For Thanksgiving, my husband and I cooked our first turkey. As someone who is terrible at cooking, this is a big deal.
If you recall, I won a turkey last week at the base Turkey Trot. Winning something so useful was nice. Most people that have followed my blog for a while know I’m not a cook. I can cook very simple and easy things. My standard meal is meat, potatoes and vegetable. Cooking an entire turkey terrified me but life is full of challenges.
Before beginning the process, we both agreed if we hated the meal or something went wrong then we were going to the diner no questions asked.
So with a plan and a backup plan in mind we began.
The Turkey started like this:
After sitting in the freezer for a week and then dethawing for three days, it was ready.
Step one: Take Out the Giblets (Please mind post race glamour hair)
Step Two: Stuff the Turkey. We decided to use a recipe with champagne and apples. A few weeks ago my friend recommended it over traditional stuffing, and it came out perfectly. We were surprised with how simple but fancy it was. Recipe here.
Step three: Add Bacon and beer?
I’m not sure if I saw more memes or recipes about a turkey wrapped in bacon, but we decided to try it out. We just used this simple recipe. (Maybe I just spend too much time on the internet). It didn’t look incredibly difficult, and we just made a patchwork quilt of bacon on the turkey.
It came out well; I was honestly quite surprised. I thought the bacon might burn, or that the turkey would not cook right, but nothing went wrong.
All finished
We also decided to cook stuffing. We used a bag of premade stuffing, added the butter and few onions and cooked it on the stove.
We also had canned cranberries (why my husband likes that I’ll never know…)
Since sweet potatoes are in season, we decided to make those too. Nevermind these look like 5-pound weights. I forgot to take a photo but they just looked like regular potatoes.
I’m proud of how everything turned out. To be honest, I don’t know if I would have done much differently. I wish we added more bacon to the turkey to cover the side but that is not a big deal. Nothing was inedible, and we both enjoyed cooking it. I’m sure as we cook more turkeys we will learn how to cook them better and with different styles but I enjoyed it! I would definitely recommend any of the recipes we used because they were simple. The bacon on top of the turkey looks a lot more complicated than it was.
Keep in mind I’m no foodie. Yes, I blog and try to eat relatively healthy but I’m no chef.
Questions for you:
How was your Thanksgiving?
Have you ever cooked a turkey before?
Haha my dad likes that canned cranberry sauce too! So weird! It sounds like you guys had a good thanksgiving!
This is so impressive to me! I do not cook and the thought of a making a Thanksgiving turkey is really scary. You’ve given me hope I can do it someday, and with bacon 🙂
I love stuffing. And I love stove top stuffing more than anything. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t occasionally buy it to eat during the year on its own! Looks delicious and I’m impressed. Cooking is not fun to me or something I ever aspire to do… ESPECIALLY not a turkey!
I think I’m going to buy stovetop to occasionally eat. It’s so much easier to cook than I thought.
I’m with your husband – I love that cranberry from a can. And we didn’t eat any this year! I have never cooked a turkey…but I’m also a terrible cook, so no one wants that…
I have not cooked a turkey. In fact, I’ve never cooked meat because since I’ve been old enough to cook (well, college), I haven’t eaten it. I have only cooked seafood/shrimp. Clay cooked a turkey a few years ago and it is a different process than cooking dinner on a regular night. It looks like you did a great job with the turkey and I’m glad Thanksgiving was a success!
great job! I’ve cooked a turkey once in a my life, it went pretty well. I love thanksgiving food… we used to ALWAYS get the cranberry sauce in a can, and then one year I had real cranberry sauce and I have never gone back!
congrats on not ruining your first turkey! that is a total accomplishment all by itself, and it even looks perfectly cooked. i dont know what you are talking about not knowing how to cook, all you need is a recipe 🙂
I am super impressed by anyone who can cook a turkey…let alone one they won in a race! Coolest.meal.ever. And lastly…I love bacon.
I’ve been so intrigued by the bacon-covered turkey! Did the bacon flavor reach the turkey, or was it more of another side dish? (Yes, I would totally consider bacon to be a side dish. Yummm, bacon.) Your meal sounds delicious!!
We took it off and it ended up being a side dish. It was perfect!
A bacon covered turkey? With champagne and apples inside? SOLD, girl.
That was your first turkey?!?! Faaaaancy! I think I only cooked a turkey on my own -once-, and I was so terrified of it coming out dry that I must have basted that sucker every 10 minutes 😆
Yayyyy you did the champagne & apples turkey!!! Told ya it was good & easy 🙂
So glad you & the mister got to spend the holiday together! <3
Nice Turkey Day win! I’ll usually help out around the kitchen with apps, sides, or desserts, but I’ve never been tasked with being responsible for the main course. That is definitely intimidating!
I’m also a huge fan of the canned jellied cranberry sauce! Ha. Love it 🙂
that turkey is epic lol
I’m very glad Tim was able to be home with you this year for Thanksgiving, and that you pulled off Bacon-turkey!
Go Hollie! I’m so glad you had a nice Thanksgiving and successfully cooked your first turkey–woo hoo! You did a wonderful job, too! I’m sure the bacon was an amazing touch as well :). Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!
Forgive me, I’m British, but what the hell is that red jelly stuff?!?! Canned cranberries?? Looks like pureed cranberry mush 😮 We normally have a jar of cranberries, but they look like, well, cranberries in a jar 😉
Otherwise, it all looks YUM.
It’s canned cranberries. It’s essentially like cranberry jam but I’ve honestly never cared for it either!