Three Steps To a Turkey Touchdown This Thanksgiving

Your first turkey dinner doesn’t need to be THAT hard. Make a turkey touchdown this Thanksgiving with these three steps I learned my first Thanksgiving!  

I received a Jennie-O Turkey to help me test-run my first Thanksgiving. I’m sharing my experience here with you to show how easy it is!

Making Thanksgiving dinner seems to be a rite of passage that I had not passed — until this year. With scheduling issues making it impossible for a traditional Turkey Day dinner to be shared by my family, I decided not to just have the day come and go, but to go ahead and celebrate — a week in advance, and I would make it all. I mean the holidays are about spending a special time together not just on one pre-selected day right? 

There was only one little problem with my plan – I had NEVER made a turkey or anything for Thanksgiving. That’s right. I had peeled, mashed and creamed up the potatoes and even warmed up the rolls, but the task of Thanksgiving had never fell on my shoulders. So I made it my goal not just to make a turkey, but a big spread complete with: 

• Bacon Dressing
• Homemade rolls 
• Truffled Mashed Potatoes
• Blue Cheese Bacon Brussel Sprouts
• Brown Gravy
• Spiced Cranberry Sauce
• and Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Brittle

1) First off, was to pick out my turkey. Oh there were LOTS of turkeys to choose from! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the Jennie-O Oven ready turkey breast – they were sold out! However, the meat manager at my grocery store was able to find me one last turkey, so it was a good sign that the Jennie-O was in high demand. 

2) Once I got this baby home, I was able to take it straight to the oven after a few special touches! Because it was a turkey breast, the weight of the turkey was less than full-size turkey, making my cooking time a little less than the big birds! And while I could have left it alone with no thawing or seasoning, I decided to add a special Texas touch with favorite seasoning Cilantro, the zesty flavor of lime and a simple marinade of cilantro and honey!  

3) Then I popped it in the oven and 2.5 hours later – behold perfection. Well, almost. We still had to carve it and taste it for the official call. 

<Yep, it was beautiful, it was delicious and juicy! SUCCESS!

please take a look here and many of the other delicious recipes in the November 2013 Better Homes and Gardens!

I can’t recommend the Jennie-O Oven Ready Turkey for your Thanksgiving! And IF you have any left overs then make sure you cook up this Turkey Tortilla Soup to savor it to the last drop!