The star of Thanksgiving may be the turkey (Psst! I have a post dedicated to the bird), but I’m a sides-girl through and through. I’ll overload my plate with a little bit of everything, then for seconds get my favorites plus the tiniest sliver of turkey. Before the meal though, there’s the appetizers: the stuff everyone munches on while the cooks finish the last dishes. Last but not least there’s dessert. Don’t worry about having ten kinds of dessert, just one or two really great choices. If you did your job well everyone will be too full to handle anything more than a small piece of a very well made pie or cake.

Incidentally, the title says “Thanksgiving” but this action plan can be applied to any large dinner party, especially Christmas.

PLANNING

Three to two weeks prior to the big dinner, give yourself a an hour or so with your favorite cookbooks or recipe apps. First, before looking at any recipes, make an outline. Write down the courses and a vague description of what you want for each. Bonus if you include drink pairings.

If you already have an idea for a recipe, just write it in with where you can find it.

(Side note: I’m partial to cookbooks. Flipping the pages, looking up specific ingredients, and comparing recipes is so much easier in book form. Then, the day of, it’s easier to have all the books opened up instead of switching between apps on my tablet with turkey juice hands. An added bonus is if someone offers to help they can just reference the book.

If you’re going the digital route, I suggest printing off the recipes.

If you feel like you don’t have enough cook books go borrow some from the library.)

Here’s what my initial Thanksgiving planning looked like a few years ago for five adults:

Appetizer:

– oysters on the half shell

– baked brie thing with crusty bread

– Wine- Riesling, maybe Rose?

Main:

– Turkey

– Gravy

– Dressing- one from November’s FN magazine

– Potato dish

– Salad

– Warm green vegetable

– Beet salad (Polish p. 121)

– Wine- Chardonnay

Dessert:

– Buy cake

As you can see it’s on track, but it’s far from done. Now it’s time to peruse the cookbooks and fill in the blanks. Don’t forget to annotate where a recipe is. For example the beet salad above is in my Polish cookbook, page 121. If I use a recipe from one of my digital magazines, I’ll mark the page in the magazine then annotate this list with “BA Nov ’18” which translates to Bon Appetite Magazine, November 2018 issue.

A note on servings: It’s always better to have more than to run out. With that in mind, it’s also ideal to have some leftovers but not so much that you end up tossing food. My technique is to make recipes with 8-10 servings regardless of the number of guests, then just make sure there’s an array of dishes (usually opting for one side dish per person). Yes it’s more work than simply doubling a recipe, but it also guarantees that there’s something everyone will like and, depending on the recipe, sometimes doubling enters frustrating territory (not enough oven space, not cooking as well as hoped, not tasting as well as envisioned—you get the idea).

When the menu is set, go through it once more to write out every ingredient you’ll need on a shopping list. Go ahead and throw on an extra bottle or two of chicken stock, butter, and parsley because you can never have too much of those. For those of you who do weekly meal planning, this should be a piece of cake, for everyone else, why don’t you meal plan?

APPETIZERS

Appetizers are rewards for the cooks and everyone keeping the cooks entertained with conversation. Keep them easy (preferably made ahead of time), and don’t shy from store bought (like a cheese spread) or simple cut-up veggies with a dip. I love a good baked Brie too; the holidays are perfect to enjoy its richness plus the bread and cheese will fill guests up so they’ll stop asking when dinner will be ready.

SIDES

Aim for an array of colors and plenty of vegetable-based dishes.

Don’t feel like every dish needs to be over the top. Green beans sautéed with butter and garlic taste phenomenal and are quick.

Experiment, but not too much—you don’t want to ruin [insert holiday] dinner.

If your family has a few traditional dishes that you’d be shunned for excluding even though only one or two people eat them, ask those individuals to make the said dish.

Find yourself torn between two dishes? Just make a decision, the world won’t end if you make Brussel sprouts instead of green beans. 

DESSERT

End the meal on a high note with one show-stopping hit. Maybe two if you do a pie duo or something, but honestly save yourself the hassle.

Three options:

1. If you have a baker friend coming, ask him/her to make something.

2. If there’s an incredible recipe you’ve been wanting to make, plan ahead and execute.

3. Buy something from awesome bakery, no not the Safeway or Commissary bakery, a legit stand alone bakery or one in an upscale market like Whole Foods (Whole Foods has an awesome bakery, that’s where we ordered our wedding cake from).

Dessert done.

Alright you have your dishes, ingredient list, and some optimism for the night. Next up, execution!