::waves:: I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and/or a lovely weekend. First things first, Popeyes turkey. Yes. The answer is yes. The turkey was amazing, moist, fork tender, and delicious.
Notes:
- Thaw at least 3 days ahead in the refrigerator. It comes completely frozen, like a rock. I thawed it for 4 days just to be sure and the first two days it was still hard to the touch.
- Remove from packaging, place into roaster pan – preferably with a roaster rack – wrap in foil and cook at 300F for 90 minutes or until internal temperature rises to 150.
- Take the turkey out, Take off the foil, add a little bit of olive oil or sunflower oil, and rub it into the skin.
- Either bake for 15 minutes at 500F or broil it, eyeballing when the skin gets crispy. It burns quick.
- The turkey will give you about 2 cups of dripping. The drippings are spectacular. Amazing. They are not greasy at all, more like really delicious bone broth. I put some into my stuffing and some into my gravy.
- Let rest on the counter about 15 minutes.
Is the skin crispy, like roasted duck skin? No. Was it still worth it? Hell yes. It was eaten in great amounts. We have almost nothing left.
What do do with leftover turkey:
Simple quesadillas
- Large flower tortillas, burrito size
- Shredded cheese, preferably Mexican variety, Oaxaca, Manchego, but you can do simple Mexican blend of shredded mozzarella and cheddar.
- Taco sauce or your favorite hot sauce
- Shredded turkey
- Stuff that makes you happy: green onions, avocadoes, diced tomatoes, etc. If you are a fan of Taco Bell quesadillas, just used the first 4 ingredients
This works really well with a panini press, if you have one. I usually oil the tortillas lightly and press it on the highest temp, but if you don’t have the press, a large pan will do.
Lightly oil the pan and heat on medium heat. Put 1 tortilla in, spread cheese in a thin layer, spread shredded turkey, drip some sauce, lightly spread a bit more cheese. Once the tortilla forms little bubbles, either fold it in half or slap the second tortilla on top of it.
I usually go the second tortilla round. Once it sticks to the cheese, I flip the whole thing over with the spatula, which can be dicey. Which is why I prefer the panini press. You can also opt for smaller tortillas to make individual quesadillas, which will be easier to flip.
Cut with pizza cutter. Enjoy. Usually a big hit with small children, because they can grab the slices and hold them.
Here is a recipe with pictures.
The Thanksgiving was so nice. Kid 1 and Kid 2 precooked with me on Wednesday. Kid 1 knocked out the side dishes and Kid 2 made ridiculously pretty pies. It was low stress and low drama, a comfortable and warm family time.
All families have holiday stories, and we have a new one this year. I haven’t shared this on the blog, but in the week before the holidays, we had 3 outages. Texas grid – it’s not built for cold, it’s not built for heat, and apparently it’s not built for light rain either. The outages were longish, a couple of hours. One time it hit while I had milk bread in the oven, and I scooped up some coals from a fireplace on a baking tray and put it in the oven. The bread did bake.
The final outage happened Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, just as we finished clean up, with the pies cooling on the counters. Gordon had been making circles around the pies all day. He just sort of checked if the pies were there. However, the pies are not to be touched until Thanksgiving dinner.
The outage hits. The house is pitch black. I curse in two languages because I have had it.
The house is dark and quiet.
My husband sighs next to me and says, “Well, there is no helping it. Since the lights are out, we need to eat the pies.”
And that’s my Thanksgiving story.
sorry to hear about the power but not surprised, the Texas grid has a reputation for a reason. Where I live the utility companies were pressured by wall street and they skimped on tree pruning and other maintenance and power became really unreliable, after storms about 10 years ago the state regulators threatened massive fines and possible state takeover. Since then it has gotten a lot better .
