No need to look at the calendar. Where we live, the leaves are turning. There is a chill in the air. Thanksgiving is coming!
After the terrible Palisades Fire January 7, 2025, we needed a plan. We had lost our home, our beautiful 80-year old towering trees and everything inside our house. We had to start over again.
Through an accident of good luck, we found a house that we loved. We didn't have a view of Santa Monica Bay any longer, but we moved into a lovely neighborhood with friendly neighbors.
With Thanksgiving only a few weeks away, we returned to a post from a few years ago that gave us a time-line to prepare for my mother's favorite holiday. She loved the food, the gathering of friends and family and the positive outlook of a holiday that sought to bring everyone to the table.
IT'S TIME TO PREPARE
If you are hosting the meal at your house, even before the vegetables are prepped and the turkey is brined, there is a lot you can do that will make the holiday go more smoothly.
Whether you are hosting a dinner of six or twenty-six, with so many dishes, planning is essential. And that means being prepared. Planning ahead ultimately means less stress and more fun on Thanksgiving.
Make a Time Line of What Needs to Be Done
Step 1 - as soon as you decide who will host, invite the guests so you have a head-count and ask who will bring a favorite Thanksgiving dish
Step 2 - for the dishes you will prepare, pull out the recipes you want to make (either favorites or new dishes), make an ingredients list and a preparation time line (some dishes like pickles can be made the week before, some like an apple pie and the turkey are best made on Thanksgiving)
Step 3 - clean the house
Step 4 - do an inventory of your chairs, table cloths and flatware. If you have 10 guests and only 6 chairs and place settings, borrow what you need.
Step 5 - dust off that extra table you keep in the garage
Step 6 - shop for ingredients and any utensils you need
Step 7 - cook ahead what you can. Give Thanksgiving day assignments to family and friends. I like to keep the table and kitchen looking as clean as possible. Who will clear the table. Who will clean dishes. Who will take out the trash.
Step 8 - on Thanksgiving, wake up early, put the turkey in the oven and have a timeline for what needs to use the oven. After you have swept the floors and set the table, with 30 minutes before friends and family arrive, enjoy a quiet moment before you greet everyone and share the feast!
Step 9 - After the delicious meal has been enjoyed by all, glasses have been raised to thank you for hosting Thanksgiving , so you don't wake up in the morning with a kitchen cluttered with stacks of dirty dishes, get as much help as you can to help with clean up.
Step 10 - After you have said goodbye to your last guest, now it's time to time to lie down and rest, happy that you have made this Thanksgiving a holiday to remember.
Make a List of What You Want to Serve
The recipes we use are a mix of the ones we've perfected over the years and a couple that are new to us. We want to have the favorites and also to shake it up a bit, to have some surprises.
Among the favorites are kosher dill pickles, corn bread stuffing with Italian sausage and shiitake mushrooms, cranberry sauce with nuts and orange juice, shiitake mushroom-turkey liver pate and chocolate banana walnut cake.
I'll make the Moroccan style pickles that I learned to make on a trip to Marrakech. The kosher dill pickles only need 2-3 days to cure, so I'll make those on Monday of Thanksgiving week.
The recipes we use are a mix of the ones we've perfected over the years and a couple that are new to us. We want to have the favorites and also to shake it up a bit, to have some surprises.
Among the favorites are kosher dill pickles, corn bread stuffing with Italian sausage and shiitake mushrooms, cranberry sauce with nuts and orange juice, shiitake mushroom-turkey liver pate and chocolate banana walnut cake.
I'll make the Moroccan style pickles that I learned to make on a trip to Marrakech. The kosher dill pickles only need 2-3 days to cure, so I'll make those on Monday of Thanksgiving week.
10 Delicious Holiday Recipes
To help prepare for Thanksgiving, I published an e-cookbook 10 Delicious Holiday Recipes.
Using the Kindle App you can read the recipes on any smart phone, computer or tablet. The app is free and downloads easily.
I hope you'll order my book and let me help you plan your holiday meals with recipes for special cocktails, appetizers, salads, sides, entrees and really delicious desserts.
To help prepare for Thanksgiving, I published an e-cookbook 10 Delicious Holiday Recipes.
The ten recipes are easy-to-make, festive and fun. With a recipe for roasting a perfect Thanksgiving turkey with stuffing.
Using the Kindle App you can read the recipes on any smart phone, computer or tablet. The app is free and downloads easily.
