My Get-It-Done-Early Thanksgiving Timeline: 3 Days till T-Day!

I am a little embarrassed that I never thought to prep some of the dishes before the actual Turkey-Day.  I mean I consider myself to be of at least average intelligence but it just never occurred to me not to try and do everything all in one day!

So here we are three days before Thanksgiving, and these are my jobs today according to my timeline:

* Make the cider glaze for the Cider-Glazed Turkey; refrigerate.

* Make the gravy base for the Bourbon Gravy; refrigerate (Alternatively, make and freeze up to one month in advance.)

* Make the Jellied Cranberry-Ginger Sauce; refrigerate. 

The cider glaze was a snap to prepare, but making the gravy base for the Bourbon Gravy?  I think I'll wait until Thursday.  I mean how long does it take to make gravy?  Five, 10 minutes tops?  I'll take my chances and make the gravy all at once on Thursday. 

Now the Cranberry-Ginger Sauce should have been easy-peasy (look at that beautiful color!) but I noticed when I was typing the recipe that I only used one packet of gelatin instead of two so I jumped up, dissolved another packet of gelatin in a tiny bit of water and whisked it into the sauce.  I guess I'll find out on Thursday if it worked!

Cider Glaze 

Yield:  Approximately 1 cup

4 cups apple cider

2 tbsp cider vinegar

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

In a large skillet, boil the cider until reduced to about 3/4 cup, 25 to 30 minutes.  Add the vinegar, butter, salt and pepper, and stir until butter has melted.  Refrigerate.

Jellied Cranberry-Ginger Sauce 

Serves 8 (makes 2 cups)

2 0.25ounce packages unflavored gelatin

1 12 ounce bag fresh or frozen cranberries

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp peeled, grated fresh ginger

Place 1/2 cup water in a small bowl; sprinkle with the gelatin and let sit for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries, sugar, ginger, and 1/2 cup water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, until the cranberries begin to burst, 3 to 5 minutes. 

Transfer the cranberry mixture to a blender and puree until smooth.  Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl.  Discard the solids.  You should have about 1 1/2 cups of liquid.  Whisk in the gelatin mixture and transfer to a 2 cup mold.  Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours. 

To unmold, dip the mold in a bowl of hot water for 10 to 15 seconds, then turn out onto a plate. 

The Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Plan!

I have been eating the same dinner for Thanksgiving and Christmas my whole life:  Roast Turkey with sage dressing, whipped potatoes with giblet gravy, sauteed green beans, mashed sweet potatoes with mini-marshmallows sprinkled on top, and the inevitable canned cranberry circle of mush artfully arranged on top of a leaf of ice burg lettuce.  Now don't get me wrong -- I love a nice roasted turkey dinner and the holidays are the only time I seem to eat it but it's the SAME MEAL EVERY TIME!  Okay, every once in a while there's a ham with scalloped potatoes so let's say up to now I've had...um...about 81 turkey dinners, 15 ham dinners, and then there was the one Thanksgiving I baked trout.  Oh, yeah, and one time at Christmas I made Teriyaki chicken with sweet potato and black bean casserole.

So a couple weeks ago I was skimming through my Real Simple magazine when I stumbled upon  "The Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving with these crowd pleasing recipes that you can prep in advance - plus an easy-to-follow timeline - your table will be deliciously composed come November 24.  As will you." and I thought, well who could pass that up?  Not me!  I'm gonna make the whole turkey dinner featured in this magazine!  Well everything except for two of the cranberry dishes because really -- do you need cranberry jelly, cranberry relish, AND cranberry compote?  They supply a list of ingredients that they assume I may already have (which was amazingly accurate) and a list of things I'll need to buy, but the most exciting list for me is the "Get-It-Done-Early Thanksgiving Timeline".  Wait -- did you hear that?  Every time I say "Get-It-Done-Early Thanksgiving Timeline" I swear a hear a choir of angels sing.

What's the menu?  Thought you'd never ask!

Cider-Glazed Turkey

Bourbon Gravy

Sausage and Apple Stuffing

Scalloped Potatoes

Brown Sugar-Glazed Carrots with Rosemary and Pecans

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Poppy Seeds

Jellied Cranberry-Ginger Sauce

No-Knead Onion Rolls

Sweet Potato Pie with Candied Nut Cream

So today I shop for ingredients.  Tomorrow I pick up my turkey (an organic free-range turkey bought at the Tacoma Food Co-Op!), and I have three things to prepare.  Tuesday will be a busy day:  six sides to prep, a pie to bake, and I have my piano lesson at 5:30!  Luckily for me I only have one thing to make on Wednesday since that's the day I volunteer at the Food Co-Op.

I have to admit I'm pretty excited about this dinner.