Planning for Thanksgiving

Do a Google search on the turkey to see how long your turkey (by weight and temperature) needs to cook. Follow the brining instructions and the cooking instructions. You can stuff your turkey but I prefer to cook my stuffing separate. If you cook the stuffing separate, then ream the inside of your turkey with butter and put some carrot, celery and onion inside the turkey to give it a little extra vegetable taste or apples for an apple taste. But there are lots of ways to cook your turkey and ways you can prepare it so do some Googling.

Make your stuffing. There are tons of stuffing recipes online so do a Google search if you haven't already.

Make your mashed potatoes or potato salad (which could be made ahead).

Make your gravy.

Be sure you have made up enough tea. Chill your drinks. Go ahead and make up several coffee filters with premeasured coffee and stack them in a bowl so it will make it quick and easy to keep the coffee coming! Pour out cream into your creamer and place in a bowl of ice, fill up the sugar bowl, arrange to have sugar free substitutes. If you make decaf AND caf coffee then make a little sign and tape it on the coffee maker so that it notifies your guests what coffee is in the pot. One side of the sign says "Decaf" and the other side says "Caffeine". Put tape that faces one way and another piece facing the other way. Then you can just peel up, turn around, tape back down and vice versa.

Send husband or teen to pick up the bagged ice and put in a cooler in the kitchen for filling glasses.

About an hour before guests are to come, set out the cheeseball/dips/spreads and crackers. Be sure it is inaccessible to pets or small children.

Set up your buffet. There are ways to keep foods warm even putting them out early. Used chafing dishes, or microwave heat packs. I have several of the vintage electric warming trays that I use. If you buy them at yard sales...be sure the wiring isn't too old and is in excellent shape because you don't want electrical hazards. Also be sure that your buffet is safe from pets and small children. Close the dining room door or use baby gates or something so that they are safe from hot food falling on them or cats jumping on the buffet and making themselves at home. After the turkey is cut, keep it tightly covered with tinfoil so it won't dry out.

There is also a way to keep foods cold. You don't want salads with mayonnaise sitting out all afternoon. So use freezer packs or ice. You can use large bowls(), put some ice or ice gel packs in it and set the salad bowl(s) inside the bigger bowl(s). You will probably need to put a towel under the tablecloth to absorb moisture so that the condensation won't ruin your wood table. This makes a miniature cold bar.

Wipe up the bathrooms and make sure there is toilet paper with extras in view.

Check the coat closet to make sure you have room for guests coats.

Light the scented candles (keep in mind if guests have allergies you will have to snuff them out).

Clean up your kitchen and set the dishwasher running.

Go take your shower and get dressed. Dress in something pretty but comfortable.

Unload the dishwasher.

You should be ready! Happy Thanksgiving!

Planning for Thanksgiving

The rest of this week will be a heavy one so I hope you took my advice and took Sunday off to be with the Lord and rest up. Don't forget to take some time every day for quiet time to settle your nerves. Take your vitamins, eat well and don't miss any other medications you are suppose to take. This week is a marathon so treat yourself right so you can survive it and pass the finish line.

Get some of your weekly cleaning chores behind you by doing them today. It's a good day to get the laundry done, change the sheets. Leave your dusting, bathrooms and vacuum/mopping for Wednesday so that your house is in great shape for Thursday. But if there is anything you can do, do it today because the rest of the week will be wall to wall cooking and cleaning.

If you are having guests to stay overnight, work on their room and bathroom. Make sure you have clean towels, toilet paper and soap in the bathroom, extra blanket in the bedroom. You might add a tray or basket with some extras such as trial sizes of shampoo and lotion; a map of your town; bottled water; etc. Just little things that might make their visit special. Make sure you have a clock or clock/radio for them too. If there is a TV in the guest room add a list of channels (if your cable or satellite company hasn't sent you one, you can usually download from their website).

Clean out your refrigerator. Throw away all your old leftovers (or make a soup for supper). Merge the multiple bottles of ketchup into one and do this for any other multiples. Wipe it out thoroughly to make room.

Take your turkey out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator to start a slow thaw.

If you do your own bread for the stuffing, today is a good day to make and toast that bread and let it stand at room temperature overnight. Tomorrow you can throw into a food processor to make into crumbs. Then store in ziploc bag.

Planning for Thanksgiving

It's Tuesday. Don't forget to take care of yourself today. Take some quiet time to gather your energy.


Today is the day to fry your sausage and bacon that you will need as ingredients. My Sausage and Mushroom Dressing and Broccoli Salad contain sausage and bacon. What I prefer to do is to take my electric griddle outside and cook the bacon and sausage. I like to do large batches at a time, seal meal sizes in vacuum sealed bags and freeze. Then we can take them out and microwave for breakfast or for a recipe. It keeps from smelling the whole house up and keeps the greasy out of the kitchen. My husband built a cooking deck just off the garage. He has his grill and some chairs and a table out there.


