Are you hosting Thanksgiving Dinner?

Gobble Gobble! Are you hosting the Thanksgiving feast this year? If so, Is this your first year hosting?

I remember the first time I hosted Thanksgiving feast in my at my house and I was so nervous to cook the biggest center piece of diner: the turkey! I had heard horror stories from family and friends about the turkey being overcooked, under seasoned and worst of all DRY! So I wanted to make sure that was not going to be my turkey. I went out and bought all the most trending items for my turkey, a special baster, goat cloth, the best seasonings and herbs and a turkey pan, I wanted to be overly prepared. My turkey was not going to be the under-seasoned dry turkey.

I washed and prepared the turkey, making sure every inch was buttered and full of flavor. The feasting was in the early afternoon, so I put the turkey on through the night a set an alarm to go off every few hours to wake up check the turkey and rebase the bird. Now if that is not dedication, I don’t know what is. It was looking great through the process and smelling the house of yummy goodness. I woke up about 3 times through the night to unwrap, base, cover, repeat. The following morning I was up bright and early to start the rest of the food for the dinner, and was so tired. I felt like I had a new born all over again. But I was happy with how everything was turning out, and anxiously awaiting the feast! So finally comes the time to dig in, and thankfully the turkey was amazing, juicy and so full of flavor, everyone loved it! It was a first time success! My red velvet brownies on the hand, not so much. I misread the recipe and added a half cup of salt instead of sugar. Let’s just call that a ‘pintrest’ fail. Though my husband still ate them, and said they were the best he had tasted to try and spare my feelings.

Now I went above and beyond for this Thanksgiving dinner, and this may not be needed; though it was great and everything tasted to perfection. I felt worried and overwhelmed majority of the time. Looking back and learning a few things along the way, I would not do the overnight basting again. I have learned there are much simpler ways to cook and still have the same great taste. A few tricks I have picked up over time: plan ahead, SHOP ahead (not the week of), have your meals prepped the night before to just throw in the oven to cook, do not go over the top for every dish and do not attempt a new recipe on a major holiday or event, just in case it does not work out.

What have you learned over your Thanksgiving experiences? Any quick and effective tricks you use every time? If you are hosting for the first time, and need a few ideas on what to do to prepare check out this article below from Martha Stewart herself!

https://www.marthastewart.com/7908949/first-thanksgiving-dinner-tips

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and best of luck!