We’re almost a week from Thanksgiving and I thought it would be fun this year to share my personal Thanksgiving menu! We’re hosting a small gathering with friends this year so my goal was to ensure we have the ‘must-haves’ (mac and cheese for my husband and pie for me) while keeping things relatively simple.
I also thought it would be helpful to share my game plan when it comes to preparing for dinner. Prep starts the Friday beforehand for me and I’ve walked you through my entire plan including little overviews of my to-do list for each day.
I hope you have a lovely day with all of your loved ones and enjoy some really delicious food. If you’re hosting this year, remember to take deep breaths and not take things too seriously. You’ve got this and everything will turn out just fine.
Grateful for you and this All the Healthy Things community every single day! xo, Ashlea
Breakfast
Appetizers
Herby Goat Cheese Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates
Charcuterie Board
Mains
Simple Spatchcock Roasted Turkey (we’re actually trying something new this year and ordering a smoked turkey from a local restaurant which I’m excited about!)
Sides
Baked Mac and Cheese (this is my husband’s recipe from the ATHT brother site – Butter, Love, and Salt! It’s the only mac and cheese recipe you need!)
Honey Mustard Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Dessert
Passionfruit Cheesecake (another Butter, Love, and Salt recipe and one of my favorites!!)
My Prep Game Plan
One Week Out – Make My Grocery List
This is when I’ll make my master grocery list of everything I’ll need for Thanksgiving day. I go through each recipe carefully, make a list, and then cross-reference with what’s already in my pantry and fridge to make sure I don’t buy double of anything. I’m planning to order my groceries and have them delivered, so I’ll add everything I need to my online shopping carts and schedule delivery for Monday, if possible.
Monday – Clean Out the Fridge
I like to take one day to clean out my fridge so that I have plenty of space to hold all of my groceries and eventually food. There’s nothing worse than having to clear space and clean up while I’m cooking so this an essential step. Plus, my groceries should be scheduled for delivery on this day and I can put them right into my clean fridge.
Tuesday – My Day to Get Organized
Ok, we’re at the Tuesday before Turkey Day! This is the day that I start to get myself really organized. I like to go through each recipe and identify some simple prep I can do in advance. This is the day I’ll chop veggies, start laying out which casserole dishes I want to use, and just do anything to help make the actual cooking process easier. This is also the day that I double check to make sure I’m not missing any key ingredients.
Here’s a little overview of my to-do list:
- shred the cheese for the Baked Mac and Cheese
- make the cornbread for my cornbread sausage and herb stuffing
- dice any veggies
- make the sausage and veggie quiche – it’s nice to have an easy breakfast to reheat on busy weeks, so I’ll make this for us to reheat for a quick breakfast and it’ll last us to Thanksgiving day.
- roast a sweet potato for my cinnamon rolls
- make the dressing for the honey mustard kale salad
- make the loaded labneh dip
- make the pie crust for the dutch apple pie
Wednesday – Let’s Start Cooking!
This is when my husband and I start to do more cooking. The goal is to get as much prepped/cooked as possible. Some things just have to wait until the day of but whatever we can do in advance we do!
Here’s what we’re planning to do:
- make the sausage and veggie mixture as well as the egg custard mixture for the stuffing. I’ll keep these separate until I’m ready to assemble on Thursday.
- make the homemade cranberry sauce
- make the passionfruit cheesecake
- make the overnight version of my sweet potato cinnamon rolls. I’ll also make the brown butter cream cheese frosting for these and store it in the fridge.
- make the ham glaze
- prep the goat cheese mixture for the bacon wrapped dates
- last but not least I’ll set the table and make sure everything is prepped for guests like plates, utensils, etc.
Thanksgiving Day!!
Ok, it’s the big day! Doing a lot of prep in advance will make this day a lot easier but there is still a good amount to do. This is my game plan for the day. Even though I’m ordering a turkey this year, for the purposes of this I imagined I was roasting my turkey because I thought that would be a bit more helpful to see. This is just my game plan and inevitably I might need to make a few tweaks, but that’s ok! It’s better to have some kind of plan instead of no plan at all, in my opinion.
Here’s what I’m thinking as a game plan:
- put the cinnamon rolls in the oven to start off the day!
- make the dutch apple pie and bake
- while the pie is baking I’ll assemble the stuffing and then bake it when the pie comes out of the oven
- once the stuffing is out, it’s time to bake the ham
- next we’ll roast the turkey
- while the turkey is roasting we’ll assemble the bacon wrapped dates and prep the honey mustard brussels sprouts, and make the salad
- Take the cranberry sauce out of the fridge
- Chavez starts working on the macaroni and cheese
- Make the gravy
- around 30 minutes before guest are supposed to arrive I’ll put together the charcuterie board and transfer the labneh dip to a serving dish. While I’m prepping those things I’ll bake the dates so that they’re warm when people start to arrive
- Once the guests arrive, the macaroni will go in the oven, along with anything else we want to reheat
- Get everything organized for serving and get ready to eat!
And that’s it! I hope this is helpful for you to see! If you have any questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment and let me know how I can help.
If you make any All the Healthy Things recipes for the holidays this year, please let me know! I would love for you to leave a comment with a star rating on the recipe you made. You can also snap a photo & tag @allthehealthythings on INSTAGRAM. Your reviews and ratings help support All the Healthy Things and make it possible for me to continue to create the recipes you trust and love.
Have a happy Thanksgiving, y’all!
