Holiday food

[turkey feather]

I tried some new ideas this year and maybe I am the last to know this. I read an column in an ag newspaper with instructions on freezing pies including pumpkin.  I did this and the pie turned out great. I also cooked the turkey the day before and reheated the sliced meat in a little broth. DD made the rolls. Much easier this time, and I really needed it to be easier.

[Kay/NC]

Sounds great!  I hve frozen pies in years past, from Thanskgiving to Christmas, because so many of my recipes I used to double, now it is hard to cut back to one.  I didn't even bake this year, as daughter bought a chocolate pecan pie.  Good, but it wasn't really what we wanted, though, so I will be baking next year...maybe for Christmas a bit.

I read a bit about doing the turkey a day ahead, and reheating it.  Was tempted, as we had a lunch invitation with friends...once we had the stomach bug, I opted out with them.  What exactly did you do... for how long with the broth?

I once cut up the entire turkey, put in a crockpot with gravy (I make tons of gravy) and served it on a buffet line.  It went over really well, too. 

[Suey73]

My SIL did the turkeys the day before.   She kept asking my opinion... My opinon is we don't need turkey, and I've NEVER cooked a turkey.      We had 2 turkeys and a medium sized ham.     I do very little of the cooking.  I put the ham in the crockpot and made rolls.   For 31 made out fairly well.   Only needed one pan of stuffing.   We ate 10 pounds of potatos that were mashed.   We had a 14 and a11 pound turkey.   I think we could have got by with one 15 pounder.     My in-laws are so citized.   Kids are raised to put plates in the sink.... unscraped. in fact 10 year olds act like they've never scraped a plate.  and  worried about feeding the farm cats  the bones.   Who do they think picks out the bones in their prey?  

I've still got 2 cherry and 2 peach pies in the freezer... didn't need them.   We had  2 pumpkin, 2 apple and 1 rhubarb. 

[turkey feather]

I deleted my post but will put it out again. We dress our own birds sometimes (sometimes a bird escapes the loaders and will miss getting put on the truck) and only keep the breasts and legs and thighs without skin. I roasted the breasts at 325 degrees until the thermometer showed the correct temp. I put make a half inch of broth in the bottom of the pan and covered with foil. With skin on, you can butter the skin. If you want it to brown remove the foil at the end. I found that slicing the cold meat much easier that hot meat.  I put the meat in a flat type crock pot and added a little broth so the meat would be warm for the pitch in dinner. At home just put the meat in the oven covered for a while at 300 degrees.

I use the use the legs and thighs for noodles etc. but added some to the white meat also. They can be stewed or baked.