My fave seasons of the year is the next week. I didn’t realize it is the next week. For a sec, I had this panic feeling. I wasn’t ready! Usually ,  weeks ahead I have my menu down with the plan on how to get it done. For me, it is all about planning, time management. Since my first Thanksgiving cooking time, I came to this realization that cooking Thanksgiving meal doesn’t have to be stressful as long as I can plan and manage my time well.

We tried several times ordering pre pared meal and each time from several different caterer, we were disappointed. So never again.

This year I am planning to do Spatchcock style turkey. According to Tyler on food network this morning it takes less than 2 hours. 1 1/2 hour to be exact. slathered herb butter under the skin and bake. Sounds pretty simple and easy..finger crossed .  Going to brine my turkey the night before.

The sides dishes will be traditional sides with green beans casserole ,  mashed potatoes ,  sweet potato casserole ,  sausage apple cranberry stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce. And I will add warm kale salad with bacon and balsamic vinegar. And homemade rolls.

For those sides dishes I am going to utilize my Instant pot to reduce the time.

Cranberry sauce can be made ahead of time. The night before, I can do the sweet potatoes in instant pot probably take 25 minutes. Then mashed them and assembled in the casserole dish and into the fridge. In the morning just have to add the topping and bake.

The green beans, I am not using the canned stuffs. Did this last year and I was happy with the result. Now with instant pot going to be even better. 4 minutes to cook fresh green beans, drained and then mix with the roux. I always make my green beans with bacon and mushrooms. Assembled and bake in the morning, them add the fried onion and bake a little bit more to crisp it up.

Sautee the stuffs for stuffing at night and toast the bread then assembled them. Bake in the morning and add broth to it to make sure it is moist. Tempted to make it into a bread pudding like Ina Garten made on the show this morning. Maybe I will check with my boys about it.

Garlic mashed potatoes, 8 minutes in instant pot, mashed then add butter and milk. This can be done in the morning while the other sides baking.

Rolls, start the dough in the bread maker in the morning, then bake it after everything else is done.

Hubby is going to make mango cobbler. Yes mangoes. We discovered this by accident when we tried to make peach cobbler and used mangoes instead. Since then..we always do mangoes.

I will do the recipes in couple days as I am making them.

Can’t wait to cook .