Thanksgiving hacks

So this year I had my best Thanksgiving ever. Honest, it was great.

Last week reading back on old Thanksgivings I kept remembering how stressful a lot of them were! But this year ... What went right?

Everything!

One thing, I have discovered a variety of Thanksgiving hacks. Some by accident. This year...

1. I roasted the turkey the night before. Never had it occurred to me to do this, but I read online where you could do it, and so I did it. My sister brought over a home-raised turkey on Wednesday, and by Wednesday night that big bird was cooked and sliced up and wrapped up in the fridge. And the bones were making stock in a Crock Pot. Why the heck not? You never see the big roasted turkey anyway. That vision of the turkey on the table, venerated by all, that is only in books and magazines. I used the stock for stuffing. Which leads me to hack No. 2 ...

2. Cook the stuffing separately from the turkey. I used to be a total purist about this because darn it, I grew up with stuffing in the turkey, and that's how it should be. But I changed my mind. I did the stuffing in another Crock Pot with this bread my brother George brought over from the Turkey Trot. It was the best stuffing I ever made and there were no leftovers.

You could also use your fresh stock for gravy however I did not do that because...

3.  I had made the gravy in advance!! Always do that. Gravy is not hard to make but it is hard when you are tripping over kids and a cat and people are racing through the kitchen and the turkey is out of the oven and everyone is hungry.

4. Make your red cabbage in advance. You don't make red cabbage? You should. Red cabbage and apples is our tradition. That is the German version and goes great with turkey. The Polish have a cousin to this version which does not have apples but has something else, I forget what, but I am sure it is yummy. Anyway, whatever version you make, do it in advance and put it into another Crock Pot.

5. The potatoes were cooked on the stove and mashed up with butter in a fourth Crock Pot. Needless to say these were Smashed Potatoes. I cannot peel eight pounds of potatoes, absolutely cannot.

6.  My niece Barbara came over and helped me get ready. That is she in the picture up above, right before my phone died. Looking at my kitchen you can see, ahem, signs of a struggle. But all's well that ends well.

A great Thanksgiving!

A miracle!