It's that time of the year again when Americans stuffed their belly with turkey, stuffing and whatever else in serve on Thanksgiving. If you are hosting this year, you must be stressing out, except if you are prepared since the beginning of the month.
A little trivia first, which countries, other than the United States, celebrate Thanksgiving? If you answer Canada, you are correct, they celebrate Thanksgiving during the second Monday of October. Do you know the others? No? The other countries are Germany, Grenada, Korea, Japan, Liberia, Norfolk Island and The Netherlands. Though their Thanksgiving varies.
Know your guest. If you are hosting, you should know by now how many people are coming. And you should not only know the count but also if any of your guest has allergies. Some people don't bother to ask and it's usually not a happy ending. The guest might have an allergic reaction or might go home hungry. As a host, you want to make sure everyone goes home happy and satisfy. So make sure to ask you guest. And your guest will appreciate your effort.
Prepare ahead of time. Thanksgiving usually means a lot of cooking and you should prepare way ahead of time. Preferably the last four days before that Thursday. You should have bought all your ingredients ahead of time and those that can be prepared ahead should be done. Dishes that can be prepared ahead of time are usually the side dishes such as Sweet Potato, Pies and Cranberry Sauce. If you are making your own croutons, you could prepare this two days ahead but chopping white bread and letting it dry. I have done numerous Thanksgiving feast and I usually start prepping four days ahead. Chopping up the vegetables and mixing the ingredients for the pie.
Make sure the Turkey is thawed well before Thanksgiving Day. Most turkeys are frozen when bought and if you don't thawed it properly, it won't baked well. Turkey usually comes with thawing instructions, follow them! I remember making a 15 pound turkey and it took me 4 days of prep work just to make sure the whole thing is ready.
Practice, especially if this is your first time hosting. Make small servings of the dishes and stuffing you are making and taste it to see if you need to add/lessen some ingredients. If possibly, ask someone to give you a critique. That way you are you not guessing how your dishes will taste like come Thanksgiving day.
You might have notice that I didn't mention turkey. Well, the turkey gets, mostly, it's taste from your stuffing and how you baked it.
Make a list of what you are preparing so that you can just check them off as you do them. This way, you won't have to worry about leaving something behind, worst, in the oven. If you have someone helping you, give them the list as well.
Don't stress out. It's a meal, not a life and death situation. If you are prepared, then you won't stress out. And if you are not stress out, the probability of you missing something is less.
If you are busy and time is your enemy, you can always go for the ready-to-eat dishes located at the frozen aisle section of your local supermarket. You just need to heat them up in the microwave. If you don't have a microwave, you can always transfer them to a oven-safe dish and baked them. Follow the instructions.
Don't have an idea of what to prepare, let the Internet help you. Search for Thanksgiving recipes online and find one that you think you can handle. Again, don't forget to practice.
If you have a lot of guest, it would be nice to have place cards in front of each dish you are serving. That way, your guest won't need to keep asking you and you repeating it over and over again. List also some of the ingredients which can contribute to allergic reaction.
Well, hope this tips will help you prepare your Thanksgiving feast. Just don't forget to give thanks.
After Thanksgiving..
After the feast, you will want to do some detox, there are also tons of information about post-Thanksgiving detox that you can follow. I followed one before that was composed of protein shake for breakfast, salad for lunch and dinner. And light snacks in between.
