Easy Way Gourmet Thanksgiving Day Timeline

Turkey Thawing

Thaw frozen turkey in the refrigerator. Depending on how cold your refrigerator Allow at least four hours per pound—not including day of cooking. Here are sample times to start thawing for different size turkeys:

12 lbs.: 48 hours, start Monday night

Wow! Less than a week from now, you and yours will all be sitting down to a big dinner. And I just read a terrifying story about someone going to a dinner party where the host wasn’t ready and the guests waited around for over an hour for dinner—and finally left without eating.

This is a nightmare none of us want to be involved in—especially on Thanksgiving! And the schedule above underscores one important thing people often forget about—those big birds don’t thaw quickly!

If you are entertaining for Thanksgiving, this is the week to get ready—and there’s no time like today to get going! But I want you to have one of those holidays where you get to relax, too. You may need to do a little bit everyday between now and then.

But wouldn’t it be a holiday miracle if you could actually have a bubble bath before Thanksgiving dinner this year? Work with me and let’s see if we can’t have the most relaxed holiday ever. Go ahead and assign beverages to your family wine connoisseur or your spouse. This is just one way to delegate—you don’t need to cook dinner and be pouring drinks too! If you have friends who cook coming, you might even assign different menu items for them to bring.

Regardless of your delegating plan, start today organizing your menu and grocery shopping. If you don’t already have your turkey, order it or get it now! For frozen turkeys, you have to start thawing soon—food safety experts recommend four hours per pound of thawing (not including the day you will cook the turkey!)

If you just don’t want to cook, there are many local options to order your whole dinner now and just heat and eat next week. At many places, you can order just the items you don’t want to cook and at others, they will give you a deal on the whole dinner.

Just make sure you pick a place you know and love—I like the idea of shopping local, using a restaurant or carryout place I know and trust. This is one of the most important meals of the year, so you don’t want to spend money on food made a thousand miles away by someone you can’t look in the eye if there is a problem!

If, like me, you just can’t resist cooking a bit, plan ahead and make it easy.

For your side dishes, you can get most of the shopping out of the way this week also. Fresh sweet potatoes and potatoes for mashing will hold in a dark cool spot until next week. Refrigerated items like oysters, cream, butter and most produce will hold also—just check those sell-by dates!

So shop today for everything but salad greens, tender produce and bread or rolls. Pick up last minute items next Tuesday or Wednesday after work, but get everything else now.

If you need a starting point, here’s my family’s Thanksgiving menu for this year:

Herbed Scalloped Oysters
Roast Turkey
Giblet Gravy
Sausage Pecan Dressing
Smashed Garlic Potatoes
Jacket Sweet Potatoes
Green Salad with Tomatoes and Ranch
Corn Casserole
Peas with Pearl Onions
Pumpkin Bread
Cranberry Apple Pie
Pumpkin Cheesecake

And my shopping list for this week looks like this:

Produce Section

Chopped pecan pieces
Red and Gold Potatoes
Sweet Yellow Onions
Celery
Carrots
Garlic
Shallots
Green and Red bell peppers
Sweet Potatoes

Staples and Canned Goods

Chicken Stock
Cornbread Mix
Apple Pie Filling
Canned Pumpkin
Herbs and Spices
Flour, Sugar
Honey Graham Crackers or Gingersnaps
Ritz Crackers
Bread Crumbs (Panko style are best)

Dairy Section

Cream Cheese
Heavy Cream
Milk
Eggs
Butter
Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
No-Fat Sour Cream
Refrigerated Pie Dough

Meat Department

Turkey
Ham
Sage Sausage
Fresh Oysters

Freezer Department

Sweet baby peas
Pear onions
Sweet Corn 

My preparation schedule looks like this

One week ahead

Grocery shopping (list above)
Figure out centerpieces

Saturday Prior

Make, chill then freeze cheesecake
Make biscuits or cornbread for dressing
Check on turkey cooking and thawing times based on turkey size

Sunday Prior

Set Tables—just be sure everyone in your household knows not to mess with your set tables!
Get out all the serving dishes and platters youo plan to use
Get turkey thawing in the refrigerator
Assemble Pearl Onions and Peas with some melted butter in a casserole. put the casserole in the feezer until Thursday
Mix up sour cream for sweet potatoes and refrigerate

Monday Prior

Scrub and dry sweet potatoes
Cook off sausage for stuffing
Assemble crumbs for oysters

Tuesday Prior

Check on turkey progress
Make and chill smashed potatoes
Make and chill the corn casserole

Wednesday Prior

Assemble Oysters and chill
Make pie and pumpkin bread
Remove cheesecake from freezer to refrigerator
Chop celery and onions for dressing, refrigerate
Check and buy any other groceries needed--But salad fixings if you are having green salad
Make salad dressing and chill

Thanksgiving Thursday

Make Dressing
Make Stock for gravy
Roast Turkey

Take that bubble bath

Bake oysters, casseroles and sweet potatoes
Take the turkey out to rest
Make gravy
Assemble Salad

Serve dinner!

Bonus Recipe

Corn Casserole

2 cups cooked corn kernels
3 Tbs. butter
1 /4 cup chopped onion
1 /4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 /4 cup chopped green bell pepper
3 Tbs. flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground pepper
3 /4 cup milk
1 /2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 /2 cup bread crumbs
2 Tbs. butter, melted

Melt the 3 Tbs. butter in a saucepan. Add the onion and peppers to the butter and cook them until the onion is translucent. Add the flour and blend thoroughly. Cook the mixture another four minutes, then whisk in the milk. Cook until it is boiling, turn the heat down and add the cheese. Stir in the corn and seasonings. Mix thoroughly. Pour into a buttered casserole dish, top with breadcrumbs and sprinkle with the 2 tablespoons of melted butter. At this point, you can refrigerate the casserole for up to two days. Bake at 350^oF for thirty minutes or until browned on top and heated through. Serve hot.