Backup generators are a nice touch. the problem is larger generators that run on gasoline,suck it down, propane goes even faster bc it has less btu content. ideal is if you have natural gas, you have a tri fuel generator, no worries about it running out since it runs on NG.
w a manual generator you have to prob wheel it out and start it. it also has to be wired into your panel if you want to power wired in things like heating,central ac,electric stoves,etc. that requires a transfer switch that disconnects the connection to the grid and allows power from gen to house.
the best if you have a lot of outages is an automatic full home generator. they detect power loss, disconnect house from grid, and start. they work even if you are not there.
they run on natural gas, or people have either a large propane or diesel tank to supply the generator if nat gas is not available.
the cost isn’t cheap, installed around here is is close to 10k. the generator itself isn’t the bug cost, the diff between a 10kw to 15 or 20kw unit isn’t that much bigger.
we had a quiet thanksgiving, our son was actually around ( wasn’t performing) . We tried a free range farm turkey and while it was really expensive, we only eat it once a year. To use it tasted better than regular turkey, it was not as sweet tasting, and we felt less guilt at the way most commercial birds are raised. With only 3 of us the monsters , the big monster ( ie Boris the Brutal, out cat Blue,) did well, and we have makings for epic soup in the freezer. We also had mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and stuffed mushrooms.
Hhahaha, yes, the pies most definitely had to be eaten, no question.
I really enjoy cooking Thanksgiving dinner, but I don’t enjoy the clean up. No matter how good I am at cleaning as I go, in the end there’s always a mountain of clean-up. I broke three of my beautiful lemon print Portugal platters. I told my husband never again, just like I did last year and the year before that. One year we went skiing over the holiday and it was the best Thanksgiving ever, I just ordered everything and it was delivered hot to the chalet.
We did have a wonderful long weekend though, all the kids were home and people were in and out all weekend. Saturday was beautiful so we barbecued and my neighbor and I got very drunk on Sangria. It was fun.
Gordon is Wise
giggles laughs ???????????????????? lol
Your description of the turkey made me drool! And Gordon’s willingness to eat pie due the power outage made me laugh 🙂
I’m with Gordon.
To stand with Gordon is to stand for safe food practices ????, absolutely!
I make pumpkin and pecan and they made it to Thanksgiving. My new thing this year happened after Thanksgiving because I found a recipe where you make tomato soup using left over stuffing. It came out great and used up the majority of the leftover stuffing. I overcook always for three of us though I did take doggie bags to two relatives that had covid and did a drop and run on their front steps.
Please share that recipe for soup. I always have too much stuffing left over. I have put it in turkey soup before.
years ago during our first winter year, I put a turkey in the oven and about an hour the lights went out.
since we had a gas cooktop we lit that sucker, found the biggest canning pot and dropped the turkey in it to boil. we didn’t have power again for two weeks, and it was cold enough we took everything from the fridge & freezer to a shed to freeze solid. we developed a great appreciation for soup and tea. keeping something liquid simmering on the stove kept the kitchen above freezing. we managed to be in home depot when a pallet of small generators came in a few days later, and were able to run lights later in the week, by next winter we had a wood stove installed.
I’ve worked on power plant design and construction, and the only engineering item that ever made me raise an eyebrow in any of your books is how fast the power comes online in KD’s world when the magic drops. Way too boring to waste story on, but they must have something figured out that we don’t 🙂
Maybe the power isn’t off, just not accessible?
Gordon, What your favorite pie.????
Did anyone else hear the music from ‘Jaws’ when they read about Gordon circling the pies?
*Making a mental note to get a popeyes turkey next year.
Glad you had a wonderful (if slightly non-electrical) holiday week. I’m with Gordon…desperate times call for desperate measures (of pie). We had a small get-together with just my husband, daughter, parents, sister and nephew. I always grill a turkey breast in addition to the normal one in the oven so we can have plenty for leftovers. (I, too, made turkey quesadillas on my quesadilla maker…best invention ever!)
