{ Preparing for Thanksgiving }

The holidays have officially kicked off for us.

I honestly can't believe that Thanksgiving is tomorrow, this whole year seems to have sped by at turbo pace.

As always, there is a lot to do, decorating, planning for all the guests, the menu and then cooking all the food.

I used to do all the cooking on the actual day, but that was when there were only 4 of us and didn't have anyone coming over.  It's easier to take it slow, not rush and not really worry about what time the meal is ready.



When you have family or friends joining, it's completely different, so I start cooking and baking the day before so that the actual day is a lot easier on myself as the hostess.

The first thing I did yesterday was pull all ingredients I would need, from the pantry, and placed it on the counter.  It makes things run more smoothly when I have everything at hand and don't have to keep going back and forth from pantry to counter.

I also pulled down the pie plates, cake stands and cooking or serving utensils, and gave them all a very good wash.

Today was all about cooking certain dishes that could be made ahead of time.

The very first thing I did was tackle the huge turkey.  Usually I keep it whole when we fry it, but this was a really big one and it wouldn't fit in the fryer.  After cleaning it well, I cut it up into smaller pieces.

I always brine my turkey, but since we're injecting it with a butter marinade before frying, I cut down on the salt and only added a bit so as not to run the risk of salting the turkey.

The next thing on the list was using the neck and the carcass to make some delicious broth.  I plan on using it for future meals, or probably this weekend to make a yummy turkey noodle soup.

I added some spices, carrot and onion and let it simmer for 3 hours.  It smelled absolutely divine.

I also made my Pecan Pie bars, and two Pumpkin Pies. 

The sweet potato casserole is also half done, all that needs doing tomorrow is to put on the streussel and marshmallows and bake it for 15 minutes.

I boiled a dozen eggs in the pressure cooker, and popped them in the fridge, in the morning I'll just peel and make deviled eggs.

The last thing I made was the cake base and the pudding for the Banana Pie Cake.  All that's left is to assemble it tomorrow and pop it back in the fridge.

It may not seem like I did a lot today, but it helps so much to free up my time.   Tomorrow the only things left to do, are:

Fry the turkey
Make dinner rolls
Make and bake green bean casserole
Finish sweet potato casserole
Finish Banana Pie Cake
Finish Deviled Eggs
Make Baked Biscuit Wreath Dip
Cut up veggies for veggie tray

That's it.  My sister in law is making the mashed potatoes, a ham, a green salad, stuffing and a milk tart and apple pie.

It is a LOT of food, but love Thanksgiving and especially love the leftovers the following day, so we are all looking forward to dinner tomorrow.

I'm off to get a few more things clean and organized and then it's a quiet night of Christmas movies in bed.

Have a wonderful Wednesday night and I'll pop in tomorrow to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.