Thanksgiving Preparation

Once again, we’re having Thanksgiving dinner for the wayward souls – friends who might otherwise not have family and friends to share the day with or those who just want to eat with us. We’re having a pretty traditional meal, however, several of the recipes are new to us and our guests understand that when they eat here, they are likely to be Guinea Pigs.  Here's the basic plan:

3 pm - Social hour

• Cocktails
• V. Sattui Gamay Rouge as an aperitif – no Hors d’Oeuvres as we’ll have plenty to eat.
• Non alcoholic cocktail

 4pm - Salad

• Tossed salad provide by a guest
• 1000 Island, Blue Cheese, Ranch, Raspberry Vinaigrette

 4:30 ish - Dinner served buffet style

• Roasted turkey, using the Pioneer Woman’s brine and a basting recipe from the newspaper
• Pork chops baked with dressing
• Dressing using the recipe with the turkey from the newspaper
• Mashed potatoes, Pioneer Woman recipe
• Gravy
• Baked sweet potatoes - a must for the true Southeners
• Cranberry salad using another newspaper recipe
• Broccoli cheese casserole using the recipe in Bev’s head
• Brussel sprouts using our normal cooking method
• Homemade rolls
• Sauvignon Blanc, dry riesling, and pinot grigio

6:00 ish - Dessert

•  Desserts brought by guests
• Coffee
• Muscat dessert wine

The turkey, sweet potatoes, and rolls will be cooked in the oven and the dressing, casserole, and pork chops will be wrapped in foil (to keep the pans clean) and cooked in the Stumps smoker - my big, charcoal fired, outdoor oven. We'll pre-make and do as much prep as possible on Wednesday, to help reduce the stress level on Thursday and as you might expect, I have a detailed gameplan for both days (the engineer in me never goes away). We'll have a table set up in the living room with drinks and salad to get it away from the kitchen while we're still cooking, and we'll eat in the dining room and the sunroom..  Then we'll get the buffet laid out around the kitchen while the guests finish their salads and visit with one another.
I sure hope it turns out great but if it doesn't we'll try again at Christmas. :-)

I hope ypur planning is going well and that you have a happy holiday.  Thanks for stopping by.

Larry