In honor of Thanksgiving...

Are you ready for the big day or are you panicked because this big meal is only a few days away?  Personally, I hope you are looking forward to it!

So, I am sharing some of my favorite ideas to help you with your holiday meal. These are from 'meals past', but I still use the ideas, recipes and the like each time I host a big meal.  It is totally doable!

Make a plan:  

Hosting Thanksgiving takes more than food.  Please see this 'to do' list to help you cover your bases.  

Lay out everything ahead of time:

No kidding, make sure you have all the dishes and pieces that you will need. Set them up ahead of time to make sure you have everything and that everything fits.  See this post that shows you the steps we did when we fed over 45 in our home.  I learned a lot.

Cooking the 'Bird':

There is more than one way to cook a Turkey.

• In a Roaster Oven
• In your Grill
• Or perhaps by Deep Frying...which is what Rooster Senior likes to do!

PS...It's crispy and tender.

He sets it up in the back yard and lowers the turkey down while he is atop the ladder.  By the way, he uses a good portion of my stored oil to do this.  So, if you are going to try this, stock up!

Making the Stuffing:

With so many concerns about cooking Stuffing in your turkey, why not try let your crock pot do all the work?  Learn more about this method here. 

What about the Rolls?

• Using your dehydrated Sun-dried tomatoes you can make these delicious rolls!
• Or, try Pull-apart Butterscotch rolls.....they are delish!  You prepare them the night before so you don't have a mad dash on Thanksgiving day!

We can't forget a salad!

• Try a delicious Copy Cat recipe for the Olive Garden Salad.  Easy to do and uses Food Storage Staples.  It is wonderful!
• You will need Croutons as well.  Look at how easy it is to make them and do it ahead of time.  I promise, these melt in your mouth!
• For those who like Pasta salad, give this one a try.  Make it a day ahead so that the marinate has infused in everything.  It is soooo good!

What about Cranberry Sauce?

• This is so simple to do and inexpensive. You can make 12 half-pints of delicious Cranberry sauce for less than 50% of the national brand.  The added blessing is that you have some for long after Thanksgiving when you have a craving for this delicious condiment.  It also makes a unique neighbor gift!

We need a little Dessert!

• When making pies, uses this recipe for the pie crust...it really lives up to its name of "Perfect Pie Crust"!
• Fill you pie crust with Apple Pie Filling that you hopefully canned a few weeks ago. It is still not too late if you have access to apples.  Put them up on Monday or Tuesday so that you have this filling ready to go on Wednesday.  You can make your pies ahead of time as well.

 Please, please don't forget the Why!

Even among the strife of worldly cares, we have much to be thankful for.  President Thomas S Monson shares the following:

We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”

Let me express my sincere thank you to each of our readers.  We are grateful that you take time out of your busy day to visit with us.  We are hopeful that the information that we share positively impacts your lives for the better. 

I wish to tell you all that I know that my Heavenly Father lives, and loves us all.  He is all-knowing and all-caring. He knows each of us by name and desires to bless with all that he has as we strive to become closer to him.

May the Lord bless you all this Thanksgiving Season.