Hello there! Some people are counting down the days to Christmas and playing all the music; I even saw Christmas decorations on a house yesterday. Whoa!! Pause people! Have you forgotten that Thanksgiving is coming up? Put away the tree until at least November 28. First, we have a feast to plan!
Make sure you read to the end for exclusive recipes only found here on my Substack!
Some people obsess over Halloween, the Fourth of July, and even Christmas. I, too, obsess over Christmas, but not until I’m done obsessing over Thanksgiving—one thing at a time. Thanksgiving is our holiday. We will get done with this years dinner, and we will all be like, man, I can’t wait until next year. I wanted to share our tricks and tips for keeping a handle on all things Thanksgiving! (When I say our, this includes my sister because she is a Master at Thanksgiving as well.)
First, I need to say, by some people’s standards, our celebrations may be downscale or maybe not. It may seem upscale to you. My idea of upscale is like a full-blown Martha Stewart table scape and matchy-matchy everything. However, it appears to you. I hope you at least glean some insight into how to love others around your table, how to enjoy the day , and the people that you love! So in the words of Tone Loc “Let’s do it!”
The week before:
Make your menu. Check in with guests to confirm who is coming and what they are bringing to the table, and determine whether anything they are bringing needs to be cooked before or after they arrive. Then make your grocery list. The list should include everything: food, napkins, drinks, and anything else you will need for Thanksgiving Day. Go shopping. Yes, go shopping a week in advance. There aren’t many things that won’t keep for a week, and whatever cannot keep for a week, you can shop for the week of, and then pick up the things you either forgot or couldn’t find when you went the week before. Make sense?
Turkey:
Make sure to give your turkey plenty of time to thaw. He needs 1 day for every 4lbs, so if you have a 16-pound turkey, take it out of the freezer 4 days ahead of time. For all the turkey do’s and dont’s go HERE. This is probably the most crucial thing you will do, so make sure you read up and thaw your turkey properly.
The Monday before Thanksgiving (three days out):
Clean your house. Get out all the pans, dishes, and platters you will need on Thursday, or at least locate them. It’s a good idea to locate your serving spoons as well and count your silverware! Things have been known to go missing in my house, and come the big day, I don’t want to be short on forks, knives, or anything, actually! Last year, I had to buy extra spoons and butter knives, because somehow in the course of the year, some were missing in action. I just bought cheap stuff. Take out your turkey if you haven’t already!! If making homemade cranberry sauce do that today or as early as a week in advance.
Tuesday before Thanksgiving (two days out):
I start cooking. We are blessed to have an extra refrigerator, so this makes things easy, but when we ,didn’t I relied on it being cold and I used my garage. In Michigan, it is usually below 40 degrees F at the end of November, so that works, but if you live somewhere warmer or if you get a heat wave (which has been known to happen here), then you might want to borrow some fridge space from a family member or neighbor. I make my Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, corn casserole and Sweet Potato Casserole on Tuesday. I chop all my vegetables for my stuffing. I make my pie crusts. (Pie crusts can be made weeks in advance and frozen.)
Make any sides that you can ahead of time, and refrigerate until the day of cooking. Depending on how much time I have, I will make my dinner rolls on Tuesday as well, but I may leave that for Wednesday. Or I have been known to get them from a bakery.
The Turkey: Again the turkey, are you wet or dry brining your turkey? Check the directions for whatever you are doing to prepare your turkey, because you may need to start that a couple of days in advance!
Wednesday (the day before the big meal):
Check your bird, if it’s in the refrigerator and it feels like it’s still frozen solid, get that guy out on the counter or in your bathtub to thaw!! Remember to check the link above for all your turkey dilemmas. Make the Pies. Make the stuffing/dressing. I do not stuff my bird with bread stuffing, so technically it’s dressing. I fully assemble my dressing on Wednesday, place it in my crockpot dish, and refrigerate it until about 2 hours before I start cooking. I also set my table the day before and put everything in its designated spot: the drink station and the dessert area. Do as much as you can on Wednesday, so you have the least amount to do on Thursday. I am the worst at delegating. DELEGATE!
You don’t have to do it all; enlist your family to help with some of the tasks, whatever they may be.
Thanksgiving Day
Take the sides you made ahead of time out of the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature. Prep the turkey and get it in the oven. Figure out how long it needs to bake, then count backward from when you want to eat and subtract an extra hour. Subtracting this extra hour gives you an hour of leeway in case your turkey takes longer to cook. Also, you need to let your turkey rest for at least 20 minutes after taking it out of the oven before carving it. I write everything down. How long does each item need to bake and at what temperature? This way, I can ensure that everything gets done at the same time.
TIP: Because none of my sides need more than an hour in the oven, I bake my turkey, then remove it and tent it with aluminum foil to let it rest. Then I put all my sides in the oven. About 20 minutes before the sides are done, we carve the turkey.
