While most everyone is tired of turkey by now, my family is quite the opposite. Would you believe that during all of the holiday season, we never had one turkey dinner? Let me explain (because you surely have nothing better to do than read about why we went turkeyless in 2014).
Oh-look-it-is-a-lot-of-broth-and-a-turkey-carcass-I-love-this-post-already.
First, I try to buy a high quality, happily-raised turkey from local farmers each October. By the time I saw the email to order, I had missed out. All the birds were spoken for. Oh well, thought I. We’ll enjoy a less-than-perfect but still good store-bought turkey sometime this year.
Next, we went to Kansas to be with family for Thanksgiving. One of my relatives is very allergic to poultry, true story. As in, it will close his throat and send him to the ER kind of allergic. Thinking this would be a bad way to spend the holiday, we didn’t put turkey on the menu. Instead, we enjoyed a delicious ham dinner that day with all the trimmings.
Not a big deal though. We knew there was always a huge turkey served at our California Coppinger Christmas festivities. We would look forward to that.
Unfortunately, our family had to delay our departure from Nebraska, causing us to miss Christmas day in California and arrive instead on the 27th. (Seriously, why are you still reading this boring account of why we didn’t eat turkey in 2014?) By the way, when we arrived in California on the 27th, I was wearing jeans and a pink hoodie. There. I thought maybe you needed some random, irrelevant information to go along with this dull article. After you finish reading this, you’ll be like, “well there’s three minutes I’ll never get back.”
We did have one meal of leftover turkey as my sister-in-law had saved the turkey carcass and made broth so that I could make my “famous” turkey and noodles for the family to enjoy. I was wearing skinny jeans, boots, and a sweater that day. Like you care.
So now we are back home in Nebraska. I filled a grocery cart with fresh fruits and vegetables when we pulled into town, and what do you think I happened upon while in the store? Frozen turkeys on sale for 75¢ per pound. I ignored the small print about all they had injected into the turkey (la-la-la, if you don’t read it maybe it won’t hurt you?) and plopped a 21 pound bird into my cart.
Yesterday, we enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner. I wore thick, faded sweat pants and three long sleeved shirts with a hoodie because dude, we’re back in Nebraska now and it’s cold here.
Now we have leftover turkey and several jars of broth (see picture above) so that we, too, can become tired of eating this holiday favorite. In the meantime, we will enjoy more Turkey and Noodles, Turkey Pot Pie, and Turkey Veggie Quesadillas.
I realize none of you are actually still reading at this point, but in case you said, “blah, blah, blah, turkey, yada, yada” and then skipped to the end – perhaps you could leave a comment and tell me about your turkey experiences this holiday season? What are your favorite ways to eat turkey leftovers? Also, feel free to tell me about the outfit you chose today.
Cher says
Smoked three turkey breasts for an early thanksgiving, zero leftovers, so the week after thanksgiving we smoked a whole turkey, ate it down to the bones and broth in less than a week, so smoked three more turkey breasts Christmas week. Some of that actually made it into the freezer, so we are set on turkey for a while!
meredith says
We went to a friend’s house for thanksgiving and each got a respectable portion but alas :'( no leftover turkey for sandwiches. My husband’s family is almost violently opposed to poultry so we consoled ourselves with prime rib and garlic mashed potatoes. I wore the same denim maternity skirt and a flower print blouse for both occasions and ridiculous looking wool socks because my feet are always freezing.
Melissa says
You crack me up!
Kelley says
My mom had total knee replacement on November 24th, and was discharged from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day around 11 AM. Not only was it my first Thanksgiving cooking EVERYTHING completely by myself, but I had to leave to go pick up my mom, and get her settled in her bed at home. We had a delicious orange/rosemary/sage turkey I roasted in my 21 quart roaster/crockpot/broiler. It was heavenly. I cooked enough food to feed my family, plus my mom, dad, 2 brothers, and 2 nieces. Needless to say, there weren’t many leftovers at all, but my husband and I did manage to sneak in a turkey sandwich with dressing ;) By the way, I read all the way to the end!! :D
MarshaM says
I read because I like to know I am not the only one who cooked a turkey in Jan! We had a turkey dinner at Thanksgiving but I wanted to cook my own organic pastured turkey so I could have leftovers and broth! Of course it being my first turkey and not having a roasting pan, I didn’t gather the supplies and courage until this week. We have enjoyed it so much this week and my carcass is still simmering happily on the stove.
