Daily Archives: November 21, 2011

Nov 21

Thanksgiving Prep: Day 1

Two posts in one day! I was going to share some of my tips and hints for holiday cooking and hostessing, but I just couldn’t get the wording right. I decided instead to do a little daily journal of what I’m doing to get ready for Thanksgiving. I’ll hopefully have one up every day until the big turkey day.

Monday:

I’m using the little time that I have… Dylan is in school for the morning (his only day this week) and Agnes is napping. I’m putting away laundry, and washing up a quick three loads of laundry. I stopped to do a little exercise on my new gazelle, and flipped on the Cooking channel to give me some motivation to get started. 30 minutes on the gazelle done, and I’ve decided on a pastry

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To Do List:

  1. Finalize the Thanksgiving menu
  2. Check with attending guests, and see what they are bringing (that way there aren’t any duplicates)
  3. Write up the shopping list, and add coupons if I can. I am shopping for the next full week, I don’t want to have to go back to the store until after next Monday. I’m going to try and avoid the Black Friday crowds entirely.
  4. Start the Croissant dough, first proof in the fridge
  5. Make the pie crust, and put it in the freezer
  6. Clean out the freezer and clean out the fridge too.
  7. Take out the trash, and take care of any icky chores (litter-box)
  8. Wash the dishes, and pay the bills. With the kids home from school I don’t have much time on the computer, so I had better get anything that I have to pay close attention to done today.
  9. Fold the three loads of laundry tonight after taking Thade to Tae Kwon Do
  10. Watch some Football and call it a night

This week I’m keeping our meals simple, and with minimal leftovers. I’m going to need the extra space in the fridge for Thanksgiving dishes. I’m also taking the help on Tuesday, and checking out the new pizza place!

Till tomorrow,

nicole

Nov 21

Turkey Time!

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Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite holidays (right next to Halloween)! I love to cook, and cook extra big for the holiday. I also like to stay home, so I love to treat my out-of-town guests to an extra tasty meal.

Getting it all together can be a bit tricky. There is a lot of planning involved. I start back in Spring making a Turkey a month. I know it sounds silly, but there is a method to my madness. I only have the one oven, and lots of dishes to prepare. Starting earlier in the year helps me get my timing down, and we can eat for a week on those turkey leftovers. I also test out any new recipes way in advance. I’ll bake a few extra pumpkin pies during the Summer and Autumn months too, trust me, you do not want to have a pumpkin pie failure on Thanksgiving.

I luck out though, James loves Thanksgiving, so he doesn’t mind having a mock-Thanksgiving dinner a few times a year. The turkey freezes well too, and you can make a crazy amount of Turkey stock to use for other dishes.

This week the kids are out of school, so I am getting as much as I can done in advance. I only have this morning to myself, so I am starting the most time consuming dish Fresh Croissants. I’ll start thawing the turkey tomorrow, and finish any shopping too.

I’ll do a quick clean of the downstairs living areas and bathroom too before any guests arrive. I’ll also prep any dishes that I can the day before. I’m excited though, I can’t wait to get started!

So what is your favorite part of Thanksgiving?