Turkey dinner from Bristol Farms!

A Delicious Turkey Prepared with Bristol Farms’ Own Brining Blend!

According to a 2018 Thanksgiving Dinner Trend Report by Bristol Farms, 52% of people surveyed said Thanksgiving Dinner leftovers last between 1-4 days.

Friends, I can attest to that.

We celebrated a Friendsgiving Dinner this past weekend and all leftovers were gone by Wednesday!

It was a special gathering at our home where we welcomed my in-laws, including my brother-in-law and his wife who live in Bakersfield.

With a visit so close to Thanksgiving,

I knew we had to celebrate our family reunion with a traditional holiday menu so I turned to my favorite grocery store to do the shopping!

If you’ve been following my blog, then you know I’m a huge fan of Bristol Farms— a SoCal grocery chain that offers a great selection of quality and organic foods. I shop at Bristol Farms Mulholland (Woodland Hills), which is close to home.

I was excited about our Mary’s Organic Free Range 19 lb. turkey and discovered that Bristol Farms developed its own Brining Blend too!

I’ve always used the Brine method to prepare a turkey.

It usually requires purchasing a bunch of ingredients like specific herbs, special salt and hard-to-find spices, boiling all the ingredients and placing the whole turkey in the solution known as brine. Then you leave the turkey in the brine for 8-12 hours before the bird is ready for the oven.

With Bristol Farms’ Brining blend, I saved a lot of time since all you have to do is add a cup of the brining blend with a gallon of water and boil. Once the mixture cools, you wash the turkey, place it inside a container, (we used a bucket) pour the brine over it making sure it’s fully covered and place it in the refrigerator letting it soak for up to 12 hours.

The turkey turned out really juicy, full of flavor and our guests loved it. Plus, all leftovers are gone (which is probably the best indication of a tasty turkey, if I do say so myself).

In order to focus on the actual meal,

I had to be practical about the tablescape. Time was of the essence and I knew I would spend a lot of time preparing the food and have little time left to decorate the table so I purchased festive Thanksgiving-themed paper napkins, fresh flowers, a bundle of wheat stalks and even name cards for each place setting. Again, all items were purchased at Bristol Farms.

In the store’s bakery section, I found small trays of Pumpkin Pie cupcakes (baked with organic ingredients). Instead of making pumpkin pie, why not offer each guest a yummy pumpkin pie dessert with cream cheese frosting!? yum!

I decided to keep sides and appetizers simple.

I bought a variety of cheese, crackers and spreads from Bristol Farms to offer guests ahead of dinner. Our dinner sides included roasted brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes, green beans and Pepperidge Farms cubed stuffing.

My mother in law made a delicious sweet potato casserole and also brought cranberry sauce. By the way, did you know the item most forgotten at Thanksgiving Dinner is cranberries? That’s according to the same Bristol Farms 2018 Thanksgiving Dinner Trend Report I mentioned earlier.

So yeah, thanks Grandma Dotty!

Overall, we had a lovely dinner

with lots of laughs, great food and memories to last a lifetime.

The entire meal for seven adults and two kids cost about $200. This doesn’t include beverages since my broski Mikey and his wife Rosita took care of the drinks.

More about Mary’s Organic Free Range Turkeys sold at Bristol Farms:

•   NO Antibiotics Ever
    •   Non-GMO Corn and Soybean Meal
    •   NO Animal By-Products
    •   NO Pesticide Treated Grains
    •   NO Grains Grown with Chemical Fertilizers

For those who’d rather avoid spending long hours in the kitchen,

Bristol Farms offers a Cooked Holiday Box Dinner that serves 8. The dinner includes all the fixings– a Whole Roasted Turkey 8-10lb; Green Beans Almondine 2lb; Cornbread Stuffing 2lb; Mashed Potatoes 2lb; Candied Yams 2lb; Turkey Gravy 30 oz. All for $119. You can pre-order here.

So there you have it friends,

A glimpse of our Friendsgiving Dinner experience, which, despite the general stress that comes with getting everything ready, was sooo worth the time and effort.

Did any of you host a Friendsgiving Dinner this year?

I’d love to hear about your experiences and preferred recipes!

Thanksgiving Day 2018 is a week away. I hope you all enjoy a wonderful time with your loved ones and save room for dessert!

Thanks for reading!

Xo,

-Anabel M.

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

A Friendsgiving Day to Remember