A Broken Back And A Turkey Brining...

Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone! We had such a wonderful holiday. I love big family gatherings because you don't have to cook a lot and you can visit with people you havn't seen in a while all at the same time. A LOT less stress in my opinion. I was in charge of bringing a turkey! A biggie, I know. But I was so excited about making it for everyone. I got my turkey from a local turkey farm called Bowman Landes. They raise free range turkeys. I have to say, they are DELICIOUS! They have a much more meaty texture, not as spongy as other kinds and ahhhhh... the flavor! I decided to try my hand at brining and I will never, ever use another turkey cooking method again. (Well, I guess I say that now, but maybe I'll want to try another method in the future.) I used a brine kit from this place. I roasted it breast side down for an hour at 425, turned it over, lowered the temp to 325 and roasted it for 3 1/2 hours more. I also kept it covered in the roaster until the last hour and a half. That's it! When my uncle was carving it for Thanksgiving dinner there was so much juice coming out my dad had to hold a towel to the edge of the counter to keep it from spilling on the floor! Besides it being perfectly juicy, it tasted divine! Everyone loved it! I was extremely satisfied with how it turned out. Here are a couple before pictures of the turkey and it brining. Unfortunately, I never managed to get a quick picture of the finished masterpiece because as soon as we showed up at the house my uncle took it and started carving it. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and not just because of my awesome turkey! lol



I got some really great deals yesterday during all the Black Friday sales. I wanted to go back out again today to get some wrapping paper and other things, but I threw my back out this morning. Bummer. I wasn't even DOING anything. I think I was peeling a banana for my 10 month old and something popped and now I can't turn my head or lift it back or anything. Ugghh. I am ashamed to admit that my almost-four-year-old has watched a grand total of 5 hours of tv today, being that I can't hardly do anything for her. I feel like such a neglectful parent. Hopefully I'll feel much better tomorrow. I keep thinking that maybe this is a blessing in disguise. We have all been a little sick for about three weeks now and it seems like we are constantly fighting whatever it is off. The past few days I have felt worse and worse and I started praying that God would heal our little family since I wasn't doing a very good job at it. But I couldn't stop doing things and pushing myself to go out and get more and more things done. I had a whole slew of stuff I wanted to do today, but I can't now. I think God is telling me to slow down and get some rest. And you know what? Aside from me not being able to turn my head, I feel better! My throat isn't scratchy and I don't feel so foggy. Yay to that!

I am so excited the Christmas season is finally here! I am hoping we can get our Christmas tree up and decorated here in the next couple days. Check back soon, as I will be posting some free embroidery patterns like this one! Hope the start of your holidays has been a joyous one as well! Blessings...

Rachel