Luanne and Jenni seemed somewhat taken aback when I said in Chat on Sunday night that Allen and I would be cooking two turkeys for Thanksgiving. This is at least the third year that we've done so. Here's why. Turkeys have sold for 59 cents a pound for the last three years. We put the first one in the electric roaster about 11:00 on Wednesday night at 300 degrees. Allen got up about 5:00 Thursday morning; a thermometer showed that the meat needed to cook a little while longer and get about 10 degrees hotter. By the time I got up later, he had removed the first turkey and the vegetables from the roaster and was allowing it to rest, and had prepared and put the second one in the roaster to start cooking. With each of the two turkeys, we wrapped in foil and roasted, for the last four hours or so, potatoes, sweet potatos and onions.

I had prepared stuffing (just a boxed mixed with some extra croutons, chopped celery, chopped onion, some chopped walnuts, and using a can of chicken broth instead of water) the day before. So we had nice, moist turkey breast, a roasted white potato, a roasted sweet potato (half of each of these is back in the refrigerator - to be sliced and fried sometime this next week), peas, stuffing and gravy (made from a mix, using drippings/broth from the first cooked turkey instead of water), and cranberry sauce for a Thanksgiving feast. We made enough of all of those things so that we could eat half of the side dishes on Thursday and the other half with a turkey leg each tomorrow for Sunday dinner. Everything was just plain delicious.

Since we've started doing turkeys for Thanksgiving - which has really been only since I bought the condo almost nine years ago - Allen has traditionally carved out the breast, legs, thighs, wings of each to eat initially and package the rest in two-serving packages to enjoy at times for the following 12 months. The turkey cooked in the electric roaster really lends itself to this, because the roaster keeps the meat so moist. All we ever do is rub the un-cooked turkey with some extra virgin olive oil (EVOO to those who watch Rachel Ray!). I had picked up some kosher salt (a very rough textured/chunked salt) when I saw it on sale sometime in the last year, so I rubbed a teaspoon or so inside the neck cavities and a couple of tablespoons of it in the big cavity of each turkey this year - honestly can't say it if made a difference. But we don't use any other seasonings - the roaster just cooks in all the good turkey flavor. Roasting doesn't get the skin browned - the excess moisture prevents that. If we're particularly hungry for the taste of the skin, we peel it off and crisp it under the broiler.

So initially, from the two turkeys, we got four servings to eat this weekend. I've also set aside in the refrigerator enough of the dark meat for about six sandwiches for myself: either traditional or, for a real treat, open-faced later this week with any leftover gravy from tomorrow's meal. So that's ten servings so far.

Allen told me yesterday that he put eleven packages of turkey in his freezer. So that's 22 more servings and we're up to 32 servings.

While I'm tearing what's left off the second turkey on Thursday, I cooked the giblets and the necks in water with an onion, chucks of two celery stalks, salt and pepper. For the past couple of years I've chopped up everything and mixed it in with the pulled turkey I packaged. But this year I admitted that I'm just not crazy about the heart, gizzard and kidneys. I cooked them along with everything else for the flavor they add to the broth, but chopped only the livers (which I love) and pulled as much of that sweet meat from the necks as I could. The broth from the cooked giblets and neck is added to the drippings from the turkeys, and the carcass and bones go in that mixture to stew for an hour or too, to get all the flavor from the bones that can be had, too.

So with the pulled turkey and whatever edible pieces that dropped into the roaster during cooking, this morning I ended up with two nice packages of breast meat to use for turkey salads and nine packages of between 1-1/2 - 2 cups of turkey. Those nine packages will be used for turkey and rice, turkey tettrazini, soups, gumbo (with some sausage added to that), etc. When I cook stuff like that, I seldom end up with less than six servings - and that's probably a conservative number.

I refrigerated the broth after removing all the bones and ended up putting 3-1/2 pints of broth in the freezer this morning. That will be used for soups or to cook rice in or whatever I decide to use it for.

Just have to include this side note - an easy recipe for a quick tettrazini: Cook spaghetti or other noodle pasta (the non-gluten pasta would be good fixed this way) according to package directions. Drain and put into buttered baking dish. Melt two tablespoons of butter or margarine in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add two tablespoons of flour (any kind) or corn starch; stir it in to make a roux. A little bit at a time, add about 2 cups of water, broth, or milk (or equal parts condensed mushroom soup and water) stirring it in as you add it so that it incorporates with the roux. Add salt and pepper and any seasonings that sound good to you. Garlic is ALWAYS right; dried dill or dill seed is good in this dish. Bring the mixture just to a boil, then allow to simmer, stirring occassionally until it becomes a thick gravy consistency. Add whatever amount you want of cooked or canned chicken, turkey, shrimp to the cooled noodles. Add 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese to the liquid mixture to finish the sauce. Pour the finished sauce over the noodle/meat mixture. Cover and bake at 350 for 30 - 45 minutes, until it is bubbly and just flat looks yummy. Servings of this can be re-heated in a microwave.

Back to the two turkeys: Nine times 6 servings of pulled turkey is another 54 servings of turkey, added to the 32 already accounted for, plus the two packages of turkey for salad makes 88 servings of turkey to eat for the next 12 months.

Two 20-pound turkeys times 59 cents a pound is about $24. That $24 divided by 88 servings means that Allen and I will have super meals for the next 12 months that cost about 27 cents per serving.

THAT'S why we cook two turkeys while we could settle for only one. Any more questions?