We did it, we ate Mr. T for Thanksgiving dinner. He was pretty tasty. I'm thinking we will be raising another one for next year, Lord willing. We had so much Turkey that I had to put some in the freezer for a later meal. It really came in handy yesterday to get some slice turkey out for sandwiches after church. No cooking, I love it. I hope you enjoyed the relish recipe. I am still eating on mine and enjoying every bite. We had a lovely Thanksgiving (it was 70 degrees outside) with grandparents and some friends.
I wanted to share with you a way to get the most out of your turkey. In these times with the cost of food going up almost daily, I try to stretch our food out as far as I can. With teenage boys this is difficult, but I do my best. When we have turkey I put the leftover scraps and carcass in a bag in the freezer. In a few days or a week I will get it back out and boil it all down with spring water, some bay leaf, a little salt, and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Once this has simmered for "hours" and is ready I cool it and pick all the good meat off the bones and out of the broth, strain the broth, and add the meat back to the broth. At this point depending on what I have going on, I will make turkey (carcass) soup or freeze the broth and meat for quick meals later. The leftover scraps go to the chickens. This is very good and good for you as well.
We celebrated the kids birthday on Tuesday. My, how fast they grow up from wee little ones to young adults. Life is ever changing and I can barely keep up with the pace most days. I find myself wistfully thinking of when they were small. One of our birthday traditions is to measure the kids and see how much they have grown in a year. This used to be done on the back of a bedroom door in our 100 year old farm house, but we moved. No worries though, one of the last things we did before moving was to transfer all those marks (years) to a four sided stick that has a child's name on each side. So now you could say we are portable. We are a tall family and it looks like next year our one son might top the stick.....actually after next year (since they will be 18) I'm not sure we will be continuing. The kids were having some fun with this pretending to stretch Ian out before he was measured. Poppa had to get on a chair to mark the stick. He is one tall boy.
Ian getting help growing before his height measurement
Connor's turn
Rachel might be done growing
I wanted to share with you a way to get the most out of your turkey. In these times with the cost of food going up almost daily, I try to stretch our food out as far as I can. With teenage boys this is difficult, but I do my best. When we have turkey I put the leftover scraps and carcass in a bag in the freezer. In a few days or a week I will get it back out and boil it all down with spring water, some bay leaf, a little salt, and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Once this has simmered for "hours" and is ready I cool it and pick all the good meat off the bones and out of the broth, strain the broth, and add the meat back to the broth. At this point depending on what I have going on, I will make turkey (carcass) soup or freeze the broth and meat for quick meals later. The leftover scraps go to the chickens. This is very good and good for you as well.
We celebrated the kids birthday on Tuesday. My, how fast they grow up from wee little ones to young adults. Life is ever changing and I can barely keep up with the pace most days. I find myself wistfully thinking of when they were small. One of our birthday traditions is to measure the kids and see how much they have grown in a year. This used to be done on the back of a bedroom door in our 100 year old farm house, but we moved. No worries though, one of the last things we did before moving was to transfer all those marks (years) to a four sided stick that has a child's name on each side. So now you could say we are portable. We are a tall family and it looks like next year our one son might top the stick.....actually after next year (since they will be 18) I'm not sure we will be continuing. The kids were having some fun with this pretending to stretch Ian out before he was measured. Poppa had to get on a chair to mark the stick. He is one tall boy.
Poppa is not as tall as Ian
We had to be done with some of our traditions as the kids have grown. No more "spanks" for each year of life. The year the kids planned an elaborate hide and escape plan where we somehow ended up locked out of our house (with the kids inside) had to be the last year. That is a very funny story and to this day, I can't believe they were able to thwart us so easily. Each of the kids also will normally pick (and possibly make) whatever dessert they want for their birthday. It was kind of sad for me this year when my 17 year olds didn't want individual desserts.
Paige definitely is done growing. Poppa doesn't have to stretch for this one.
Here they are, my beautiful children that are slowly cutting the strings from Momma and getting ready to do their own "thing". This is a bitter moment but also a sweet moment for me.
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