::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.
They have milk in them. They will spoil. I have if nothing else, always been the guy who’s ready to take one for the team.
They were forcing your hand! (the pie slicing one)
You are not wrong, Gordon. The health and safety of the family was at stake.
LOL!
Sounds perfectly logical and valid to me. Your selfless bravery taking one (or a few) for the team has been noted
+1
Times like these I wish there were reactions available, because this need a laughing emoji.
Yes, eat the pies now is always the answer!
My Grandmother always said, eat dessert first, life is uncertain.
Nice try.
My immediate thought was, the lights come back on and the pies all had pieces missing.
Same xD
+1! ????
And a Roadrunner-esque puff of dust heading for a locked room…….
Throw yourself on that unexploded Pie.
That sounds like my mother who always insists that the really, really good food is absolutely terrible and nobody else needs to eat any of it. She will make the sacrifice and eat it for us so it doesn’t go to waste.
I have an aunt who always does that too – and her daughter’s name is Amanda but she spelled Amy with the y.
I thought the story was going to end with Ilona hearing you eating some pie beside her in the dark! XD
I like your thinking there, Gordon.
????. Totally logical. Besides hot pie fresh out of oven is better. Be it pumpkin or pizza. That is what my college age nephews with the hollow legs say.
You were just eating your dessert first, it was a day early, but I’d say the logic stays the same.
At my house, at least one of those pies would have had an incursion. Mice – yeah, that’s it. Mice.
We called it the fork-toothed mouse. It’s a sneaky beast.
we have a ninja that repells from the roof and dissappears before you even see it
I like the way you think Gordon.
definitely yes!
Will have to check out the Popeye’s turkey! We need to eat the pies, LOL!!!!
I used to insist that the pies be left for Thanksgiving. And then I thought “Why not eat some now? Everyone will enjoy them, and there is plenty.” So we get some pie on Wednesday night, and everyone is happy.
My wife always ends up baking two pies, because she doesn’t like the way the first one turns out. So then the best pie is for Thanksgiving, and the other is up for grabs.
We always have two panettones at Casa R. We call the first one the Rehearsal Panettone, because it never makes it to Christmas (or like this year, not even to December :D)
Rehearsal pannetone, pie, cheese board, whatever works – love this idea!
Sounds like what I do for homemade orange sugar cookies (which I have a taste for even as I’m typing this reply). I have rehearsal cookies and then the ones to “take” to places. 😀
I have to confess to being on number 3 but it wasn’t my fault; the first two came in plastic bags with ties (like bread) and were too accessible. My third panettone came in an impressive sealed box (still the same brand). It may actually last…
In the dark, danger lurks….. if you are a pie.
Good one!
We normally have 18-24 people for Thanksgiving. So a 30lb turkey is normal. This year I had spine surgery the week before Thanksgiving. I invited our usual crowd with the caveot that the house would not be cleaned and I might be napping a lot.
We had 12 people and one of my friends showed up with her big heavy duty vacuum and cleaned all the floors for me. (I love my friend).
The only issue was as we were stuffing the 15 lb turkey I said to my husband “that’s a tiny turkey.” He said “it’s enough for everyone.” and it was.
Quieter than normal, but everything was delicious and there was enough to send home with friends.
Sending you good wishes. I had spinal surgery two weeks before Thanksgiving 2009. We had Thanksgiving dinner here, but I was still pretty loopy and I believe we may have done Vietnamese takeout. My MIL taught us not to obsess over tradition on holidays. When she couldn’t cook for Christmas anymore, she insisted on Chinese takeout so no one else would have to cook either. There were plenty of cooks willing to take up the mantle, but she was not someone who took no for an answer.
Anyway, best of luck on your recovery. PT will be your friend. It’s a long slog though.
I so sorry for your rotten luck with the power outages just before a holiday! But I love Gordon’s Sense of humor, the pies saved the day ????!! Thank you so much for sharing this, I love how much you interact with us fans!! You both are the best!!!!!
+1000
We also live in Texas. We live a large (old) subdivision of Houston. We are the absolute last house on our power line, so if anything happens anywhere on the line we lose power. When I was trying to get a baby to sleep in 100 degree weather with no AC for the second time in a week, I finally gave in and let my husband buy a whole house generator. It’s crazy money, but every time the power goes out, and yours doesn’t it SO worth it!
