What’s for Thanksgiving dinner?

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and I feel like I’m running out of time to plan and prepare a meal.  I decided to get ahead of the game and start sooner than later.

There are the die hard Thanksgiving enthusiasts who believe we should reenact the dinner the Pilgrims and Indians ate.  Me?  I’m not a traditionalist.  Turkey is usually the last thing on my mind when it comes to “Turkey Day.”

What about the rest of the meal?  The first part of planning any dinner is planning the entire meal from start to finish.  Imagine that you’re sitting at the table; What do you see?  What does it smell like?  What flavors are you salivating over?

After creating your vision you’re probably overwhelmed by the amount of work.  Don’t panic!  Well, unless this is your first time making dinner for your in-laws (I’ve heard many horror stories).  This is what I pictured for this meal:

• Mashed Potatoes (carb)
• Rib Roast (meat)
• Candied Yams (part vegetable, part dessert)
• Roasted Bell Pepper Soup (soup)
• Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder (meat)
• Assorted Roasted Vegetables (vegetable)
• Maybe Corn on the Cob (vegetable)

I’m not sure what I should serve as an appetizer and dessert.  I’m going to have to think about this.  Other things that I’m thinking about are, “I should do that cranberry dish?  How about that stuffing?  We have to have stuffing!”

Now that I have my menu, I’m going to look at the recipe to make sure that I have all the ingredients in stock.  We don’t want to run into a situation where we’re missing ingredients. Make a list of of all the ingredients you need.  It’s also probably a good time for you to take inventory of what you have in the kitchen.

Stay tuned.