I Baked a Turkey!

Believe it or not, I have never baked a turkey or any other kind of bird in my life.  And I am a person who loves to bake and bake complicated things.  So it just seems natural that by the age of 40 I would have cooked some kind of bird by now...but we have always been so spoiled to have moms that have always taken over the Thanksgiving duties of cooking the turkey, and it never really occurred to me that we could have turkey at any other time of the year besides Thanksgiving.

However... in a very surprising turn of events at a ward party, I ended up winning the women's division of a shootout and as my prize won a 20 lb. Butterball turkey!  Thanks to the wonderful day and age of the Internet and beautiful cooking blogs, I poured over recipes until I found the one I wanted to create and then I went for it!

And it turned out beautifully.

And actually tasted delicious!  We baked it right before Christmas and shared some with our local missionaries.  And still had enough leftovers to enjoy on rolls during the Christmas break.  I think I passed the mom test and have proved to my kids that someday I may have the skills needed to host a Thanksgiving dinner, which is good because Ashlyn gagged and freaked out the whole time I was preparing the turkey.  It is definitely not going to be her thing anytime soon.  I love trying new things!