Oh… that could be why even those of us who don’t really like turkey loved the smoked turkey breast. It was kind of magical and now I know why - it tastes like ham, which all of us love. 
And only two out of 4 of us like ham, so… LOL
I’ve already bought a TJ’s spiral baked ham. Those are amazing and not as ginormous. I think even my 12 yr old couldn’t screw up TJ’s hams, they’re so stupid easy!!
DH does bfast, he’s amazing at it. He does the best bagel/egg/cheese/bacon sandwiches! He also does fantastic chocolate chip pancakes if anyone wants something a little sweeter. Then for lunch I usually do a huge charcuterie and some shrimp cocktail. With the ham, that should definitely be enough.
Dinner- I think we’re going to order a turkey from WF. It’s hard to overlook the convenience factor and we’ve liked everything we’ve gotten from their take away so far. (Their smoked brisket is to die for, btw!) Then maybe a side or two, but really everyone just wants some dill glazed carrots (stupid easy), some yeast rolls (pleased as punch w/ store bought), and my stuffing. Maybe I’ll order some sweet potatoes and/or mashed potatoes from WF, I haven’t decided yet. Oh, and TJs has a really good boxed gravy that I add a splash of cooking sherry to. Tastes nearly homemade enough that no one really notices.
Dessert- I’ll just have to figure something out. WF and FM pies are kinda disappointing. I mean, we’ll eat them if that’s what’s available but it’s just not the same. Wegmans has mini pies in their bakery so we’re heading there today to get a variety and see if we like them.
I’ve spoiled my family when it comes to pie. My recipe is super old, my guess would be somewhere close to 150 yrs old. It’s worth it though. I’ve never had a store bought or even bakery pie that comes close.
Care to share your recipe for the pie and pie crust? I am entrusted to make a pie for Thanksgiving. I am having trouble with the crust.
I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed with ANYTHING that came from a Wegman’s. I’ve also ordered a smoked turkey online before (someplace in Texas, I think) and it was delicious.
Smoked turkey - one of my in-laws ordered it one year a long time ago before the online ordering. Somehow they typed a wrong number, 12. It didn’t stop coming!
Have you tried this place? Maybe give them a pre-test. They sell whole pies for Thanksgiving but they also sell slices so you can test some out before Turkey Day…
Ok, the first thing to understand is that pie crust is not easy. Even my niece in law, who’s a trained baker, doesn’t always succeed in making the perfect crust. I’ve been making pies for over 20 yrs and I still don’t get it right sometimes. However, I promise this will taste awesome… it may just be a bit more shortbread cookie-ish, than flaky. I still struggle with that. Also, I know this contains shortening. That’s something my mom and I came up w/ recently. It makes rolling out a bit easier. If you don’t want to use it, just replace it w/ more butter.
The second thing to know: cold is best! You don’t want ingredients that aren’t cold, or even a too warm kitchen.
So this is a recipe for a double crust, deep dish pie. I’ll start w/ the filling first:
6-7 med apples. I like a mix of mostly granny smith w/ a couple honeycrisp. I know they’re juicy… we’ll get to that in a minute.
1 cup granulated sugar
1 TBS flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1- mix together sugar, flour, cinn, and nutmeg in a small bowl.
2- Using one of those hand crank apple corer thingys; core, peel, and slice your apples. After removing from corer, slice each apple from top to bottom creating 2 semi-circles of apples. Make sure to slice away any remaining core. At this point if you feel like the apples are too juicy, give them a good little squeeze to get rid of excess juice. Slice each half circle again and toss into a large bowl.
Double crust:
12 TBS butter (I like salted for baking) Don’t buy european butter!! The fat content will completely screw up the science here.
1/3 cup vegetable shortening (in the stick, not can)
3 cups flour
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp salt
6-8 TBS (about 1/2cup ice water)
1- get out your butter and shortening. Dice them very small and return them to the fridge until very cold. You can add just a very light dusting of flour to keep them from sticking.
2- Put flour and salt into large bowl. Add diced shortnening and butter. Blend very well w pastry blender until you have small pebble like crumbs. Return mix to fridge if becoming too warm.
(Now, my niece suggested using a food processor for this. It never worked for me. I always end up doing it the old fashioned way.)
3- Now using the pastry blender you’re going to very slowly cut in the ice water until you have a ball that will together. I’m not great at this step, so I will use my stand mixer. Put it on the lowest (stir) setting and when it starts to form a ball, it’s probably done.
