Herb Roasted Turkey

So I know the Holidays are over, but I've had this 20 lbs turkey sitting in my freezer since last month and I thought it was about time that I cooked it. Plus with all this meal prepping that Jack and I have been doing, what better to meal prep with than a huge turkey.  For those of you wondering how long it takes to thaw a turkey in the refrigerator, 4-5 days in the fridge. 

One thing I want to tell you about removing the meat from the turkey is:
1. Don't be gentle with it, get in there and remove the meat!
2. If you're eating healthy, toss the skin and fat away as your removing the meat.
3. Have fun and be aware you're probably going to get a little dirty during this process.

I am a little detailed when I remove the meat, so I even weighed the white and dark meat to see what we had to work with. Please keep in mind we only had 1 breast eaten prior to weighing the meat and I was still able to get 4.5 lbs of white meat and 2.1lbs of dark meat.

Turkey is super easy to make and if you haven't made one before, I suggest trying to cook one. It's great tasting and you can make so many things with the leftovers....

Ingredients:
1 whole turkey 
1 yellow onion, quartered
4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves 
2 sprigs thyme & 1 tbs. minced
1 sprig rosemary. & 1 tbs. minced
2 lemons quartered


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place turkey in a large roasting pan. Run the outside of turkey with the minced herbs and place remaining ingredients inside the turkey carcass. 

Bake the turkey for 3-4 hours until a meat thermometer reads 180 degrees when inserted into he thickest part of the turkey thigh.


For those of you who use chicken broth for cooking, here's a super easy way to make it and, you can make it low sodium by not adding salt.

When you clean the turkey, there will be a neck and some gizzards on the inside of the turkey. I saved the neck and threw everything else away from the inside of the turkey. 

In a large pot, place the turkey neck, 4 chopped carrots, 4 chopped celery stalks, 1 onion quarterd and herbs of your choice (I used rosemary, thyme, oregano, and parsley). Fill the pot with water and cook over medium heat for approximately 30-40 minutes. Strain liquid and there you have stock.... Easy right?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spaghetti Squash with Southwest Chicken

Image
After years of cooking and sharing recipes, I have finally put together my blog site. Its been a long journey in cooking for friends and family. It wasn't until recently that I was given the confidence to actually create a blog and share everything I have learned and am still learning in the kitchen. I recently was given the opportunity to air on live tv with Good Day Sacramento.  It was quite the experience. Friends and family told me I was a natural on tv, but what they didn't see on tv was how extremely nervous me. My mom and my husband were there calming me down.  After each take, I would let out a big "Whew" and ask how I did.  Apparently my nervousness did not show when the camera was rolling. Thank Goodness! I would like to share the recipe of my dish on Good Day Sacramento with all of you. Spaghetti Squash is that ingredient that we all seem to forget about. It's amazing and very good for you to eat. I think when people look at a spaghetti squash, ...
Read more

Mommy's Yummy Lunch Salad

Image
I don't always have time to make a gourmet lunch for myself, but sometimes my kiddos nap around the perfect time and I am able to whip something yummy up. I try and eat healthy during the day because with all this baking I do, I could definitely just give into to the temptation to eat an entire batch of sweets, but luckily I have good self control and don't eat it all. Today I wanted to make myself a salad, but I wanted a little carbs too and luckily I had some quinoa I had cooked already and I could just throw it in the salad. It was a yummy salad and hit the spot. Ingredients: 4 assorted baby bell peppers, sliced 1 yellow onion, sliced 4 mushrooms, sliced 1 tbs olive oil 2 tbs balsamic vinegar 2 morning star vegan burger patties, cooked and cut into cubes (I like the black bean burgers best) 1 slice swiss cheese, cubed 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped 1/4 cup cooked quinoa Directions: In a large skillet, warm olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, mushrooms,...
Read more

Our Sourdough Adventure - The Skinny on a Starter.

Image
 To say I love bread would be an understatement. This year we decided on more than one occasion to take up the joy of undertaking the art of sourdough. Earlier in the year, my little starter went rancid because I forgot to feed my baby, but this time around, I am committed and I plan on keeping my starter for years.  This time around with my, or should I say our Sourdough Starter, because I wanted to teach my kids some life skills and what better way to teach them these amazing life skills, then with the art of making this amazing sourdough starter. It's fun too!!!! Nicholas was totally into it! He wanted to be the "SOURDOUGH MASTER" as he called it.  So, I let him join me in the kitchen for this fun little adventure. And it's been quite the adventure of feeding our little Sourdough Baby/babies... I'll get into the babies later... Just don't do what I did and go overboard. I had I think about 6 starters at once going. I didn't think it through. LOL I have ...
Read more