This
year, Austin and I are hosting Thanksgiving.
Two of our friends are coming over to enjoy the day with us. Austin and I have had Thanksgiving just the
two of us from the past two years.
Between the two of us, we made great Thanksgiving meals both years. I love making mashed potatoes, homemade
bread, and pies! Austin and I made the
turkey together. Austin made gravy and
stuffing both years. And I always
steamed some yummy vegetables. We loved
having both of those Thanksgiving together, but we miss our families a lot for
holidays like this. Having our dear
friends with us is a welcomed addition to our Thanksgiving. The nice thing about this is having another
girl alongside me in the kitchen.
She
and I divided our favorite things to make for the holidays. She and I will be making the turkey
together. I'll also be making the mashed
potatoes and bread as well as pie. The
past two years, I have gone completely overboard with pies. It was just the two of us so we ended up
freezing some of the pies. This year, I am
only making one or two pies. I am really
looking forward to doing some cooking and hosting the holiday.
I
figured I would share some tips for hosting Thanksgiving that I plan to use
this year. I am working on a schedule
for what needs to be made.
Delegate: Don't feel the pressure to do everything
yourself. Allow others to help when they
volunteer. Even if it's just help with
the dishes. Holiday meals are so much
work, help volunteering should be considered a good thing.
Test
Beforehand:
If possible, test out recipes before the big day. I have some great recipes I have tried and
love that I'm looking forward to using, but there are also a few things I
haven't tried out yet that chances are I'm not going to. In that case, I plan to spend significant
time choosing a recipe and reading reviews on them.
Backup Plans: Just in
case things don't go as planned in the kitchen, have some backups. For example, we are planning to make our own
gravy and stuffing but I bought some canned gravy and boxed stuffing, just in
case.
Space
Options:
For us, space is something we need to consider.
We have a decent size apartment, but a small table. We need to take into consideration where we
will be placing the food. My plan is to
use our breakfast bar as a place to set out all of the food.
Table
Setting: I am planning to create a special centerpiece
for our table. I recently bought a new
table cloth for the holiday. I had
contemplated a burnt orange, but choose a rich cranberry color instead. It is a table cloth we can use for other
holidays as well. I plan to set our
table the night before so I will not have as much to do the day of. This also allows me the opportunity to make
sure I have all the proper dishes available.
Shop Ahead: Ensure everything is bought ahead of
time. I plan to make my shopping list in
the next day or two. We have already
purchased the turkey. We choose to buy a
turkey breast instead of a full turkey.
Start Right: Start the day with a clean kitchen, it won't
stay this way for long. It's best to
start off with the dishwasher empty and clean counter tops with a much space
available as possible.
Keep it
simple:
It's easy to get caught up in the planning, preparation, and hosting of
Thanksgiving, but try to enjoy it.
Problems may occur, something might burn, the centerpiece may not turn
out perfectly or your bread may not rise, but have fun and don't let the little
bumps in the road ruin the day. Don't
let yourself get stressed out, instead enjoy every part of the holiday with
family and friends.
I
hope these tips help out some for planning the big day.
No comments:
Post a Comment