Thanksgiving Day Menu
Green Bean Casserole (This one is the world’s best! It has extra special ingredient. Don’t mock it to you’ve tried it.)
Sweet Potato Casserole - the pioneeer womans recipe
Corn Casserole, or Corn and Wild Rice Casserole, or cooked corn with butter
Maple Glazed Delicata Squash (see exclusive recipe below)
homemade fresh Cranberry Sauce
Fresh Salad - Michigan Salad with maple vinaigrette (see below)
Pie / Dessert - Pumpkin Pie, Dutch Apple Pie, Caramel Apple Crunch Pie, Pecan Pie, Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie, Lush Dessert, Maple Whipped Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream
Snacks & Pregame: keep it simple. A charcuterie board for people to nibble on, Holiday Nut Mix, a veggie platter with feta herb dip. The Detroit Lions always play on Thanksgiving so we need game snacks to watch the game and tide us over until the main event.
So there you have it! Our Thanksgiving menu. There may be a dish or two added, but nothing is ever taken away from this list of recipes. My sister and I split the menu, and if guests want to bring anything extra — a favorite of theirs — then I say go for it. Our guest list is a bit of a free-for-all; whoever doesn’t have a place to go is welcome. My oldest daughter is attending medical school in our town, but many of her classmates are not lucky enough to be near family and can’t get home for the holiday, so we have had a few new faces at our table the last couple of years, which I love! We even had a dear friend in from out of town last year, just because she wanted to be with us on Thanksgiving Day. She wanted to experience the madness! LOL
Just for you, dear reader, exclusive Substack-only recipes below.
Maple Glazed Delicata Squash
3 delicata squash
1/4 cup butter (no substitutes it has to be butter)
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 teaspoon gochujang paste
flaky finishing salt (like Maldon finishing flaky salt)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Wash squash with hot water thoroughly. Cut each end off, and then cut lengthwise down the center. Clean out the seeds. Leave the skin on the squash.
Cut each length into 1 inch pieces.
Melt butter. Whisk maple syrup and gochujang paste into the melted butter. Toss pieces of squash in this mixture.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and line up squash slices on the baking sheet. There should be some of the maple butter sauce left, don’t throw it away.
Place squash in preheated oven for 15 minutes, remove and flip squash pieces over and baste with the remaining sauce. Return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Remove to a platter, sprinkle with flaky salt, and enjoy!
Note: Delicata squash has a short season if you cannot find it you can use butternut squash chunks. Cut off the skin for butternut squash, cut into 1 inch chunks, cook it the same way as the delicata.
(There is.. or will be a reel on my socials of me making this spectacular squash side.)
This salad is the exclusive!! I may put it on my blog at some point but for now you can only find it here.
Michigan Salad with Maple Vinaigrette
1 pound Mixed Greens
2 sweet onions, caramalized (click the link for a caramelizing onion tutorial)
2 pears, cored and sliced thin
1 cup dried cherries
2 cups diced honey crisp apple
1 cup walnuts
4 ounces crumbled goat cheese
1 tbsp maple syrup
1tbsp Dijon Mustard
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Begin by caramelizing the onions. Slice them and cook them on medium-low heat in a tablespoon of butter until rich, and dark brown, about 45 minutes. (You can do this step ahead caramelized onions will last up to a week in the refrigerator).
Vinaigrette: Spoon Dijon into the bottom of a mason jar. Add balsamic, and maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Shake well. Add oil, and shake again. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste. Set aside.
Assemble: Toss the greens with half the vinaigrette, then add the rest of the ingredients, the rest of the dressing, and toss again. If you’d like to make it a more substantial main course salad, you can add two cups of cooked chicken breast as well.
Thanksgiving day time savers:
I love to make my own dinner rolls; however, this is one thing you can buy, and it will save you some time. Delegate! Have a sign-up sheet and let everyone bring something. If you do this, you might end up with only the bird! If you are unlike me and do not love to cook, then delegating all the dishes is the way to go! Use paper plates (I know this isn’t very eco-friendly, but it will save you quite a bit of time cleaning up). Don’t forget to make a list and a plan; this will save you so much time! I promise. What does my husband always say? Preparation is the key to success! Or something like that, or is it “prepare to be prepared,” whatever! Just make a list and check it thrice.
Did I miss anything? Please feel free to ask me anything. I’d love to help! Also, share this post and restack. It’s nice to share :) .
Have the best day ever! From my table to yours with so much love, Sheila
This all looks so good! Thanks for sharing your recipes. I wish we were celebrating at home this year, as I am really dying to make a big holiday meal! Enjoy!!!
Love your thoughtful organized way of sharing your Thanksgiving planning! Your recipes look delish! Can’t believe you make so many pies! Thanks for sharing! Always enjoy what you post! 💕