Surprise!

Last night, the girls and I decided to have a party for Ross. It was a belated Christmas dinner, early birthday, going to Oregon on a business trip kind of party. We hadn't had Christmas dinner because our turkey was rotten...yeah, gross. Ross's b-day is Jan. 20th, and he's traveling this weekend to take care of some issues with our Portland rental.

I spent the day baking a b-day cake and decorating in an Oregon Ducks theme. We brined and roasted a turkey, had mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, corn & gravy. It was delicious!

While I was cooking, I was reminded of a Christmas a few years ago where a family member was going to use packaged gravy instead of homemade....TRAVESTY! I could not let that happen.

Homemade gravy is easy. I'd like to share a few tips. First, you have to let your turkey rest about 15-20 minutes after it comes out of the oven. This is the perfect chance to transfer it to a cookie sheet and use the pan's dripping. I use a whisk and scrape up all of those tidbits over low heat. Next you add some flour and mix that in with all of the drippings (not too much, maybe 1/4-1/3 C for a 12 lb bird). When I drain my potatoes, I catch the water in a large pyrex and use this as my liquid for the gravy. It adds great flavor and the starch from the potatoes helps thicken the gravy. I then add pepper and you can add salt. I brine my turkey so there's no need for salt. It takes about 10 minutes for it to reach a good thickness.

I swear it's easy to do and it tastes much better than the packaged stuff.