Lana says
We had Christmas Eve with our adult children on Dec 20th. That menu is always Mexican and we love it. Then on the 23rd hubby and I headed to Florida to spend Christmas with my parents. My Mom woke up very ill on Christmas Eve day and I spent much of the day caring for her. She was not even well enough to talk that day so around 2 PM I called my sister and asked her what Mom was making to bring to her house on Christmas. Just about the entire meal. Great….. and that is why there is a turkey on the garage fridge. My Mom caters to some picky tastes for holidays, namely my brother and how she makes the stuffing. I told my sister to tell little brother that his big sister was making the turkey and stuffing and not to complain about it. SO I started to cook and got it all done and that was a delicious turkey. So we had two turkey holidays and no ham this year. I was wearing short sleeved shirts and sandals because it was 82 degree s and we were SO hot in Florida.
Lana says
Oh yes, but she was well enough to keep reminding me to salt everything. See comment form a few days ago. :)
Jennifer S. says
Thanksgiving was way back in October for us here in Canada so I have no clue what I was wearing, but I do know that we had turkey. We had turkey again at Christmas, and although it wasn’t that long ago I really can’t remember what I was wearing. :) I still have two turkeys in the freezer. I love making my own broth with the carcass. I get a little anxious if I start running low on chicken or turkey broth hence the reason for buying extra turkeys. I’m glad you had such a great time with your family.
Anita Griffin says
DH isn’t fond of turkey so we had ham for Thanksgiving. For Christmas we were in New Orleans and I had a fried catfish po’boy with sweet potato fries! YUMMY!
Tina B says
My roommate and I got a turkey and fixed it the weekend before T-giving because she had to work on the holiday. We got a large bird and had great plans to eat half and freeze the other half. Well, we ate the whole darn bird and had none leftover (not in one sitting, we had 4 meals of turkey that week). I’m in FL, so I would have been wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Sorry, had to throw that in! And we love turkey all year round, so even if we don’t eat it on T-giving, we have it plenty of other times during the year, holiday or not.
Grace S. says
We had turkey, but my son is allergic to poultry so he had a hamburger pattie I made the night before. He is also allergic to beans, sweet potato, eggs, and pumpkin. Thanksgiving is not his favorite holiday. ;-)(Btw, we live in KS too!)
Vickie Houser says
Love it! Our wind chill in Northern Iowa is -22 right now, I’m wearing some serious layers today. :)
Seriously, you got a great deal on turkey. When I went after Christmas they were all sold out – not a one in the store. We love turkey too! This year I baked mine differently. I covered it with olive oil and put it uncovered in the oven set at convection bake 450 for 45 min. Then turned the oven to regular bake at 350 and let it cook till the bird was ready to fall apart. It turned out excellent! Crisp skin holding in juicy meat. You could actually see the juices simmering under the skin. Delish! Mmmmm… I need another turkey.
Patty says
lol
Natalia says
You should meet my dad who makes turkey year round and laughs about all the people who don’t. He considers himself the master of frugality because they eat off that thing for a week!
Rochelle P. says
You are so funny. I am sitting in a hospital with my 5 year old son…sometimes meaningless lighthearted chatter is just what you need. Made me smile. I don’t cook for Thanksgiving since we still have aunts/grandmas/mother-in-law to cook….but we did have turkey!!! By the way I’m wearing the same outfit that I came to ER in yesterday. Not attractive…but really…who cares???????? thanks for the laugh!!!!