Oh yes! We lost power regularly due to high winds and stupid fledgling birds who fly (and die) into our transformer. My feeling was that if I pay the ridiculous $$$ to buy/hook up the whole house generator to our propane pig then the Power Gods would never make me use it. So far, the sacrifice has worked 75% of the time.
Had a 7 day power outage in December 2006. In March 2007, bought a half house generator (10 circuits) to power essentials like Kitchen, office and master bedroom. Well worth it – I kept track of the hours of outage we had over the next 10 years and the cost of the generator was down to about $10 per hour by the end. Had to replace it this year so we got 13 years or so of service – Well worth it.
I am eyeing one of those also. Because power outages aren’t fun. I had 2 last summer that lasted over 24 hours and ruined all of the food in my freezers.
Heat/AC would also be nice. Doesn’t matter if it’s 100 outside of -30, both ends need it.
We have solar panels with battery backup, so if the power goes out, we may not notice since the switchover to backup is automatic.
The downside of this is that we cannot eat those pies during an outage.
We didn’t get Popeyes turkey this year, but we have in the past. The one we got had to be the scrawniest bird I have ever seen but it was delicious! I hope yours was a good sized turkey! =)
My Thanksgiving celebration dinner occurred two days after and it did involve pies, as in pizza. My nephew had to work day of and got home around midnight, day after he was exhausted, so Saturday we had pizza, salad, and pineapple for dessert(he and his mom are lactose intolerant and pineapple helps them digest dairy). We each took care of one of the menu items and had a wonderful time listening to music. Neither had heard of the Christmas Can-can so we listened to that, as well as some Aaron Copeland and some guy who makes music with an oscilloscope.
Christmas Can-Can from Straight No Chaser? Love their Christmas music!
+1
Love Straight no Chaser. Twelve Dasy of Christmas is a hoot!!! (in Africa!)
That sounds really cool – I will have to check those out!
My brother, his wife and their two grown children were planning on spending Thanksgiving with my 91 year old father, his wife and a couple other relatives. Papa had an 18 lb turkey, sweet potatoes and no other responsibilities. Thanksgiving morning, brother and his entire family test positive for Covid. Father ended up with 18 lbs of turkey for two people. Brother’s family had pies, home-made rolls, green been casserole, etc., but no turkey. The other relatives made other plans.
Not a Thanksgiving we would care to repeat!
We also had a small thanksgiving this year. The immediate family, all eight siblings (5 married and 4 with kids), all got sick in sequence because everyone lives less than 10 minutes from each other and its football season, so we see each other weekly. So, no extended family this year because we didn’t want anyone else to get sick. Thanksgiving was quiet, comfortable and the food was great, a mix of western and southeast Asian dishes.
Thank you for the report on the turkey, I was curious. And, I love Gordon’s logic. Hey, the pies were made to be eaten. When? Lights out sounds good to me! So glad you had a good holiday.
Snicker, chortle, guffaw!
Other than the outages (which yikes), it sounds like it was a wonderful holiday!
Glad the timing worked out in your favor for the pre-cooking on Wednesday though. No pies are safe in darkness! A friend introduced me to the concept of left over pie for breakfast and I’m hooked. Tomorrow has the last slice…
Left over pie for breakfast, YES!
I’m not a big breakfast food fan. We were visiting my Aunt Beaulah who was an amazing cook. I had custard pie and loved it. she made custard pie for me to eat at breakfast. Loved it!!!
We now eat the pies early. We’re too full on Thanksgiving and too old to wait. I make a pumpkin pie two or three days before and the chocolate pecan the day before. Sometimes the week before I make an extra one so that we are all prepared for the taste. May as well stretch those calories out!
You may want to invest in a generator. They have come down a lot in price because of outages and RVs. We like the propane/gas one because it’s easier to keep a propane tank on hand than gas, but if you mow your own lawn, you probably have some gas on hand as well. The propane doesn’t last as long as gas (gas is more efficient) but they sure are handy to have when you need one. There are those that can be installed that will automatically take over and run on natural gas or propane. Worth having if this electricity thing keeps happening. My parents have one. You can get them whole house (15k?) or just wired to keep fridge, stove, a few lights and a few outlets (5k?) We bought out generator at Tractor Supply. There’s one around Leander I think; may be one closer to you…not sure!
I’m so glad you had a great holiday. That is really wonderful. Here’s to many more!
This is why y’all are our heroes. Gordon’s sense of self-sacrifice: We must eat the pies!
Ilona’s ability to swear in two languages when the need arises and for the best recipe ingredient description EVER: things that make you happy.
