Are you ready for Thanksgiving? I think I am. I’m hosting this year for my family, my dad and his wife, and my mom. I love hosting family dinners, but there’s a lot to do. It’s easy to forget something, if you don’t make a list.
Here’s my list for the week:
Today
- Clean the house
- Finish any laundry that needs to be done before Thanksgiving
- Make cranberry sauce
Tomorrow
- Make make-ahead mashed potatoes
- Make yam casserole (I’m topping mine with marshmallows this year)
- Fry bacon and toast slivered almonds for green beans
- Make stuffing
- Pull rolls out of refrigerator
- Make sure turkey is defrosted. If not, give it a water bath.
- Pull out the Thanksgiving Journal
Thanksgiving Day
- Prepare turkey, place in oven bag, and roast in oven
- Put sparkling cider in the refrigerator
- Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with the kids. Cheer on the Grants Pass High School marching band.
- After the turkey comes out of the oven, bake stuffing, mashed potatoes, and yam casserole.
- Assemble green beans
- Heat rolls
- Make gravy
- Carve turkey, serve, and enjoy!
My mom is bringing the shrimp cocktail and the pies, and my dad and his wife are bringing the wine and the salad, so I don’t have to worry about any of those things.
I like to cook food that can be prepared the day before, because I’d rather spend Thanksgiving Day visiting with the family than spend all day in the kitchen.
What are you doing to get ready for Thanksgiving?
Because I will be 37w pregnant on thanksgiving and have a 23m old and we are far from family, we are keeping it really simple this year! We are ordering a prepared dinner from an area restaurant. Cheating, yes, but I’m excited!
We are right on track with our Thanksgiving, which will actually be on Friday. I baked a cake from scratch on Sunday afternoon, and it is in the refrigerator; my husband will make another cake on Thursday while I am at work. The side dishes (green bean casserole, yams, fruit salad, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy) are all planned and I will make the cornbread Thursday night after work and cook the giblets then also. We do an open house, and it’s always fun. Have a very blessed Thanksgiving!