The Main Course

Hey guys! So how was everyone's Christmas? What good things did you eat?
I got new pots and pans for Christmas and a hand mixer so I decided to make Christmas dinner.

I made a turkey for the first time. I did not plan on making a turkey, because I would rather have had chicken, but my grandma gave it to me so I figured I would give it a shot.

This is what I wished my turkey looked like....lol 

It didn't exactly come out that pretty. It was good though, I was so nervous that I was going to dry it out I opened the oven every ten minutes to baste it, so the side of the turkey facing the oven door wasn't as golden brown as the other side. For my first try it was pretty good though. Here are some tips I came up with during this process: 

1- You have to do your research, foodnetwork.com has good tips I wish I had looked at it beforehand 

2- Turkeys take a really long time to thaw out, it tells you to thaw in the fridge, but that didn't work for me the turkey was still frozen solid so the best method is to put it in the sink filled with cold water. 

3-Make sure you pay attention to the weight of the turkey, because that's how you will know how long to cook it for, when that little red dot pops up it's not always done. 

4-Lastly you might want to try to brine the turkey, which is soaking it in a salt water solution. My grandma did this and her turkey was very flavorful and juicy. 

 

Here is what I had for Xmas dinner, doesn't that plate look messy? I should have arranged it neater for the blog pic, but I wasn't thinking about that at the time, just ready to eat!! So with my turkey I had baked mac & cheese, stuffing, candied yams, greens, mashed potatoes, and for dessert a pineapple upside down cake. The cake came out really good and pretty but I cut it before I remembered to take a pic!! I got the recipe from the Betty Crocker website check out my Recipe page for the link.

So guys I have some homework for you, I'm in search of a good mac & cheese recipe, I make it different every single time because I'm never really satisfied with how it comes out. So if any of you have a good recipe for me to try please share!

Everyone have a safe and happy New Year