Monday, November 22, 2010

Turkey Week

Happy Turkey Week! :)

This year, it's technically my family's turn for Thanksgiving, but I'm not travelling anywhere 8 months pregnant, and my parents are going to Denver for my cousin's wedding.

So Dave and I decided that it would be fun to do Thanksgiving by ourselves this year. I bought a 10-12 lb turkey for $6! I bought other things, too.

I figure the best way to approach this is to have a plan of attack so everything gets ready at the same time. Here's my plan of attack. Let me know if you see anything terribly wrong or missing!

Menu:
Turkey
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Gravy
Stuffing
Stove Top Stuffing
Rolls
Peas/Corn
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Sparkling Apple & Cranberry juice


Monday:
Get Turkey out of Freezer to thaw in fridge
Buy final supplies from grocery store:

  • Celery salt
  • Stove Top Stuffing (check pantry first!)
  • Peas/Corn (check freezer first!)
  • Cranberry Sauce

Tuesday:
NOTHING!


Wednesday:

  1. Make pumpkin pie
  2. Make stuffing, set aside in bowl to dry out
  3. Call Daddy for turkey cooking advice


Thursday:

  1. Stuff & dress turkey
  2. Put turkey in oven
  3. Set rolls out to thaw/rise
  4. (a few hours later)
  5. Set table
  6. Peel potatoes & sweet potatoes
  7. Boil both potatoes
  8. Dave mash potatoes
  9. Sarah prepare to candy sweet potatoes & set aside
  10. Make stove top stuffing
  11. Take turkey out
  12. Bake rolls
  13. Make gravy
  14. Take out rolls/butter tops
  15. Cook sweet potatoes
  16. Make peas/corn
  17. Open cranberry sauce

10 comments:

Risa West said...

good luck. we're doing our first turkey day on our own also. i'm making the potatoes on wednesday and will put them in a casserole dish and refrigerate, and then the day of i'll pull them out and let them warm up to room temp... and then warm them up in the over. hopefully that works because i've heard it does.

chef-ica said...

good luck! sounds pretty yummy to me :)

Mike + Mo said...

I'm super impressed that you are doing this. I wish I could see you work it in the kitchen... (I would totally take notes)

Kevin + Marcy said...

Way to have a plan of attack! I underestimated what it takes to make your own turkey dinner last year when I did for just my two boys and myself. At least you know to thaw the turkey in plenty o' time. We didn't, and we ended up taking a blow dryer to it at the last minute. It's a lot of work, but you must know that already because you're taking baby steps throughout the week. It's sure to be a hit! Nice work. Have a good one!

ok said...

From what I've heard, brining the turkey makes it incredibly moist.

But that's only what I've heard, cause I'm definitely a ham type of girl. :) Good luck! And kudos to you and Dave for doing thanksgiving on your own - and especially kudos for doing it 8 months preggo!

Chelsea said...

Do you know why the turkey bags come in 2-packs? It's because if you pick up the bag thinking the bottom will stay in place and actually hold the turkey inside, you will be sadly mistaken. So after rinsing off the turkey, you put it in the second bag.
Also, you have stuffing on there twice.
You should invite friends over. I'm sure there's some poor schmuck who would want to come visit you-- I mean they're a poor schmuck because they have nowhere to go, of course.
Have fun!

Smart Helm said...

Man, that is quite ambitious. Good luck! Emily and I tried doing a turkey dinner (on my idea) and it was a long day. We ate in courses as the dishes got finished :-)

Maggie & Nate said...

good luck!!!

brenna said...

Good luck! Sounds delicious!

Joslyn said...

Yay! That's awesome you did it all by yourselves! I'm kinda excited to try that out! let's here how it went!