This past weekend, Lauren and I took on the modest challenge of roasting a turkey. Spoiler: we didn’t screw it up and we can do make it even better next time.

I don’t know where it came from, but there’s been a frozen turkey in our freezer since Christmas. In the first week of January, I bought an aluminum “use it once and throw it away” roasting pan and it’s been sitting on the top of our fridge.  Thursday I put it in the fridge to thaw out and I got on the Internet and read about 30 “how to cook a turkey” recipes.

When I got it out of the wrapping Sunday afternoon, there were parts of the “insides” that were still icicles. Turkcicles. And I’d never ripped the neck out of the turkey cavity before (it was a visceral experience) and had Lauren to pull up a YouTube video on her phone of someone demonstrating how to do it so I felt a little more comfortable with the whole process. Separating the skin from the meat was also a little uncomfortable. And I had to run to the store because we didn’t own a meat thermometer. And I’m not that good at carving a turkey. I ended up using my hands for most of it.

Next time I am doing a few things differently:

1. stuff the bird with onions, celery, and rosemary.
2. lay it breast side down, so the breast meat stays moist.
3. find a better use for the wings, since they have so little meat on them.
4. two words: flavor injector.

Here’s the best part: on Sunday night we had a tupperware container in the fridge holding about 8 pounds of cooked meat and it’s been easy to make lunch all week. Last week I made about 8 pounds of pulled pork in the crock pot, which lasted us about 15 totals meals (dinner for both of us 5 times and several lunches). Week before that I made sausage and lentil soup that was about 7 meals. I can make a batch of red beans and rice that is about 8 meals. It’s a nice way to live.

When we first got married, I would make dinner and it was just enough. No leftovers. I would cook 1 meal. My tune has changed. I would much rather cook for 10 meals at once. Our fridge is filled with leftovers these days, and it makes making dinner during the week much easier. I’m not to the scale of cooking cafeteria-sized recipes, like this one for Elvis Presley’s favorite fried chicken, but maybe one day.