Gobble Gobble, It's Turkey Time!

It’s Thanksgiving week! I am of course thankful for Family, Friends, Love, Freedom, Puppies... And also these things:  

Short work week! *and let me tell you, I have had my share of working Black Friday in recent years. I am NOT taking my office’s early closure on Wednesday nor the blissful 4 ½ days off for granted. No sir.

Amazing food. I’m actually halfway into my Thanksgiving feasts (yes, plural). We did a big “Fakesgiving” last weekend for Matt’s family. It gave me an excuse to serve up my family’s “turkey in a bag” recipe (see below). Since my dad will be cooking the bird when I visit my parents later in the week, this allowed me to hone my turkey roasting skills. I’m happy to report it was edible and second helpings were had. Phew.

Black Friday! Judge if you will. I make no excuses. This is a newer tradition. Not being an early bird (or any kind of morning bird, for that matter) I never participated in the 4 – 5 – or 6 AM deals. When retailers moved things up to midnight, my mom and I saw our opportunity. Nothing like a quick tryptophan induced nap to revive you for hefty discounts and waiting in line. And though many stores are opening much earlier this year, I think I’ll stick with midnight. I’d still like to spend my evening with my family first. I hope most consumers feel the same way.

Friday will bring a meal I look forward to almost as much as Thanksgiving itself. For the last few years, I’ve been crashing Turkey Leftover Panini night at a good friend’s house. It’s all the ingredients you love about Thanksgiving plus cheese and spreads melted in between crusty bread.

If you are not serving up your leftovers in a Panini press, you are sadly missing out.

Matt and his brother Luke are opening their Christmas tree lot on Friday in Greenwood. I’ll be supporting from afar in Spokane. Though I do plan to be more involved (read: self – appointed Director Of Visual Design and Social Media) this year.

The official kick off week to the holidays always inspires my creative side! I’m definitely more inclined to try new crafts and recipes. Hello Pinterest! Though I am terrified the results will belong here rather than be “pin” worthy, I’m realizing I enjoy the work of the creative outlet just as much as the outcome. 

I’ve also decided (in light of my Happiness Project prep) that pre – planning and signing myself up for things has actually been very beneficial in execution.

I have a sewing class I’m taking this week, registered two weeks ago. All Thanksgiving week workouts are prearranged (I know myself too well) and/ or paid. This ensures I won't bail on myself or others. And so far I am always glad I signed up and participated. 

If you are hosting or decided that deep frying your turkey is "so 2010" here is a recipe to try. It actually steams the bird, but the ingredients used make the skin crisp and brown! 

This is a recipe from my Nana, amazing flavor and is about half the cooking time of any other roasting recipe (seriously, who wants to watch/ baste a turkey for 5+ hours?).

“Turkey in the Sack”

You'll need: 

• Salt (anything from table salt, kosher, fleur de sel… I used a herbs de Provence salt blend from Whole Foods)
• Pepper (again, plain black pepper to fresh ground peppercorns)
• Paprika
• 4 tsp Hot water
• I Cup Olive oil (original recipe calls for Peanut oil, you can use either)

Use equal parts Salt, Paprika, and Pepper, depending on the size of Turkey. For a 13 lb Turkey, I used 1 tbsp. of each. Mix together
.
Take oil and coat a plain old grocery store paper bag. Make sure bag is completely saturated, seam included.

Combine half of the Dry Seasoning mix with hot water and remaining oil. Rub over the entire turkey. Use remaining Dry Seasoning on the top of the turkey breast. Place turkey in sack, breast side down. Fold bag closed, staple shut. Bake at 350, 10 minutes for each pound.

Use caution when opening the sack, there will be a lot of steam!

Take a look at that lovely bag just roasting away

And when it's done, you feel like this:

Magically genius in the kitchen with tons of spare time!

Happy Baking and happy start of the holiday season!!