Thanksgiving is on the way! In a recent post I shared some tips and tricks on how to make your Thanksgiving stress free and do a bit of pre-planning and make things a lot easier on yourself in the end. Today I wanted to talk about planning a menu for your Thanksgiving celebration. Whether you are having, the all popular "Friends-giving" or planning your own family feast, planning is the key to a successful and happy celebration. The menu is not something that you should stress over. However you should have some cohesive idea about what direction you want your fall feast to take. These are my suggestions. Some are traditional and some are a bit offbeat. No matter what you do, make sure it is done with the style you love and for the people you love!
My first suggestion is to decide what your main protein will be for the meal. Turkey is the most popular choice however, there are people who (gasp!!!) don't like turkey! Some people have turkey and ham, some only ham, some a standing rib roast and even some have one type of seafood on the table, oysters, clams, or salmon for instance. Everything that you will serve will stem from this choice. Today we are going to go with the Turkey and Ham combo. That is what we love to have in our house. Now we can work on building the rest of the meal.
While your turkey or ham may be the star of the meal, the side dishes are certainly playing star supporting roles! Here is a list of some of our favorite side dishes that we will often enjoy for Thanksgiving. We would not have all of these, but maybe perhaps three or four. The truth is, it can be hard to whittle the choices down to just a few but then there are the lovely leftovers now aren't there?! Favorite Side Dishes Include:
That is a lot of sides to choose from and we really haven't even scratched the surface! If you host a number of guests and you ask them to bring a favorite dish, then you may end up with a lot of one thing or a selection of dishes that will make your head swim! Inevitably, you will have some sort of Jell-o mold and something you have to ask "Oh, my! What is this?" Then you will have to smile and say thank you and take another sip of wine or two!
As if all of that deliciousness wasn't enough, now it's time to consider dessert! Since my mom and I share a birthday on the 26th of the month and my daughter Molly celebrates hers on the 28th and since this year, Thanksgiving will actually fall on her birthday, there will most definitely be birthday cake on our table. Then there will be pumpkin pie, pecan pie and I will most likely make chess pie for later in the weekend. Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving to me without chess pie! Dessert is always a personal choice for this celebration meal. Here are some favorites that we have had on our table in the past:
Birthday cake Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Pecan Pie Chocolate Pecan Pie Chess Pie Lemon Meringue Pie Chocolate Mousse Pie Cheesecake Pie Apple Cake Chocolate Ganache Cake Mom's Crustless Cheesecake New York Cheesecake Mom's Strawberry Pretzel Jell-O (amazing!)
Again, just a few things that can be chosen from. What is your favorite? Always make what people love because you love them.
In the end Thanksgiving is, indeed a time to give thanks for what we have, which is each other. Not a time to give thanks for the "stuff" that we have that can sometimes pollute our lives and make us forget what is truly important. Being together and eating this meal is all that is needed to celebrate Thanksgiving. Bowing our head in thanks is the order of the day. No matter if you present chicken chow mein, lasagna, pizza or a stack of hot pockets, be sure to take a look around at those you surround yourself with and give thanks for them being in your life.
You can get wrapped up in the importance of making a meal for Thanksgiving and in the end there will still be a mess to clean up and dishes to load into the dishwasher. No matter what you cook, people are going to love it. You are going to make mistakes and that is no reason to not even try. If this is your first year preparing the big meal, don't worry! It will all be alright! Even if it isn't, you learn from your mistakes and you move on. I promise you won't ever make those mistakes again! Enjoy yourself, enjoy the process of making the meal and serving and eating the meal. Enjoy the people you surround yourself with on that day. You won't get these moments back. You get them once so make them last and make them memorable!
In closing I will give you a look at my holiday menu for this year. One of my favorites and it proves to be tried and true!
Maple & Cider Glazed Turkey with Sage Cranberry, Apple Stuffing made with homemade stuffing bread Cider Gravy Broccoli Souffle Steamed Green Beans Buttered Corn Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes Candied Sweet Potatoes Maple Cranberry Relish Yeast Dinner Rolls Birthday Cake Pumpkin Pie Pecan Pie
I hope this is helpful to you in planning your Thanksgiving meal. I hope you learned something and I hope you never lose sight of what is really important on Thanksgiving. surrounding yourself with the people you care most about in the world!
