Juggling Tday cooking and make ahead recipes

[niccig]

I'm so behing with Thanksgiving prep.

I need a recipe for stuffing and a sweet potato dish that can be prepared ahead of time then warmed up when the turkey is out of the oven sitting/being carved.

Here's the deal - I have a small kitchen, 1 oven, 1 microwave, going to ask my friend to bring her convection toaster oven. I'm trying to work out how to get everything ready in time.

Turkey in oven
DH will grill asparagus or green beans on BBQ just before we eat (I don't like green bean casserole).
I have a make ahead mashed potato recipe that you warm in crockpot.
I'll do the cranberry relish and pies day before.

I need something for stuffing and sweet potatoe that can be prepped and ready to go when turkey comes out of oven.

And if anyone has any ideas on how to juggle everything so it's warm at same time...please tell.

Thanks.

[cookiemonster80]

Or you could do green beans stovetop cooked with bacon- easy and doesn't take oven space and saves your DH to help you inside. Most sweet potatoes recipes can be assembled a couple of days before and just cooked or warmed and marshmallows toasted at the last minute

[SnuggleBuggles]

I put things in the microwave or back of my stove to keep them warm no highly recommend against mashed potatoes in the crockpot. They are pretty easy to cook at the end. Do tge stuffing in the crockpot instead. I'm out now but at home I have a schedule that I'll post if its helpful.

[Tondi G]

If you don't want to stuff the bird then just make stuffing in a pan ... make sure you baste it with broth/dripping every 15 minutes though to keep it moist. My mom uses the Mrs. Cubbisons Dressing (you can get it at most grocery stores) ... she moistens it with finely chopped onion in butter and finely chopped carrots and celery that has been boiled in chicken broth. we stuff our bird! She buys these stuffing bags (essentially cheese cloth bag) and the whole things comes out of the turkey very easily and makes for some really yummy moist stuffing.

For sweet potatoes you can do the marshmallow casserole thing ... just cook the yams and mash with butter. My mom does a layer of butter and brown sugar on the bottom of the pyrex, tops with the mashed sweet potatoes/yams and then tops with mini marshmallows ... the oven time is short cause it is just to warm the dish and melt/toast those mallows! I do sweet potatoes a different way .... I do cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave .... then peel and slice. layer in a pyrex with butter, brown sugar and maple syrup and a little bit of spiced apple cider.... then in goes in the oven for maybe 15 minutes.

[bnme]

I make a corn bread stuffing like Pioneer Women's, but add sausage. I assemble it in the morning and just make it a little less wet. I put it in the fridge, take it out awhile before baking, and right before popping in the oven add some more heated broth. Ypu can chop the veggiies the day before and used store bougt corn bread to make it easier. And I don't stuff the bird. I just make it in a large casserole dish.

YUM..my favorite part of Thanksgiving.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/11/stuffing_dressing_my_favorite_thanksgiving_food/

[niccig]

I put things in the microwave or back of my stove to keep them warm no highly recommend against mashed potatoes in the crockpot. They are pretty easy to cook at the end. Do tge stuffing in the crockpot instead. I'm out now but at home I have a schedule that I'll post if its helpful.

Stuffing in the crockpot? Do you have a recipe.

I have a recipe for make ahead mashed potatoes that you then put in the oven to warm through. I was able to use the crockpot to warm them up and they were good.

But I think I would like to do the stuffing in the crockpot if that works too.

[niccig]

I make a corn bread stuffing like Pioneer Women's, but add sausage. I assemble it in the morning and just make it a little less wet. I put it in the fridge, take it out awhile before baking, and right before popping in the oven add some more heated broth. Ypu can chop the veggiies the day before and used store bougt corn bread to make it easier. And I don't stuff the bird. I just make it in a large casserole dish.

YUM..my favorite part of Thanksgiving.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/11/stuffing_dressing_my_favorite_thanksgiving_food/

mmm this sounds good. She even freezes it. I wonder if she mixes it, then freezes it and just pulls it out in the morning to bake? Of she freezes the vege mix, then adds that to the bread on the morning of Tday. Just wondering if I can mix up the stuffing the day before and put in fridge.

