Thanksgiving is right around the corner. In fact it is only 3 days away! Are you ready? Do you do all the cooking? Does everyone bring a dish? Do you have it catered?
Being in charge of this enormous feast, can cause quite the anxiety. If you’re like me, you want everything to be perfect and you prep for days to ensure a wonderful meal for your family and friends. There are many things that can help you, as the host, to have a stress-free Thanksgiving. First of all, don’t be afraid to ask for help! This is one dinner party you can fell comfortable asking family members or friends to bring a specific dish. More than likely, they will volunteer even before you ask. Focus your time on the largest items or maybe things that don’t travel well. Appetizers and desserts are easy to transport and usually won’t take your guests too long to prepare.
As the host, you should make a POA. A Plan of action! Yes, you especially need this for a day like Thanksgiving. Unless you have a restaurant size kitchen (which most of us don’t!) you will need to coordinate what’s in the oven or stove and when. Planning ahead of time will help you elevate any issues of something not being done in time. If you can prepare anything the day before and heat it up day of, that always is helpful. I always prepare my desserts the day before. Most desserts need time to rest anyways, so that’s a perfect thing to prep on Wednesday.
If you are worried about things not being fresh if you prepare early – you can always do all of the chopping and prep work the day before so you just have to throw everything together on Thursday and cook it.
And don’t forget the turkey! You need to be sure to thaw it a couple days ahead of time. A frozen turkey will not cook in time! Also, you need to cook based on the weight of your bird. Here is a great tool to figure out how big your turkey should be and how long to thaw and cook it for. This is pretty cool! http://www.butterball.com/calculators-and-conversions
Here’s what our Thanksgiving feast looks like – Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (although I hate it….my sister insists on bringing it over just plain green beans which I prefer. I’m pretty sure she just does that to annoy me! But hey that’s what family is for, right?!), sweet potato casserole, home-made noodles, corn casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin roll….and of course wine!
If you are close with the host, you can always ask if they want you to come early and help get everything set up. I usually try to go early to help my Mom get everything ready and set out.
Remember, this is a holiday to be thankful for your family, friends, health and wealth. Everything doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s all about being together….even if you still end up with a frozen turkey J
Being in charge of this enormous feast, can cause quite the anxiety. If you’re like me, you want everything to be perfect and you prep for days to ensure a wonderful meal for your family and friends. There are many things that can help you, as the host, to have a stress-free Thanksgiving. First of all, don’t be afraid to ask for help! This is one dinner party you can fell comfortable asking family members or friends to bring a specific dish. More than likely, they will volunteer even before you ask. Focus your time on the largest items or maybe things that don’t travel well. Appetizers and desserts are easy to transport and usually won’t take your guests too long to prepare.
As the host, you should make a POA. A Plan of action! Yes, you especially need this for a day like Thanksgiving. Unless you have a restaurant size kitchen (which most of us don’t!) you will need to coordinate what’s in the oven or stove and when. Planning ahead of time will help you elevate any issues of something not being done in time. If you can prepare anything the day before and heat it up day of, that always is helpful. I always prepare my desserts the day before. Most desserts need time to rest anyways, so that’s a perfect thing to prep on Wednesday.
If you are worried about things not being fresh if you prepare early – you can always do all of the chopping and prep work the day before so you just have to throw everything together on Thursday and cook it.
And don’t forget the turkey! You need to be sure to thaw it a couple days ahead of time. A frozen turkey will not cook in time! Also, you need to cook based on the weight of your bird. Here is a great tool to figure out how big your turkey should be and how long to thaw and cook it for. This is pretty cool! http://www.butterball.com/calculators-and-conversions
Here’s what our Thanksgiving feast looks like – Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (although I hate it….my sister insists on bringing it over just plain green beans which I prefer. I’m pretty sure she just does that to annoy me! But hey that’s what family is for, right?!), sweet potato casserole, home-made noodles, corn casserole, rolls, pumpkin pie, apple pie, pumpkin roll….and of course wine!
If you are close with the host, you can always ask if they want you to come early and help get everything set up. I usually try to go early to help my Mom get everything ready and set out.
Remember, this is a holiday to be thankful for your family, friends, health and wealth. Everything doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s all about being together….even if you still end up with a frozen turkey J