How I made Thanksgiving cooking go so smoothly.

Ok...I started the day before (with the invaluable help of Beth, Kyle's girlfriend) and made the pies (peanut butter, chocolate and pumpkin). Then Beth and I chopped the vegetables and labeled them and put them in fridge. Then I assembled all the baking pans I would be using and put them on the breakfast table, along with all the dry (non-perishable) ingredients that particular recipe would need into that pan, along with the recipe and a note on each one with the cooking temp and times. I can't begin to tell you how much time and effort that saved for the next day, Thanksgiving. Here is a picture to show you what I'm talking about since I don't often explain things very well.

Since I didn't have anything to do cooking-wise for the first 3 hours or so, I used this time to set my table.

So when it came time to start cooking the side dish, I started to assemble the dish that would take the longest to cook and got that one in the oven. I then set the timer for 5 minutes and started to assemble the next dish. I put that one in the oven and then assembled the next dish and put that one in the oven, so they were all done about the same time. It was made easier by the fact that I have 2 ovens. The top oven I used for most side dishes, and I finished the sweet potato casserole (recipe below) in the lower oven after the turkey came out. Since it needed close to an hour, I started it in the top oven about 45 minutes before the turkey was done. After it had cooked for 30 minutes I took it out, lowered the heat and started on the other side dishes. When the turkey came out I popped the sweet potato casserole back in the lower oven since it was the same temp as the turkey finished cooking on, for the last 25-30 minutes. Beth cooked the sesame soy-glazed green beans last on the stovetop, and while they were cooking I put the rolls in the now-empty ovens. The timing on everything really worked out well!

The food table

The dinner table with everyone around it.

Daughters-in-law Elizabeth and Valerie

Doug and Valerie

Kyle and Beth

My mom and dad

Patrick with our granddaughter, Nevaeh.

Jake with Nevaeh.
Late entry:
Oh, the best part of the evening???? Nevaeh started REALLY walking that night! Instead of taking a couple of steps and falling down...she started taking 10-12 steps at a time...and she was off and running! I am SO glad she waited until she was at our house so I could see that.