Monday, December 16, 2013

Turkey Injection, Sweet Tea Recipe, and Glass Markers

Hey, y'all! I wanted to share our "recipe" for a really moist turkey. I know Thanksgiving is over, but maybe some of you will be cooking a turkey on Christmas. Or maybe you scored a great deal on a turkey after Thanksgiving. This might give you an idea for a really tasty, moist turkey. :)

Here's what we use. It's a turkey injector kit. We bought this at Academy for $3.50. You just sprinkle the seasoning on the inside and outside of the turkey, then inject the creole butter sauce into the turkey's breasts, legs, and thighs. 


It comes with this handy little syringe to inject your turkey with.


After you inject it, just cook it in one of these oven bags. (the instructions are on the box) It took about 4 hours to cook our 21 lb. turkey. I've always used oven bags because you don't have to keep basting it over and over. You basically sprinkle a little flour in the bag and shake it up. Place the bag in a roasting pan, then pop your turkey in there, close the end of the bag with the enclosed ties, and cut a few slits in the top of the bag, and the oven does the rest of the work. 

You can see where I wrote the date I purchased these on the box. :) They come in a two pack and I always forget when I buy them, so I started writing the date right on the box. 


Our turkeys have always turned out perfectly when using this method. Very moist and very delicious! And easy too. :)


Let's talk sweet tea. I say "sweet" tea because in the South, there's no such thing as "unsweetened tea." ;)

I had several people ask me for my sweet tea recipe this summer, so I thought I'd jot it down here. I know it seems weird to have a "recipe" for tea. I mean, it's pretty self explanatory, but I do have a few tips and tricks that I use. This is for a gallon of sweet iced tea.

These are the family size tea bags I use. 



I put 4 family size tea bags in a 3 quart pot.


Then I fill my tea kettle with water and heat the kettle to boiling. Then I pour the boiling water over the tea bags in the pot. It really doesn't matter how much water you boil. I just fill the kettle all the way up.

I let it steep for 4 minutes.


Then I take the tea bags out and add 3/4 cup of sugar and mix well. You want to add the sugar when it's still hot so it'll melt the sugar and you won't have "grainy" tea. 

That's probably my biggest tip...you have to add the sugar when it's hot. If you add it after it's cooled, the sugar will tend to settle at the bottom and never get mixed up. 

I like to call this my "tea concentrate" because it's so strong right now. :)
After adding the sugar and stirring well, let it sit for about 10 minutes to cool a little. 


Meanwhile, fill your gallon pitcher half way up with ice. I just use a plastic pitcher.


After the 10 minutes is up, carefully pour the sweet tea concentrate into the pitcher. I usually do this over the sink just in case. :)

It will fill the pitcher all the way up and you will instantly have ice cold sweet tea! Yum!



Now that you've made all that sweet tea, you'll want a festive way to mark everyone's iced tea glasses. Here's what I do. 

I take an 8 inch piece of ribbon (I used white so the names would show up) and just write everyone's name on the right hand side with a permanent marker.



Then tie them onto the stems of the glasses and there's no mistaking which glass is yours. :)



Here's a closer look. I untie these when we're done and reuse them over and over. I used to use wine glass charms, but we were always forgetting which charm was ours. It's much easier with your actual name on them. ;)

homemade wine glass markers

Do y'all have any tips for the perfect glass of sweet tea?

~Lisa

5 comments:

  1. That injector kit is intriguing! Thanks for sharing, Lisa!

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  2. We have an injector that we've used on other meats, but have never tried it with a turkey. That looks like a good idea. We do love our sweet tea too, but I hardly make it any more since we've become more water drinkers than anything. However, every now and then, I'll order one at a restaurant and I realize how much I miss it. It's good! Love the idea for the wine glasses. They also look pretty that way.

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  3. I like the sound of your sweet tea, but being married to a northern boy, I will have to make it without sugar and just add Splenda to my glass! It is difficult to get the brewing just right, so I appreciate your tutorial.

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  4. The "injector" sounds fantastic! Believe it or not, hubby bought a kit a thousand years ago to try with chicken and never used it. I think we should try it, and the bag system, too.

    Being a Midwestern girl, I never heard of sweet tea until I started blogging. When we were visiting Savannah, I finally got the nerve to ask a waitress in a restaurant what sweet tea actually was. I really thought it had some mysterious ingredient!! The sugar added to the boiling water is definitely the key, I guess. We drink a lot of iced tea (rarely with sugar) in the summer and hardly ever in the winter.

    I love your ribbon tags. I think I may try that for our mimosas at brunch on Christmas Day. Do I see a tablescape here??

    XO,
    Jane

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  5. Funny, I wanted nothing to do with sweet tea until a few years ago. I grew up in NJ and drank tea from a can. Now I love it and make it all the time. I add frozen OJ concentrate and lemon, it's really good.

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