I Need Thanksgiving Dinner Help...

by skeeter1 24 Replies latest jw friends

  • changeling
    changeling

    Sides and dessets should always be made the day before. When I cook a turkey all I cook is the turkey and the mashed potatoes on the day of.

    When you take the turkey out of the oven, pop in the sides while the turkey rests and you make the gravy. They will be done by the time you finish carving.

    changeling

  • Bumble Bee
    Bumble Bee

    Restrangled started a thread awhile ago and I posted a make ahead mashed potato recipe. You can make them up to three days ahead and are yummy yummy yummy!

    BB

  • Finally-Free
    Finally-Free
    I Need Thanksgiving Dinner Help...

    Damn, I misunderstood your subject at first. I was all set to pack my appetite and come on down.

    We had our Thanksgiving last month. I had my dinner alone this year, so I made a duck unstead of a turkey. I made cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries, garlic/sour cream mashed potatos, stovetop stuffing, steamed mixed veggies, and butternut squash. Hazelnut cake for dessert.

    W

  • Hortensia
    Hortensia

    I used to have 30 for Thanksgiving, loved it, but it was a lot of work. I finally developed a menu that everyone liked and so I did it the same every year. Some short cuts:

    wash the salad greens the day before, wrap in a dish towel and put in a plastic bag in the frig. Dice up some veggies for the salad and store in another plastic bag. Use Newman's own balsamic vinaigrette on the day.
    Microwave a bunch of sweet potatoes until really mushy. Put them aside to cool. Peel and mash with some dried aprictos and some bourbon or orange juice. Put in baking dish, cover and refrigerate.
    Prepare your green veggie - trim green beans, or brussel's sprouts. Whatever you pick, prepare it to the point of cooking, put in a plastic bag. The next day, microwave the green beans or brussel's sprouts in a little water until tender. Grate some cheese or lemon peel over the top and call it done.
    Instead of mashed potatoes, I always made colcannon the day before, put it in a baking dish, covered, and stored until the turkey was done. Cooks at the same time in the oven as the sweet potatoes.
    Make your stuffing a day or two ahead, put in a large greased baking dish, cover and freeze. Take it out of the freezer when you put the turkey in the oven. When the turkey is done, it needs to sit for 20 minutes or so, long enough to cook the stuffing in the over and make the gravy.
    Buy pies or assign dessert to other people.
    I like to do the Pennsylvania Dutch thing of seven sweets and sours - little dishes all over the table with nice things I just pour out of jars: olives, pickles, nuts, applesauce, marmalade, salsa, pickled peaches or crabapples or picked grapes, whatever comes to mind and looks pretty in a little dish.
    So most of the work gets done the day before - I even set the table the day before and set out all the serving dishes and serving utensils. This year, however, I'm not doing Thanksgiving, so it was fun to read your thread and have a vicarious Thanksgiving.

  • skeeter1
    skeeter1

    Thanks everyone! Looks like I'll be doing alot ahead of time...which works out for me. I'll be cooking alot on Tuesday, as Wednesday the kids are home from school & the guests arrive.

    Skeeter.

  • skeeter1
    skeeter1

    Hortensia, what is "colcannon"?

  • Bumble Bee
    Bumble Bee

    Here is the link to the thread started by restrangled. There are some good recipies there.

    Colcannon is an Irish potato dish. Had a lot of this and champ when I was growing up! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colcannon

    BB

  • ex-nj-jw
    ex-nj-jw
    Hortensia, what is "colcannon"?

    My question too nj

  • DJK
    DJK

    I haven't prepared T-Day dinner in ten years. I still do Christmas dinner, same menu as T-Day.

    When guests offer to bring something, I say pies.

    I get up very early and do the whole dinner myself, in time for a 1 pm meal.

    It's a four beer job before guests arrive.

  • Hortensia
    Hortensia

    It's an Irish potato dish, absolutely yummy and you can make it ahead. I got the recipe I use out of Jane Brody's Good Food cookbook. Basically you wash and slice leeks, and in a separate pile shredded cabbage, and in another pile diced potatoes. Cook the leeks in boiling chicken broth until tender, then fish them out and put in the cabbage, cook until the cabbage is tender and a pretty green. Then strain out the cabbage and cook the potatoes in the same water. Put the leeks and cabbage in a large bowl. Add the potatoes. Add some shredded parmesan cheese. Mash until creamy, use some of the broth if necessary. Put in a buttered dish, cover, stick in the frig. Heat through in the oven after the turkey is done - so when the turkey is done I used to pull it out and immediately put in the stuffing, colcannon and sweet potatoes to heat while the turkey rested and I made gravy. Then I served salad first, and by the time everyone is done with salad all the stuff in the oven is hot.

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