Let's Talk Turkey

 Do you want a stress-free Thanksgiving Day?  Read on......

I remember a Thanksgiving 30+ years ago.  Scott's sister and their family pulled up as I was taking our Thanksgiving turkey out of the oven.  As I went to carve the meat, a bunch of pink juice came out from the pink meat.  Obviously, the meat wasn't done.  Back into the oven the turkey went, and we ate our meal quite a bit later. 

Fast forward 30+ years and what I've learned from that Thanksgiving Day Disaster. 

The answer to the question:  Do you want a stress-free Thanksgiving Day?  Cook your turkey a day or two before Thanksgiving.  These are pictures of Scott and I yesterday (two days before Thanksgiving).  

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Pour chicken broth over the turkey, then cover the pan with tin foil, and into the fridge it goes until Thanksgiving day.  Warm it in the oven just before your holiday feast.  

Now the best part...Enjoy your clean kitchen Thanksgiving morning.   

....that is until you start making the potatoes, stuffing, etc. 

Can Anything Good Come Out of Having a Broken Microwave?

Humanity has lived without microwaves for 6,000 years.  Why, then, was it soooooo hard for us to live without a microwave for one week when our microwave broke a couple of weeks ago? How were we to defrost our frozen food?   How could we heat up our leftovers?  Was there anything good that could come out of having a broken microwave for a week?????

Surprising, something good did come out of having a broken microwave.  What was that, you ask?  It was the discovery of the air fryer.  Months ago, I had heard that an air frier was a must have.  So, an air frier I bought.  After I bought it, I tried cooking broccoli in it.  I wasn’t impressed.  I heard I could make french fries out of cut-up potatoes in my air fryer.  Once again, I wasn’t impressed.  So, in the back of my pantry shelf it sat for months. 

Now enter, my broken microwave.  After a failed attempt to heat up my leftover frozen enchiladas in a ziplock bag in boiling water, I remembered my air frier.  I took my soggy enchiladas out of the ziplock bag and stuck them into my air fryer.  It was love at first sight (or bite).  The enchiladas were crispy and delicious. The next night we heated up our leftover chicken tortilla casserole.  Once again, we were elated.  Another night we heated up our leftover homemade macaroni and cheese. Our mac and cheese never tasted better. We cooked some yummy butternut squash in our air fryer.

Let’s just say that now our air fryer has a new position on my pantry shelf.  

Front and center.

Here we are installing our new microwave after a week without one.

It's good to have a microwave back in our lives...

...along with our air fryer discovery that has revolutionized our cooking at the Magpad.