I stress about making Thanksgiving dinner every year because
I am not that good of a cook (see Day 243). Thanksgiving
is one of my least favorite holidays because cooking the dinner is not a “
labor of love” for this girl but a stress bomb. I also think it’s highly unfair that
during this holiday women slave all day cooking (I know that some men carve or help by deep frying the turkey) but mostly men
get to relax, eat dinner, and watch football. This year instead of making numerous calls to my girlfriend, who takes
on the role as my “turkey line,” I decided to make it stress free by trying a freezer to oven turkey in a bag.
Reflection
With my son coming home
from college for a few days I did not want to spend my precious limited time with him and time with my aging parents, in the kitchen. Now our family is not
one to go out for dinner because we like to chill at home
and love those left overs. Remember I don’t cook so left overs are my best
friend. Ordering the dinner to go is another
option but my family enjoys the smell of a cooking turkey and I have a little of that “I can do it all” pride inside of me.
A friend who knows my yearly dilemma told me that TARGET 's food section has a turkey that is fully seasoned and goes
frozen to the oven. I think I heard
angels singing when she told me that. Yes no
thawing, no cleaning, no figuring out what seasoning to use, yes no worrying about it being
dry because it’s in a bag, and no basting-stress free!
This was the best move that I ever made. I was able to go away the weekend
before Thanksgiving, come home and take my mom to a show and even spend time with my son at
a hockey game the night before Thanksgiving and I still pulled it
off.
It was so easy. In four and a half hours I had a brown, moist and tasty turkey (moister than my prior years). In fact, if you did not know my secret you
would have thought that I was Martha Stewart
herself. This is
the best trick in the book. My house smelled good, we relaxed around the table,
I managed to get all the food out at the same time (another thing that I
stress about) but most importantly, I had more time with my family.
Thank you Thank you Archer Farms for my first stress free
Thanksgiving. This year everyone’s complements were not just because of my efforts but because of the taste.
Spiritual Source
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him: bless his name. (Psalm 100:4)
Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him: bless his name. (Psalm 100:4)