Due to their size and demands, many Thanksgiving feasts turn into potlucks; the host family provides the turkey and other core dishes, and guests bring the side dishes. Fortunately for the time-challenged chef, many home-cooked sides can take just 30 minutes or less, Southern Living says. Even a novice can whip up delectable dishes such as roasted carrots, green bean casserole, goat cheese mashed potatoes, cornbread, and macaroni and cheese in minutes for any size crowd, and all are sure to be a big hit at the dinner table. Happy Thanksgiving!
Tag: hosting thanksgiving
Plate A Full Fall Feast in About 24 Hours
One more day until the big feast! Still haven’t gotten a start? The good news, says Kitchn blogger Faith Durand, is that you can do all of your shopping this morning and still have an incredible Thanksgiving dinner on the table tomorrow afternoon. Her suggested menu serves up to 10 people on a budget, and includes all the essentials: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. Ask your guests to bring dinner rolls, a salad and finger foods, and everyone will be thoroughly sated by nightfall tomorrow.
Generate a Thanksgiving Menu Fast
If you’re stuck for inspiration on what to cook for your Thanksgiving feast, don’t despair. The New York Times offers a handy menu generator that offers 16 recipes at a time based upon your party’s size, cooking experience, dietary restrictions, preference in level of tradition and most importantly, the time you have left to cook. Applying the slider settings just 48 hours ahead of the feast, for example, suggests recipes for stuffing, mushroom risotto, creamed onions and brandied pumpkin pie. Get started now, and your guests will think you slaved away in the kitchen for weeks!
The Clock Is Ticking on Thanksgiving Prep
Thanksgiving is just three days away, so if you’re hosting a feast, it’s getting down to the wire to start on the menu. A frozen 12-pound turkey takes 36 hours to defrost, so that should go into the refrigerator immediately. You can also beat the crowds by shopping for perishable ingredients — fresh herbs and vegetables, salad greens, whipping cream, etc. — early in the week and during the off-peak hours, says the Food Network’s Thanksgiving Countdown Calendar. Tomorrow, you can start prepping dishes that will reheat well on the big day such as casseroles and soups.
Declutter Before Your Thanksgiving Feast
Hosting Thanksgiving can be a huge responsibility. The major menu items — turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and so on — aren’t incredibly hard to prepare, but can often be messy and time-consuming. Add to that the need to make your home inviting and presentable for the feast, and the holiday can quickly get to be an unwieldy chore.
If you declutter your home ahead of the feast, however, you will likely find all of the tasks on your list will suddenly become more manageable. When you don’t have to trip over stacks of stuff you don’t need before your guests arrive, your stress will dissipate fast.
The kitchen will see heavy use during the Thanksgiving feast, so make sure it offers the chef a streamlined workspace. Apartment Therapy recommends eliminating clutter by paring down the numbers of duplicate utensils in your drawers. Keep a maximum of three spatulas, three whisks, one can opener and one corkscrew, it says, and donate the rest.
Now, throw away junk that’s collected in the kitchen such as condiment packets, takeout menus, orphaned Tupperware lids and extra glass jars. Toss old rags and sponges, used candles, and expired canned goods and spices. Finally, get rid of anything chipped or less-than-perfect, and file away that refrigerator artwork to make space for a new selection of masterpieces.
The second phase of the kitchen streamlining project should store occasional-use items such as party platters, pie tins, apple peelers, melon ballers, cake stands and pastry bags somewhere other than the kitchen. You may need some of these things for Thanksgiving, the story notes, but taking inventory ahead of time will help you find them exactly when they’re needed.
To keep the home clutter-free for the big day, The Spruce suggests creating a complete “game plan” for the feast and keeping the decorations minimal. Arrangements of mums, fresh fruit, shell nuts and fall gourds make for a simple, seasonal scheme. If you already have lots of Thanksgiving-themed decorations, consider which may be starting to look a bit shabby and get rid of them.
As you streamline your kitchen and decorate your space ahead of the holiday, set aside those kitchen utensils, appliances and other goods you no longer need and contact ClothingDonations.org for a pickup. Before you know it, your house will be free of some of that clutter and full of family and friends — and that’s what makes lasting memories.