Snow #3

 

It's snowing and even though we only have a small amount so far, the University and other public places are on delay or cancelled. The weather report says we are to have a plowable amount, but for here, a plowable amount could be a little more than a dusting - especially over the last few years! Yes, it's been that long since we have seen any "real amounts" of snow. We used to live a couple hours north of here and we actually had decent snow storms, but now, well not so much. But I guess that's a good thing with people driving to and from work.

Ten pounds of turkey are happily vacuum-sealed and frozen in the freezer and broth has been put up. And that is after we all had our fill of leftover turkey and sandwiches. Hubby was all about the dinner but I craved those sandwiches! Then there was the snitching every time the fridge was opened. Just grabbing a piece to snack on was heaven. Now I have at least 10 meals to enjoy over the winter. Hubby is not a fan of turkey - but I love it, so I'm trilled to have a leftovers in the freezer!

We are pouring over seed catalogs and planning next year's garden. I want to do more herbs and flowers and hubby is all about the vegetables. The compost pile is not growing as much as previous years, though. He usually gathers leaves, but this year with all the high winds, the leaves got blown away to who knows where. Usually he has a lot to compost, but they were blown straight from the trees and just gone! We had a few that got caught between the house and garage, but not a lot. He usually gets them from the neighbors, too, but no one around us had any real clean-up this year. 

It's been a strange year all around. I'm hoping we have more success with all endeavors next year. 

Day After Down Time

 I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. Ours was nice and quiet with just the 3 of us. My son baked a pumpkin pie using sweetened condensed milk. I honestly had never heard of such a thing, so I was excited to try it. The pie has a more condensed texture, but is really good IMHO. Will I go out of my way to make another one? No, but only because it's more expensive to make. While going down the rabbit hole of looking up the sweetened condensed milk recipe, I found that some people use cream and milk in their pies. Very interesting. I'll have to try that. 

I went out to my local farmer to pick up our turkey. He called and said they were in the process of butchering it. I went to his farm to find that we were the lucky recipient of a 37 pound turkey!!! Yes, you read that correctly - thirty-seven pounds!!! Never in my life did I ever expect such a big bird! Well, I lugged it home and cooked it yesterday. That was a trip in itself. I had nothing large enough to bake it in. All my roasting pans were way too small, so I lugged out the roaster only to find that was also too small.

I ended up taking out the liner and using it as a baking pan and covered with foil. What an adventure! I got up at 3:30am to remove any lingering feathers, cleaned it and had it in the oven by 5:15am. The bird was falling apart done by 1pm. We had a huge feast and a TON of leftover turkey. I put it in the fridge to chill and will be repacking it today for MANY dinners to come. The bones, drippings, skin, giblets, etc. are now in that same roaster with some veggies and spices. Tomorrow I'll have a delicious broth to chill to get off the unwanted fat and then Monday or Tuesday, I'll can it for the winter season. We'll have some of the best bone broth to cook with! I can't wait to see how much I'll have from this bird! 

I think I'll take some time today today to see what items are on Black Friday Specials. Most that I've seen so far have been MEH, but every once in a while I find a goodie. I did order a couple of cookbooks that should be in soon. I'm looking forward to them! I'm also looking forward to getting a little crafting time in. Today is not so pressing with tons of leftovers to eat. 

I hope you had a lovely holiday with friends and/or family and you are enjoying all the leftovers as well!