Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, thanksgiving dinner has come and gone for another year. I am hiding upstairs with a cup of lemon tea waiting for S to get up before I tackle cleaning the kitchen. Dinner was a success and almost everything tasted delicious! I spent the entire day cooking yesterday and have some great recipes for you over the next few days.

First off, in Calgary you never really know what the weather is going to be like for your meal. This was us yesterday afternoon. -10 and snowing. At least a person doesn't feel bad for being tied to the stove for the day!

This year we had a 24 pound turkey......yes that's right, 24 pounds for 5 people. A bit of overkill, but I'll be enjoying turkey leftovers all week now! Traditions insists that we name the turkey and since there was so much of this one, I opted to just call it....Tomorrow. Very fitting as I do think we'll be chowing down on this bird for a few tomorrows.

Now, I don't know what I was thinking as I missed taking photos of the prep work for this bird. I do not stuff the turkey as many people do. I follow this Ina Garten recipe for Perfect Roast Turkey and have never had an undercooked or overcooked/dry turkey. She's a genius!!

The turkey is stuffed with lemons, onions and garlic (cut in half or quarters) and stuffed with a bunch of thyme. I used the fresh poultry blend of herbs at the local store - thyme, sage, rosemary and marjoram). The top is brushed with melted butter with lemon zest and liberally salted and peppered.

And as usual, 2 cups of Jack Daniels bourbon and 1 cup of chicken broth is sloshed into the bottom of the pan to be used for basting and the most delicious gravy ever!

24 pounds of turkey....exactly 5 hours on the nose in the oven. I baste every 30 minutes (if I remember).

It amazes me that so many people are wary of cooking a turkey when it's so simple. If you can melt butter and lift the turkey into the oven, you are pretty much good to go. Here's the platter of turkey carved up - you can't really tell how moist the breast is, but it's perfectly cooked. No dry, sawdust like turkey here!