I feel you with the outages. After Hurricane Ian hit, we were without power for 11 days. It was miserably hot. And dark at night. But mostly hot. I brought all of my solar yard lights in in the evenings so we could light the house at night, then carried them back out in the morning to recharge. I also have a couple of solar power banks that we would charge and use to run one tiny little personal fan, which we would all crowd around. I’m thinking of investing in some larger solar panels to run a personal air conditioner for the next time a hurricane decides to visit. They store flat and take up less space than a generator.
You’ve all made me soooo hungry!
i live in Montana, if the power was out we’d put the pies on the deck outside, and they would be fine. nice and cold. But definitely a good try 🙂
Did you eat the pies!!!
ah Gorden’s excuse was a good one for eating the pies early, ???? ???? ????
I have a very large family and we are always at a relatives house for thanksgiving. So, Believe it or not, I have never had to cook a whole turkey. I would always just bring a lot of side dishes and especially lemon meringue and pumpkin pies. When it was just me and a couple of people any other time, I would just cook a turkey breast. I even have a turkey recipe where the turkey breast is cooked like a pot roast, it’s different. You add garlic, potatoes, carrots, onions and chicken broth and roast it. Everyone really likes it.
I’ve been looking longingly at solar generators. We have a wood stove (you can cook on them too, you know) and have always managed OK during winter outages, because it’s cold enough here to put stuff from the fridge and freezer on the porch in coolers. Luci lights work fine for lighting at night and charging phones. However I have a CPAP now and really kind of need it running while I sleep. Even a small solar generator will run one. So far we’ve been lucky but sooner or later that luck will run out. Fingers crossed!
I usually make turkey enchiladas (enough to eat now and freeze more for later!) with the leftover turkey. We didn’t have as much leftover this year, so I made Turkey Salad for sandwiches.
Oh my God!! Yes Gordon, you are correct, it is time to eat the pies.
I got a day off, so it was great. I made giant pot of chili, most of which I froze for meal prep on other days. With the remaining meat & onions I enjoyed soft tacos for 3 days, froze the rest of that. Then I made fresh salsa at my desk at work over the weekend. I am still enjoying the salsa. Today I mixed it 50/50 with eggs and scrambled it for awesome salsa omelettes.
Oh, another way to try leftover turkey. Cut it up into bite size pieces, dump it in a skillet with cans of golden mushroom soup. How many cans depends on how much turkey you have and how much meat you like mixed in. But a decent amount of meat. Heat it through, then serve over a slice of bread for an open sandwich.
It’s easy, fast and yummy. It was always a favorite of my and my sisters growing up.
Our neighborhood here in Sugar Land had the same problem until they redid our electrical lines. Apparently in their infinite cheapness, when they put the electrical lines below ground (good choice in hurricane country) they just buried the cables in the dirt with no protection. Fast forward a few decades and the plastic coating on the lines has broken down enough that every time it rains the power goes out. It was SO dumb. They finally came back, dug down, put plastic pipes down there and then ran the new cables through the pipes to hopefully protect them. Our power stays on now almost always so it was worth the mess and them taking out the power just so many times while they laid the new lines.
Maybe they can do the same in your area??
???????????? We are all here for the pie!
I use my turkey drippings to make Rum gravy. I use an ounce of dark rum at 40% alcohol in the gravy and it gives a nice rich flavour. Do not use the 150 proof 75% alcohol rum. (They sell it here in Canada, not sure about the USA) It doesn’t do it like the 40% does. Some of the alcohol content does burn off apparently. I tried one year and it was almost as popular with the family as my stuffing
Yes! Always eat the pies! hahahaha! (that’s supposed to be a mildly evil laugh)
FEED GORDON!
pls
Hehe, your concern is very touching, I can reassure you that no Gordons have been starved in the making of Thanksgiving ????
question: has HA considered putting any of the blog content behind a pay wall?
there’s great content that, in my opinion, should be compensated and there seems to be an insatiable demand for it.
I would totally pay a monthly subscription fee to get short stories, POV, and interviews from all these interesting secondary characters. I’d happily pay for the weekly serial too.
Maybe the commitment would create undo stress or take away too much time from writing longer published works. I know they’ve shied away from Kickstarter for good reasons.
