I don't spend much time looking at calendars and was shocked last weekend when I discovered Thanksgiving was so early this year.
Since I thought it was farther off than it really is, I am behind in planning.
We will be hosting Thanksgiving at our home for about 8 relatives-maybe more. I've done this before so I know what to do but it helps to put it on paper.
I finally got started Wednesday night.
My husband had church choir practice- I don't sing but I went too- and while I was sitting in the back listening, I found a short grocery list of the specials at local stores that I might want to get.
I used that sheet of paper as it was all I had.....
at top of the page are the grocery specials.
At the bottom is a very rough menu plan for the next 12 days or so. Some of our company will stay with us a few days, others may stay a week so I need to have things at least somewhat planned ahead.
On the back, I made a list of more items to shop for, as well as sweets to bake and a start to the Thanksgiving menu.
I rolled them all out and put them in the freezer. At least one will be a pumpkin pie come Thanksgiving morning. I am not sure what the others will be but they can stay in the freezer for a couple months.
3 of them are in simple metal pans with no handles and those pans fit easily into a gallon zipper bag for freezer storage. The other pan is a vintage corningware with a wider edge that makes it a little bigger so it has to go in a 2 gallon bag.
No fail pie dough
4 C flour
1 1/3 C shortening
1 T sugar
2 t salt
1 T vinegar
1/2 C cold water
1 egg
Mix together, flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the shortening. In a small bowl add vinegar, cold water and egg, stir with fork till well blended. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well using only a fork. Divide into 4 balls, Roll out one ball at a time on a floured surface into flat circle to fit pie pan.
Thursday during nap time, I baked a double batch of oatmeal cookies, a double batch of brownies and one batch of chocolate oatmeal no-bakes.
All of those went in the freezer except for the ones that my husband ate when he got home from work and grandson ate when he woke up from his nap.
I still need to do a little shopping. Buying the turkey is at the top of the list.
Are you hosting Thanksgiving? What is on your to-do list?
Yes, I'm hosting Thanksgiving! It will be at least 9 people maybe a couple more if I think of someone else to invite. :-) We're hosting my sister and family and a few other folks that don't have family close by.
ReplyDeleteWe were up early this morning so I'm headed to the store now to go ahead and get turkey and the rest of the groceries. Maybe make a few side dishes today as well--those can be frozen. My sister is bringing several dishes and our other guests may contribute as well so that all helps.
I am looking for a few shortcuts so I'm planning to buy purchased pie crusts. Also, if turkey is thawed in time (should be), I'll roast it ahead of time and then wrap it in foil and crockpot it on Thursday! My mom told me how to do that and it works really well.
I too lost track of time after being on vacation. I worked up my grocery list this am from the sale paper and will be heading out sometime today to pick everything up. The cooking will start Tuesday a little more the next day then finish off on Thursday, we have 16 for dinner, not sure how many for desert!! Love your idea of make ahead pie crust
ReplyDeleteLove your preparation ideas! We are not hosting, our house is too small (lucky us :) But we will do a potluck at my in-laws. We always do potluck-style meals for every holiday.
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