Thanksgiving

I know Thanksgiving is few weeks away but it's my big holiday for the year and I've been putting so much thought into it lately. Every year I go all out for Thanksgiving and I'm not kidding when I say I slave in the kitchen for 3 or 4 days getting everything perfect. Thanksgiving starts on Monday in this house and ends after all the dishes are done on Thursday evening. I'm thinking of adding some new recipes this year but I'm not sure where in the world I can find the time or oven space to do so. I have it down to a science. Here is my list of cooking times that I tape up on the cabinets so that I know how to coordinate my oven space.

Creamed Corn- 4 Hours in slow cooker

Sweet potatoes- 1.5 hours, can prepare in advance, bake 30 minutes at 400

Mashed potatoes-make in advance, bake at 350 for 30 minutes

rolls- make the day before, rise for 3 hours, bake for 20 minutes at 350

ham- Bake 1 hour

Green bean casserole- bake 30 minutes at 350

Apple pie- make ahead and warm up in oven

Stuffing- 20 minutes on stove, 25 minutes to bake at 350

Deviled Eggs- make ahead

Turkey- Brining, Baking, and Carving

Pumpkin Pie- make ahead

Bread pudding- 1.5 hours

Cranberry salad- make ahead

Pumpkin Dip with Ginger Snaps

Now I don't just go to the store and pick up pies or dump cranberries out of a can. I really do go all out and use real pumpkin that I actually baked and scraped out of a pumpkin. I dry my own bread crumbs for the stuffing. The sweet potatoes are real yams that I bake, scrape out the insides and then cover with brown sugar and ground up ginger snaps and everyone always raves about them. The rolls are amazing but they take almost 3 days to make with all the rising and separating steps that are involved. And then after all that we do M's family birthday party so that everyone doesn't have to come back the next week. I then spend about a thousand hours in the gym trying to work off everything I ate in one meal. It's so much to think about and it gets kind of overwhelming with M's birthday and then Christmas right around the corner. It's nice to know that I really can cook a wonderful meal even though I choose not to the rest of the year. Just 5 years ago I couldn't have baked a turkey to save my life and now I know how to brine and bake a turkey perfectly. I thought stuffing came from a box but now I know that using fresh bread cubes makes stuffing perfect and irresistible. I also know that everyone loves whiskey sauce that I use on bread pudding and bread pudding isn't supposed to be a mushy mess. It can look pretty and be delicious! So if I don't post for the entire month of November you can just assume I'm in the kitchen trying out new recipes and trying to make my one perfect meal out of the year.