Laura says
Sure hope your son is okay! ER visits are never fun. :(
Anitra says
I only made a turkey for Thanksgiving this year… so it was all gone well before Christmas. (We eat Chinese food on Christmas Day – a tradition started when my husband and I were trying to see ALL our family spread around New England, and Chinese restaurants are the only thing open. We still do it now because boy, it’s nice not to have to cook on an already crazy day!)
Before we had kids, my husband worked at a job that gave employees a free turkey for Christmas – and since we never had Christmas at home back then, I’d always shove it in the freezer and pull it out sometime in January or February to roast and make a giant pot of soup.
CW says
Thanks for sharing your turkey story and wanting to hear ours. Talking about food isn’t boring to me!
We get food from a ministry where my children help out. It makes a big difference in the grocery budget, but we never know what they will give us. Over the course of two months we got: two precooked and frozen boneless turkey breasts (really yummy), two stuffed turkey breasts (not a favorite but still good), and a giant tray of sliced, mostly boneless, strangely seasoned cooked turkey. We’re having turkey everything and enjoying tasty meat I don’t have to buy.
P.S. The strangely seasoned turkey tastes fine if I boil it (and give the dog the broth- it’s really strange) before making it into a casserole.
Melissa says
Well, we had a whole turkey and a turkey breast on Thanksgiving for 3 adults (unfortunately my Dad is battling cancer and didn’t eat with us) and 2 kids. We ate on that a few days then had plenty for the freezer. I made a large amount of broth for the freezer. The leftover meat is long gone. We usually have ham, turkey or ham and turkey for Christmas, but my Mom didn’t feel like it. Since she’s only cooking for herself while caring for Dad, who only eats a few bites a day at most (had to get a feeding tube, let’s not talk about how not “clean” that feeding tube formula is), she wanted to have meals that she wouldn’t make for herself. Mom chose lasagna, and I think we stumbled on a new Christmas tradition! We all enjoyed it SO much. Like you I was tempted to buy one of the 75-cent/lb turkeys after we returned home, but I had a birthday party to throw for my 4-year-old and didn’t have room in my freezer. I was also tempted by the hams I saw marked down earlier this week.
Kimberly says
Love, love, LOVE the sense of humor God gave you!!!!!!! And I wasn’t bored at all!! I even picked up some tips about staying warm….esp helpful ’cause it was 10 below zero in Indiana last night, and we’re not used to that.
We had turkey at Thanksgiving–my wonderful Husband and Son always make it (I ‘ve never even had to learn HOW)! But a turkey-on-sale opportunity sounds fabulous right about now. :-)
Leigh says
I absolutely read to the end, Laura, and it was a fun three minutes! We enjoyed turkey several times over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and I cooked more turkey this week to make a vat of homemade soup for my daughter’s team. I’m currently rocking the sweats-and-a-hoodie-with-slipper-socks look because it’s beyond freezing here, but while helping to cook Thanksgiving dinner I wore my grandmother’s apron over jeans and a cute top. The apron was not so cute on me because Grandma was a couple of inches shorter than I am, but I loved, Loved, LOVED the feeling of having her back with me. And the apron kept the mashed potatoes off of my cute top, which was a plus.
Mary says
I don’t know about anyone else, but I was completely riveted by your turkey story… Shortly before Thanksgiving, I stocked up on turkeys. As in I have 6 turkeys in my freezer! We were all prepared to make said turkeys, then God changed our plans due to a death on my side of the family the Monday before Thanksgiving. So Thanksgiving was spent volunteering to make and deliver Thanksgiving dinner for shut ins. So we were all prepared to have a turkey dinner for Christmas, then God changed our plans due to the death of my husband’s sister. Somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was able to make 2 of the turkeys. That means we have 4 left for when the mood strikes us.
Ann says
My son is stationed in Las Vegas with the Air Force, and as a trainee he was not allowed to come home for Christmas, so we went to him and stayed in a nice hotel with gas grills. My husband grilled some lovely New York strips that we found for Christmas. So when we got home, we were all craving turkey. Turkey dinner with all of the fixings happened on January 2. Since it was just our immediate family, I was wearing my favorite flannel pajamas and fuzzy socks!
