Bacon Wrapped Thanksgiving Turkey

I cooked a turkey.  That deserves it's own sentence because I think I've only done this one or two other times.  I am right smack in the middle of a big family, so I am never in charge of the turkey at Thanksgiving.  Pies, yes, sweet potatoes, yes (the day we ate this turkey, I nearly burned Jen's house down while roasting the marshmallows on top of the sweet potatoes).  For this turkey, I wanted to try something different.  Something daring.  Something involving bacon.  Actually, I found this recipe on allrecipes and it got amazing reviews and I happened to have what I needed, so it was the winner.  It is called Sherry's German Turkey Recipe.  Maybe they eat turkey this way in Germany?  If you are German, let me know.  I prepared it the night before, which was lovely.  And it was good.  Very good.  It was deliciously moist and flavorful.  So if you happen to be the turkey maker for Thanksgiving, give this one a shot.

Bacon Wrapped Turkey
adapted from: allrecipes.com (Sherry's German Turkey)

1 whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
1 onion, cut in half
1 large carrot, peeled and cut in half
1 stalk celery (I didn't use this)
1 apple, stem removed and cut in half
1 orange, yes, you guessed it, cut in half
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. pepper
1 tsp. Lawry's season salt
1 pound sliced, smoked bacon
1 turkey oven bag

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towels.  Shove the carrot, celery, onion, apple and orange into the cavity of your bird.  Think of this like a puzzle.  You may have to move things around to get it to work, but it will all fit in there.  Rub the oil all over the outside of the turkey and then sprinkle the salt, pepper and season salt on the bird and rub it all over as well.  Put the turkey into an oven bag (follow your oven bag's directions at this point.  Mine said to shake flour around inside the bag before putting the turkey in.  Just be obedient to the directions on the oven bag prep.)  Set the turkey (inside the oven bag) in a roasting pan.  Lay the strips of bacon all over the outside of the turkey.

One pound is a lot of bacon, so I was able to cover the turkey and then cover it some more.  Right now, you can either cook the turkey, or if you are doing this the night before, put it in your fridge until morning.  If you are cooking it, tie up the bag and make slits in it (again, follow whatever directions come with the bag).  Roast the turkey for about 4 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees (taken at the thickest part of the thigh).  When it is done, let it rest for 20 minutes, or so.

I didn't take any pictures of the finished product, but it looked just like this except the bacon was cooked!
Fruliche Geburtstag tsu dier!  (That actually means Happy Birthday to you, because I don't know how to say Happy Thanksgiving.)

Quinoa Chili

Have you ever tried quinoa?  If you haven't, you really should.  And you should try out this recipe first.

Quinoa is like a grain, cooked the same way you would cook rice, but it is actually a relative of beets, spinach, and... tumbleweeds.  Yeah, I know tumbleweeds, I'm from Southern Utah.

Quinoa has a lot of health benefits, especially considering it's a complete protein, and has a fun texture and a sort of nutty flavor.  It is versatile and I'm excited to try it in all the new recipes I've picked out.

This one Matt actually picked out and it ended up being awesome!  This is definitely going to be one of our favorite go-to recipes from now on.  I changed it up a bit from the originial recipe to include one of my favorite foods ever, sweet potatoes!

Quinoa Chili 
Adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients:


1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed thoroughly

1 ½ cups water

1 pound extra lean ground turkey

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 (28 ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

2 (19 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped 

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon dried parsley

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Sour cream

Directions:

Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender, and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.  (I just used my rice cooker and it came out wonderful and fluffy.) The typical amount of water called for to make quinoa is 2 c. per 1 c. of quinoa.  I read, however, that if you rinse the quinoa thoroughly it will retain some of the water, then add 1 ½ c. water per 1 c. of quinoa and it will come out fluffier.  I would have thought it opposite (the more water the fluffier) but it came out perfectly fluffy when I tried it.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and stir in the ground turkey. Cook and stir until the turkey is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain if necessary and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno pepper; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with chili powder and cumin; cook 1 minute more to release the flavor of the spices. 

Prep tip: If you don’t have long to let the stew simmer, cut the sweet potatoes into smaller chunks for speedier cooking, or pre-cook them by placing them on a microwave safe dish with a very small amount of water and microwave for a few minutes until they are tender. 

Stir in the tomatoes (pour in one can of tomatoes and add the second at the end if it needs more liquid), black beans, green bell pepper, sweet potato, oregano, and parsley. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Simmer until the bell peppers are tender, about 20 minutes.

