Even though I felt like I got a late start, I like to think I'm pretty good at planning out big meals (what to serve, what I need to buy, when to buy everything, when to prep things that can be made in advance, etc.), but by far my best move this year was doing most of my shopping early this morning, before other shoppers had a chance to mob the supermarket.
Check out the pristine and solitary view in the produce section...
In fact, thanks to my handy shopping list and a virtually empty store, I felt a little bit like a Thanksgiving ninja this morning... in and out of the store in no time with everything I needed, then home to make quick work of some key prep work. (Did I mention I took this week off from work? Oh to have this kind of free time every day!) I'm hoping this good luck lasts, so that everything will turn out as we expect it to come meal time!
Searching for the bushiest, leafiest celery to make my favorite sage and celery leaf stuffing (I don't even like celery, but this stuffing is magical!)...
A lesson in potato economics... $.99 for ten pounds, $.99 for one pound, or $2.99 for five pounds. Factoring in our limited kitchen storage space, and the fact that neither of us is training for a marathon at the moment, I went for the $2.99 five pound bag. Since we only need two to three pounds for Mark's mashed potatoes, I just could not bear having seven to eight spare pounds of potatoes, no matter how good the price.
Out in under 20 minutes, which included some leisurely strolling...
At home, making a quick cornbread (from a boxed mix) to cut up for the cornbread stuffing... (Yes, we are making two stuffings. I know it's excessive, but everyone coming loves stuffing, and it's what always gets eaten first among the leftovers. So why not plan accordingly? It also means that one of the stuffings will have sausage in it, which you know makes Mark soooo happy!)
Cubing the sourdough with some of the crust cut off, for the sage stuffing... (I always think the stuffing tastes better if the bread gets two full days to dry out.)
And mixing together the wet brine, a modified version of Alton Brown's recipe (we'll probably try a dry salt like last year again next year, but we decided to try wet brine again to see how it works on the organic turkey)...
So now the turkey is brining, the bread is drying and all the other ingredients are in the house. Tonight we'll make the pumpkin pie and tomorrow we'll chop most of the veggies to that we can spend more of the day on Thursday watching football (and drinking... let's be honest), and less time endangering our digits around sharp knives in the presence of cocktails. (I already put a nice slice in the tip of my thumb while chopping an onion last night for a revamp of Coq au Vin like we made a few months ago.... don't need any more battle scars this week!)
Wanna see how last year's Thanksgiving meal turned out? Read all about it here. If you enjoyed reading this post, why not subscribe or follow? And please comment!
xoxo,
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happy thanksgiving, Tanja! can't wait to see your Thanksgiving pics.
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