after giving much thanks and seeing much family on thursday (but eating little turkey or stuffing), i decided it was time for thanksgiving part deux.  the main thanksgiving meal we celebrated was serving dual purpose as a 20th wedding anniversary celebration.  thus, instead of the traditional fare, they opted for prime rib and wedding cake.

now, i’m not one to argue with prime rib, but it’s hard for me to forgo turkey on the day affectionately known as turkey-day.

so, after purchasing a 12 pounder for .49 cents/lb I set off to cook my first bird.

We ended up with copious amounts of turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing (from homemade bread, no less) and gelatinous turkey gravy.

a succussful feast, if i do say so myself.  which will reapear in various forms on our dinner table for the next week or so.

no pictures or recipes today, although i can brag on myself that everything was done from scratch (i even produced a pumpkin pie earlier this week from a sugar pumpkin…far too much work but it was kind of fun).

i attempted to follow the recipe of elise for baking the turkey breast side down to seal in the delicious juices.

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000037moms_roast_turkey.php

but, true to form, i neglected to read the cooking instructions to repeatedly turn down the oven temperature (so our bird was roasted at 400F for 3.5 hours) surprisingly it didn’t do too much damage!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!