Thanksgiving in June

I recently found myself in a position of having to cook at 15-pound turkey. In June.

It's a long story, but the short version goes something like this:

We spent Thanksgiving on a cruise last year with my in-laws, so we did not have a traditional turkey meal. However, our neighboring supermarket was holding a promotion where they gave away free turkeys to everyone who spent more than x amount of dollars that month.

The friendly manager at the supermarket ended up pressing the free frozen turkey upon my father-in-law, saying "why refuse something free?"

So that's how I found myself with an extra turkey in the freezer for 6 months. Last week, I finally decided it was time to reclaim my freezer, and so decided to throw a "Thanksgiving in June" playdate party on a Monday in June.

I found a "dry-brine" recipe online and brined the turkey in the fridge for 36 hours. The genius part of the recipe is that it brined as it defrosted in the refrigerator, and was ready for the oven by the time I got back from a weekend away! The result was juicy and tender -- the best turkey I've ever made! This will now be my go-to recipe for turkey. I cannot wait to try this again in the fall.

Russ Parson's Dry-Brined Turkey

My favorite chocolate cake

I found this recipe for Beatty's chocolate cake a few years ago and it has changed my life. An amazingly simple recipe for chocolate cake that manages to be both light and decadent at the same time. I've used it to make cupcakes for the kids' birthday parties, and am now working on making layer cakes.

Combined with tangy cream cheese frosting, this cake was a hit for Father's Day yesterday. An easy layer cake? Yes please!

Beatty's Chocolate Cake

Fluffy Cream Cheese Frosting

decadence

Turns out "three a week" is actually tougher than it sounds. As can be seen through my diminished blog posts, it has proven tougher to try three new recipes per week than I'd originally assumed. Life just gets in the way. However, I can say that the experiment has broadened my repertoire to the point where I can easily whip up a weekday lunch or dinner without giving it much thought. And my picky family is even complaining that some of their favorites are not in rotation enough!

Now I'm saving my energy for bigger projects for special occasions, such as the salted dark chocolate peanutbutter birthday cake above (yes, you read that right. A little slice goes a long way). And yes, the birthday boy has a thing for Star Wars. I won't reveal his age though :)

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen's infinitely more chic looking cake. I need more practice so my celebration cakes can look like that!