Our kitchen is all set and ready for the big day!
Having this beautiful kitchen certainly tops my list of things I'm thankful for this year -- we are so blessed, and I'm excited to cook and officially break in this new kitchen over the next few days.
Last year was the first time Frog Prince and I had Thanksgiving at our home. Back in our tiny apartment, dear 3131, we cooked "Giant" -- the first turkey we ever purchased.
Giant was delicious -- locally harvested from a delightful Amish farmer! We are excited for this year's bird too, and are looking forward to all the yummy leftovers. But, first, there's a lot of cooking to be done!
The Menu
Turkey {made on the grill!}
Gravy
Sweet Potatoes and Cranberries {new} - Mom's bringing
Squash - Leftover {just reheat}
Mom's Apple Pie - Mom's bringing
My goal with holiday meal prep is to do as much before hand as possible, and then set up a schedule to aid in making sure the meal is ready at the same time! I do this by determining the "eat time" and working backwards. We hope to eat lunch around 1pm, and with that in mind, I know when to start. Here's the breakdown of how we're setting up this week to get ready for Thanksgiving -- reducing stress and stressing the JOY of cooking this festive meal!
The Breakdown
Sunday
-Hit up the grocery store for any last minute items {mushrooms!!}
Monday
-Make a loaf of bread for the stuffing; this will bring us to enough bread for the recipe. {done}
-Cook up the wild rice; store it in the fridge until Thursday morning. {done}
-Make molasses crinkle dough; store in the freezer until Thursday morning. Maybe bake a few cookies while I'm at it :) {done}
Tuesday
-Make cream of mushroom soup for the green beans; store in fridge until Thursday.
-Pull bread out of the freezer for the stuffing.
Wednesday
-AM: Tear apart bread into bite-sized pieces and set out on the counter to dry out.
-PM: Pick up turkey from mom, make celery/onion mix for the stuffing, assemble breakfast for Thanksgiving day.
Thanksgiving Day
7:00 am - Turn on the crockpot to cook our breakfast casserole, and remove molasses crinkle cookie dough from the freezer {for the pie crust}
7:30 am - Prep the Turkey for the grill; Frog Prince gets grill heated up
8:00 am - Turkey on the grill!
8:30ish -- Breakfast break
9:00 am - Dinner rolls in the bread machine{double batch}; mix together green beans
9:30 am - Bake pie crust; prep filling
10:30 am - Sweet Potato Pie in the oven
11:00 am - Prep Stuffing; Shape dough into rolls (cover to rise)
11:45 am - Wild Rice Stuffing into the oven
12:30 pm - Lucy's dinner rolls into the oven
12:30 pm - Green Bean hot dish into the oven
12:45 pm - Turkey out; allow to set. Make gravy.
~1pm - Happy Thanksgiving!
We'll enjoy pie in the afternoon along with homemade vanilla ice cream {already made}, and fresh spiced whipped cream.
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