Thankfully Organized - Make A List

Need a stress-free Thanksgiving? Now is the time to make a schedule of things that need to be done. For every holiday, I make myself a great cup of coffee and sit down with a pad of paper and a pen (I'm old-fashioned). I make a list of things that need to be done and make sure that there's time for everything.

If you notice, I always block out time for myself at the end of every day. This keeps me calm, organized, and ready to tackle my next list. Did I mention that I'm a "type A personality"? So lists are kind of my thing, and I like things organized.

When it's less than one week out from the big day I'll start making my assorted breads (zucchini, pumpkin, banana, etc) and freeze them. Pies will be put together and frozen, unbaked.

Let's take a quick peek at how you can prepare for your holiday and allow yourself time to enjoy it too. The recipes were posted on previous blogs to get you ready for the big day. If you want to print them out, right-click with your mouse and your print menu will come up. Hit "print" and you'll have a hard copy of the recipe to work with.

Thanksgiving Monday

This day is normally my "preview to the week" day and I like to inventory my linens to plan my tablescape. What, you don't do a tablescape? This is where you can get creative and make your table unique.

This is my Thanksgiving table from last year. The items that I selected to use all have special meanings to us. We use my parent's china, the gold wear is from my best friend's Grammy and the crystal is the first big purchase we made after we got married. As beautiful as the table may appear, we always enhance our table with a folding chair. Normally my house is "open for Thanksgiving Day", welcoming anyone who has nowhere to go. This year, unfortunately, the virus has forced us to keep to our family pod. We'll make "to go" goodie boxes for some and write them a warm note of cheer.

Like you, I'm adjusting this year to all the changes. The bakery isn't taking bread orders and my hubby will have to go to the bakery early on Thanksgiving Morning.

Thanksgiving Tuesday

This is my favorite day, I get to prepare all the pies that I want to serve on Thanksgiving and freeze them. The pies are prepped but not baked. I make a few extra pie shells and freeze them as well. My family likes chocolate pudding pie that doesn't require baking. My cookies are made for Thanksgiving and I store them in air-tight tins and HIDE THEM so the cookie monsters in my house can't find them before the big day.

At the end of the day, I review my list for Wednesday which is my big prep day. Tuesday is normally a light day and I've decided to slow down. By always rushing to get things done and all the work that went into making the feast, I didn't seem to enjoy the day. Maybe it's true, that you get wiser with age.

When we first got married, I thought I had to do everything and honor both families by making a traditional meal that we grew up with. I had an epiphany and realized that it was time to make our own traditions. Don't get me wrong, I still make two different kinds of stuffings, one being my Dad's and the other my mother-in-law's, but all the other food was overwhelming. We said goodbye to the soup starter, the antipasto and the pasta. This will probably get me thrown out of the Italian section in Heaven, but my family can now appreciate the food that is on the table. We even scaled the desserts down to mini pies, no rice pudding and Italian pastries can wait for the Christmas dessert table.

Thanksgiving Wednesday

This day starts with a Venti Starbucks with a double shot of espresso. You're going to need it today to get everything prepped and as much cooked as possible. After my Starbucks run, I go directly to ShopRite at 6 am, early to avoid the crowds, to pick up my produce and last-minute items for Thanksgiving. If you're there, wave to me, I'm the one smiling and singing Christmas Carols that early in the morning. Yup, coffee kicked in!

Back home, time to get cooking with more Christmas music playing on the stereo. (do people still call it a stereo?) I find a happy chef makes the best-tasting food. Watching my knife cuts, I carefully chop everything for my stuffings and set it aside. I make the cranberry chutney and put that in the refrigerator for tomorrow. Sweet potatoes are washed and in the oven on a disposable baking sheet. Trust me on this one, you want to use a disposable baking sheet under the sweet potatoes. Vegetables are cut up for the vegetable crudites and put in Ziploc bags. I like to put out fresh veggies before we eat to help curb my appetite and offer a healthy start to our meal.

It's time to go back to my garden and cut long sprigs of rosemary to make napkin rings. Rosemary is an aromatic evergreen shrub that will be a delightful addition to the table. Loop the sprig into a circle (I attach it with scotch tape, no really) and garnish with a bow. This is a perfect napkin ring for your linen napkins.

Rosemary is a symbol of remembrance for the dead. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia says, "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance." By having rosemary as a napkin ring, it reminds us of all our loved ones who are no longer with us this Thanksgiving.

One of the other items that were eliminated from our Thanksgiving table was the large bowl of mixed nuts. It was fun when we were kids to crack them and pick out the nuts from the shells. Now, as an adult, I don't find it as much fun and would rather buy them shelled already.

The table is set with the pressed linens from Thanksgiving Monday and the beautiful china. I like to cover the plates so dust doesn't fall on them overnight.

We always find time at night to make a fire in the fireplace, have a glass of wine, and give thanks. This is the time to recharge your battery because of tomorrow...... it's show time!

THANKSGIVING DAY

The first thing I'm thankful for is that my husband goes to the bakery to retrieve the bread. I found that I'm a little too cheerful that early in the morning and people don't receive me well.

The turkey is washed, dressed, and put in the oven by 7:00 am. The rule is to cook your turkey for twenty minutes per pound. We take the giblets and the turkey neck, clean them, and put them in a pot of water with onions, celery, and garlic. This will simmer on low heat to make the stock for the giblet gravy.

We have a tradition to make a second Thanksgiving Feast and deliver it by noon. Yes, I enjoy cooking so much that I make two full Thanksgiving meals in 24 hrs. The first turkey cooks all night long and is basted with love, knowing it's going to feed others. That bird goes in the oven at 11:00 pm and I nap on the sofa and get up every hour to baste the bird. When one turkey comes out of the oven at 6:45 am the next one is ready to go in.

At 1:00 pm the frozen pies are taken out of the freezer and put in the oven. Our turkey is cooked so the oven is empty and ready for the next batch of food. Along with the pies the sweet potatoes are halved and put in the oven. The brulee topping will be done just before they are brought to the table to ensure there is a crisp layer of sugar on top.

Chestnuts are the one thing that I won't eliminate from our Thanksgiving. I'm the only one in our house that eats them but the smell of them roasting tells me it's a holiday. Wash your chestnuts and soak them in warm water for about 15 minutes. This will soften the shell so you can cut an "X" in them. The cut is to allow the steam to escape from the chestnut. If you make a "Y" instead of an "X" it's all good, the idea is to allow the shell to start to curl back and show you the soft, tasty chestnut. They will take about an hour at a low temperature to cook. I like to roast them while we're eating our dinner and serve them warm for dessert.

The best part of Thanksgiving for us is after the delicious meal is over and the dishwasher is loaded, we all put sweats on and put the Christmas CDs in the stereo. Traditionally, the first song played is Christmas Serenade - Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge. This is for us, the beginning of the holiday season and the countdown to Santa's arrival.

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