Thanksgiving

Name: Baking the Best Turkey in the Oven or Slow Cooker
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 8 h
Total time: 8 h 20 min
Yield: 1
Ingredients: 2 " peeled, fresh ginger; 2 oranges, quartered; 2 onions, quartered; 4 carrots; Poultry seasoning

The Best Turkey Recipe in the Oven or Slow Cooker

by Ashley Mullen

I am still stuffed from our delicious Thanksgiving dinner, all homemade delicious food. My husband made the most delicious turkey! This turkey recipe gave us a turkey that was juicy, and had an amazing flavor. It was the best turkey we have ever had!

The Best Turkey Recipe in the Oven or Slow Cooker

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I had my heart set on a slow cooker turkey, which is what we had last year, when the element in my stove went three days before Thanksgiving. We got really lucky that the turkey we had bought fit into my six quart slow cooker. We had planned on using the same method but, that little turkey we bought, it didn’t fit in my slow cooker this year.

Now, while we did end up using the oven this year, this is turkey recipe is amazing and makes a delicious baked turkey in both the oven or a slow cooker.

What you need:

2 ” peeled, fresh ginger
2 oranges, quartered
2 onions, quartered
4 carrots
Poultry seasoning

How to make this turkey recipe:

Put the carrots in the bottom of your roaster, under your turkey.
One of the oranges, onions, and bulbs of garlic go inside your turkey.
The rest place around it.

Add poultry seasoning (this one is freeze dried, and amazing) to the top of your turkey, generously.

Cook until the temperature of your turkey is 165 degrees. Our turkey took 3 hours in the oven at 350. Uncovered until it started to brown. Once it started to brown, make a tin foil tent for the remaining time it is baking. Bast every 30 minutes.

In the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours. Once cooked, if you like the crispy skin, remove and broil until crisp. Do NOT bast if you are using your slow cooker, you don’t want to uncover or you are letting the heat out, which is going to slow down your cooking time.

Baking the Best Turkey in the Oven or Slow Cooker

Yield: 1 turkey

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 8 hours

Total Time: 8 hours 20 minutes

Cook this turkey in the oven or a slow cooker.

Ingredients

2 " peeled, fresh ginger
2 oranges, quartered
2 onions, quartered
4 carrots
Poultry seasoning

Instructions

One orange and one onion stuffed inside the turkey.
Arrange carrots under the turkey and lay the remaining onion and orange around the turkey.
Sprinkle seasoning and ginger over the top.
Cook in slow cooker for about 6-8 hours on low.
Cook in oven at 325: 15 minutes for every pound.

Nutrition Information:

Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g

Baking the Best Turkey in the Oven or Slow Cooker

Turkey Toilet Roll Craft for Thanksgiving

by Ashley Mullen

This weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving, meaning turkey time! Not only are we eating turkey but we are making some cute turkey toilet rolls. They make great pieces for your holiday table, or where ever else you would like them to go.

Turkey Toilet Roll Craft

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It’s super simple, perfect for your youngest, and makes a great addition to your Thanksgiving decorations. You’ll need some paper plates, paint, and a empty toilet paper roll.

Cut your paper plates in half.

Then paint your turkey’s tail feathers. Let your kids paint them however they want. Some of those that graced our home had stripped tail feathers.

Our toilet paper rolls were brown so we didn’t bother to paint them, but we did glue some googly eyes on.

I also chose to staple our turkeys together so they would hold together better than if we used glue.

I love this little craft for all age groups.

Alternately, instead of cutting the paper plate before painting, it may be easier for younger children to paint first, having a larger “canvas” is easier.

Thanksgiving Turkey Handprint Craft

by Ashley Mullen

One of my favorite holidays is coming up, really fast if you’re in Canada like me, Thanksgiving! Last year we sent out some cute mail to our family far away from us. A little “we’re thinking of you even if we’re not with you” mail, a cute turkey handprint craft.

Thanksgiving Turkey Handprint Craft

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What you need:

How to Make A Turkey Handprint

Depending on the age of your child, it may be easier to have them strapped into their highchair to prevent them running wild in the house with a painted hand.

It’s super simple, perfect for your youngest, and makes a great keepsake. All you need is paint and paper. A paint brush is helpful but not necessary.

Take the hand that is going to be the turkey hand and paint it.

Brown on the palm and thumb – the turkey body and neck/head.
Paint each finger a different color.

Press said hand down onto paper. Little fingers move, let it be what it is, it just makes it unique to each child’s work of art. Older kids will be able to hold their hand still for longer.

Once your turkey has dried grab a couple markers for the finishing touch. Some yellow legs and feet. An eye, we used black. As well red for the wattle. I had to look up what the wattle was called.

We did ours on this little poem. Clicking this link with open up the PDF in a new screen for you to use.

These are what we sent out, Grandparents got one from each of my little turkeys.

I have more printables in my free resource library that you get access to when you sign up to my weekly newsletter. The the turkey printable is available for you now, without signing up though I would love for you to sign up.

Wine Glass Pumpkins – Halloween & Thanksgiving

by Ashley Mullen

This is the first year in four years that I can decorate for Halloween. I started my decorating with some cute wine glass pumpkins. Yes, we are already decorating for Halloween even though its only September, just goes to show exactly how much I’ve missed being able to put anything out for Halloween, not for myself, but for my kids.

Wine Glass Pumpkins

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You need no crafting skills, or anything like that, because I don’t have any, and I think mine turned out rather great still. Cute and crafty.

Here’s the thing: I did these ones myself, but your kids could totally do them. If you don’t feel comfortable with them having glass, and wine glasses can be delicate, pick up some plastic ones. Use flameless tea lights instead of real candles.

I got my wine glasses from the dollar store, they were $1.25 each – I later found our Walmart has some for a buck.

No matter how new they might be, wash them, and wipe them down with some rubbing alcohol.

I taped the stem before I started painting the orange of my pumpkin, and it just so happens that my paint color was was Pure Pumpkin. Painting on glass isn’t hard, but it isn’t necessarily easy either. The first coat went on easily.

I found squirting the paint on the glass, thickly, then using the foam brush to lightly spread it over the first layer. Too much brushing will remove the first layer of paint.

Once the orange fully dried, remove the tape. I chose to not put tape over the orange and just free handed the green paint.

You can also add a face to your pumpkins. These are perfect for Halloween, like I said, but because I didn’t put a Jack o’ Lantern face on mine, I think they’ll be perfect for Thanksgiving too, which is in October here in Canada.

Some tea lights on top, set on top of my beautiful hutch and I have started my Autumn/Halloween decorating. Without having to take it down in a few weeks.

Thanksgiving

The Best Turkey Recipe in the Oven or Slow Cooker