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There's a bit too much Anne Shirley in me. I have a habit of getting into scrapes (more on my most recent one next week) and of not being able to follow recipes properly.

Case in point, my Thanksgiving turkey this year. I got a recipe from Food Network in my inbox and thought, "This sounds mighty tasty." I'm a big fan of brining turkey, and the list of ingredients intrigued me. What's more, I was teaching a former vegetarian friend how to cook a turkey this year, and I thought the instructions sounded quite easy to follow.

Thank goodness for my friend, Aimee! I picked up the ingredients in advance and began to prep the veggies that would be put in the brine. She noticed that instead of purchasing apple cider, I had gotten apple cider vinegar. Classic Mellisa cooking in action. We used the vinegar instead -- I thought the tang would be interesting, and the extra acidity would help with tenderizing the bird.

The next morning, I was regretting that decision. What if we pickled our birds? This was Aimee's first Thanksgiving turkey -- what if my inattentiveness had ruined it? I racked my brain for options. I knew it needed to be in the same flavor profile as the vinegar. It needed to be sweet to balance the tanginess. What to use? Ah, apple butter would be perfect! The sweet and spicy and apple-y-ness would work wonders (I hoped). I picked up a couple of jars, dropped one off at Aimee's house, and took one home to my turkey.

After patting the bird dry, I separated the skin from the rest of the carcass then liberally coated the between part with the apple butter and one stick of butter. I coated the cavity as well to make sure that everything would be graced with the apple numminess and followed the rest of the directions from the recipe PROPERLY.

Thankfully, it turned out wonderfully. I may use the altered recipe again next year. It would make a splendid Christmas turkey, too. Of course, I could always try to follow the recipe correctly, but that might just be an impossible feat.
 


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