If you’re looking for something special to give to your entire family, or simply make life easier for yourself, a Thanksgiving day recipe book and Turkey Day Timeline is the way to go. See below for what that entails!
Everyone has a holiday that they love more than the rest. For my Sister-In-Law (SIL), that holiday is Thanksgiving. She owns it and not a single person in my family complains or has any intention of taking it away from her. My SIL has hosted us every year for the past 16+ and it is something everyone in my family looks forward to as soon as the leaves start to change.
Being the organized planner that she is, my SIL would hand write a giant master list of everything she needed to do and when. She would also have to dig through four of five different recipe binders to find all of the recipes she uses for our Thanksgiving feast. Not mention, we always seemed to search the internet for the same things year after year (AKA how long it takes to cook a turkey) and then promptly forget what we learned.
If anything happened to her master list, like something spilling on it or it accidentally getting thrown away, she was screwed.
About three years ago, my SIL causally mentioned that she should take the time to type everything up since it was the same every year. Since the kiddos were occupied with cousins and grandparents, I grabbed my tablet and her master list and got to work.
We compiled all of the recipes she uses and made them easier to read and understand. There were so many that had notes in the margins and a few with ingredient swaps that needed to be made for family preferences.
While we were going through the recipes, we pulled together a master shopping list so that she wouldn’t have to scour through each recipe to figure out what she needs.
Finally, we created a master schedule so my SIL could have a checklist for what needs to be done and when. We started with what needed to be made 2 weeks prior Thanksgiving up and ended with the exact time it took to get the turkey carved and on the table. I even printed one off and laminated it so that all my SIL has to do was use a dry erase marker to check off what was done.
And that, my friends, is how we created a family heirloom filled with our favorite recipes and an easy how-to-guide for creating the best Thanksgiving ever. If you’re looking for something special to give to your entire family, or simply make life easier for your host with the most, this is hands down the best thing you can do.
How to create your own Thanksgiving Day recipe book:
Step 1: Pull together all of your tried and true recipes. Don’t have any of those? Have each family member contribute a recipe for their favorite dish or dishes. (Need extra inspiration? Feel free to check out my recipe archives! We love making butternut squash risotto for our big meal.)
Step 2: Go through the recipes and write down every ingredient you will need. Make sure to note quantities for each, since there will likely be the same ingredients used in more than one recipe. If you want to get super picky, you can break down the list even further and sort it into categories. We used PRODUCE, GROCERY, DAIRY, and PANTRY as our main sections.
Step 3: Copy your recipes and paste them into a word document in the order you make them. (Don’t forget to source them so you know where they came from!) For my SIL, we started with what she makes 2 weeks prior (pumpkin cheesecake) and worked our way to the very last thing that gets made before sitting down to dinner (dramatically seared green beans).
Step 4: Add in any information you find yourself looking up year after year. For us, that was cook time for turkeys (you can find that at foodsafety.gov). You can even add in what to do if your turkey isn’t cooking in time.
Step 5: Create a master schedule! Think through what you do and when so that you can put together a schedule for yourself. What can you make ahead of time and freeze? What needs to be made day of? When do you need to start defrosting your turkey? How long does it actually take to cook based on the size turkey you got? What‘s the last thing you do before sitting down? Write it all down and create your Turkey Day Timeline. We started with 2 weeks prior, including a trip to the grocery store and florist for decorations as well as day-of activities like setting the table, making the pumpkin pie, how long it takes to carve the turkey and when to serve dessert post-dinner. Get as detailed as you like here, it will only serve you in the end.
Step 6: Get it printed and bound! Having an electronic copy is pretty spectacular and convenient, but having a hard copy is NEXT LEVEL. It makes for a wonderful thank you gift for your host, as well as a family heirloom that can be passed on to future generations. I actually emailed ours to Staples and had it printed and ready to go before we even left my SILs house and it was the best feeling ever. Of course, I had several copies made so that everyone who wanted one could have it.