So glad your holiday was low stress and low drama.
LOL I love this insight into your family.
I frequently make pumpkin pies in the Fall, to use as breakfast. They are healthier than cereal. On Thanksgiving I prefer Pecan pie.
That sounds great.
Pie is absolutely a valid choice for breakfast, especially pumpkin and sweet potato pies.
I’m glad you guys got to have a calm, happy and peaceful Thanksgiving ❤️ Lots of love to you and your family
The fire department came to my family’s thanksgiving!
…SIL’s mac & cheese boiled over a bit and started smoking. Our smoke detector is super sensitive and went off, prompting a loud and flashy visit.
Oh no! That’s one tradition I’m sure you don’t want to start!
After your Tuesday post about buying the Popeye’s turkey I had to have one. I’d never heard about it. So I called the nearest Popeye’s (about 45 minutes away) and they had 4 left! We got one and did the thawing out in cold water method to make our Thursday morning cooking time. It turned out great and everyone was talking about getting their own next year. So thank you very much for the head’s up! ????
Read this to my husband. His comments were that it is unreasonable of you not to allow the pies to be touched until Thanksgiving dinner, and that it is perfectly reasonable to cut into them once the outage hit. Gordon has a like minded compatriot in Vince.
For when you DO have left-over turkey:
“What did the Thanksgiving turkey say after being put back in the refrigerator for the fifth time after Thanksgiving?”
“Curses, foiled again!” 🙂
Oh – I have to pass that along to some “dad joke” fans …
If you allowed it and actually ate pies when the electricity went out I think you would notice a power outage would always seem to happen while pies finished. The breaker would be switched off conviently ever holiday.
I live in the burbs north of Houston and my street is the last on the power line so if you even looked at the line wrong I lost power. Very common to have the power blink off weekly if not daily. This was especially annoying because I have a well so no power equals no water too. After the big freeze where I sat on my sofa with so many clothes on I looked like the Michelin Man under five blankets with my four dogs and cat buried in the pile while the temperature in my house fell to 20 degrees and my pipes froze and burst, I swore never again. It took almost a year from the day I called because of supply chain issues and overwhelming demand but I now have a whole house generator and it is amazing. Well worth the fairly significant pile of money I had to shell out. I am no longer at the mercy of the Texas power grid and I love it. I highly recommend getting a whole house generator to everyone.
???? we live in the Catskill Mntns of NY on a good numbers of acres of woods in the middle of b-f nowhere so we have regular power outages during heavy rain, snow or wind. Woodstove keeps us warm, propane heats the water and runs the cooking stove. Electricity is for lights, well pump and appliances. We invested in a whole house propane generator 2 yrs ago..BEST DECISION EVER!! installed a second 250lb propane tank and if we’re careful we can go 2 solid weeks with no electricity before we need a fill.
That Popeyes turkey is the truth! I bought one while living onbase in Okinawa Japan for the husbands unit party, I had to go with my oldest to a soccer competition on mainland. All he had to do was thaw and bake.
One of the other spouses called me to tell me it was great and she wanted my brine recipe ????.
So I had him buy 2 more for the actual day since hubbys dad loved to invite people to our American house on base for Thanksgiving dinner. I usually dont like turkey but those are lightly spiced and taste amazing!
Glad you had a good thanksgiving despite the power outages and one pie not making it to Thanksgiving dinner. Good on Gordon for thinking of the family.
I was waiting for the story to go “… and when the lights came back on, one pie had mysteriously disappeared” ????
I hope everyone had just as relaxed and cosy (holiday) weekend!
Big smiles, you and Gordon are adorable! Thanks for the smiles.
My father-in-law fries the family turkey every year. This year my husband had Covid and couldn’t go, so he had me buy a small turkey to take with me so his dad could fry one for us!
So did the pie eating excuse work (cackling like a loon).
I didn’t have any outages, so I’m sorry to hear about yours! At least it wasn’t while the pies were baking, eh?!
I will try the Popeyes turkey!! Thx for info
Love Gordon’s take on power outages.
Thanksgiving turned out fine. There were only two hiccups my Mil didn’t set a timer for an apple dessert she was making for my gluten free SIL and it burnt a bit. We also discovered the turkey had leaked all over the fridge about 30 minutes from dinner so that took us a little bit of finagling between getting to a sink and still cooking.
Personally I discovered that I wasn’t too impressed with coconut flour that my mil had put in her crumble and she did a small batch of gravy with it. However I have been trying out the 1to1 flour by Bob’s red mill and was pretty happy with the cookies I made with it. I also have used it to make a cream soup substitute with it and was happy.