Jenn says
First, I have to say that I was able to snag two turkeys before Thanksgiving (one 22 lb. and one 13 lb.) and paid less than $10 for the pair! One was cooked for Thanksgiving (we hosted) and the other I cooked the Friday after Christmas so we could feast on leftovers.
My absolute most favorite way to eat leftover turkey is a hot, open faced sandwich. My second favorite way is to whip up your recipe for Alfredo sauce, add cut cup turkey, and serve over whatever pasta I have on hand.
Jerrica says
I love your blog, so of course, I read the whole thing! However, I am still a novice in the kitchen and the word carcass kinda oogs me out a tad, so can I skip to the what I am wearing today part!?
My family sponsors two precious children in Africa through Compassion International, much like your adorable Gladis you sponsor through One Child Matters. We love all things Africa, and recently I was able to purchase a t-shirt from a family who is adopting a child from Ghana as part of their fundraising efforts. It has the shape of Africa on it along with the Ghanian Proverb – A worthy cause is worth pursuing to the end. I am proudly wearing my new t-shirt, jeans, and a cardigan sweater today! I think it might be my new favorite outfit! :-)
I love your blog and all your helpful information and one of my goals for the year is to be brave enough to make my own turkey (or chicken) and broth. Thanks for all you do!
Tasha says
I’m wearing leggings, AND sweatpants bc it is also cold n Kansas today :-)
I also have a the butter and sugar all portioned out in the mixer and the wheat ground into flour all ready for banana bread and I have no eggs!!!!! I might have risked taking the newborn and toddler shopping but the van is in the shop and the truck went with the husband to work. So my day is RUINED. Guess we’ll settle for beans and rice again… I can make a mean beans and rice though. ;-)
LouAnn says
We traveled back to the Midwest fire Christmas. We had all the turkey we could stand since thanksgiving and then we went to my in laws who made the biggest turkey they could find and then used it in every single meal the week we were there. We went to a friends house for supper that week and had Turkey lasagna. The only thing to get us through was the promise of the prime rib we were having for new years eve. …..so sick of turkey……..we ate tuna last night and it was wonderful because it wasn’t turkey.
Amy says
I read all the way to the end! You are too funny…
How did you cook your turkey Laura? Baked in the oven? I didn’t see that in the post. Just curious because I never make turkey but I want to more often when I can find an organic pasture raised one and then use the carcass for broth. My family loves when I make it with a whole chicken but I would like to try turkey.
The most I did over the holidays was the day after Thanksgiving I brined a turkey breast and it was the best turkey I’ve ever had! Really made a difference with not being dry!
Thanks for all of your inspiration!
Laura says
Sorry I forgot to link to my “how to easily cook a turkey” tutorial. :) Here you go! https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/holiday-help-the-easiest-way-in-my-opinion-to-cook-a-turkey
Carolyn Stutz says
You are hilarious, Laura! I love reading your posts. I cooked 13 turkeys, I believe it was. There’s a community Thanksgiving dinner for which our church provides the turkeys. There were almost 40 turkeys cooked and delivered, but I did 13 of them. We ate ham with my in-laws and turkey with my side of the family, but because I didn’t cook that one, I didn’t get leftovers :( I don’t eat turkey often enough to get tired of it.
kelly d says
Ok I loved this post!!I Love turkey so much!!but my hubby and all 7 children do not!!so I had a dumb ham for Christmas.(ok the ham wasn’t dumb..I just don’t like it)lucky for me my hubby and I both received Turkey’s from work and I got several on sale..so I will be cooking one soon..a quick question..do you only use homemade broth at home??I try to..but with such a big family and this being soup season I run out quickly..just wondering if you had any hints…
Laura says
I really do not like buying broth, both because of the price and because I know I can make a super healthy and nutrient rich broth. BUT, I agree – we can go through it so quickly! One thing I’ve found that helps is buying beef bones from the farmer where we get our beef. There’s very little meat on the bones, but it makes a very good broth for little money, and it’s much easier than cooking/deboning a chicken or turkey. :)
Charlotte Moore says
I am not a turkey dinner kind of woman. I have to suffer through it at Thanksgiving though. We eat at our oldest sons and his wife likes the traditional. Her mom and them eat too. Her mom and I wanted to just eat out but that doesn’t go. Soon, I usually do grilled hamburgers at CHRIStmas. Until this year and we had a surprise 70th birthday for my husband on the 13th and I said I was doing doing another meal on CHRISTmas. I was spared that tiresome cooking. Our youngest son was not coming back anyway since her had been her at Thanksgiving then back again for his dad’s birthday.
