Making a big turkey dinner can be stressful. And who wants to spend the day in the kitchen once your guests have arrived? I recently had my family over to make Christmas cards. (More on that in the 25 Days of Christmas Activities). I wanted to make a turkey dinner. We had a turkey in the freezer that we need to eat in order to make room for venison. I didn’t want to be making turkey dinner while my family was making cards. So what did I do? I did quite a bit of prep before they arrived. Here is a list of Six Thanksgiving Jobs to Do Before Your Guests Arrive.
Six Thanksgiving Jobs to Do Before Your Guests Arrive
One: Peel and Cut Potatoes
My husband once told me I have two culinary talents that made me marriage worthy (among my many other marriage worthy traits, these two would be enough to seal the deal in his mind). My chocolate cake (which truthfully is the recipe from the Hershey’s Cocoa Box) and my mashed potatoes. The secret? Love. No, just kidding. It’s salt in the water. Plenty of butter and a hand mixer. And, you can get it ready ahead of time. Peeling potatoes takes a lot of time. But even the night before, you can peel them and cut them. Then just place them in your pot with salted water and cover until you’re ready to turn the stove on. Make sure that the water covers the potatoes or they will turn brown. About half an hour before dinner will go on the table, you can drain them and add fresh water. Oh and set the butter out too, so that it will melt easily. And, kids love to run a hand mixers, so let your kids help with once you get to the mashing stage.
Two: Peel and Cut Squash
We live in the northeast, so winter squash (usually butternut, sometimes Hubbard or buttercup) is a must. Most years, we do squash in place of sweet potatoes. Just like the potatoes, you can peel it, cut it and put it in salted, cold water until you are ready to cook. About 20 minutes before dinner will go on the table, drain and add fresh, salted water.
We don’t mash, we just leave it in chunks and serve it with butter. However, you could easily mash the squash too. In fact, if you want to serve mashed squash, you could to the whole thing the night before, put it in a casserole dish and reheat it in the microwave or in the oven.
Three: Make Dressing
We generally don’t stuff our bird with bread stuffing, but instead add a couple apples, some citrus fruit and/or onions and garlic cloves. I do, however, make bread stuffing from scratch and bake it in a casserole dish which makes it dressing not stuffing. Then, you can make it all in one dish. Melt the butter and cook onions and celery in the microwave right in your casserole dish. Add spices, bread cubes and stock. Cover and set aside until the bird comes out of the oven. Then adjust your temperature and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Four: Prepare Green Bean Casserole
Green Bean Casserole is one of those things. People either love it or hate it. My husband and I love it. So it is on our menu. I use frozen beans. Add the condensed soup, milk and fried onions that mix in. Cover and set aside until you are ready to bake.
Five: Cut Veggies
My kids are cauliflower people. They also like broccoli and a number of assorted other veggies including raw (but not cooked) carrots and cut cucumber. When I cook cauliflower, I usually use fresh. This obviously add an extra step, but it is worth it. All the veggies can be cut ahead and kept in cold water or in zipper bags. About 10-12 minutes before dinner goes on the table, you can put them in a pot of salted water and cook. Or, put them in a microwave safe dish with a lid or plastic wrap and microwave for 5-7 minutes.
Six: Cranberry Sauce
For Thanksgiving, I generally make cranberry sauce from scratch. Sometimes it is a cooked version, sometime a cold relish. Even if you prefer the canned stuff, you can put it in your serving dish ahead time and save yourself a few more minutes to spend with your guests.
Planning Ahead:
More Thanksgiving Jobs to Do Before Your Guests Arrive
For my most recent turkey dinner, I did all six of these Thanksgiving Jobs to Do Before Your Guests Arrive between 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM which meant that I was ready to go when my card making guests arrived at 9. All of these are jobs that I could just have easily have done the night before. I could also have gotten the turkey ready. Because I didn’t have a place to store the turkey once it was in the roasting pan, I didn’t do this, but if you have the space, or it is cold enough outside, you could also get your turkey ready ahead of time, too.
Sunshine wanted to make chocolate mousse. We waiting until after dinner to make it, but for Thanksgiving day, she will make it ahead time and we will take it with us to my in-laws. (She doesn’t like pie and she loves to make this super easy mousse recipe–it’s her specialty right now.)
Oh, and don’t forget to make up a pitcher of Thanksgiving Mimosa!
What do you do to spend more time with your guests on Turkey Day. We would love to hear in the comments below.
We hope that you have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!
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