Monday, November 21st

Things I can check off my Thanksgiving to do list:

• Standard Market - done, but couldn’t find sweet potatoes or haricot vests
• Name cards and napkins - done, my not so crafty handiwork is below
• Decide what to do about the “roll situation” - done, going to try my hand at the Parker House roll recipe sent to me by my friend Maryanne
• Buy flowers for the dining room table and kitchen - done, thank you Standard Market!

Things to do tomorrow:

• Make the ice cream base (forgot to buy the dark chocolate today, so had to postpone my original plan)
• Pick up the turkey breasts, sweet potatoes, and green beans
• Make the kids’ beds
• Clean the oven
• Buy wine and other alcohol for Thanksgiving - delegated to my husband!

I did make time tonight to make a couple of different meals for dinner the next few nights. I wanted to make sure the refrigerator was stocked with leftovers so that I could focus the next two days on Thanksgiving.

For dinner tonight, I made steak tacos. Simple recipe - skirt steak, a little canola oil, kosher salt, pepper, and cumin. I seared the steaks on a flat griddle on the stovetop for about 2-3 minute per side and then let them sit covered with foil, until I was ready to serve them. I served the steak tacos with Spanish rice. Plenty of leftovers - check!

Tomorrow night we will have the last few pieces of chicken parmesan that I made on Friday night. I might (no promises), cook a pound of rigatoni as a side so that we have something to snack on for lunch on Wednesday. After all, I made gravy on Saturday, so I might as well put that to use. Oh, by the way, here is the results of that effort…

Wednesday is my main Thanksgiving prep and cooking day AND the kids arrive. I have a Mississippi Roast cooking in the slow cooker right now and I’ll reheat that on Wednesday night with some shredded Provolone. Not sure what I’ll serve as a side right now, but I’ll worry about that Wednesday night. Mississippi Roast just sounds gross, right? You can admit it! At first, I wouldn’t even read the recipe but I have to say, this roast rocks! It is a cross between pot roast and Italian beef. It has this really nice tangy flavor and I serve it like I would a beef sandwich and it is amazing. Got this recipe from the New York Times, so just follow the link. The only thing that I do different is that I use a whole stick of unsalted butter (only a sissy would use 4 tablespoons - come on!) and I add a bottle of beer and some of the extra pepperoncini juice. You MUST try this recipe!

Oh, did I mention that I subscribed to Sam Sifton’s Turkey Text from the New York Times? Yup - he has texted multiple times a day for the last four days. Don’t know why I chose to subscribe to the added pressure! It has been nice to receive reminders though to let me know how far behind I should feel!

Alright, I’m checking out for tonight. Sorry for the short post, but I’m up at 5am to shred my roast and get ready for my 7:30am haircut appointment. THAT is the most important item to check off the list tomorrow (um, besides the turkey breast pickup)!

Good night!