Preparing for Thanksgiving!

Well with deer season over and our freezer once again full, I am turning my attention to preparing for our Thanksgiving feast.

Since Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday I always like to make our traditional dishes that help remind me of those wonderful Thanksgivings we had growing up. They were filled with happy memories, lots of loved ones and so much food we had to waddle home.

This year, sadly, we won't be spending it with family (as far as I know), but are expecting to have a friend or two over to help us eat all the food I find it impossible to not make. LOL If you are in the area, and don't have other plans come join us!!! :-))

So...today, I started to plan our menu (even though it's usually always the same, I still have to plan it out and make sure I have everything I need). We also sent some milk through the separator, so we made sure we had some heavy cream that would whip up stiffer than what I skim off by hand does. It has to set for a few days, after going through the separator, before I try to whip it, so I always do it at the first of the week, when Thanksgiving rolls around.

I've got sour cream made, ready and waiting for one of the dishes I'm most interested in having (5 cup salad...SO looking forward to the two fruit salad's I always make...they are what is calling me this year! LOL). I've got some ranch dip made in case we want to munch on carrots over the long weekend, the rolls are made and in the freezer, ready to be thawed and reheated and the turkey is thawing in the fridge.

I'll be cooking the turkey early, so I can enjoy thanksgiving afternoon better, and not have that extra to do with taking the meat off the bones. This year, I'm going to try to make some stock out of the turkey bones too, for flavoring soups in the winter.

Wednesday I'm devoting mostly to baking pies...well and getting that wonderful 5 cup salad made and in the fridge, it tastes better if it's made the day before to me. :) I need to make a couple pies for gifts to friends & neighbors, and then three different kinds of pie for Thanksgiving desert (since hubby and I don't like the same kinds for Thanksgiving). LOL

Thanksgiving morning will be busy getting everything else together and on the table on time. But it's a festive fun morning, of working together (hubby usually does a couple dishes he likes while I'm busy with the other stuff) and anticipating the yummy dinner to come. :)

All in all, it could be a busy week, but I'm so looking forward to Thursday and the rest of the weekend!!! I won't have to cook much the rest of the weekend, with all the leftovers we should have, so am looking forward to a long lazy weekend, and counting all the blessings God has giving us over the past year!