This post was originally published on November 17, 2011.
The past three weeks have flown by. I’m excited for Thanksgiving — we’ll have a lively group joining us — and I’m looking forward to focused time with the kids. In past years I gathered everyone in the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning to help with pies, trimming green beans and other tasks. Two of my kids now sleep late on days off, so this year I stuck the Thanksgiving to-do list on the refrigerator and asked everyone to sign up for three jobs. I’ve asked my husband to join in as well to set a good example.
My work schedule is busy until Sunday, so I’ll begin active prep then. Below is the plan from Sunday through the meal on Thursday around 4:00 pm.
Sunday
Grocery shop for most perishables, bread for stuffing and supplies for dinners remaining this week.
Make cranberry sauce (my friend Caitlin is bringing applesauce, so I won’t make that this year).
Arrange tables and chairs.
Write placecards for the table — a good job for one of the kids.
Dinner: orange and rosemary-glazed chicken, brown rice and broccoli.
Monday
Make salad vinaigrette.
Pick up the turkeys and start a dry brine.
Cut bread into cubes for stuffing.
Make ice cream.
Dinner: tacos, black beans and salad.
Tuesday
Shop the farmer’s market for last perishables.
Buy flowers and assemble table arrangements.
Set the table — I’ll set one place and have a child finish the rest.
Wash and dry the salad greens.
Chop walnuts and seed pomegranates for the salad.
Shred gruyere for the tart.
Defrost homemade chicken or turkey stock.
Dinner: spice-rubbed salmon, sautéed spinach and baked sweet potato fries.
Wednesday
Chop onions for soup, stuffing and roasted vegetables.
Prepare beets for the salad.
Blanch green beans.
Slice zucchini for the tart.
Make the soup.
Steam and bread cauliflower.
Blind-bake the tart crust and prepare herb oil.
Make the stuffing.
Prep vegetables for maple-mustard roasted veggies and trim and halve Brussels sprouts.
Make the sweet potato gratin.
Set up coffee and tea service and check the powder room.
Dinner: pantry pasta with chickpeas.
Before bed: make sure the garage refrigerator door is closed.
Thursday (Thanksgiving Day)
6:00 am: wake and shower.
Make cornbread in the small oven.
Bake pumpkin pies in the large oven.
Bake coffee cake in the small oven.
Make gingerbread in the large oven.
9:15 am: take the turkeys out of the refrigerator.
All desserts must be out of the large oven by 10:30 am.
Make apple pie in the small oven.
10:45 am: place turkeys in the large oven breast side down at 425°F.
11:25 am: reduce oven to 325°F and turn turkeys breast side up.
12:00 pm: reheat soup and serve with cornbread; tidy the kitchen.
Get dressed and dry hair.
Put the mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for whipped cream.
Chop fennel for the salad.
1:30 pm: peel potatoes and make mashed potatoes; keep covered over a pot of simmering water.
2:15 pm: bake the zucchini tart in the small oven.
2:30 pm: fry the cauliflower and heat the tomato sauce; serve hot.
3:00 pm: serve hors d’oeuvres and begin checking turkey temperature.
3:00–3:30 pm: remove turkeys from the oven.
Place vegetables in the large oven at 400°F.
Make the gravy and reheat stuffing in the small oven.
Bake sweet potatoes in the large oven and prepare Brussels sprouts with turkey bacon and dates.
Chop apples for the salad and dress it.
Light candles and fill glasses with water.
3:50–4:00 pm: carve the turkeys.
4:00 pm: dinner is served.
After dinner: whip the cream (don’t overbeat), serve coffee, tea and sparkling water.
Finally, make notes about what to remember for next year.