ALMOST THERE....

OK, y'all. We are almost there for turkey-time! Are you excited? I sure am.

What did you do today? It doesn't really matter, as long as something was done to assist you for the day on Thursday.

Today, I looked at my menu to decide what I'll need to do tomorrow. The steam cleaning of the carpets didn't happen tonight. Tomorrow night, they won't happen because hubby and I are going to see Twilight. I'll steam on Wednesday.

Tomorrow, I have a list of things....that I will post tomorrow :)

A question came up today, from one of my dear friends (who happens to read). I thought I would address it here.

How do you cook a lot of dishes when you only have one oven?

Well, it takes thinking and planning, but it really isn't hard.

First off, when your turkey has reached temperature (about 165 in the thickest part of the thigh) then you can take it out of the oven. The residual heating will bring it up 5-10 degrees making it perfect. Also, the meat needs to rest so that the juices may redistribute throughout the meat. Put the turkey on the counter and tent with foil. Your bird can sit for 30-90 minutes. SO.....plan to have one hour of a turkey-free oven that you can use.

Also, plan your dishes/casseroles so that the items that need to be fresh, come out of the oven last. Bread is what I'm thinking of. My casseroles will be made ahead of time (cooked, but not baked). So, anytime the oven is free, I can heat these through, remove, cover with foil and leave on the stove top to catch the heat through the oven top.

The sides of the dishes can touch or have little space around if the food is already cooked. If you are baking something (like a cake, cookies or bread) you really need enough space around so that the air circulates evenly...otherwise, you have uneven baking.

Don't forget your crockpot! This is awesome for something like green beans, corn on the cob or mashed potatoes!

Also, you CAN microwave things without adversely affecting the outcome of the dish....as long as it is not able to get dry. Things like prepared mashed potatoes.....put a pat or 2 of butter on the top, cover with Saran and nuke away. (Yes, I've read what plastics in the microwave can do, but really? That's why I pray for my food. I don't worry about it.)

Shoot, it's close enough to to tomorrow. Let me go ahead and list what I PLAN to get done (before the movie, of course).

I need to set out pork chops for my red chili. I need to go ahead and bake my corn bread and biscuits to get them drying for my dressing. I need to consider and outline my bake/prep times of each dish so that I know when things need to be started and how long/what temp to bake.

I think I will buy some sweet tea from CFA! (In honor of some darn-good fowl.) I also need to get milk....not that I need it for Thursday's meal, but as we go through at least 1 gallon/day...I need to be sure we don't run out when the stores are closed.

I also need to clear out my own freezer to get ready for some leftovers.

I need to do laundry....badly. Our heating element in the dryer went out the other day....so I'm behind. Anyway, since DH will be leaving the morning after Thanksgiving, I need to be sure that he is flying around in clean BVD's. =)

Well, that's all for now. I'll be back soon.

DON'T PANIC!!!

IT'S GOING TO BE OK!!!