Love my lil' digger. The legendary SC clay is no match for this buckaroo. Have been using since last 3 years, belive me it is very easy to go overboard with this machine. Making perfect veggie beds, digging holes for planting trees, incorporating soil amendments have never been so easy. It's a pleasure to garden with mantis. Last weekend I had to install 150 feet of cement edging (using 18" scalloped pieces) around the flower beds. I marked the lines with chalk powder, and made perfect 4" wide and 4" deep grooves with mantis (using tines on one side only). The entire job was finished (including the cleanup) within 2 hrs, without breaking a sweat.

Cameron, The weather cooperated (in the 50's) so yesterday we forged ahead with the plan to grill the turkey. Following your directions to the tee (except I added 1/2 lemon in the cavity of the bird) we attempted our first Christmas turkey on the grill. I placed the turkey breast side down and cooked it that way for the first hour or so. DH then turned the bird so the other side could brown and crisp up. It was FANTASTIC!!! So moist and tender. I really liked the added bonus of having the oven free for all the other goodies I was fixing. We had the camera out so I told DH I had to take a picture so Cameron could see how great the turkey came out (actually 2 pictures, lol). Thank you so much for posting your recipe Vikki

Well, I've got to go with what my dad has always done in the past. I swear two 25-27 lbers served 50 people when we used to rent a hall for the entire family, and there *were* leftovers. But I guess my parents really like their sandwiches. As I said, my dad's a big eater. According to what I read online, smaller birds have more % bone so 2 lbs per person instead of 1.5 lbs is a better estimate, but *still* I'd think that 11.4 lbs would be enough for 5 adults (2 of them women who don't eat much, my mom would eat like 1 slice of breast meat and I eat the equivalent of 2 chicken thighs max and that's pigging out, won't eat again that day even if we have the big dinner at 2pm or so) and 1 very picky 11-yo. For example, my guys will eat 2 chicken thighs each if I make them, and serve them on the bone (I would normally only eat 1) but if I make soup like I did last night (30 minutes in pressure cooker), or a casserole of something with lots of "filler" then 4 thighs is more than enough for the 4 of us. Tonight I browned 1 lb of ground turkey, saved about 1/2 of it, used 2 quarts of beef broth, 2 cans of beans and some leftover spaghetti sauce with ditalini to make soup. We each had 2 bowls (DS and DH might have had 3, I wasn't counting), and I have more than a quart of soup left over (DD just ate some leftover noodles with plain browned meat). On The Washington Post site I found this quote "One of our staple resources in the Food section is the âÂÂChefâÂÂs Book of Formulas, Yields & Sizes,â by Arno Schmidt. The book says one 22-pound turkey will yield 12 pounds of roasted meat, including scraps, which equates to 22 servings �" lining up perfectly with the USDA guidance." which is 1 lb uncooked per person. That's just over 1/2lb of cooked boneless meat per serving. I'm sure the guys *could* eat 1 lb each (though DH and DS maybe less since there will be side dishes) but yeah, good estimate if they each have a sandwich later that night, there's 3 lbs. Mom, DD and I combined will eat 1.5lbs perhaps (that's with me pigging out b/c no way is DD going to eat 1/2lb of meat), there's 4.5 lbs of meat, no bones. If an 18 lb turkey yields 9-9.5 lbs of meat then we'll have about half left over, I would be fine with 2 lbs of leftovers for sandwiches(plus half the bones to make soup), that should last a week (DH and DS go through a lb of turkey lunchmeat each week but carved turkey is thicker, I think you tend to use more, and I'll be eating it too). That leaves 2.5 - 3 lbs or so (plus half the bones) leftover for my parents. So I really think 18 lbs is enough, no reason to buy 20 (4 lbs per adult!).

I guess I should report back-I looked for the biggest kosher turkey I could find,(went to 3 stores that carry a good supply) and the largest was just under 18 lbs. Funny story- I bought it, and then a few days later fretted that it really might be too small. I took the turkey for a ride ( in the trunk) and went to a few more stores thinking if I found a larger one I could return this one. Anyway, there was none larger so the turkey had a nice jaunt and then went back home to rest. Yes I would have preferred more like a 20 lb or larger bird but it was not to be. It was so confusing though, the various websites with the expert advice about portions. Some were saying I should have at least a 24 lb turkey, others said 14 lbs would be fine. The good news is , it was delicious, and we have a respectable amount left over. Since I was so nervous about it not being enough, I am sure you can imagine the excess of side dishes I had out.