Heh. Pie danger in the dark!
In my house, growing up, each pie would be missing pieces. What is this thing you call “slice”?
Sorry about the random, recurring power outages. That sucks. Your holiday sounds wonderful. After all your hard work I am glad you had that.
For my Thanksgiving, I had a ASD teen meltdown and no dinner. Family to the rescue with generous leftovers and support, but man – it does take it out of you as a parent / caregiver. Still, thankful for many things this year, and my kids and family.
Thank you for sharing! A several years ago, one of my coworkers let me in on the secret of Popeyes Turkey. I don’t eat fowl, but i heard it was amazing. Sounds like it from your description.
Pie <– ???? ????????????
I know you have been thinking about relocating, but maybe it’s time for a backup generator.
And it doesn’t have to be the whole house, just some lights and critical systems.
ESPECIALLY for the computer!
Gordon’s Logic Is Impeccable! Inspired? Impressive? Incomparable? Inimitable? Unassailable? (Ran out of possible “I” adjectives)
It’s hard to be worried, unhappy or scared when eating pie.
As for turkey leftovers, our family may like Thanksgiving a lot but they pay homage to the homemade Turkey enchiladas that is a family tradition on the day after. I’d post a picture but I can never figure out how to make it the postable size.
No comment about Mango salsa for the quesedillas?
+
Thanksgiving can be great if one pays attention to what is stressful and what is helpful each year and move in the direction of helpful and away from helpful. My eldest and her son live with us (mostly because of the pandemic) but we are only 3 adults with a three year old. Youngest daughter and boyfriend came over.
Eldest and I made a ridiculous amount of food for 5 adults and a toddler,
but
1 we love to cook
2 we made the dishes whose leftovers are delicious 3-4 days after
3. I am a wizard at transforming the leftover
4. We’ve learned not to stress and start pre-cooking too many day in advance.
5. We don’t worry about who’s coming.
So we are learning to make it more fun and happy every year
move away from stressful!
I went to northern Indiana to visit family. Ran into blowing lake effect snow north of Indianapolis. The wind was brutal. Then was behind traffic due snow plows ahead of everyone.
My brother smoked his turkey. It was delicious! I made magic bars for us at the house and for another gathering I couldn’t go to since I was going home.
Going home was fine until I was east of Dallas. It rained. Saw someone hydroplane in downtown Dallas. No one was hit or hurt. Made it home safely.
I love Gordon’s logic about eating pie when the electricity goes out. ????
So…if a pie disappears n the dark, will anyone miss it? LOL. So perfect!!!
Except for the outages it sounds like you had a lovely holiday. The Popeye’s Turkey sounds amazing. Will have to try it.
Generation next has taken over Thanksgiving in our family. A bit of travel and a charcuterie board from the local shop and my part was done. Nothing to do but cuddle the latest family addition, have a glass of wine and eat. Must say it was passing strange…. Enjoyable,but strange.
And did he get to eat the pies??
Sorry about the power. Glad that you made the best of it. Thanks for the giggle at the end! Happy Holidays!!
We got hit by that power outage too! We are in Dripping Springs. We still have no idea what caused it. We had no power from 1:20 p.m. till after 6 p.m., just the worst timing right before Thanksgiving. 🙁 Ran to Walmart to get heaters and lanterns, since our lantern was broken. Happy to hear you finished all the baking and had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Hahahahaha……such a guy.
Good call on the pie. “ We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.”
― David Mamet, Boston Marriage
The power grid in y’all’s area is being stretched to the max with all the new homes and folks moving to Texas.
Clever man, your Gordon!
Groovy!
It sounds like a good holiday. I agree with Gordon on the pies.
I do the pasture raised turkey from a friend’s farm. I freaken overcooked it cause the thermometer was broken. It took me too long to finger out it was stuck. Other than that it was an OK dinner here.
I have stopped waiting for the little thermometer thingy to pop. Instead, I cook it to 160F (using a digital thermometer in the breast), then remove and tent about 30 minutes before dinner. During that time, it continues to cook the extra 5-10 degrees, and the little thermometer thingy pops out. Result: juicy, not overcooked turkey. In truth, I’ve had to remove it from the oven as long as 60 minutes before dinner and it still stays hot enough under its little foil tent.
I’m with Gordon. Pie should always be eaten immediately when the power goes out! Food safety is important ????