Make your dressing today and refrigerate. Then it's ready to pop in the oven on Thursday.


Make any congealed or vegetable salads (like my Broccoli Salad) today.


Make cheeseball or spreads, dips.


If you are doing your own pastry for your pumpkin pies, make up the pastry today and refrigerate.

Planning for Thanksgiving

It's time to start planning for your Thanksgiving! Just a few days away! Sit down TODAY with your notebook and start making your plans.


First make a menu. Be sure you have things from all the food groups...meat/protein, vegetable, fruit, dairy and something sweet. Ok, OK, so dessert isn't a food group! But, for Thanksgiving, it should be! Keep in mind any dietary problems that have to be accommodated. If someone has diabetes have some sugar free sweets and drinks for them (you can buy sugar free cookies, chocolates, or make sugar free cakes), if someone has a food allergy try to accommodate, or at least provide them an alternative. If someone is on a diet, provide attractive substitutes to the calorie laden riches.


Delegate dishes to others for help. Maybe your mother would make her banana pudding and your aunt would bring the potato salad. Maybe your children could help in making simple dishes like the crudites and relish trays. Don't be afraid to ask for help.


While you are making a menu go through your coupons to see if you have any that can help save you money.


Once the menu is determined, and the coupons selected, make your shopping list. Remember, Mothers, your children need to learn how to do these things too. So if they are of the age to be able to help in your planning stage, then by all means include them. Let them suggest menu items, go through the coupons, or help in making the list of what each invited guest can bring. Sit around the dining table and let them see the planning stage and participate.


Make a list of things you can do ahead of time. For instance, on Monday, take the turkey out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator. Tuesday, make the this. Wednesday make the this and that. Anything you can do ahead of time really helps you on Thanksgiving day!


Go shopping and buy only what is on your grocery list. No impulse buying! Stick to your list and you will save money. The minute you buy something that is not on your list, you've blown your coupon savings.


After your planning, you are ready to pull out your silver and sort and polish. Aren't you glad you don't have as much silver as these ladies!?! Modern women don't like silver since you have to polish it to keep it pretty. Too much trouble! But I still like a few pieces of silver (or, in my case, silver plate) to make the table shine. I found out that if you polish regularly then you don't have to work so hard at it. As soon as it gets that little gold sheen to it, polish and it's very easy. Remember, every time you polish silver, you are rubbing silver off. Silver is a soft metal and polishing literally rubs silver off. To keep silver from tarnishing as quickly, remove it from air. Mine stays in the china cabinet and the doors close securely. This has helped keep it from tarnishing as fast. Also, I've read that wrapping your silver in felt silver cloth slows tarnishing. So keeping your silverware in a wooden silverware chest lined with silver cloth, or buying or making silver bags for your silver can really help.


Next, is to wash your Thanksgiving china. Whatever you use for Thanksgiving needs to be washed unless it's your everyday china. I have a thing for china. And I have a set for all the seasons like Spring, Winter, Christmas, Fall, Summer. This is my Fall or Thanksgiving china. My Mom used this china with her Amber Depression glass dishes. It was a great match. I didn't get the Amber Depression glass dishes but I did get this china. Once you've washed it, set it back in the china cabinet to keep it dust free for the week. Or set your table and cover with a sheet.


























After washing your china, be sure to wash the crystal you will be using.

















Now wash your linens. Iron and fold them. Since you are this far ahead of yourself, do a Google search and try folding your napkins real fancy! Kids might like to help with this too. Make it a 10 minute project where all of you take a couple of napkins and learn to fold them into a fancy masterpiece!



Tomorrow we will talk about some more planning tips.

Planning For Thanksgiving

Work up your Mis en Place: This is a French term for preparing all the ingredients for a dish in advance, such as washing, trimming and chopping vegetables; setting out your spices and herbs, etc. Clean and dry salad greens, and store in a resealable plastic bag. Notice in these photos that I found, they used tin foil baking pans to hold the ingredients for each menu item. They used throwaway cups and tops. I think this is one of the handiest tips I've found in a while!

Make Cranberry Sauce or Cranberry Relish or Cranberry Salad and store in container in refrigerator so it can marinate.

Make breads and rolls -- freeze.

Work on your Thanksgiving decorations. A table decoration, placecards, silk flower arrangements, candles, etc. I found these online. Aren't these table arrangements lovely!!!

Planning for Thanksgiving

Today is Sunday! Go to church and have a good lunch. Take a nap. Those are your orders.

Be sure your husband has all the folding tables and chairs gathered together.

This is a good time to grate all your cheeses if you haven't already done it.