Turkey Wrastlin'

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our very own home this year. My parents and some friends and relatives will be present, and I am having a blast planning and prepping! I keep feeling like I am four years old again, playing house with my sister, pulling Mom in to sample our “supper” on plastic dishes with plastic spoons and – if we were really getting into it – real, actual water poured from a plastic tea pot into plastic cups.

Now, I’ve never cooked a turkey, and everyone knows that Thanksgiving needs a turkey.

My experience in that arena of cookery includes watching my dad prepare a turkey and reading the how-to page from a Google search on the topic. But when I hauled the fifteen-pound, semi-frozen bird from my fridge into the kitchen sink to begin ministrations upon it, I was only partially daunted.

I originally planned to just bake the fowl – the KISS principle for my original foray into this art. But then I found a page online about dry-brining a turkey. That sounds easy enough, I thought, and the plan got just a little more elaborate.

Back in my kitchen, having freed it from its plastic jacket, I stared down the naked bird. Pull out the neck and giblets, the website had said.

Ok.

The first hiccup came in the form of a metal band holding the ankles (do turkeys have ankle? It was the part of the legs where the ankles would be) together. I pushed and pulled and pried and prodded.

No dice.

I thought about calling my husband for help. But he had a cold, so I didn’t want him to have to get too close to the cooking. But it would be thoroughly baked after all, and it’s not like I need to worry about the turkey catching it! I smiled at the thought.

But I decided that I could – I would – conquer this beast.

Finally, as the bird slipped and slid around the sink, as the band weakened or as I got the right leverage, I bent it enough to force one leg out and then the other.

Victory!

I reached into the carcass, giving a tug to what looked like a neck. It didn’t move. Gingerly moving further in, trying to keep my shirt sleeve raw-bird-free, I pried around it with my fingers, loosening what was still frozen until the bird stood before me empty.

I rinsed him (her?) until he was nearly guaranteed to be the best-rinsed bird served up this Thursday and laid him in his final resting place foil pan.

Loosening the skin was surprisingly easy, and I felt masterfully culinary-ish as I administered the salt and spices per the recipe’s recommendations.

Having been thoroughly conquered, he now awaits baking in my fridge, getting (the recipe claims) marinated in the spices and tenderized by the salt.

We’ll see come Thursday.

Anyway, when I was standing by my sink, yanking and tugging and prying and becoming altogether too familiar with a partially frozen fowl, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for turkeys, what with getting bumped off and their neck shoved in strange places.

I guess the moral is that if you absolutely have nothing else to be grateful for this Thanksgiving, I have one for you: be thankful you’re not a turkey!

Real and Determined Reviz

I said I was going to lose twenty-six lbs by April.

Well, April is almost over, so I figure I owe you all an update.

I didn't lose twenty-six lbs by April.

I switched goals midway - since we don't own a scale it was hard to keep track of my progress - I decided to lose four inches around my waist.

I didn't lose four inches around my waist.

It was weird. The first few pounds came off easily. Then they stopped. I oscillate between one and almost-two inches lost.

The good news is that the weight gain at least stopped.

The bad news is that I can't seem to kick this plateau.

And I was sort of stressing a little bit about it, until I heard a speaker this weekend. She was talking about her tussle with an eating disorder and the search for control in her life, and she read Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?"

Lightbulb!

Stop being so anxious, I seemed to hear the Holy Spirit whisper to my heart. I gave you food. I meant for it to be yummy. I meant for you to enjoy eating.

Wait, if food is supposed to be enjoyable, then maybe it isn't the enemy I thought it was. If I am supposed to relish a good meal or an afternoon treat, maybe I should just do so and stop feeling guilty.

Life is more than food.

My dear husband has a gentle way of reminding me of this. When I reach for seconds or pull out a snack or a dessert, he just asks me, "Are you hungry?" It gives me a moment to pause and actually think about my hand-to-mouth motions. If I am hungry, I eat more. If I'm not, I stop.

You see, this isn't just a battle to control what I eat for a while, just so I can get back to eating whatever I want later. This is a lifestyle of eating and moving and living and praising God for all He is and does and says. This is a giving over of myself to God, not to a diet plan or an exercise regime.

It is so much easier to swing to an extreme of super-healthy eating or of convenient junk foods. But the fact is, God made carrots and He made sugar. (And He made all those plants that are naturally poisonous. And He gave us the sense to know the difference.)

So I enjoy my carrots fully, and I eat my sugar without guilt (most of the time!).

A Butter-Lover's Dream

Do you know what this is?

This, my friends, is a fresh muffin with baby butter.

What is baby butter, you ask?

It is butter that hasn't quite gotten past the cream stage yet.

We recently found a source for raw milk. 4% milk fat. Mmmm.

So today, I ventured into the realm of home-made butter. I used a recipe I found online and gave it a go! From two gallons of raw milk, I skimmed off enough cream to make about 1/2 cup of butter (one stick). But it was easy! I think I skimmed too much milk or thin cream in with my thick cream, so it took a long time to beat into submission, but I just let it do its thing while I worked on the muffins.

Let me tell you, it is going to be hard to go back after this!