine cool completely.

3. Add turkey, breast first, to the brine. Add enough water to cover the turkey. Cover; refrigerate 24 hours. Remove from brine; pat dry with paper towels. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours.

4. For Roasting

5. After you prepare the brine, in a small sauce pan, melt 1 stick of butter and bay leaves. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Chill along side the brine so it returns to solid form.

6. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, with rack in lowest position.

7. Take bay leaf perfumed butter out to soften.

8. In a large bowl, mix the remaining celery and onion with the lemon zest, sage leaves and salt and pepper. Remove neck and giblets from the turkey.

9. Place turkey, breast side up, on a rack set in a roasting pan. Fold wing tips under turkey. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper inside turkey. Loosely fill body and neck cavities with stuffing. Tie legs together with kitchen twine. Fold neck flap under; secure with toothpicks. Rub turkey all over with softened bay leaf perfurmed butter.

10. Stir together the last stick of butter melted and wine in a medium bowl. Fold a very large piece of cheesecloth into quarters so that it is large enough to cover breast and halfway down sides of turkey. Immerse cloth in butter mixture; let soak.

11. Remove cheesecloth from butter mixture, squeezing gently into bowl. Reserve butter mixture for brushing. Lay cheesecloth over turkey. Place turkey, legs first, in oven. Roast 30 minutes. Brush cheesecloth and exposed turkey with butter mixture. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees. Roast, brushing every 30 minutes, 2 1/2 hours more; cover with foil if browning too quickly.

12. Discard cheesecloth; rotate pan. Baste turkey with pan juices. Roast, rotating pan halfway through, until skin is golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 180 degrees and stuffing reaches 165 degrees, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a platter. Let turkey stand at room temperature at least 30 minutes. Garnish, if desired.

Servings: 20

Cooking Times
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 3 minutes
Inactive Time: 24 minutes
Total Time: 4 minutes

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/20 of a recipe (14.7 ounces).
Percent daily values based on custom values.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. 3 of the recipe's ingredients were not linked. These ingredients are not included in the recipe nutrition data.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 761.78
Calories From Fat (48%) 369.11
% Daily Value
Total Fat 41.45g 74%
Saturated Fat 18.19g 165%
Cholesterol 306mg 153%
Sodium 2117.55mg 88%
Potassium 966.65mg 28%
Total Carbohydrates 28.96g 11%
Fiber 0.76g 3%
Sugar 26.3g
Protein 65.35g 103%

Recipe Type: Main Course, Thanksgiving, Turkey

Source
Author: Susan Ewing

Recipe Cost: $30.94
Serving Cost: $1.55



Search for Coupons

I am posting this menu plan along with I'm an Organizing Junkie and $5 Dinners .

Herbs for the Holiday

Did you forget to plant your herbs for your holiday dishes? Me too! But no fear, Woodman's has a poultry pack for $1.99 and parsley for $.99. So, for under $3 and some old spice bottles, you can have this display:

I think that my table is going green this year. Lining these up down the middle will be perfect!!! Way cheaper than a centerpiece from the florist:-)

2 Quarts and 2 Pints and Counting...

Inquiring minds wanted to know...

Playing along with Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies:-)

Processing Tomatoes

I wonder how many of these....

...will come out of my 55 tomato harvest?? Today, we will see:-)

Thanksgiving Tablescapes

I was working on this year's Thanksgiving tablescape design and as such, I was looking back to see what I have done in the past. It is amazing what you can do with the same set of china and flatware and a little imagination.

I added some green touches in 2006:

It was burgundy and gold in 2007:

I revisited the green with a different centerpiece in 2008:

Gold and orange adorned my table last year:

This year, I am thinking about brown...

Happy Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on parenting By dummies!

Go Pack Go

As you can see...



...Packer Fever is back in our house:-)

First Day of Fall?

Happy Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordful Wednesday on SevEn cLoWn CirCus! Today was the first day of fall so, even though it was 85 degrees, I still baked my apple pie.

Fall is in the Air

Fall IS in the air...and everywhere:

I love how my old fall decorations look next to our newly decorated walls!

Presto Pesto

It's time to harvest the basil and I love it because that means pesto time:

I love it! It is good in pasta dishes, mixed with mayo on sandwiches and even as a topping for grilled fish. I found a recipe for some dessert pesto that I am dying to try. I will let you know how it turns out:-)

Thanksgiving Fall Dishes

I am going to take a break from gardening for a few weeks to play along with Simply Sugar and Gluten Free for her Holiday Food Fest.

Her host Tasty Eats at Home is featuring Thanksgiving and Fall Dishes and I thought it was a perfect way to plan my Thanksgiving menu this year:

Thanksgiving Menu

Herb Roasted Turkey
Apple Cranberry Pecan Dressing
Mashed Potatoes
Cauliflower
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry sauce
Honey Molasses Dinner Rolls

Servings: 12

Nutrition
Serving size: 1/12 of a menu.
Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from menu items.

Amount Per Serving
Calories 1890.65
Calories From Fat (33%) 618.44
% Daily Value
Total Fat 69.7g 107%
Saturated Fat 29.39g 147%
Cholesterol 462.48mg 154%
Sodium 1261.76mg 53%
Potassium 4554.82mg 130%
Total Carbohydrates 208.69g 70%
Fiber 14.98g 60%
Sugar 89.22g
Protein 113.56g 227%

Menu Type
Thanksgiving

Source
Author: Susan Ewing

I can't do anything about the the nutrition however, I can do something about the price. Here are the original costs:

Menu Cost: $50.80
Menu Serving Cost: $4.23

Now, take away the price of the turkey and potatoes that I got for free and viola:

Menu Cost: $31.35 (on sale)
Menu Serving Cost: $2.61 (on sale)

You can even get it down to $25 with coupons (which are everywhere this time of year) for the greens beans, soup, stuffing and cranberry sauce. That's right...$25 for Thanksgiving for 12. You can't beat that with a stick!