[niccig]

For sweet potatoes you can do the marshmallow casserole thing ... just cook the yams and mash with butter. My mom does a layer of butter and brown sugar on the bottom of the pyrex, tops with the mashed sweet potatoes/yams and then tops with mini marshmallows ... the oven time is short cause it is just to warm the dish and melt/toast those mallows! I do sweet potatoes a different way .... I do cook the sweet potatoes in the microwave .... then peel and slice. layer in a pyrex with butter, brown sugar and maple syrup and a little bit of spiced apple cider.... then in goes in the oven for maybe 15 minutes.

I'm not a fan of the marshmallow casserole. But how you cook the sweet potatoes sounds good to me. Do you have a recipe?

[Tondi G]

I'm not a fan of the marshmallow casserole. But how you cook the sweet potatoes sounds good to me. Do you have a recipe?

I wash and poke the sweet potatoes (usually 3 or 4 of them) and wrap in wax paper. 5 minutes in the microwave ... do the squeeze test ... if they feel soft then they are done..... if they are still hard then 3 more minutes ... check again. Let them cool and then peel and slice. I lightly grease a pyrex ... do a layer of potato slices, then top with a bit of butter, sprinkle brown sugar and a bit of maple syrup.... then another layer, repeat with the butter, brown sugar and maple syrup. when all of your potato slices are in the pan then pour maybe 1/4 or 1/3 a cup of cider over the top, then the butter/brown sugar/maple syrup... cover with foil and bake. It is a modified recipe from a recipe I found years ago in The Joy of Cooking cookbook. Since the potato is already "cooked" it is just to heat them up and let the butter/sugar/apple cider to meld and make it all yummy. I usually have em in for about 15 to 20 minutes or so .... enough time to let the turkey rest and remove the stuffing and get everything else ready to serve.

[alexsmommy]

mmm this sounds good. She even freezes it. I wonder if she mixes it, then freezes it and just pulls it out in the morning to bake? Of she freezes the vege mix, then adds that to the bread on the morning of Tday. Just wondering if I can mix up the stuffing the day before and put in fridge.

My mom always makes the cornbread dressing ahead of time and freezes it.
I think it tastes better if you mix it up the day before.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Anti basting here- per my guru, Alton Brown. :). Never had a dry bird with his method. Eta- no recipe for crockpot stuffing. I was just thinking cook in the oven, when space allows, and put on warm in the crockpot till you want it.

[m448]

I make everything but the turkey and gravy ahead of time and it's pretty darn good if those full bellies around me have anything to say after dinner. Oh and the fresh veg too.

I make the mashed potatoes ahead of time making them with plenty of the bad stuff and put it into a buttered casserole then dot with butter. Freeze. I make the cornbread stuffing and bake it about 1/2-3/4 of the way, freeze. Cranberry relish is made 2 days ahead. Pie crusts are made over the weekend, frozen and then thawed the day before to make sweet potato pie and I also make some crustless swedish apple pie that are amazing. the day before is when I usually also bake up a batch of soft dinner rolls. If I'm making biscuits I mix up the dough, roll and cut them out but freeze. I pop the frozen biscuits in the oven the day of but early in the AM so they're fresh.

The fresh veg is usually something that can be done on the stovetop (caramelized onion green beans, buttered herbs peas or caramelized onions). The turkey needs quite a bit to rest and then carve (don't do that at the table) and the gravy finishes at that time so when that's happening I pop the cornbread stuffing and mashed potatoes (covered with foil) in there to warm up and remove the foil on the stuffing during the last 10 minutes or so.

[Zansu]

If you cook it in the turkey, it's stuffing. If you cook it on its own, it's dressing.

We make cornbread dressing several days ahead. We do yams and apricots stewed in orange juice one day ahead. Potatoes in the crockpot. Lemon pies get made it the morning so they have time to set but the meringue is still soft.

I put the Trader Joe's green bean casserole in the oven after I take the turkey out to cool. I boil fresh green beans right before we sit down.

So everything is made ahead and reheated, other than the turkey and green beans.

[ccather]

We grill our bird on our good ol' weber kettle. It takes less time so it stays moist and it frees up my oven for other things. Our favorite green bean recipe is a cold salad one, so that helps not having to bake that day of. I cook the sweet potatoes for my casserole the night before, so that's a warm up the day of. You could do carrots early too and warm them the day of.