Prepping to host Thanksmas

This Thanksgiving, my husband and I are hosting my family from Brooklyn. We'll have my parents (who will be staying at a nearby hotel), my sister, brother-in-law, and two nephews. All of us, and our two-and-a-half year old will be gathered around our dining room table feasting and talking about the things for which we are thankful.

There will be excess. Lord knows there will be excess. As my 5 year old nephew has said in the past, "OOF." Below is our menu:

• Ham
• Turkey (protein for one of my nephews who doesn't like ham)
• Dressing/Stuffing
• Mashed potato casserole
• Sweet potato casserole
• Baked beans
• Crescent rolls 
• Spinach salad
• Buttermilk pie
• Pecan pie
• Pumpkin Chiffon pie
• Chocolate Icebox pie

On the list of things I'm thankful for, the first one is that I'm not trying to cook all of this. In truth, I'm cooking very little of this! We have ordered the ham, turkey, dressing, beans, and mashed potatoes from Texas Honey Ham. It's been a couple years since we last hosted, and we ordered from them the last time - it was delicious. So why change things up? 

I can't have Thanksgiving without sweet potato casserole, so that's why I'm making that. (There will be another post about the very divisive issue of sweet potatoes soon.) I don't like turkey (unless it's ground), so the ham from Texas Honey Ham is an awesome option. It's so good. But one of my nephews doesn't like ham (my husband remembered that from previous years), so hubby ordered a pound of turkey. Definitely more than just my 9-year-old nephew are going to get to munch on that. If I remember correctly, I was wild for their dressing, and I don't typically like dressing, so there's that. 

We've ordered the buttermilk and chocolate pies, and I'll be making the two other pies (with help from my mother, a seasoned pie maker). One is my husband's mother's pecan pie recipe (very similar to the one my mother used to make), and the other is one of my favorite recipes my mom pretty much always made. You buy canned pumpkin and add your own spices. It's a lot better, in my opinion, than the pumpkin pie filling you can just plop in a pie shell. 

We were going to make rolls, but I thought...hmmm...I'd rather just open up a tube of crescent rolls than miss more time with the family. Plus, my 9 year old nephew loves the things, so double-win!

I will assign someone to make the spinach salad, but it's going to have some sort of cheese (goat or feta), strawberries (if we can find some that look good), almond slivers, and a raspberry vinaigrette. 

Basically, the only things we actually have to cook are one pie crust, boil sweet potatoes, cook the pecan pie, and cook the rolls. Everything else is just going to be warmed up. And all of the cooking (save for the rolls) can and should be done ahead of time. So, all in all, I'm feeling pretty good about it.

As for breakfast? We're going to whip up a double-batch of my quinoa cereal, which is likely to please everyone. My nephews might prefer the Life cereal we're also buying, but my son loves quinoa cereal, so hopefully he'll eat his fair share (this kid can put away food!).

Lunch? Grab snacks from the fridge as needed. Hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, celery, carrots, and maybe some yogurt. We're having Thanksgiving dinner around 4pm, so no need to load up.