There are just a few days left before the biggest foodie celebration of the year! Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a foodie, on this one day of the year you are. Whether you’re the cook or the consumer, our Thanksgiving gathering is all about the food, and that makes us all foodies. Yes, Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude, as it well should be, but among our many blessings are our culinary traditions. We all have certain dishes that must be included in the holiday menu, and sometimes we adventure out to try something new, but old or new those recipes benefit from some planning. It helps to set a timeline. I started mine in early November!
Today, (Monday), I’ll double check my lists and make my final shopping trip. At least I hope it will be my final shopping trip. It seems something else always pops up, but it’d easier to run into the store for one thing than fight the crowds for your whole grocery order. I also plan to utilize the meals I have stashed in the freezer this week. There is enough cooking to do without throwing in big dinner preps, so tonight it will be Very Veggie Chili straight from the freezer. In order to make my Cornbread Dressing I’ll need a recipe of Iron Skillet Cornbread, so I’ll sneak a small piece out for Michael to have with his chili.

Tuesday will be devoted to preparing all the veggies I’ll be needing. I figure out how many portions of diced or sliced onions, carrots, etc. all my recipes will call for and then assemble the cut vegetables into kits. Doing all the veggies ahead this way is a great time saver and eliminates waste, as well. I’m not left with a quarter of an onion or half a stalk of celery. Those just get rolled over into the next recipe. While I’m at it, Grilled Chicken Fajitas will be nearly ready to cook. All I need to add is the chicken and condiments and dinner is served.
Wednesday will be busy, but thanks to what I’ve done in advance, not at all stressful. I already have Rich Turkey Stock in the freezer from the turkey I cooked at the beginning of the month. I’ll just assemble the Cornbread Dressing, make a double recipe of Roast Turkey Gravy from that stock, and put together the Spinach and Artichoke Spread. I think I’ll pick up a baguette to slice and serve with the warm spread. Everything will be ready to go to Emily’s on Thursday.

When I look out my window, it’s kind of hard to realize that Thursday actually is Thanksgiving. The trees are still dressed in green!  These are Bradford Pear trees that typically bloom in February.  Surely they will have dropped their leaves by then!
I hope all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving have a wonderful holiday with friends and family.
Be thankful for what life gives you.