While my husband and boys have been making plans for the football game schedule on Thanksgiving day, my mom has been emailing me back and forth on the topic of our Thanksgiving Dinner Menu.  To be honest…I haven’t even thought about it yet!  Not that I shouldn’t and not that mom’s emails weren’t just what I needed to get on the ball!  Thanks mom!

So what are some things we can be doing now to make Thanksgiving stress free and easy…the HG way?  The first place to start is to plan the menu…which mom has seen to for our family already.  Now that we know what we are going to need to cook…we can do the next steps…looking for anything we can do now and put in the freezer for the actual day!

 If your favorite Thanksgiving dishes call for things like chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, or diced and chopped vegetables of any kind ~ go ahead and do that now.  Find a time when you could pull a stool up to the counter with a friend or the kids and get the veggies chopped and labeld in freezer bags.  On the day that all the cooking needs to take place…you just have to scoop out the measured amount and cook.  Afterall..preparation time is usually the most time intensive part of a casserole or stuffing dish. 

 Speaking of stuffing (or dressing as we call it here in Texas!)…we make ours with day old cornbread and white bread.  Early this month I can make a double batch of HG Texas Cornbread and a double batch of HG Basic Bread, using one of each as a side to a meal and the second to put in the freezer.  Then the day before I make my dressing…all I have to do is pull it out of the freezer and let it set out for the next 24 hours.  This is much easier than making the bread the day before so that it can sit for a day.  Of course…not as easy as having mom just make the whole thing!  Thanks again mom!!

 Another thing we can do with our selection of vegetable dishes needed for Thanksgiving is determine what can be made the days leading up to Thanksgiving.  For example…the traditional greenbean casserole can be made several days ahead and kept in the fridge.  Thanksgiving day…toss some of those fried onions on top and throw in the oven with a few other vegetable casseroles you also made ahead and reheat them altogether real quick.  

 Now lets look at that dessert menu.  What can you make ahead and freeze?  One of our family favorite pies to serve is the Brownie Pie…and it freezes beautifully.  How about a Gingerbread Trifle?  Bake an HG Gingerbread Mix and put it in the freezer.  The day before Thanksgiving…make an HG Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake mix…but don’t put it into a pie shell.  Instead…take that frozen gingerbread, cut it into cubes and begin layering the cubes and the pie filling in a clear glass bowl.  Top the last layer with cool whip, sprinkle with nutmeg and you have a great dessert made fresh and easy.  I mentioned a tip for cookies on a previous blog…that would work here as well. 

If you want more specific tips and recipes….even a day by day prepare ahead plan, menu and grocery list, check out our October Newsletter.  You can see a copy of it by hitting the link on this blog site that says view and example of our free newsletter.  In the October edition, in the article titled “Featured Product for this Month”, there is a link to a flier you can print that will give you lots of great ideas and help. 

Speaking of help…what are you doing to get things ready ahead of time so you can enjoy the day with your family?  Mom???  You are the queen of being ready for Thanksgiving before the leaves fall from the trees!  Any tips?

God Bless and Keep You,

Tami

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 4:53 pm and is filed under Planning Your Meals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.