Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving just includes the immediate family this year.  Simran was still eating baby food last year, but this year she has lots of teeth and lots of opinions on what is worthy of being eaten.  I really want to watch the parade and not spend too much time in the kitchen that day, so I chose dishes that could be made almost entirely ahead of time. 

I generally plot out when I'm going to make what, based on how far in advance each thing can be done, so I've added this part in parentheses next to each dish name.  Mostly I have a lot of chopping to do on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I find if I chop all the onions at once, all the celery at once, etc., it is faster than chopping for each dish individually, so I'll be doing that.  Come Thanksgiving day I will have five dishes that need to be cooked, so I also need to plot out when to put what in the oven so that everything is done cooking at the same time.  I only have one medium-sized oven so this also means compromising on the oven temperature.  I've plotted the oven's schedule for Thursday at the bottom, based on the fact that we eat at 5pm.

Here is what I'm going to make:

Stuffed Tofurkys (marinate tofu Monday and refrigerate, assemble everything and freeze Tuesday, cook Thursday)

Gravy (combine ingredients Wednesday and refrigerate, cook on Thursday)

Apple Pecan Cornbread Dressing (make cornbread on Tuesday, chop/assemble dry ingredients Wednesday, add wet ingredients & cook on Thursday)

Festive Fruited Yams (chop/assemble dry ingredients Wednesday, add wet ingredients & cook on Thursday)

French Bread (make on Wednesday)

Green Bean Casserole (chop/assemble on Tuesday and refrigerate, cook on Thursday)

Cranberry Waldorf Salad (chop/assemble dry ingredients on Wednesday and refrigerate, add sugar/cinnamon/yogurt on Thursday)

Candied Pears (make on Monday and refrigerate)

Thanksgiving Oven Schedule
3:15pm - Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3:30pm - Put Festive Fruited Yams in oven.
4:15pm - Put Stuffed Tofurkys in oven.
4:30pm - Put Green Bean Casserole and Apple Pecan Cornbread Dressing in oven.
4:35pm - Re-baste Stuffed Tofurkys and return to oven.  Cook gravy on stovetop and turn heat to low.
4:55pm - Check on all food and allow to cool on countertop.  Return anything needing more cooking time to the oven for another 5 minutes.