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Have the meal and enjoy it, too
By DONNA BEAR If you'd like to add some free time to your Thanksgiving preparation ritual, take away a little stress, multiply your reasons to be thankful and divide your time among your guests, you've come to the right math class. With a little expert coaching and a lot of can-do attitude, you'll come up with the right answer to a problem that has plagued Thanksgiving hosts for centuries. Who can forget the apprehension of preparing one's first Thanksgiving dinner? Will the turkey be too dry? Will everything be ready at the same time? Will the steam from the mashed potatoes make my mascara run? The Thanksgiving meal can make even the best cooks quiver with dread. Why, I've even heard some swear off the annual feast forever. They'd rather face Uncle Joe's cigar or the hungry masses at a local restaurant before they'd make another attempt at serving America's most legendary meal. But years of practice can soften one's outlook and stiffen one's resolve to prepare a memorable feast without sacrificing the peace of mind that Thanksgiving should generate. The key is planning, preparation and simplification. If that's not your forte, let me do it for you. This easy-to-follow timeline will produce a traditional Thanksgiving dinner that you'll be proud of -- and you'll even have time for a nap! First things firstMake your grocery list. Never mind -- I'll do it for you. We'll go for the standard Thanksgiving feast: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, applesauce, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie, coffee. Clip the accompanying "Standard Thanksgiving Grocery Shopping List" and visit your grocery store TODAY. Head for the frozen turkeys, where you're likely to find the size you want. If you need one bigger than 20 pounds, you might want to consider buying a fresh bird on Tuesday. It will take from today (the earlier the better) until Thursday for a 20-pound turkey to defrost in the safe confines of the refrigerator. Don't do it on the counter like we did in the old days or you may be inviting bacteria to the feast. It takes 24 hours of fridge time for each 5 pounds of bird to defrost. Fresh turkeys should be cooked within two days of purchase. Where will you be serving all these guests? Better start thinking about tables and chairs. Do you have access to a folding table for increased seating capacity? Are there furniture pieces that can serve double duty? Picnic tables? Piano benches? Mentally lay it out now. What time would you like your guests to arrive? An hour and a half before dinner gives everyone time to relax, socialize, have a drink. By then, the aroma of the feast will fill your home. You may wish to plan some light hors d'oeuvres. PreparationGet some of the more labor-intensive tasks done Wednesday night. Dice the celery and onions. Peel potatoes. Rip up bread for stuffing. This also allows you to dispose of a lot of trash ahead of time. Cover items tightly, and you'll be ready to roll the next morning. Gather serving pieces the night before, too. It may take some hunting to track down sufficient quantities of large platters, bowls and serving spoons. Get it over with so you don't find yourself with a steaming pot and no receptacle for its contents on the big day. While you're at it, you might want to look over your dishes. Better to discover that flake of dried lasagna on a plate sooner than later. Some hosts fret about whether disposable plates and cutlery are acceptable for such a gathering. The answer, of course, is: It depends. If you're hoarding your fine china and your guests know it, shame on you. If all you own is Melmac for four, by all means, go for the disposables. After all, this is Thanksgiving: What better thing to be thankful for than fewer dishes to wash? SimplificationUsing canned turkey gravy as a base does not make you a cheater. You'll get plenty of the real thing during basting, and it thickens up nicely. You'll be glad to have that additional gravy when it's time for hot turkey sandwiches in the days ahead. Likewise, making stuffing by combining a well-seasoned packaged mix with a homemade recipe saves you time and effort while producing a bigger batch of everybody's favorite side dish. Try the recipe for halfway homemade stuffing. Avoid brown-and-serve rolls -- your oven is busy and so are you. Stick to fresh dinner rolls that you can slice and serve. One simplification step that is simply not acceptable on Thanksgiving Day, however, is the mashed potatoes. Never, and I do mean never, use instant mashed potatoes for your feast. Thanksgiving absolutely must have big, lumpy, homemade mashed potatoes.Now wasn't that easy? You are now sitting at the table with 19 of your closest friends and relatives oohing and aahing over your marvelous fixings. When the feasting has subsided, everybody needs a little time to relax before dessert If you're the type that enjoys the camaraderie of a few close helpers, welcome their assistance during cleanup and shoo everyone else away. If you can't stand crowds in your kitchen, encourage your guests to take an after-dinner stroll while you bask in the solitude of picking at the turkey and loading the dishwasher. Pumpkin pie and coffee round out the evening. Make sure you take time to sit back, enjoy this final Thanksgiving tradition and reflect on the success of a warm and memorable occasion. -- Donna Bear is a freelance writer who lives in St. Pete Beach. A standard Thanksgiving shopping list(for 20) 18 pound frozen turkey 16 ounce package of stuffing 1 loaf of bread 10 pound bag of potatoes 1 large onion 1 bag of celery 1 dozen eggs 2 cans of turkey gravy Flour for thickening gravy 4 cans of green beans 1 jar of applesauce 2 cans of cranberry sauce 2 packages of dinner rolls 1 pound of butter 1 gallon of milk 3 pumpkin pies (or variety) Whipped cream (optional) Beverages Appetizers The feast timelineNight before:
Thanksgiving Day: 9 a.m.: Make stuffing (See recipe for Halfway-Homemade Stuffing) 10 a.m.: Preheat oven to 325 degrees; rinse, stuff and season turkey. Cover loosely with foil. 10:30 a.m.: Place turkey in 325 degree oven; cook until dark meat registers 180 degrees on a meat thermometer. An 18-pound turkey will take four to 41/2 hours. The stuffing should be 165 degrees. 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Watch Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on couch. Have a snack. Do a crossword puzzle. Take a nap. Take a shower. 1:30 p.m.: Set the table. Remove foil from turkey. Baste turkey. Transfer some of the turkey juice to a pot with the canned gravy. 2 p.m.: Start boiling the potatoes. Baste turkey again. Steal more juice for the gravy pot. Add some flour to thicken the gravy. Prepare hors d'oeuvres if you're serving them. 2:30 p.m.: Greet guests. Serve hors d'oeuvres and drinks. Have one of each yourself. 3 p.m.: Start heating up the pot of gravy and a pot of green beans. Take turkey's temperature and if it's done, take out of oven to rest. 3:15 p.m.: Take applesauce, cranberry sauce and butter out of the refrigerator. Slice rolls. 3:30 p.m.: Drain potatoes. Allow insistent guest to feel useful by mashing the potatoes. Unstuff turkey and put stuffing in serving bowl. Carve turkey and place slices and legs on platter. 4 p.m.: Put gravy and green beans in serving bowls. Ring the dinner bell. Halfway Homemade Stuffing
Prepare packaged stuffing as directed and set aside. Melt 1/8 pound butter in large frying pan. Add 4 celery ribs (sliced and diced), 1 large onion (diced) and minced garlic clove. (Slicing and dicing can be done the night before, covered and refrigerated.) Fry until softened and brown. Tear the loaf of bread into small pieces (can be done the night before and stored in plastic bag) and place in a large pot. Add packaged stuffing to bread pieces. Pour fried mixture over stuffing. Beat 6 eggs and add to stuffing. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir gently to mix. Add water, if needed to bind. Remove organs from turkey and rinse inside of bird thoroughly. Loosely spoon as much stuffing as possible into turkey breast and neck cavities. Use remainder of stuffing to bake in a side casserole dish. To avoid contamination, do not stuff the bird until right before it goes into the oven. Stuffing that has been cooked in the bird is safe to eat at 165 degrees. Check with meat thermometer. Source: Donna Bear, St. Pete Beach
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