I only thought of it because another author I discovered here (or maybe it was originally on Jessie Mihalik’s blog, I can’t remember, but she’s been recommended here) started a $5/ month Patreon where you vote on characters for short stories once a month, you get different POV or background and then readers/writer can discuss. I love it and I realized it’s basically what FrInnday is.
aw that would shut out those of us who don’t earn in USD and so for whom $5 is a significant amount…
There will be an in-depth answer to this comment coming soon, but in the meantime, please do not worry, there is no need to ????
Re: flipping a quesadilla – take a plate, cookie sheet or pizza pan (something slightly larger than the pan you’re cooking in (you *can* use a plate that fits in the pan, but you’d need to be very careful not to touch your hand/arm on the side of the hot pan)). Place it upside down on the pan and flip the whole thing over. Put the pan back and slide the quesadilla back in to cook the other side. This method can also be used to remove the quesadilla when it is finished cooking. Obviously this works better with a lighter pan as opposed to something like cast iron.
Quick question – is Subterranean Press interested in doing any more books, and are IA interested in participating??
“ My husband sighs next to me and says, “Well, there is no helping it. Since the lights are out, we need to eat the pies.”
OMG! Absolutely love it!
There’s always a bright side ????
I can hear all the Popeyes stores next year for Thanksgiving “where did all of our turkeys go to? Did we have a run on them?” Yep…the BDH are a powerful force even for Popeyes turkey. 😀
the logic behind that statement breaks the brain lolz! The power is out, therefore the pies must be consumed. ????
We started looking at Christmas food shopping today and just seeing the ridiculous prices for turkey here in the UK (bird flu) was enough to give me indigestion.
Happily we don’t eat turkey in my family – beef and/or lamb joint for the main roast and those have gone up enough anyway ????
Thank you, Ilona Andrews for the ROFLOL.
Where I live in NC, Duke Energy has been slowly upgrading the power grid. The last 6 months they have been replacing power poles over 30 years old. Since most here are over that age planted in red clay… and this is a rural area, it has been an entertaining year power wise. Of course Ian and Fiona contributed too to several days of no power.
It’s actually been interesting as one company only replaces poles, another company only moves wires, another company only installs a mini sized (compared to what was maybe there) transformer at each line to residences coming off mainline …. Then there are days of high wind gusts like yesterday where linemen can not be up in air working— too dangerous.
But on ha ha side, all my battery backups have been well tested this year. It used to only when my illegally minded neighbors decided to draw excessive power and blew the circuit breaker up line at the substation. ????
I’ve been really enjoying Chinese green onion pancakes lately and I got some ez frozen ones from the Asian super market that cook up in 3-4min. I ended up taking one of these fresh off the pan, tossed some shredded turkey in after to brown it a bit and then used gravy a little mayo and the browned turkey in the onion pancake like a wrap. It was kinda amazing. So much onion savoriness. Highly recommend trying a crazy fusion like that. I’d eat it every day if turkey was easy to get here and onion pancakes weren’t so oily. It will have to remain a special treat for now.
Any possibile reason was good enough to eat early pies. I’m surprised there wasn’t a need to put ice cream on them to make sure the ice cream didn’t melt in the freezer.
Have you ever considered a whole house generator? Not cheap but it’s nice when power is out it starts up and you are all set.
After the Great Texas Freeze, I was ashamed to say I’m a multigenerational Texan (which I was always proud to be before). The “Powers that Be” in Texas wanted to “cut energy costs” so they wound up with an unreliable power grid and more expense. I (being older) well remember the bragging and one upsmanship of the all electric home–so clean, so safe, so modern–in the 50s and early 60s. Those homes are totally helpless I’m sure. No cooking, no heat/AC, no lights.
I still own family land north of Austin and have been paying increasing taxes on it for decades. I wanted to move there and build a home in my retirement but now….I’m sad to say I don’t want to live in Texas anymore.
