Thanksgiving and Christmas Yummies

So, been meaning to blog a bit about Thanksgiving and Christmas. We ended up with 2 Turkeys this year so we had one for each holiday. We almost had the same exact meal really. Here are some snap shots and tips =D

So this is our Thanksgiving bird. It came out better than the Christmas one. For this one I made a compound butter using butter (duh) minced garlic, salt and pepper, and lots of paprika. I slathered it all over the bird - inside and out, and under the skin - the night before and let it sit in the fridge. I also stuffed it with a cut up orange, lemon, and onion. Then we baked it at about 350 for probably 3 hours. I have an oven safe probe thermometer that I can put in the turkey and set a timer to. I put it in the thigh and set the timer to 175 degrees. At that point I cranked the over up to 400 to get a good crust. Cooked it like that for about 20 minutes and took it out to rest. Came out great. We did a simular recipe for Christmas but it was more 'Puerto Rican'. It was a vinager based marinade, still with paprika, but with some other spanish seasonings like Sazon and Adobe. Also the recipe said to cook breast down so I tried that. Christmast turkey came out more dry. Not sure what contributed to that, I may have over cooked it a bit, may have been the vineger, but either way Thanksgiving was better.

This is the yummyest and easiest potato casserole ever.

Potato Casserole

1 32 oz bag frozen hash browns
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cups sour cream
2 cups cheddar cheese
Salt and
Pepper

Mix the hash browns, soup, sour cream, and 1 1/2 cups of the cheese. Season with salt in pepper. Put into casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until cheese and golden and bubblely.

For Christmas we made it again but added diced ham and it was even better. This recipe makes A LOT so you could cut it in half.. or just have left overs..