The trick I must say was in the organisation. About a week before the big day I planned my menu and printed all of the recipes. A few days before I read through my recipes, determined the order in which each dish needed to be prepared and made my shopping list. On the morning of Thanksgiving, recipes in order and timings written down, I was ready to cook.
First on the to do list, Apple Pie:
Next the nibbles, cranberry sauce and peeling the potatoes:
After this half of the preparations were complete and stored away for the evening I had a couple of hours to shower and get cleaned up and arrange the tables for later.
Then it was on to preparing the mail meal. I decided to tackle the bird first, and let me say when I first started I nearly turned vegetarian. My turkey was 13.5lbs! A raw naked bird of that size is not a pleasant sight. But I manned up and soon realised roasting a turkey is actually a fairly simple task.
Once he was in the oven I got my Grami's green beans on the go followed by the parmesan mashed potatoes, honey and nutmeg carrots and brussel sprouts with bacon.
Everything was ready just in time for me to escape the kitchen for an hour of peace at pilates. As soon as I returned guests were arriving. It was Thanksgiving time. The main dishes went back in the oven to warm as the turkey came out to rest. During this time my guests enjoyed the nibbles (especially the prunes wrapped in bacon) and opened some wine. We didn't wait around too long before everything was ready and it was time to eat, eat, eat. Luckily people managed to save enough room for dessert and my apple pie went down a treat!
I must say I am very proud of myself for my successful Thanksgiving feast. After a calm day in the kitchen, all of the dishes were served warm as planned and I received many compliments throughout the enjoyable night. I may not have been with my family, but I still enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving with friends. And I brought a bit of the US to the UK.
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