Stress Free Thanksgiving Dinner

                                What Every Cook Should Know About

                                      Hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner.

By, Stephanie Maggio owner/chef of Maggio's Personal Chef Service.

Hosting a Thanksgiving dinner can be quite stressful. The holiday season is already upon us and it seems we are busy even before the day gets here. First Thanksgiving, then Christmas, with New Years Day to follow. First, calm down. Here are some tips to relieve some of the stress so you too can enjoy the day with your guests.

First, decide how you want your Thanksgiving dinner to be set-up. Do you want buffet-style? With this set-up you would need a fairly large place to set the food. Your guest would then serve themselves and sit where you have provided. This is a very casual dinner and works well with a large guest list. Another way to serve your holiday meal would be pot-luck style. This way is much less stressful on the host as each of your guests would be bring a dish and usually a dessert. The host usually provides the main dishes such as the turkey, stuffing and gravy. So a sample way to work this would be to let each guest know what items to bring such as mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls and such. Make sure your specific though so you do not end up having tons of greens beans! And yet another way to serve Thanksgiving dinner would be a more formal dinner setting at the table. This is my favorite and is a more intimate setting. To have a formal setting you would need a large table and smaller guest list. What we do at our home is set up two tables next to each other. One for the adults, and one for the kids. The kids can chat amongst their selves and the adults can visit with each other without everyone being separated. So deciding now what kind of Thanksgiving dinner style you want lets you plan accordingly.

The second thing you should do is start you baking now. Most baked goods freeze quite well. You could make and freeze pies, nut breads, unfrosted cakes and cookies. You can freeze fruit pies uncooked, wrapped in plastic wrap then cover in foil. To bake, place frozen pie in center oven at 375 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours or until bubbly and golden brown. To freeze nut breads, you will need to bake as usual and let cool completely. Wrap cooled bread in freezer bread according to size of loaf. To thaw just place on counter for about an hour, then slice as usual. To freeze unfrosted cakes, cool cake layers completely and wrap separately in parchment paper and then in foil. Let thaw on counter completely before frosting. Cookies freeze very well. Just bake according to recipes and cool completely. Store cookies in freezer bags or freezer containers such as lock-n-locks. Just thaw on counter until ready to display and eat. Doing this now will certainly help take a load off.

Plan your guest list. This may seem simple, but as you think about who you want over at your home, your list can grow to impossible numbers! Do you have a large family? If so, you may not be able to have many friends over. This is where you need to decide who you want to spend the day with. Traditions also play a part in this. Maybe you have the same people year after year, such as Grandma and Grandpa. If so, this will be easy because you already know. Ok, you now have your guest list ready.

Start your grocery shopping early! Don't wait until the week of Thanksgiving to buy what you need. Not only are you risking empty shelves, but it is expensive to buy at the last minute. There are great sales starting around Halloween for baking supplies and such. Stock up now. If stuffing mix is on sale when you are at the market for milk, pick it up. You are going to need it anyway. You can also get cranberries cheap way before the big day. Cranberries freeze well too. As you buy items you know you will need, mark them down so when you get the rest of what you need, you do not over buy items. Turkeys also are on sale sometimes weeks before. You can get great deals like $5 turkeys limit 1. When you see this, go back again and pick up another to freeze!

Plan your cooking day. This will most likely be the day or two before. Decide what you have left to do and prep as much as you can. Mix up the stuffing for the bird and put into bowl and store in fridge. Also, you can make your rolls ahead. Cook up those cranberries. They will be much better the next day anyway after setting. You can also make your molded salads the day before as they also will need setting up. This is when you will defrost all those baked goods you froze the weeks prior to now. So if you need to frost the cake, now is the time. You can also bake up those pies you froze. Doing as much as you can on this day will help you to have more time with friends and family.

And Finally Thanksgiving Day! Your turkey is in the oven. When your guests start to arrive you need to enlist help. You may want to do it all and get all the glory for the hard work you have put in, but it is much better to let others help out and enjoy your day. Delegate tasks such as setting the table, organizing serving dishes and setting out appetizers for your guests to enjoy while the meal is being prepared. Snacking is an important part to hosting a party. This is a must when entertaining. So set out the appetizer trays and mingle with your guests because you have planned for this day and you will now enjoy it too!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Stephanie Maggio

928-503-4922

www.maggiospersonalchefservice.com

A sample Thanksgiving meal menu:

Roasted Turkey with Herbs

Cider Crusted Baked Ham

Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan topping

Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Pan gravy

Cranberries with Grand Marnier Sauce (YUM!)

Molded Raspberry/Cranberry Salad

Homemade Rolls with Honey Butter

Green Bean Casserole (kids love this)

Bread Stuffing with Italian Sausage,Pecans,Raisins and Apples

Pumpkin Pie

Apple Pie

Pecan Pie