One of the best turkey recipes- EVER!

The best turkey... ever!

This has been my go to recipe for turkey for the past few years. Never fails, always so juicy and flavorful and everyone loves it! And I'm going to share my recipe with you today, aren't I nice?

This recipe is a twist on Sandra Lee's roasted butter herb turkey
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/roasted-butter-herb-turkey-recipe/index.html

Fair warning, I'm not a measuring kind of person when it comes to cooking. I am more of a dash, pinch, and throw in a tad of something person! I like to live on the edge like that. So here goes...

What you will need (based on a 20 lb turkey, which is what I usually get):

4 sticks of butter (yes, it's a lot, but you will not use it for only the turkey!)

1 package of Knorr garlic and herb sauce mix

3 oranges

3 lemons

1 Large onion

1 garlic bulb

poultry seasoning

Fresh rosemary

So the night before, let your butter soften up and put it in a mixing bowl with the zest of 2 lemons and 2 oranges, the juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange, the garlic and herb sauce mix, and a few dashes of the poultry seasoning. Now mix all of this together really good.
Take some plastic wrap and roll it out onto your counter. Pour the mixed butter mixture in and roll it into a log. It should look something like this...

Now let that sit over night in your fridge.

Thanksgiving day prep-
Cut an onion into 4 pieces
Cut the garlic bulb in half
Slice an orange
Slice a lemon
Get out a couple of springs of the fresh rosemary
Remove the butter log from the fridge

As for the turkey, to prepare... have someone else (lol) remove the innards (again this is how I do it, I will not touch the innards- it grosses me out!). Now rinse the turkey and gently pat dry.Gently use your fingers to loosen the skin from the entire bird.
Cut some of the pieces of the butter log (reserve a good amount and put aside to ensure there is no cross contamination) and start to place the butter pieces in between the skin and the bird. Then take some more of the butter pieces and massage the whole outside of the bird with it.
Now stuff the inside of the bird with some of the orange and lemon pieces, the onion, garlic and rosemary.

As for cooking the bird, I cook mine on 325 and baste it about every hour or so, cooking until the little thermometer pops up and I check it with my own meat thermometer to confirm that it's done. I take it out and let it sit for a little bit before moving it to the platter.

To garnish, I cut up some of the oranges and lemons and place around the bird and finish off with some rosemary.

Now for the reserved butter, we use that for our rolls!

I am telling you guys, this turkey is so juicy and good! You can't go wrong with this recipe!

Enjoy!~ Miranda

My Thanksgiving Contribution: Oyster Dressing

Once upon a time I cooked everything for Thanksgiving but now that we live closer to family I am only required to make one thing. I'll allow a moment for your jealous rage...

Good?  OK.

This is my Father's recipe and it's a family one so I'm pretty sure that if he ever finds my blog that I'll be excommunicated from the Doyle brood but it's just too dang good not to share! This is a stuffing but since he's northern it's called a dressing and yes, it does have oysters in it and, yes, it can get a bit yucky to prepare but it is so worth it in the end. Don't you want to be the talk of the table this year?

Well, enough gab... On to the dressing!

*Warning* We do not measure, this is approximate. All the best recipes are ;)
**Double Warning** This recipe is for a large disposable tin pan, it's HUGE. Cut it in half and you'll feed half an army

1 cup celery
2 cups white onion
1 red bell pepper
2 green bell peppers
2 loafs of white bread
3 large bags of seasoned bread crusts (Pepperidge farms is what I use)
10 eggs (yup!)
1 cans of chicken broth
2 containers of fresh oysters
1 softened stick of butter
Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375

In a blender blend together the butter, oysters and chicken broth. Set aside.

Chop the celery, onion and bell peppers and combine together in a microwavable container, cover and cook for a 4 mins or until tender and steaming. Set aside.

Lay out all of the two loaves of bread to dry until the pieces feel slightly stiff on both sides (flip if you need to) then tear into smaller pieces and place the bread into a large deep tin cooking pan, add the 3 bags of seasoned stuffing crusts and the celery/onion/bell pepper combination and mix together with hands.

Now add the 10 eggs and mix again with your hands until all the ingredients are moist. Cover the top with Salt and Pepper and then pour on the oyster blend and mix again until completely mixed.

Well that was yucky!

Cover with tin foil and place in the oven for 30 mins or until the sides separate from the walls of the tin and testing the middle of the dressing with a straw comes out clean.


I will update this post with pictures around Thanksgiving!

Gobble 'Til Ya Wobble!
-Kels

My Thanksgiving dinner menu!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week. Where did November go, where did the year go for that matter? I haven't gotten my turkey or any ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner yet. I need to get on the ball y'all!

