Thanksgiving Roundup

Thanksgiving came & went in a blink it felt like. This is my favorite meal of the year, hands down. I have hosted/cooked for so many years now, I feel like I have it down to a science; from the prep, to the timing, to the flavors. All of it. Yes, I am bragging. I have created what to me is the perfect Thanksgiving feast. I make everything from scratch. If I can do it, so can you!

Here are some tips if you find yourself hosting Thanksgiving and doing all of the cooking/baking.

I start off by doing as much as I can the day before. Desserts stay very well made a day in advance, so I get those out of the way. Mashed potatoes, not so much. So be thoughtful when making food in advance! I bake pies, cookies and any other desserts the day before. In addition, I get all of my chopping done. Onions, shallots, garlic, celery, mushrooms, etc. I also wash potatoes so they are ready to be peeled and chopped. Cranberry sauce is also perfect to make the day before. For stuffing, I get my bread dried out. I use the air fryer setting on my own at the lowest temp. Once dry, I bag it up.

Getting this prep work done means the day of, it all comes down to timing and I can easily just throw things together.

My next tip is to enlist a helper for clean up, if possible. My husband does all of the dishes so I can focus on cooking. Not having to worry about hand washing bowls in between, allows me to have a little bit of down time between cooking side dishes. He is also on kid duty, so if my kids start to act up a bit, he is on hand to take them to the park so they can burn off some energy.

Next is come up with your order of operation. The first thing I do is get the turkey in the oven. Second is work on the dinner rolls. I use a recipe that uses yeast and so that needs to spend a solid hour for the first rise. Once that first rise is done, I shape them and stick in the fridge. I pull them out for the second rise, 45 minutes or so before I am ready to put them in the oven. The stuffing is the next dish I focus on. I do not stuff my turkey, ever. Last thing I want is to risk anyone getting sick. So I get the stuffing made and in the oven along side the turkey. This goes in the oven when there is about an hour left until the turkey is done. I then move on to the green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. I start making my homemade cream of mushroom, while I get potatoes peeled and chopped. Once the cream of mushroom is done, I put together the casserole and get that in the oven. The crispy onions go on in the last 10 minutes. At this point, the potatoes should be boiling. I also get squash going around this time. By the time the mashed potatoes are done and squash are done, the turkey should be ready to come out of the oven.

At this point, I crank the oven up and get those bread rolls cooking, which take about 10 minutes. During that time, I make the gravy and get everything organized for serving. The bread rolls come out and the turkey gets carved.

Everyone can now dig in!

I hope these tips are helpful. Cooking such an elaborate meal can be overwhelming, but with some planning and prep, it is possible to do and also enjoy doing it. Thanks to having a plan outlined, I turned on Christmas movies and was really able to enjoy the process.

P.S. Take photos, or ask someone to take them for you. You will notice there is only one photo to this post, which was taken the day after, because we literally took none. Zero.

I will eventually create blog posts for my Thanksgiving recipes, however, there is one that I cannot call my own that I will share now. I have made this dinner roll recipe for years. The only thing I do different is bake at 400 degrees and they come out perfect every time. I am now known for making these and my kids refer to them as “moms famous bread rolls.” These bread rolls have become a holiday tradition in my family and something that my kids will forever remember.

I would love to know, what is a dish that is a holiday tradition in your family?