Once the vegetables are tender, stir in the quinoa, ground turkey, corn kernels, and second can of tomatoes if needed. Return to a simmer, and cook 5 minutes to reheat. Stir in the cilantro and top with sour cream to serve.

Garlic Rosemary Turkey

Do you eat turkey or ham at Christmas?  This was the recipe I used for our Thanksgiving turkey this year and even though that holiday has come and gone, I thought I'd post it, just in case you are a turkey eater at Christmas.  I tweaked this recipe from The Sister's Cafe and thought it had a great flavor.  The rosemary was delicious!  It got rave reviews from my family as well.  Our turkey was a 25 pound bird, so if yours isn't as big, you may not need all that butter mixture.  


Rosemary Garlic Turkey
adapted from: The Sister's Cafe


1/2 c. butter, softened
3 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. dried rosemary (or use fresh)
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 onion, cut into fourths
4 celery stalks


In a small bowl, mix together the softened butter, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper.  Thaw your turkey according to the package directions.  Remove all the nasty stuff that you are supposed to remove.  Loosen the skin from the turkey by shoving your fingers in between the turkey and the skin.  Do this all around the breast area, as well as the top of the thighs.  Take the butter rub in your hand and rub it all around the top of the turkey (underneath the skin).  Rub butter in the cavity of the bird as well.  In fact, I just went ahead and rubbed that turkey all over with the butter.

When the turkey is good and buttered, cook it.  I cooked my turkey in a bag.  I followed the directions on the bag for how long to cook the turkey and at what temperature.  The only thing I did differently was that I followed my mother-in-law's advice and placed the turkey on top of the celery stalks and onion slices, inside the bag.  One tip that I have is to pay close attention to the temperature of your bird while it is cooking.  It cooked much faster in the bag than we expected and so, by the time we realized and then finished up the meal preparations, the turkey was a little over cooked.  It's OK though.  My family likes it that way so that we aren't nervous the whole time we are eating that we are going to end up with salmonella.  We're a little fanatical about our poultry.   Happy Thanksgiving! (or Merry Christmas!)

Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey & Rice Soup

To preface this recipe- I am not a fan of leftover Thanksgiving turkey. Past eating it with the rest of the leftovers, I do not enjoy it. Because we had plenty of it leftover this year, I searched for a recipe I would enjoy it in. I found this gem and will be using it every year. I loved this recipe. It's very similar to the Chicken Wild Rice Soup I posted earlier which is my favorite soup ever, but this had some fun differences. The main one for me was the addition of slivered almonds! I loved the added slight crunch. The best part about this recipe was that the turkey tasted delicious.

Turkey Wild Rice Soup: adapted from allrecipes.com

2/3 c. uncooked wild rice

2 c. water

6 tbsp. butter

1/4 c. finely chopped onion

1/4 c. finely chopped celery

1/3 c. all-purpose flour

4 c. turkey broth (I used chicken broth which tasted fantastic)

1/3 c. thinly sliced carrot

2 c. chopped cooked turkey

1/2 tsp. kosher salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, or to taste

1/4 c. chopped sliced almonds

1/2 tsp. lemon juice

3/4 c. half-and-half cream

Directions:

1. Bring the wild rice and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender but not mushy, 40 to 45 minutes. Drain off any excess liquid, fluff the rice with a fork, and cook uncovered 5 minutes more. Set the cooked rice aside.

2. Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion and celery until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour, and cook until it turns a pale yellowish-brown color, 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually whisk in the turkey stock until no lumps of flour remain. Stir in the carrot. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and cook, whisking constantly, until the stock is thick and smooth and the carrot is tender, about 2 more minutes.

3. Stir in the wild rice, turkey, salt, pepper, and almonds. Return to a simmer, and cook 2 more minutes to heat the ingredients. Stir in the lemon juice and half-and-half; bring the soup almost to a boil, and serve hot.

Cheddar Ranch Turkey Burgers

This is the recipe that my coworker has been telling me about for a while as we've discussed yummy BBQ recipes. It takes no time at all to prepare, but they're so good! And it makes turkey burgers taste great, so this is a little bit healthier way to try a cheeseburger.

Cheddar Ranch Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:

1 lb. of ground turkey

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

1 packet of ranch dressing mix

buns

lettuce, tomato, ketchup, etc.

Mix ground turkey with cheese and ranch dressing mix until thoroughly combined. Grill until done and assemble.

And that's it. Enjoy your summer BBQ.