Thread: Thanksgiving: What do you make ahead?

I use water, but I think the orange would be nice with the ginger. Do you use less sugar when you use juice?

Hi DrewB! Would love to know how you make the sweet potatoes (haven't had them at Ruth's Chris). I love sweet potatoes and yams but no one else in E's family does. This is the first year I decided I'm just going to make them for myself ; ) My plans were for Bobby Flay's sweet potato gratin with chipotle cream, but I'm open to anything. Thanks! PS - I saw in another thread, you were asking about pumpkin cheesecake...

The candied cranberries & orange zest were made yesterday. Today, I'm drying out sopme bread cubes for the stuffing, and blanched the green beans. Tomorrow, I'm making the green bean casserole & the sausage stuffing. Oh, and the turkey, all 15 1/2 lbs of her, is dry brining in the fridge.

"Didn't get whether they were to be served soupy/brothy or not" True that ... I thought of that myself, but figured soupy/brothy, which is why I was leery of storing it overnight. I usually don't like green beans nearly as much when they're soupy & have been held in the fridge.

Oh, girl, that got the salivary juices flowing. I'm not a bourbon lover but sounds like the perfect combo. How thick/thin do you slice the potatoes? (Please note that although I WANT to be chatty, I'm NOT!)

"Your planning for a great stress-free Thanksgiving next year begins with this one." Best advice I've read in a long time. Take that out to 20 or 30 years and the holiday is almost entirely stress free. One of the reasons Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday.

Here is a link to the Paula Deen recipe I made. It's pretty easy but I did bake mine in a waterbath and can't tell you exactly how long it took because I kept checking after an hour and adding small increments of time to it. I used my home-roasted pumpkin puree instead of canned. The first time I made it, I followed the exact recipe but this time, I used pumpkin pie spice instead of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in the recipe. We...

Setting the table the day before is a good idea. I always find myself so busy the day of, that everybody arrives and usually the table is covered with kitchen prep!!! (My kitchen is small.) But I will try to do this next time, as it would take so much off my mind. What do you serve with your lavender ice cream?

If you're new at this don't forget a couple simple meals for Tues & Wed if you're not already planning to eat out or get pizza or something and brekkies on T-day. You don't want that to come up at the last minute and find yourself spending valuable time in a horrendous grocery store line. I have the dry ingredients for 2 kinds of muffins in the freezer. I'll mix the wet ingredients in jars in the fridge the...

Thank you for the tips! I am using a bag this year which my mom always did, and some have suggested it breast side down till about the last 30 minutes, but wondering if it will sit and boil in the juices. My mom always cut the bag top open near end of cooking time to get a brown turkey. Earlier in the week I made stock as suggested from wings and necks (great idea), it is in the freezer now and I will probably make the actual gravy prior to...