Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. It’s a beautiful space we have created where we can spend quality time with many of the people we love and cherish. This is a day of gratitude. Gratitude is so powerful. In this age of expectations, it is easy to get wrapped up in the frenzy of life and we often stop appreciating the gifts we have been giving.
Taking a moment to feel and expressful thankfulness is a opportunity to feel and express unconditional love. I have been blessed in infinite ways, many I know I can’t fully comprehend but many I can. And gifts that have been given to me, like my loving genuine and caring husband who helps me feel loved and grounded everyday. To my three beautiful children, who showed me the meaning of love, sacrifice and joy the moment they came into my life. For my parents who have given the best examples of parenting out there, have given me to capacity to give and receive love, they astound me regularly with their generosity, growth and love. To my brothers Lee and Will, who always keep me on my toes and bring me much laughter and singing, thanks! To my parents in-law for giving me a wonderful husband and for loving me and my children with a fierceness that we can feel from my many miles away. To all the amazing people in my life who I am lucky enough to call my friends, you fill my everyday with joy and magic. And to all of you, my blog friends who allow me into your personal world on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. I feel immense gratitude and humility that the little works I commit to my little white screen are received and appreciated by you. These are just the tip of the iceberg of gifts I have in my life and I could go on and on, but sometimes less if more and I will wrap this up and get to the menu planning part (why you are here right!), but I felt the need to share heart with you today, so I went with it. 🙂 Some wise person once said “The root of joy is gratefulness” and I believe this is true.
Ok, if you are still reading, thank you, I am grateful for your persistence in reading my ramblings but we are now to the actual reason for my post another thing I am Thankful for…Food! Here our menu for Thanksgiving 2014.
This year we have a pretty big group of nearly 40 people and I as The Food Czar (nickname courtesy of my witty mom) am in charge of the food. Ok, now before you are shocked and overly impressed by my cooking prowess, let me say that the food preparation is a group effort with friends bringing dishes, my dad in charge of the turkey and the ham (being prepared outside) lots of early prep work and many, many helpers. We are also asking everyone to bring desserts and pie to share. 🙂
Dinner this year is scheduled for 12:30pm, so I want everything ready by about 12ish, so this is what I do…
Simple Cranberry Sauce: Prepared Wednesday, kept in the fridge
Andy’s Red Hot Jello: Prepared Wednesday, kept in the fridge
Southern Classic Sage Dressing: Partially prepared before hand, at around 9am I add the extra broth and put it the oven at 10:30, ready by 11:30 and into the cooler to keep it hot
Mashed Potatoes: Peeled and boiled wednesday. Then at 10am I will mashed with milk, butter, broth and spices. Place in Large crockpot to keep it hot until dinner.
Sweet Potato Casserole – This is made by my friend Sara, she will bake this at home and place in a cooler to be kept hot.
Macaroni and Cheese – This is made by my friend Rachel, she also bakes this at home and brings it in a cooler to be kept hot.
Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries, Bacon and Pecans – Prepared on the stovetop, so I will start this at 11am, it only takes about 10-15min and I will keep them warm in another large crockpot. Top with Blue cheese just before serving
Green Bean Casserole: Prepare this on Wednesday and have it ready to put in the oven on 10am, ready at 10:30. Placed in a cooler to keep it warm
Broccoli Salad: Prepared my my mom’s friend Jackie, its a cold salad so she brings the ingredients and puts it together just before dinner.
Dinner Rolls: We use those delicious freezer rolls. These will take 6-8hours to rise in a chilly room so I will put them on counter to rise when I go to bed around 11 pm and I will be up at 5am, so I will bake them first thing in the morning. We will have garlic, honey and strawberry infusing butter to serve with these and this I have already made and put in the freezer. I will take them out to thaw this morning too.
Pies Galore! – Brought by guests
My plan is to have the oven free at 11:30, so we can reheat the Mac and Cheese or Sweet Potato Casserole if needed.
The meal is to be buffet style, so I will (hopefully) have everything ready by 12-12:15pm. We can start clearing the counter space and placing out the dishes and platters to get up our “buffett” ready. Because we have such a large group and I hate doing dishes, my idea is to serve the dishes directly in their cooking pans (my mom may have other ideas, we shall see 😉 ).
Then we will all go to the deck with our plates where my mom has beautifully decorated a long table set for 28 adults and a separate table for the ~10 kids 🙂 Enjoy!
I wish you to have a wonderful, delicious and joyful Thanksgiving friends!
xoxo,
Sally