4- Get out 2 very large pieces of waxed or parchment paper. Very lightly dust flour on one sheet and dump your dough out. Form a nice tight ball. It should hold together well but not be at all sticky. If it’s not right put it back into the mixer and either add a bit of flour or ice water. Once you have a good dough, cut it in not quite half. You’re going to want one piece to be slightly larger. Wrap each half in the paper and put into the fridge for 30 min.
5- take out the larger piece of dough and spread out the paper. Slightly flatten your piece so you ahve a relative circle and give it a slight flour dusting. Try not to handle the dough too much though. Get out another piece of paper and place over the dough. Roll it out. Keep turning the sheets of paper till you have the size you need. Having the two sheets will make it easier to see if you have the size you need w/o actually having to put the crust into the pie dish. For this bottom piece you’re going to want the crust to hang over the edge by about 3/4 of an inch.
Finishing up:
Once you have the bottom crust into your pie dish, spread 1 TBS of the flour/sugar/spice filling mix into the bottom of the dish.
Add half of the apples, spreading out evenly.
Sprinkle w/ 1/2 remaining spice mix. Finish up w/ rest of apples and spice mix.
Roll out the other crust ball and top pie w/ it. Fold the bottom edge over top edge and seal w/ those pretty flutes that totally elude me. Cut a few vents into top of crust and sprinkle w/ a little cinnamon and sugar if you’d like.
Bake at 425 for 45-50 min.
I bought the turkey roll mentioned in post #19 today at Trader Joes. Am going to bake it tomorrow. I also picked up some of the boxed TJ’s gravy - 1.49/box - if it’s any good that’s well worth it!
Report back with your review, @abasket!
Oh, Bravo! @doschicos !! We will be checking them out
Reporting back on the puff pastry encrusted turkey-stuffing roll linked in post #19 from Trader Joes.
I would buy it again. H liked it quite a bit! I figured he would though because of the stuffing, gravy and crust!
My honest opinion.
Puff pastry - delicous. Browned up very nice and crisp.
Stuffing - good flavor, moist.
Turkey - good - a little tough at some bites. Do suggest baking for the higher amount of time for the turkey to cook through - or use a meat thermometer as suggested on the box. Be sure product is unthawed before baking.
Gravy - really good according to H - he asked if I made it. I agree it was good for a packaged item. Be sure you read the directions well - you drop the WHOLE gravy packet still in plastic in the boiling water - NOT open the gravy and dilute in water - I almost made that mistake!
Cranberry sauce - the weak link. It was ok but REALLY strong clove (or something) flavor. I used it but it’s a just ok version of cranberry sauce.
I would buy it again for something different - maybe a couple times a year thing. $12.99 and I served it with 2 other veggie sides and I would say that way it serves 4 people.
I always struggle with getting the turkey to come out moist. @MaineLonghorn , when you re-heat the WF turkey the next day, what exactly do you do? Do you buy the whole turkey or just the breast? My family loves seeing that whole golden turkey come out of the oven, so I don’t think I would want to do the breast thing.
Oh, I buy the whole turkey.
^^^Do they give you re-heating instructions? If it’s possible to make it dry, I’ll manage it like a champ. So frustrating.
We did Whole Foods last year when we had a bunch of family flying in and they were only going to be here a short time and I didn’t want to waste a lot of time cooking everything from scratch. It was great! Everyone loved it! It also what too expensive considering the quality of the food and what you get!
I sure like the idea of ordering the turkey and just having to focus on side dishes and desserts.
Thanks for the Whole Foods endorsements. May go forward with that…
@Nrdsb4 , I’m sure I followed the heating instructions, because I’m like that, and it came out fine.
@ChaosParent23 THANK YOU so much for the detailed instructions on making a pie. I’m going to put your instructions in my notes and try to make a pie. My mil is a great pie maker but soon (she tells us that she won’t always be up to it) I’m going to have to make those things we take for granted.
@abasket whew! Glad the stuffed turkey breast turned out well since I recommended it.
I looked up the name of the smoked turkey we had one year - it was from Greenberg Smoked Turkey, in Tyler, Texas. In case anyone wants to order a smoked turkey. We enjoyed it very much.
To those who have ordered a cooked turkey from Whole Foods:
They have regular and organic (more expensive). Which turkey did you order?