As we look forward to Thanksgiving coming up soon, it is time to think about the main dish – the Turkey!
I remember my first turkey experience. It happened shortly after I moved away from family to California – so out of necessity I got to cook my first turkey for Thanksgiving.
I was pregnant with my second child and only about a week away from delivery and had been put on bed rest, so while I was flipping through the channels on the TV I came across a cooking show with Julia Child talking about a great way to cook a Turkey for Thanksgiving.
I liked the way she was doing it because it seemed easy because this recipe she was demonstrating did not include stuffing inside the Turkey. The whole idea of preparing the turkey with stuffing cooked inside the turkey seemed overwhelming for my first Thanksgiving Turkey alone! I didn’t want my turkey undercooked because of the stuffing. Also I didn’t want the stuffing soggy because of all the turkey juices. And then there was getting stuffing right like trying to stuff the turkey when the stuffing was cool so the bacteria wouldn’t grow – this scare was all over the news and air waves at time – scaring young cooks everywhere – or at least me!
Julia Child’s recipe (best I can remember how it went) – put butter under the turkey skin (butter of course – it is Julia Child after all!) Next take sliced oranges, apples and onions and put them in the cavity instead of stuffing. The stuffing was cooked separate in a casserole dish instead! This let me deal with the turkey and the stuffing each on their own terms – this made it manageable for me! To my surprise all the fruit baked with the turkey made for the most tender and juicey turkey I had ever tasted…not bad for a first try! Also, the fruit flavored the turkey with a very interesting and delicate, secret flavor that make it stand out from other roasted turkeys I and others at my dinner had tasted. This made my my turkey a very memorable and much talked about turkey as I don’t think as many people use this method so the turkey stands out as something wonderfully different from the run of the mill roasted turkey recipes!
Over the years I have modified the recipe, one of the first things I took advantage of was the Turkey Baking bag – it holds the juices in even more, and you don’t have to baste the turkey and the clean up is a breeze. You can prepare the Turkey in the bag the day before, with all the fruit and then just pop it in the oven on Thanksgiving, sit back enjoy the day! This was a big plus for me, no fussing, just relaxing! During the last 30 years, I have added a few more things inside the Turkey beside just the apples, oranges and onions, I now put some fresh cranberry and fresh herbs too! It always seem to turn out great year to year and I love the broth to make gravy from that has the hint of herbs and fruit!
So last year it came full circle as I went to the home of my daughter and her husband for Thanksgiving (the daughter I was pregnant with when I cooked my first turkey).
She was cooking her first Turkey and had been so nervous about it that she had practiced the week before on several chickens to make sure she could get it all right before we showed up.
Of course, her first Turkey was wonderful and she had done a great job and we had a wonderful meal and terrific time! She
reminded me of my first turkey cooking experience and it was fun to see her wonderful cooking accomplishments that day.
These are the kind of of things that need to be recorded and scrapped to keep the memories alive. I am so glad we took lots of photos of her first Turkey so she can show her children when they cook their first turkey too!
These events are to precious to just get lost in the closet or worse yet forgotten on some computer disk to be lost forever!
When these photos are taken and scrapped and turned into albums or other digital scrapbooking projects then they can be remembered and shared.
Also when cooking is involved it is wonderful to keep those recipes written down and shared. For example my daughter’s husband came up with a wonderful turkey gravy recipe for that thanksgiving dinner, but a year later when I asked for the recipe the exact ingredients and amounts had been forgotten! Especially sad as the recipe didn’t involve any flour or cornstarch to thicken it and it was the best turkey gravy I had ever tasted!
So we have all learned — to cook with a pen and note pad now! We write down recipes as things get made. Then later we type them up and add them to our digital scrapbooking pages, and put them in a binder to use later!
We also make email versions of our scrap pages and email them to family and friends. It is a way to share our recipes, events and scrapbooking pages too!
Here are some scrapbooking supplies you might want to consider for your Turkey and Thanksgiving Scrapbooking Projects:
Like this scrap kit – The Autumn Days Digital Scrapbooking Kit features a digital scrapbooking kit filled with beautiful autumn-inspired digital papers, embellishments, WordArt, bows, and more!
Even though you can’t hang onto autumn forever, you can hang onto special autumn memories with a coordinating digital scrapbooking kit! Use this kit to scrap all of your Thanksgiving traditions! Paper size is 12×12″ Get other Thanksgiving Scrap Kits and Supplies at the Scrap Shop.
Need Turkey Recipes and Helpful Resources to start your First Turkey?
Here are some Turkey Recipes to start your own traditions!
Basic Herb Turkey – Herb Roasted Turkey with Pan Gravy
Stuffed Turkey – Roast Turkey with Wild Rice, Sausage, and Apple Stuffing
Up to the challenge – try a Brined Turkey
Other Turkey Helps
Thanksgiving Turkey How-To Videos
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a great roasted turkey!
Cheri
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Also buy Digital Scrapbooking Supplies for all your Fall Digital Scrapbooking Projects, and Training at the Scrap Shop!
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