Whoooboy - I got a surprise alright. A $36 surprise to be exact.
It is no secret that I adore Thanksgiving dinner and we usually start our practice run to the big day in September. I could eat turkey, oyster dressing, mashed 'taters, etc. anytime, anywhere - but we usually wait for cooler weather to begin making mock Thanksgiving.
Until Pooldad decided it would be a nice treat to have it yesterday. In July. In 100 degree heat.
Which is fine by me - especially when he agreed to do all the cooking. Bonus! But I almost choked on the grocery receipt when I saw that the turkey was $23 and the oysters were $13. The oysters I understand because they are definitely out of season here thus the higher price to import them - but since when is a turkey considered out of season in VA let alone anywhere in the US? Sorry, but I am used to buying our turkeys for .69 cents - .99 cents a pound - not the $1.69 Pooldad paid yesterday and he barely managed to find the last one. When he inquired as to why there was only one the butcher replied "They are out of season sir." Huh? I understand there isn't a huge demand but really? It is an overgrown chicken. And yes, I realize that heritage turkeys cost so much more and do have a season [completely different scenario] - but if they can grow and process chickens all year, why not turkeys?
No worries tho' because it was good. No, honestly? It was great! Pooldad made the entire dinner and Squirrel made the sweet potatoe pie - oh, there is another thing - has everyone heard that there has been a pumpkin famine[?] drought [?] the past few years and the makers of canned pumpkin have RUN OUT of pumpkins to make it? You cannot find it in the stores - believe me - and before anyone says this is why we should all grow our own food [which in theory would be nice] we don't have the capabilities where we live to have a garden or even a container garden on our deck. Thus we had our first ever sweet potato pie. Yum!
And now on to the pictures:
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Pooldad chopping zucchini and squash he bought at the farmers market.
Sliced turkey, steamed veggies, oyster dressing and homemade mashed 'taters
Vat o' gravyI have always made this but yesterday I was on the phone with a friend and Pooldad stepped in and made it. Some of the best gravy I have ever had. No kidding.
Squirrel's plate
Wallene's plate ~
["Hurry up Mom. Gosh, take the pic' already we wanna' eat!]
Posterity children. Posterity.
The red, white and blue tablecloth lends a nice bit of contrast to dinner dontcha' think? :)~
Dinner was soooooo good and the nice thing about a whole turkey is tonight we are having the leftovers [turkey and gravy over waffles - mmmmmm] tomorrow night will be turkey pot pie and Tuesday will be turkey noodle soup. Plus I get to eat turkey sandwiches, dressing and gravy for lunch this week. Heehee. [I will make this $36 meal stretch - cheapie that I am :)]
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**The gravy was made with reduced sodium turkey broth and there is no salt added to the 'taters or the dressing. Most of the sodium in this meal comes from the turkey [because of the additives] and the bread in the dressing.
15 comments:
I could eat turkey anytime too. It's out of season generally because it's such a large item that most people aren't prepared to just cook one any old time. Our grocers here will sometimes put out turkey parts - like chicken parts - they are still a little expensive but I will happily buy a turkey breast. I don't think we have a pumpkin famine here. I've got 2 cans in my cupboard.
Well Jeanie it must be an east coast thing then with the pumpkin - but we haven't been able to find it since before last Thanksgiving or let me guess you are on the east coast too? :) - I think I am going to have to mail order it if I want any this fall. If I can find some decent sugar baby pumpkins this fall I can use those.
As for the turkeys - I have friends that are the same way and want a turkey in July - but I guess people are too lazy to do something as easy as a whole turkey and then use it for the next 4 or 5 meals and end up buying parts or a breast instead. Thus the grocers don't stock them or do so at a ridiculous price in the "off" season.
Thanks for the comment - would you be willing to sell me a can of pumpkin? ;D ~SkippyMom~
I could eat turkey all year too! LOVE turkey.
But I have never made one myself. (as I mentioned I bought a roaster with the best intentions, now I just have to start experimenting I guess lol) If it's really as easy as you say, I think I should try!
Great pictures, now I'm hungry for thanksgiving dinner!
Tina I am getting those recipes written up for you today - I mostly cook from memory so I want to make sure I have everything concise for you - I used to use recipes but once you get the hang of it - easy peasy.
Hugs girlie!
Thanks SkippyMom, you are such a sweat heart!!! Whenver you get some spare time is fine :) Hugggs!
Good thing you live way over there or you would have a crazy, ravenous, pregnant lady on your door step right now.
Well wadda ya know???? Turkey is our favorite meat as well. And we cheat big time in early November...we buy 3 and put them in the freezer. Then we have um when we want um. Have you ever roasted a turkey on your BBQ? It is so wonderful and the house stays cooler. SM would rather eat turkey than any other meat so that's why I spoil him like I do. I'm a "turkey" lover too. hehehe Tell ya what, if you're really good I'll send you some of our home grown sugar pumpkins. Of course at this point they are just tiny little nubs trying to disguise themselves as pumpkins but you send me a tent....I'll send you a couple pumpkins....life's good.
vert word..jaudep Sounds like the price of turkeys just jaudep man. You know I really ought to send that to my fav Mexican word of the day blog. That was almost good.
Sapphire I know how you feel and would welcome you with open arms - anytime - but I have to say you made me laugh big time. I am the same way!
Linda - we do the same thing when they go on sale!! But somehow we manage to eat all of them before the new year :D - we're bad that way. [And now I have stock boiling on the stove and it smells sooo good]
{hugs} you should have told me that you were supposed to be doing the gravy! LOL - but it was nice to talk to you so I thank you and pooldad for our conversation.
your plates have me literally drooling all over myself. thanksgiving dinner is my most favorite meal of the year - any day of the year! i've bought turkeys on sale in november as well and had them other times. i like to do a "fake" dinner with cornish game hens and it's close but not quite there.
[can't send email from the hospital (something about their relay system) but everything is A-OK with the A/C unit.]
Teresa I am SO happy to hear about the A/C - YAY! Can't wait to hear what happened but hopefully you will have a cool house tonight.
And no worries - it was much more fun talking to you than it was whisking gravy with cranky hands! :) [and dang it was good]
That looked really good... gets me thinking.... I should check the bottom of my freezer... I think I have a frozen turkey in there somewhere =]
OMG, when my husband goes to the grocery store, we could go broke. He doesn't even TRY to compare prices or save on anything. Just walks through there like he's the prince, saying, "I want that, and that . . . and I want that . . and that." Oy.
And the shortage of pumpkin? Oh good grief. My daughter is going to have a conniption. She just today asked if I'd make pumpkin pie. Since I made her brother's favorite yesterday, chocolate mousse. I should start looking now for pumpkin for Thanksgiving.
Your dinner looked fabulous!
Your meal looked absolutely scrumptious. A few more like those and you might get all the way up to 122 lbs!
Myself, I can't think of baking when it's that hot, especially now that we're stuck with a half-a$$ air conditioning system. But I will be watching for canned pumpkin (any brand but Libbys--for some reason to me that brand makes crappy pies and I'm talking about their canned pumpkin, not their pumpkin pie "mix".
Word vert is galidurb. At which I can only stare at in awe. Linda in NM wins.
I made a turkey breast in the crockpot last week. I love how it cooks up so tender in the crockpot and then I have leftovers for sandwiches for the week! Yumm.
I wish I knew how to make dressing, minus the oysters. Guess I'd better have my mom teach me!
I always buy my turkey breast when it is cheap and then keep it in the freezer. I'm going to check the grocery store for pumpkin, too!
MMMMmmmmm.... this is one of my most favorite meals. And someone else cooking it? The best.
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