At my house we always have Thanksgiving dinner around 4:30 - 5 in the afternoon. I have easy apps that I put out a lunchtime to keep us fed and give me time to cook the real dinner. This year I started my morning by roasting chili's in the oven and making the cornbread for my stuffing. Both of these things need time to cool before cooking with them and they're really easy. A way to keep the cost down for stuffing, and the other 90 recipes that use stock, I make sure I have the dried bullion cubes they have the flavor you want but are much cheaper than the liquid chicken or vegetable stock. Next I'll look at all of my recipes and set out a schedule for the day. I try to do prep throughout the morning and early afternoon so that when cooking starts it's just a matter of popping things in the oven at different times. I have a toaster oven that I use for the few small items that I need to cook at a different temp or won't fit into the oven.
My policy is dessert first. Dessert is always one of my most involved recipes and it requires a few different cooking and cooling times. Since I'm making a cake this year I only have the one cooking time, but I'll need to let it cool before I can frost it. Frosting will be easy but messy and can be left for when everything else is in the oven and I have reclaimed counter space. And if something doesn't work out as intended, don't stress be creative or just dump it. If you don't have one of the side dishes or if you need to send someone to the store for a last minute side or frozen pie IT"S OK! Thanksgiving is about spending time with your family, not trying to live up to Leave it to Beaver!
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!