Grape Jam

Here, I am doing more menu planning with I'm an Organizing Junkie and finding more deals at Pick N Save for $5 Dinners .

Well, I survived last week only to get hit again this week. My older daughter is flying off to Spain for a semester so, the first half of the week is devoted to her. My younger daughter is starting kindergarden next week so, the second half of this week is dedicated to her. Not to mention, my mom has appointments and my grapes are coming in!!
Thank goodness Pick N Save had canning stuff on sale this week. I picked some up to make my grape jam. I use the SURE.JELL® Concord Grape Jam recipe from their site. So, I don't have a recipe this week. However, if you are wondering what the difference is between jelly and jams and everything else, I have a breakdown for you at the bottom of this post.

Here is what I am serving this week:
Sunday: Paella (Older Daughter's Going Away Party)
Monday: Eat Out (Older Daughter's Last Night here)

Tuesday: Eat Out (Take Older Daughter to Chicago)

Wednesday: Leftovers (Mom's Doctor Appt.)

Thursday: Chicken and Pasta (Younger Daughter's Dentist Appt. and Haircut)

Friday: Fish and Fries (Younger Daughter's Meet and Greet at School and Mom's Dr. Appt.)

What is the difference between jelly and jam?
Here it is from smoothest to chunkiest:-)
Jelly is made from fruit juice and is smooth.
Jam is made from a puree of fruit but it does not have fruit chunks.

Marmalade is made with the flesh and the rind of the fruit (usually citrus) but it remains smooth like jelly.
Preserves is made by cooking down the fruit so that it is chunky and not smooth like jelly.

Chutney is made from fruit or vegetables and has the consistency of a relish and not a spread.
Happy Canning:-)

Thanksgiving Tables

Before I get into the holiday review, I wanted to let you know that there is a sale over at Susie's Homemade Chocolate Shop !!!!!

Today through Monday, all items are a dollar off!! And, if you let me know that you are a faithful reader of my blog, I will take an extra $1 off the shipping costs too!! That's right!! 6 delicious Cookie Dough Balls nestled in a beautiful package for $13 (that includes shipping)!! So, stock up for those gifts for hostesses, teachers, mail carriers, hair stylists and anyone else on your shopping list:-)

Now that that's out of the way....it's time for Carrie's Friday Foto Fun:-) I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! We sure had a great holiday and here is a picture of our table. Doesn't that look inviting?

If you look really closely, you will see that I included some of my youngest's artwork from preschool on the table:-)

What Are You Thankful For?

I am thankful that my Flowering Kale lasted as long as they did:-)

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody:-)

Thanksgiving Centerpiece

It's time for another Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom !!

My Thanksgiving Centerpiece:-)

If I wrote more, would I qualify for Wordful Wednesday on SevEn cLoWn CirCus? Let's see if they kick me out or not:-)

Herb Roasted Turkey

Thanksgiving is on Thursday and I saved the best for last from my Thanksgiving Menu :

Herb Roasted Turkey
Ingredients:
1 Reynolds Oven Bag
1 tbls flour
1 stick butter
6 fresh bay leaves
4 stalks celery, sliced
2 medium onions, sliced
2 lemons, zested
12 fresh sage leaves
salt and pepper
12 lb turkey, thawed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. In a small sauce pan, melt butter and bay leaves. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Freeze for about 15 minutes so it returns to solid form.

3. Shake flour in the bag and put it in your roasting pan. Add half of your celery and onions to the bag.

4. In a large bowl, mix the remaining celery and onion with the lemon zest, sage leaves and salt and pepper. Remove neck and giblets from the turkey. Stuff the turkey under the breast and the neck the with the veggie mixture. This will add aromatics to the turkey and round the shape of the turkey out for uniform browning.

5. Rub turkey with the solid sage butter. Close the bag with the nylon tie provided. Cut six half-inch slits in the top and tuck the ends of the bag in the pan. Bake for 3 hours.

6. Cut the bag open and bake for another half hour to brown the turkey fully. Allow the turkey to rest for 20 minutes before carving to let the juices soak back in.

Enjoy:-)

Don't Roast All the Seeds

Keep some of them for next year. I took mine and dried them on a paper towel. Then, I wrapped them up and...



...labeled them. And put them in the frig until spring and then...

...another perfect pumpkin will come next year:-)

Pumpkins

This is the one and only pumpkin that my garden produced this year. I guess if you don't have quantity, you have to have quality:-)

Bye, Bye Love:-(

Before I get to this week's gardening post, I want to give you an update on my daughter. She came through the surgery with flying colors. She is understandably crabby but healing well. Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers that you all gave to my family during this time. It really helped us to get through. Thank you:-)

This weekend, the weather was beautiful and a perfect time to clean out my veggie garden. So, Bye, bye loves:

Bye, bye basil.
Bye, bye pumpkins.
Bye, bye weeds...oh wait...that is a good one to go:-)

As you can see, I couldn't let go of my parsely yet. I am still using them in soups and stews and such and I haven't started my indoor herbs yet so, he stays. The peppers and the tomatoes still have buds. I did a fair amount of pruning today so, we shall see if I can extend the season just a little bit more. Wishful thinking? Maybe.