Turkey - It Ain't Like Momma Made It

Kevin made everything except the pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving this year. He's really great like that. About 3 hours before dinner I was sitting around, pouring through the ads when I started thinking that we should eat Thanksgiving dinner so we would have to start to preparing the food. I asked Kevin what he wanted me to do.

He answered, "I am making the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, and cranberry sauce. You can make anything else that you want to have." WOW! Just one more reminder of why I married him. Why did he marry me? I have no idea, but now he is trapped and I am the luckiest girl ever.

He found a recipe for turkey online and wanted to see if it was better than how he usually makes it. It turned out very moist and delicious - even the white meat leftovers. After we ate he mentioned that he always just cooked it like his mom - but now he knows that he can branch out and find what he likes best.

Honestly, I was a little leery of the recipe. I come from the strict religion of "Don't Cook Oil Above its' Smoking Point." But it turned out really, really, incredibly really good.

Even Harper got to chew on a bone for awhile.


And then he scoured the ads to find all the good deals and took a nap in front of the heater.

Turkey the "Too Good to Believe" Kevin Way

Thaw turkey completely and remove all gross little pouches and innards from the cavity. Rinse it off and completely towel dry the inside. Put it on a rack inside your roaster. Lightly coat the outside of the bird with olive oil and then sprinkle sea salt over the outside and rub in lightly. Use about twice as much sea salt in the cavity and rub that in. (Don't oil the cavity.)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Cook bird for 15 minutes (it will smoke because it is above the smoking point for olive oil) then reduce heat to 350 and cook for 1 hour. Reduce heat to 325 and cook for 1 more hour. Check the temperature of the bird. It must be 165 degrees or greater; check in the thigh close to the body. If it isn't done reduce heat to 300 and check every 15 minutes until it is done. If the bird gets too dark at any time during the cooking process, cover it with tin foil and continue cooking.