Until Next time, I'll See Ya! You can find several of these helpful recipes on my website: www.noreenskitchen.com
Some of you may have spent many years preparing your Thanksgiving meal. However there are those who are new, up and coming cooks, homemakers, wives and mothers who have yet to take on this task. This can be a rather daunting thing to face. If you have never so much as purchased a turkey, you may be wondering how on earth you are going to cook an entire meal! I am here to help you. I have some tips and tricks that will be helpful for you to consider when getting ready to make your Thanksgiving debut. I am going to share an excerpt from my cookbook, Noreen's Kitchen Holiday Helper. These are some important time and stress saving tips and tricks that I always employ, year after year to make my holiday preparations much easier. I have often said that it matters not, if you are eating Pizza, Chinese food or a full blown, meal with turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings. What matters is that you are sharing the meal with people that you love. It does not matter how meager or grand your meal may be, you should give thanks for what you have and for those who you are sharing it with. You should always find room at your table for one more and revel in the day and those who are around you. Here are my tips and tricks for a happy and stress free holiday meal: The key to a successful holiday dinner is time management! If you follow these steps you will be able to get your dinner on the table with little stress, strain or hair pulling. Make a menu plan. If you don’t do anything, do this! Stick to the plan and you can’t go wrong. Get out all of your recipes and take an inventory of what ingredients you have on hand and what ingredients you will need. Make a shopping list and do the shopping for your meal at least 5 days in advance if possible. Make a schedule based on the recipes you choose to prepare. This will help you know what takes the longest and what takes the least amount of time. The hardest part of any meal is making everything ready at the same time. Prep your ingredients you will need such as celery, onions and herbs one or two days before. Place them in zip top bags or plastic containers in your refrigerator so when you get ready to make a recipe that calls for those ingredients, you can just reach for them. Cranberry sauce can be made up to 5 days before you need it, cook it, store it in an airtight container and when the day of your celebration arrives, take it out about 1 hour before serving. Make all of your desserts a day before. This will free up oven space as well as save you time. Desserts take a bit more time and concentration. They require more precise measurements than roasting a turkey or mashing potatoes. Doing these a day before will help you manage your time on the day of your celebration. If you will be using the “good” china for your holiday meal, take it out a week before, make sure you have all the service pieces you need, wash everything, use the dishwasher if you can. Anything you can do ahead of time will save you stress later. Set your table the night before if you are able to. It saves a lot of trouble on a day when you will be doing a lot already. On the day of your big meal. Start the day with a good breakfast. It will help you get off on the right foot. Assign others to make sure everything gets done. For instance, give one of the kids the job of taking out the trash, wiping up the counters or making sure the pets stay out from underfoot. Promise yourself to clean as you go and you will not be under a pile of dirty dishes. Fill one side of your sink with soapy water so you can quickly rinse out measuring cups and spoons that you may need to use again. Use disposables like paper plates, bowls and aluminum pans for prep work, cooking and easy clean up. In the end, you will spend less time stressing and more time enjoying when you don’t have to go back to a stack of pots and pans to scrub after a giant meal. Try to make sure the components of your meal are ready 1 hour before you are going to serve. Place the sliced turkey, the veggies, the sweet potatoes etc. in foil pans covered in a warm oven. If you choose to do this with mashed potatoes, just make sure you add a bit more milk because they will thicken up as they sit. When you are ready to serve, plate up and lay out your spread. You won’t believe what a difference a little time management and thinking ahead can do for you! So there you have it! An excerpt from my first cookbook, Noreen's Kitchen Holiday Helper. I hope this is some good information you can use and apply to preparing for your upcoming holiday events. Whether you are new to cooking the holiday meal or you are an old pro, hopefully there are some things here that can help your holiday be much more beautiful! If you would like to get your own copy of my Holiday Helper cookbook or my Cocoa's Cookies and More, Galore cookbook, you can find them here: at Lulu.com So sit down and start planning your Thanksgiving meal! The earlier you start, the easier it will be and the more you will be able to enjoy your family on that special day!
Till Next time, I'll see ya! You can find my cookbooks here:
