One bird=4 meals

Turkey with potatoes and stuffing
Turkey Soup with Herbed Dumplings
Lunch meat for 4 people for at least 2 days.

Not bad for a $6 turkey! I bought a 12 pound turkey after Thanksgiving. I knew that I could get at least two meals, not to mention several lunches, out of it. And since we didn't host Thanksgiving, we didn't really have many leftovers. This made my family very sad. I knew I hadto make us our own bird.

At about noon today, after returning from church, I got the turkey out of the fridge and began getting it ready to roast. I didn't do anything with the giblets (I know...not totally frugal of me...but I'm just not a giblet person.) I did, however, stuff it with celery, carrots, garlic, butter and fresh sage I clipped from my backyard. I stuffed a few sage leaves under the breast skin as well as a few pats of butter and some smashed garlic. Then I drizzled the bird with olive oil and seasoned it with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. I heated the oven to 450' to get it good and hot but once I put the bird in I lowered it to 350'. I left the lid off for about an hour and got a little color to the skin. Then I covered it for about 2 hours. In the last hour, I left it uncovered to get some more golden color. It came out gorgeous....if I don't say so myself. I asked my husband and sons to come in the kitchen and "ooh and aah" over it before I carved it...and they did! Each of them oohed and aahed perfectly. It was great.

While the turkey was "resting" I prepared the potatoes and gravy and stuffing and warmed the rolls.

Everything came out quite yummy. I experimented with the stuffing using dark rye bread and a bit of leftover cornbread. It was OK. Not the best I've ever had. I did like the rye bread, but I am used to making stuffing with ground beef or maybe some ground pork. Unfortunately, I didn't have any. So onion and celery it was. I also added a handful of dried cranberries..for the heck of it. It wasn't bad but I prefer savory stuffing. The cranberries made it too sweet for my liking. It wasnt awful. But I've had better.

All in all it was a good meal. And my family was thrilled and full and happy. And to top it off, my husband did the dishes! Thank you Honey.