I read your whole post and loved it. You crack me up sometimes.
GOD BLESS!!!
Adrianne says
I live in Italy so it was next to impossible to find a whole turkey for thanksgiving. And we tried several stores. The local store could have gotten 2 whole birds for us but at more than 40lbs a piece and 200 euros we decided to pass. My oven and my wallet just arent that big! Eventually we settled on huge leg/thigh combo and a small ham and had a very nice thanksgiving meal. Thanksgiving is always an interest event here lol. They do tend to have turkeys around Christmas time but only in the big stores and we tend to go with the pasta route with the in-laws lol. But I am still craving that whole bird. If we plan early enough we could see if a local butcher can get us a whole bird of not ginormous size next year. Otherwise I might have to see if I can string some parts together and Frankenstein my bird!
Jill@JillsHomeRemedies says
We normally make turkey sandwiches with leftovers or just reheat it and have it as the main dish. Nothing fancy or any new genius ideas, but that’s the way we typically enjoy our turkey leftovers. :-)
ugh says
I read all the way b/c you make me laugh! and I NEED some laughter right now. NO turkey for us this year. we didn’t celebrate any holidays, either. boo. life is upside down right now and i sure could use some prayers! thank you. :)
Katie Z. says
We raised and butchered our own turkeys this year, selling four and keeping one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. The Thanksgiving turkey was fried and part of my first experience preparing an entire holiday dinner alone. Whew! They were great, and I’ve got plenty of turkey broth in the freezer.
Then, oddly enough, my husband’s uncle sent us smoked turkey for a Christmas gift. That one ended up in the freezer, as that was quite enough turkey for a month or two!
Rhonda says
Loved your post Laura! So funny:) We were invited to Christmas dinner by some dear friends. We had a wonderful ham dinner with all the trimmings. Everything was delicious. But alas I knew we wouldn’t have leftovers when we got home. Fortunately I put a turkey breast in the slow cooker that morning ( I actually planned ahead!) and it was ready for hot turkey sandwiches that evening. We even had some pumpkin pie to go with it:)
Wendy says
Enjoyed your turkey story. We enjoyed an organic free range turkey for Thanksgiving, but thought I’d have something different for Christmas. More and more family decided to come to our house for Christmas (my guess is partly to see our newest grandson born Dec 5th), that we ended up feeding 24 for Christmas (excluding the newborn). I fed 11 for 4 days, 24 for 2 days, then 14 for 2 days. Needless to say, we went through a ham, a turkey, lasagna, pork roast, pulled pork, and mounds of fruit, vegetables, cookies, pies, etc! It was loads of fun, but I’m glad to be spending less time in the kitchen in January. By the way, I wore an apron most of the week.
Heather @ My Overflowing Cup says
You’re hilarious! I’m wearing a long sleeve shirt, an old, faded sweatshirt, and sweatpants. :)
We had the traditional turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then again the first week of January. I, too, ignore the labels and just appreciate the price per pound of turkey. I bought at least 4 of them to cook throughout the next few months.
With leftovers, I make sandwiches, soup, and pot pies. I really need to try your turkey and noodles – thank you!
Linda says
Laura, I did read all the way to the end. I thought it was funny.
We have a small family. I don’t eat meat, so we buy the boneless roast. There are coupons for turkeys in this week-end’s newspaper so I’m gonna watch for sales and freeze for Easter.
