Turkey, Mashed Potatoes & Squash

It has finally arrived!  Christmas Eve --- my favourite day of the entire year.  I'm sitting here in front of my lit Christmas tree, in my new beautiful home with a napping puppy by my side, a warm tea in hand and a heart that is so grateful that it's about to explode. As I reflect on 2012 I'm realizing that this was one of the best yet! While we did experience some difficult times including the loss of my Nana, we had many high moments including attending many weddings of loved ones, the purchase of our new home, escaping to Jamaica, celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in Chicago, and learning that a very dear friend won her fight against cancer. Grateful indeed.

On Saturday the hubster and I hosted our very first holiday in our new place --- Christmas dinner for 47 people and 2 dogs!  It was loud, busy, hot and oh so freakin' awesome.  It was beyond heart warming to look around our home and see so much love and celebrating in one space.  We are so lucky to have so much love and support from so many people.

Today my family starts to arrive to begin the next phase of Christmas celebrating. Over the next few days I will be making turkey, mashed potatoes and squash.  Below you will find the recipes I will be using; all of which I have used previously and have been happy with). The mashed potatoes recipe can be found here, however I will be using a slightly adapted recipe today by adding some additional herbs. Here are the turkey and squash recipes. Enjoy xo

Gluten Free Turkey Ingredients (no stuffing in this bad boy!)
1 Turkey (ours is about 14 lbs -- this will feed 10 -12 people)

Juice of a lemon

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons Olive oil

1/2 onion, peeled and quartered

1 entire thing of celery (is it called a bunch, head, bundle...hmm) Use the entire thing; leaves and all)

2 carrots, cut into 4 big chunks

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 teaspoon thyme

Method
Thaw your bird -- about 5 hour for every pound in the fridge. Grab your rubber gloves because shit is going to get real. Remove all the gross random body parts from the inside and toss in the garbage --- please, for the love of god do not keep them for soup.  I have been scared for life from seeing my mom make `esophagus soup`. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Don`t forget to remove on rack. Rinse turkey in cold water and pat dry with paper towel.  Bleach the crap out of your sink because all those nasty germs can make you sick.  Using the juice from one lemon coat the inside of the bird then coat with a palm full of salt. Now the stuff that goes in the bird is for flavour only --- put half a onion, parsley, carrots, and celery. Close up the turkey cavity with either string or metal skewers. Make sure that the turkey's legs are tied together and tie a string around the turkey body to hold the wings in close. Paint bird with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. Place in a roasting pan breast side down and cook at 325 degrees for about 3.5 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 175 degrees for dark meat and 165 degrees for the breasts.  Baste every 30 minutes. I have a needle type injector thing that I will use to inject the juices as well (That's what she said!). Juices should run clear. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before carving. ENJOY!

Yield: About 12 servings
Baked Squash Ingredients

2 butternut squash

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar

 

Method

Cut squash in half lengthwise and get rid of the seeds. Brush squash halves with butter. In a small bowl, combine the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg pepper and brown sugar and sprinkle over squash halves.
Place in a greased baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 60 minutes. Uncover and bake 20 additional minutes (or until squash is tender). Scoop out of skin and mash in a bowl.

 

Merry Christmas to you and your families --- enjoy every heart warming memory making moment