Classic Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope those of you who have today off are enjoying it, and those of you who have work/ school are thankful for those on- going opportunities! :-) I have known for sometime that I wanted to share Thanksgiving recipes on the blog, and it occurred to me last week that I would need to do that sooner rather than later- posting recipes I cooked ON Thanksgiving wouldn't really do y'all any good. Unless you wanted to use them next Thanksgiving. :-) So I did the only normal thing and cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, November 10. I invited some of my best friends to taste test and we dubbed it "Fakesgiving". It actually worked out really well because my husband and I will be in Chicago with his family for the holiday this year and we will miss our big feast with our friends that we've enjoyed for the past 4 years. I have hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my home every year since we've been married, since 2008, and while I've LOVED each and every one of those holidays I would be a liar if I told you I wasn't excited to have someone else hosting this year. It's a lot of pressure cooking the bird and making sure you have enough silverware for all of your guests! Maybe we're the only ones with an ongoing silverware shortage? I always invite EVERYONE, I hate the thought of any young airman on our base without a Thanksgiving feast to go to. Typically I would cook all of the Thanksgiving staples: Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, pies, etc. etc. But THIS year I wanted to create a menu of healthier options, still invoking all of the classic flavors of Turkey Day but where you don't feel like you need to enter a food coma and die afterwards. I understand to most people, even those of you who are consistently eating super healthy, Thanksgiving is a day to over- indulge on EVERYTHING. And I get that, you shouldn't deprive yourself if those are things you really want. But I will say this- after feasting yesterday on my healthified menu I felt great afterwards. Not like I needed to un-button my pants and take a nap. I liked that feeling. :)

Today is the first day of recipes and it is the easiest one of all. The turkey. Some people are intimidated by the thought of cooking a turkey, but that's really silly. Just keep the little guy moist and seasoned and you'll have a delicious bird in no time. The full menu yesterday (which will be appearing recipe by recipe this week) was Turkey, roasted butternut squash (my FAVORITE!), sweet potato bacon biscuits, mashed cauliflower, and a crustless pumpkin pie! I hope you will come back and check out all of the recipes, and I hope everyone has the very best Thanksgiving ever this year :)!

Ingredients: 
1 Turkey, thawed. Mine was a 10 lb bird!
Enough olive oil to coat the entire turkey, I used about 4 Tablespoons
3 Tablespoons minced garlic
2 Teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 Tablespoons Seasoned Salt

Step 1: Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the giblets and other extra bits from the cavity of your turkey. Put the bird in a dish large enough to hold your bird.

My turkey!

Step 2: Pour olive oil over the entire turkey breast and into the cavity as well. Use your hands to massage the oil into the skin and cavity. I know, it's gross. Just do it, it only takes a couple minutes and you're done and it's worth it!

Step 3: Take your minced garlic and massage it into the cavity and under the skin of your turkey. You don't want it on the actual skin because it will burn, putting it under the skin and into the cavity will bring the flavors out into the breast.

Once again, pretty gross- but it doesn't take long. Just get it over with!

Step 4: Season the skin and the inside of the cavity with the black pepper and seasoned salt. 

Step 5: Cover the dish and the turkey with aluminum foil, completely. For a 10 lb turkey you will need to bake it for about 3 hours, cook with the aluminum foil on for the first 2 hours and then remove for the last hour to let the skin brown.

Step 6: Use a meat thermometer inserted into the thigh to make sure the turkey is fully cooked, it should be at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Once fully cooked pull the turkey out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving. 

 Carve the beast & enjoy!