I cooked Christmas dinner in my black and red Christmas dress. Today, I’m in flannel P.J.’s
trying to stay warm and get over a stomach bug. It’s 34 degrees in Texas today with a north wind.Brrrrr……
Linda
Jessica F says
So I purchased an electric roaster for the first time, thanks to a fantastic Black Friday sale. I rubbed my turkey, inside and out, with a delicious poultry rub from the Amish H &M country store–good stuff, and olive oil. The roaster did a good job with the turkey, but the best part was the fantastic drippings. I made the most amazing broth (from carcass and drippings) and soup right in the roaster. So simple and so delicious. I don’t know why it has taken me this long to discover the electric roaster! Like havin a double oven! Wearing my jammies and under lots of layers since it is so crazy cold here in SC.
Michelle says
Just a simple turkey breast on thanksgiving and a whole turkey Christmas eve! As always, I love your stories! I’m in my jammies. It has been in the low 60’s the past few days so I have no weather complaints. :)
Rebecca says
We made a turkey dinner on Sunday. The turkey was HUGE. My father-in-law had won it a sportsman raffle, and it was donated by Empire Kosher (yes, my turkey was blessed by a rabbi in a hardhat). We invited his parents (my husband, not the turkey) and enjoyed a meal of mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, mashed cauliflower (which tricked my father-in-law accidentally), and stuffing. I was super impressed we pulled this together in the 2 hours after church (of course the turkey cooked while we were at church). After dinner, we boiled the carcass to make broth. Lots and lots of broth. On Monday we had turkey noodle soup. Then, I made two meals of turkey manicotti with roasted red pepper sauce (one to eat, one to freeze). Yum! Tomorrow we’ll use some of the broth to make loaded baked potato soup. I love a meal that just keeps giving!
Kristin says
I too love turkey leftovers, especially cold turkey sandwiches. Since go somewhere for Thanksgiving, I opted to make a turkey for Christmas. I have yet to find an affordable local turkey source, but I trust the all natural pre-brined ones from Trader Joe’s available before thanksgiving. Sadly after Christmas dinner, there were not nearly as many leftovers as I had hoped for. Next year, I think I will buy 2 turkeys. Also, I didn’t have a chance to make stock right away and then went out of town for a few days with out remembering to freeze the carcass, so I had to toss it :)
Crystal says
Laura, you are so funny – thanks for the giggles!
Rhoda says
Last year I learned about spatch-cock cooking a turkey–love it! Will never go back to a traditional oven baked turkey. And my DH, who doesn’t like turkey in any way, shape or manner actually eats and enjoys this turkey. So, bought a turkey to use–only came down with a cold/flu crud the day before we are to have a houseful of people over and a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. Thankfully the guests didn’t come, my hubby cut the backbone out of the turkey and between resting and doing a little, resting and doing a little we finally had our Thanksgiving dinner around 7 PM minus a lot of the trimmings! As for what I was wearing–don’t remember but I’m sure it was warm and comfortable as I still wasn’t feeling well. I still have 2 more turkeys in my freezer to eat throughout the year. And the best part of turkey leftovers–turkey soup made with wonderful broth from the carcass. Oh, another good thing about the spatch-cock turkey, you have the backbone to add to the gizzard and neck so makes the most wonderful broth right off the bat. We drank some broth, added more water, cooked a while longer, drank more broth, and so on for two days. I think we kept the rest of the family healthy with all that good broth, though I did miss the extra rich, first cookings broth in my soup this year. Will get it with the other turkeys though (praying we are not sick again so I can enjoy the whole process!)
Cery says
I read right to the end too! lol We decided to have pizza for Thanksgiving this year as there were only 4 of us and my daughter was moving 2 days later. We SO missed having soup and sandwiches! So we decided on a BIG turkey for Christmas so we could have leftovers. We had 24 for Christmas dinner and about half way through dinner I noticed that everyone had turkey. Not one person chose ham! My Mom and I were discussing it when she got a funny look on her face. She forgot to put the ham on the table! So we ended up with broth and one sandwich each. :( Thankfully we still have the Thanksgiving turkey in the freezer. That is going in the oven next week. :)