Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. --WT Purkiser Happy Thanksgiving! Dena

Thanks for the tips Ricky. Cathy and I spent Thanksgiving with her cousin and family and I logged on for about ten minutes, fortuitously seeing this message. We made a V-shaped rack to put in the roasting pan and cooked the bird breast-down, turned it over as you stated, and covered it for the last half hour with a towel and it turned out to be the most moist, tender turkey we've had in quite a while. The trick with cutting the breast off and cross-sectioning it was also very slick...I'm sold, ready to do it again soon. You're the man! I hope everyone is having a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday. Tom

What a bummer Ken. I had a weird experience today too - but first - it all started last Thanksgiving, I invited some of my children's friends for full course turkey dinner. Did it many times in the past - so felt I knew the "ropes." Anyway, this bird was so big, that I had a hard time fitting it into the roaster I had - and without my knowledge, one wing extended over the side of the pan. Well, as you may have guessed, when the guests arrived, I had a whole house full of smoke and the smoke alarm was going off like crazy. My daughter came in and punched the self-cleaning button - and that just made it a lot worse. I turned off the oven, and fortunately, put out the fire in the undercarriage, and after a good airing, we all sat down to dinner. As luck would have it, this year, I'm invited out (oh happy day) and so only had 2 pumpkin pies to contribute. However, just about time to take them out - a repeat of last year's episode occurred - lots of smoke - and the alarm again! Fortunately, it was short lived, and my pies didn't suffer any the worse. I don't know what triggered it this time - perhaps when my son cooked an over-loaded pot roast - and some grease got down below. Anyway, I'm not sure I like this new oven - from now on, I won't go off and leave it for any length of time, that's for sure. Hope you have a nice Thanksgiving otherwise (at least no work today eh?) - and again, many thanks for all the good advice - I've appreciated all of you fine folks here on this forum. Really makes my day a bit brighter. Bejay

I'm not eating until tomorrow, the girls had dinner at their Dad's today, at my house tomorrow. I made Fatlester's Espresso Brownie Chunk ice cream along with a batch of plain vanilla to go with the blueberry crisp and I finished the cranberry jezebel. Sol's Honey Rolls are baked and the turkey is still in a cooler in the garage, but the sweet potatoes are cooked and ready to get "marshmallowed" tomorrow. The fruit salad is in the refrigerator, the green bean casserole is ready to assemble and the chocolate cupcakes have become turkeys for the kids. Tomorrow I'll roast the turkey, make the mashed potatoes and gravy, construct the salad, bake the blueberry crisp and be thankful. After that trip to the store for the marshmallows that I forgot. I think I have a mental block about those..... Annie