Turkey

Today I am recreating the Christmas dinner. I bought a couple turkeys at Thanksgiving.  They were .77 cents a pound.  I pulled it out of the freezer on Sunday so today I am cooking it for my parents that are coming for dinner.  I also won't have to make supper the next few nights.  So the turkey went in at 1pm for I'm guessing 3 hours.  At 4pm I will take it out and check it, then pour the juices off to make the gravy.
-here is a side note- it was ready at 4pm which was too early and I hadn't cooked my potatoes yet.  So.... maybe wait til 2pm for a 8lb turkey .
This gives me time to put it back in to cook for another hour if needed.  I will cook baked potatoes.  They take the least amount of work.  If I was planning ahead I would have make mashed potatoes earlier when the kids were asleep or even last night and baked them with cheese on it at 4pm when there is room in oven with the Turkey out.  This is a great idea because if I make enough mashed then they are ready for a quick Sheppard's pie or with a can of salmon make fish cakes.  Another way to make potatoes is to wash and cut them up and put them around the Turkey with carrots 1hour before they will be done cooking, as I mentioned in my post about Roasts.
So here is my speech about Turkey dinners. The Turkey cost me $7.44 and the bag of baby carrots to throw around the turkey $1.  (or better yet buy a 5lb bag for a little more and do more work yourself.) This week was dollar days at No Frills.  Frozen peas and frozen corn were $1.  A 10 lb bag of potatoes is about $3.
so for under 15$ you have a big supper with Turkey sandwiches for lunches and leftovers to eat the next day.  Buy 1 lb of ground beef  ($4) and a pkg of noodles (for $1) and 2 cans of spaghetti  sauce (each $1) and you have Sheppard's pie and spaghetti for supper the rest of the week.  That is about $21.  You still need bread, eggs and milk and essentials but I am just pointing out that is can be done.  Also what is wrong with box cake mixes? I buy them on sale for (you guessed it) $1! It makes a nice easy dessert when you really don't want to do extra work and with a Turkey dinner you have the oven on anyway.


So lets say you want to have the stuffing and cranberries and the rest of the traditional supper.  You may have your own recipes for sweet potato pie but I don't so I will tell you what I make.
Stuffing
  I save my ends of the loaf.  My family doesn't eat the two ends of the loaf so i keep them in a bag in the door of the fridge.  I cut them up for my stuffing. You need 1 loafs worth of bread.  Also I do make Chicken stock with the last turkey we ate. however Chicken Stock was also $1 at No Frills this week.  You will also need
2 stalks of celery
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic. (press with garlic press)
Saute in large pot with 1 cup of chicken stock on high heat until onions are translucent.
Turn off heat and add 1/2 the bread.  Stir and add 1 tbsp of celery salt, 1 tsp of pepper, 1/2 tbsp of thyme and 1 tsp of Italian seasoning. (like basil and oregano)
Add 1 cup of chicken stock.  Stir
Add 1/4 of remaining Bread. 
Add 1 cup of stock. Stir
Throw in remaining bread and stir until all bread is moist.
Bake in casserole dish or stuff the turkey.  In Casserole dish it is 40 mins or to your desired crispness.
Check internal temperature with a meat thermometer to 165.

Broccoli casserole
 This is not my recipe but I use it a lot.  Especially when I am out of fresh veg for a supper meal.
I buy mixed Frozen carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.  You can also buy fresh veg and blanch or steam it, but why do the work.
Place frozen veg in a casserole dish.  Top with 1 can of celery soup, then 2/3 cup of grated cheddar cheese.
Cut 2 slices of bread into squares and stir quickly in 2 tbsp of melted butter.  Sprinkle bread on top of casserole.  Bake at 350 for 30 mins uncovered.