Here is my Thanksgiving dinner menu. I will be hosting lots of family members in my home so our menu includes lots of foods that are traditional for us, along with some new items this year!

Citrus Herb Turkey (recipe to come, it's so good!)

Potato Salad - I'd love to be able to share this recipe with you, but alas... it's a family secret.

Green Bean Casserole - Nothing fancy, just the simple French's recipe. You can find it here- http://www.frenchs.com/recipe/frenchs-green-bean-casserole-RE1511

Creamy Peas and Carrots - This is new on the menu this year. I have been making this side dish for a couple of months now and everyone seems to love it. It's so easy...
Chop one onion and saute' in a large pan with a small amount of vegetable oil. Once the onions are translucent throw in some fresh carrots that have been peeled and chopped. Also put in a 1/2 tbsp of water. Let the carrots some up to a good simmer and throw in some thawed peas. Turn the heat down to medium and put the lid on. After the carrots are good and tender throw in a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese (don't freak, it's SO GOOD!) and put the lid back on. Let the cream cheese melt all the way through to create a creamy sauce and serve. So simple, and good!
This recipe is a variation of Giada's creamy pastina found here-
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/pastina-with-peas-and-carrots-recipe/index.html

Spinach Artichoke Mac & Cheese - Another newbie on my menu this year. I stumbled upon this delicious bit of heaven on pinterest over the summer. Thank you to the Budget Savvy Diva for the recipe, which you can find here-
http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/05/spinach-artichoke-mac-cheese-bake-recipe/

Sweet Potato Casserole - Another family favorite. Here is a recipe you can follow, I just don't use pecans and I use real marshmallows!
http://www.pauladeen.com/food_section_articles/view2/a_house_and_casserole_divided/

Cranberry Sauce - Yeah, I take a shortcut on this one. Canned cranberry sauce is just as good as home made!

Mashed Potatoes - this is another family favorite, only this year I will be making them in the crock pot following this recipe (Thank you again Budget Savvy Diva!) -
http://www.budgetsavvydiva.com/2012/01/ultimate-crock-pot-mashed-potatoes/

Gravy - Our house is divided. My parents and husband love the giblet gravy which makes me shutter just thinking about it. I prefer the store bought canned!

Dressing - Here is Kelsey's (my partner in blogging!) recipe for easy peasy oyster dressing! http://2momsandablog.blogspot.com/2012/11/my-thanksgiving-contribution-oyster.html 
If you are not a fan of oysters try this - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/southern-cornbread-stuffing-recipe/index.html

Rolls With Citrus Herb Butter - I buy pre-made rolls like these - http://www.saraleebread.com/our-bread/sara-lee/buns-and-rolls. The citrus herb butter to melt on top will go along with my turkey recipe which will be posted shortly!

DESSERTS!

Apple Pie - I am going to try my craft hand at these apple pies baked inside apples this year - http://domesticdilettante.com/2012/01/11/applepie/

Pumpkin Pie - I will not be making this, I am giving this dessert to my sister to make. But here is a good recipe to try! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-pie-recipe/index.html

So that's it! My Thanksgiving recipe round up. I hope that you have found some inspiration here!

~ Miranda

Giving Thanks Tree

It's the time of year to reflect on all we are thankful for. With Thanksgiving fast approaching I wanted to do something special, memorable and begin a tradition for years to come. So I got the idea for the Giving Thanks tree, originally called Gratitude Tree here http://meandmyinsanity.com/2008/11/gratitude-tree.html#comment-8090.

We just so happened to come across a big roll of brown paper from my parents who recently moved. So we rolled it out and my husband drew out the tree outline, cut it and hung it up. I traced and cut out some leaves on construction paper and every day we will write on a leaf what we are thankful for and add it to the tree. By Thanksgiving the tree should be full of beautiful leaves and many many thanks!

Excuse the tape all over the tree, I'm working to hide it! 

I even made a little pouch and hung it on the door next to the tree to hold the leaves we will add. 

I am all about starting traditions with my family to make everlasting memories for my son. This is such an easy way to start one for Thanksgiving.

Enjoy! ~ Miranda

Thanksgiving craft for little hands

This was such a fun little craft for my little guy. We just put some different paint colors on a paper plate, he swirled them and then dipped his whole hand in, then put his handprint on paper. I had some googly eyes laying around (as every Mom should!) and added the legs. His print came out perfect and is proudly displayed in our kitchen for everyone to see!

Do you follow our boards on Pinterest? If not, be sure to go do that now! We will be pinning lots of Thanksgiving inspiration for you, and as always will try to keep it simple and frugal!

Thanksgiving, the 2 Moms way!

Leading up to Thanksgiving we will be posting lots of crafts, recipes, memory makers and ideas to help make our families and yours Thanksgiving one to remember!

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