As our family has grown over the years, the one thing I've always told myself, is not to stress out over the holidays. Simplicity has always been my way of handling the busyness of this season. It's easy for me to get overwhelmed... so therefore, I cut out all the extras... and focus on what's important.
It was a rainy Thanksgiving this year... and I always take rainy days as a "clue" to SLOW DOWN... not that I had something huge planned for our day... but it was a beautiful reminder to keep things simple. We started off the morning with a 5k run in the neighborhood (before the rain started to pour), created the most delicious herb butter to lather on our turkey (recipe at the end, so I have it for safe keeping), played 2013's Thanksgiving Day Parade through our apple tv (since we don't have cable) while dancing to all the fun performances, crafting during naptime, created some little "what we are thankful for..." flags to stick in our succulent flowers, and devoured a delicious but not "over the top" Thanksgiving day dinner.
Roasted Herb Butter Turkey:
Ingredients- 3/4 c. butter, softened. 1 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning. 2 tbsp. garlic herb sauce mix. 1 1/2 tsp. crushed garlic.
In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Use a fork to mix together until well combined. Cover and put in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes, until firm but not hard.
Rinse the thawed turkey and pat dry. Use your finger to carefully loosen the skin around the entire bird. Take the butter mixture and cut into large pieces. Place the butter pieces under the skin of the entire turkey. Rub the remaining butter pieces on the outside of the skin and season with salt and pepper.
Heat over to 400 degrees. Place turkey in roast pan and roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes (8-12 lb.) or 30-40 minutes (larger turkey.) This will form a crust on turkey, sealing in the juices. After roasting for this period of time, turn oven temperature to 275 degrees and add 2 cups of chicken broth. Cover with lid or foil and roast at 275 degrees for at least 6 hours.
Remove turkey from the oven and let cool slightly. De-bone turkey and strain juices to make sure there are no small bones before turning into gravy to serve.