Californian here. I know we have some rivalries, but our own power prices, management, & fires really don’t make me wish others to be in the same situation. A lot of homes in the 50’s and 60’s here have already been remodeled or rebuilt, helped along the solar path due to our higher energy prices. If the energy situation is what is making you reluctant to stay, perhaps check into solar and batteries. I think a lot of places in the US have aging infrastructure or inclement weather so taking some measures (& voting! which also means paying for upgrades) to improve our daily peace of mind is a good move, even if it comes at an additional cost.
A couple of weeks ago, I found a recipe for the Toffifee mousse that my husband had at Martinmas dinner (I don’t remember what I had for dessert, only that after a bite of his, I realized it was the wrong one).
I bought 4 boxes of Toffifee with the next grocery store order. They were stacked in the pantry. I did not make the mousse immediately because I was waiting for Thanksgiving.
3 days. Every time I passed the shelf in the pantry, we were one box fewer. I was reminded of Butcher’s Skin Game, and the goat pen (no more in case spoiler).
I offered to make scrambled eggs for dinner. My husband pointed out we needed the eggs for the Toffifee mousse. I pointed out that we needed TOFFIFEE for the Toffifee mousse. He asked, horrified, how the cats had gotten into the Toffifee.
My record of injuring myself continues. Due to burning my foot very badly, we canceled Thanksgiving. But I had already ordered more (WAY TOO MUCH) Toffifee.
This time, though, if I wasn’t going to make the mousse right away, I was at least going to get my share. I opened a box. I took the plastic off. I ate some. I put it back and ate some more and put it back. Today, my beloved found the box I had been hiding and promptly opened it. He showed it to me, and explained that in future, I should be aware that if you take the plastic off, the Toffifee gets stale and hard very quickly. You either have to eat it at one sitting or leave the plastic wrapping on.
He very generously took it on himself to eat the stale Toffifee so I wouldn’t have to.
Smiles and good morning, and just a quick note to say congratulations on Sweep of the Heart being Amazon’s NUMBER ONE best seller in “Paranormal Vampire Romance” …. Congratulations and well deserved for a massively complex and delightful book, and we haven’t seen all of it yet! Looking forward to the last chapter reveal!!! Meanwhile… Arlen will be delighted with the Amazon ranking, but Sean will be just a tad peeved … smiles. Congrats and well deserved!
My trust in the electrical grid systems in the country is much lower than it used to be. We have a gas fired furnace to produce heat. This year we bought a stand-by generator to be hooked up to the natural gas line. It was installed in late summer, but the gas line hookup was delayed. Permit issues. Then the first install was cancelled when the approach they were going to take involved stringing a gas line OVER and around a window. Uh…no. More delays to get a new permit for version 2 – bury it in the ground under the window. The permit has finally come through, but now they’re backed up to actually do the install. Next week at the earliest. Sigh.
Hissy fits. I would have been having hissy fits, conniption fits, fits of gargantuan proportions. You guys are way more chill than I am if I’m hosting 22 people. Outages stink. May Xmas be smoother. So glad your day was a great one.
You could always blame the missing pies on a stealthy visit from Alessandro!
My problem is that I read several of your blogs in one fell swoop, and then go to write you and can’t remember which of the blogs … oh, well… You will understand that I am a Northerner and 78 years old and therefore cut me some slack. Please?
My comment is that if some of your readers don’t understand that you are real people and have real problems … just have sympathy, smile, nod and look supportive. We all have troubles (our youngest son just had a major heart attack while walking alone in a woods, etc.) Their turn will unfortunately come and then they will understand. All the above just to say “Please don’t stress yourselves. Do what you can, then go sit down with a cup of tea and a good book. C.S.Lewis quote ““You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” It doesn’t quite fit, but I like it anyway and use it often to support my habit.
I know! My favorites are the conflicting reports from ERCOT claiming that the grid will be FINE and then the 3rd party report(s) stating that the grid is STILL unprepared. ????♀️