Ingredients

• Leftover Turkey carcass, most of the meat and skin removed
• Baby carrots
• Uncle Ben’s Long Grain & Wild Rice, Original Recipe, 6 oz. box
• Parsley or cilantro, finely chopped
• 5 – 10 glasses water

Method

Place the turkey carcass in a big pot (by this time, the legs and wings should have been removed). Break-up the leftover bones a little so everything fits in the pot. Add enough water to cover the bones. Place it on medium heat until the water is close to a boil, though not quite boiling. Cover, reduce heat to the lowest setting and let it simmer for a long time (~ 1h or so). By this time, most of the meat should separate from the bones. Add extra turkey meat if needed. Add rice and spice mix from the box. Add carrots. Continue to simmer the mixture at low heat until rice is cooked and carrots are soft, about 15 minutes or so. Remove the bones. Add chopped parsley or cilantro and simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

For this post, I decided to compile a list of tips and ideas for Thanksgiving from around the web. Enjoy!

1. Good suggestions on how to include your toddler in the Thanksgiving festivities without putting too much pressure on them. Check out this post on swellbeing.
2. Tips for traveling with kids from Simple Mom. I liked one in particular – high protein snack and cow milk having a sedative effect on young kids. I guess we will have to give it a try! Last month we traveled overseas with our twins. It was, by far, one of the most challenging experiences we have ever had. This was after a lot of planning, preparation and spending money on Triple Play Sit ‘n Stroll car-seat strollers. And yes, we had to buy two!
3. Healthcastle.com has a few useful Healthy Holiday Eating Tips for Thanksgiving. It gives several ideas for low-fat substitution in Thanksgiving recipes.
4. CNN.com has these healthy tips from “market to table”. I didn’t know that when eating in a group, we are likely to eat 44% more calories than if we were eating alone! Take a note of that if you are invited to a big Thanksgiving dinner.
5. Check out these easy-to-remember  tips to safely handle and prepare stuffing from the USDA – Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill. A lot of it is common sense and good hygiene while preparing and cooking. Something new to keep in mind is to check the inside temperature of the stuffing if you are cooking it inside the turkey. It should be 165 ⁰F. It may not reach this temperature even if the turkey is fully cooked.
6. Another recent post from CNN.com offers these tips for a Thanksgiving on a tight budget. This is very timely given the current economy.
7. If you are in the mood for some history about Thanksgiving and how cooking turkey became a tradition, check out this article published in the New York Times on November 27, 1895. The earliest record of Thanksgiving celebration goes back to a feast hosted by Gov. Bradford in 1621 after the first harvest of the colonists at Plymouth. According to the story, he sent four men out fowling right before the Thanksgiving day, and they brought back a “generous supply of plump wild turkeys”; which is how we have “immortalized the turkey of later days, making it our National Thanksgiving Day bird”. And by the way, Gov. Bradford’s feast lasted three days and it hosted the “greatest King Massaoyt” and 90 Indians. What a party! If you happen to beat that, let me know!!

Have fun, enjoy and be safe. Share your special story from this Thanksgiving.

I really wanted to get a USDA certified Organic Turkey for Thanksgiving this year. My shopping experience over the weekend, however, left me with a feeling of great dissatisfaction. I have written about the “sticker shock” when buying organic; I got to experience it first-hand myself this time. And it was quite a shock.

We all know the benefits of selecting organic foods since they are produced without the use of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides, and in the case of meat and poultry, raised on organic feed and without any antibiotics or growth hormones. Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought, to set a nice trend each Thanksgiving by going organic for the whole turkey? Not only would it be a healthy thing to do, we could also talk about it with our guests over the dinner table. I knew I was going against my own advice for buying organic on a budget – that is of not buying organic animal products – still, I thought Thanksgiving is a special occasion. After all, it can’t be all that bad. Little did I know; I was in for a rude awakening and a tough lesson in the dynamics of supply and demand.

My first visit was to a local Publix Supermarket store next to an upscale outdoor Mall. Predictably, it was stocked quite well with both frozen and fresh turkeys. I was familiar with the Butterball brand. I also saw a good range of the Publix brand with a simple label prominently displaying “Grade A USDA inspected”. After walking through several aisles, I asked one of the store associates if they carried “organic” turkeys. He didn’t know so he went on to ask the manager in the meat department. The manager came out and walked me to another section where they had a few “all natural”, “never frozen” turkeys. I repeated myself, “I need an organic turkey, not all natural”. So this time, as if trying to make a special effort, he takes me to the frozen section and shows me a couple of “all kosher” turkeys. It did not carry the USDA certified organic seal; I pointed that to him – as if to drive the point home – that his turkeys were not organic after all!

I decided to give up and call Fresh Market, which is kind of a poor substitute for Whole Foods Market in our area. “Nope, we don’t carry organic turkeys, we only have natural”, was what I was politely told over the phone. At least it saved me a trip! But still, I didn’t have a turkey, and I was beginning to get worried. At this point, my wife told me to just give it up and go for what every other “normal” person does for Thanksgiving. That is go ahead and buy the popular Butterball brand. “Oh well, maybe next year”, I told myself.

A second visit to another Publix right in our neighborhood, was when I got the sticker shock. Even though, I was not looking for an organic turkey anymore, I did find two – I am not kidding, just two – turkeys with the USDA organic seal in a section otherwise overflowing with Butterballs and Publix brand turkeys. Obvisouly, there aren’t too many people looking for organic turkeys these days. Anyway, check out the difference in price – the organic turkeys were about 3 – 5 times more expensive than the regular turkeys! Isn’t that something? Unbelievable!

The more pragmatic side of me took over after the sticker shock, so I came home with a Butterball.

Later I did a quick search on the internet to see if this made sense. Here is what I found:

• Willie Bird Organic Turkey from Williams-Sonoma (shipped overnight) – $6.7 – $7.3/lb depending on the weight; available now only for Christmas delivery!
• Organic Free Range Thanksgiving Turkey from Lobel’s – $6.5/lb (too late for Thanksgiving delivery)

Now the $4.99/lb does not look so bad. Still, it is outside my budget.

What about you? Did you get an organic turkey this Thanksgiving?