|
THANKSGIVING
2005 CHECKLIST
3 Days Before - 21st November
Inventory your utensils and dishes.
If you don??™t have enough that matches find some cheap
complimentary colored dishes and create a fun look. Do you have:
o Dinner Plates
o Dessert Plates
o Clean Napkins
o Enough spoons, knives, and forks for everyone
o Water glasses
o Wine glasses
o Enough tablecloths for your tables
Save up those containers. Save used
cottage cheese, yogurt, butter and sour cream containers. They
work perfectly for storing leftovers to send home with family
members and you won??™t care if you never get them back.
Clean the house.
Make a list of all the dishes you
will be serving. Then go through and make sure you have all the
ingredients. If you don??™t have something write it down on a
shopping list. Keep the shopping list in a visible place like on
the fridge with a magnet so that if you think of something else
you need you know exactly where the list is and can write it down.
Figure out how many chairs and
tables you have. If you need more you can ask family or friends
that are nearby to bring some extra.
Decide if you are going to do a
centerpiece and gather the items needed for it.
A Day Before: 23rd November
Bake desserts and other dishes that
need to be refrigerated, or that are okay being reheated.
If you froze anything take it out of the freezer and put it in the
fridge to thaw.
Prepare yourself mentally for the cooking the next day. If you
need to, write yourself a timetable of the order things need to be
done in.
Thanksgiving Day: 24th November
Make sure everyone eats breakfast.
People tend to get cranky and mishaps occur more often if everyone
is working on an empty stomach.
Enlist younger members of the family to set the table and help
with other tasks like arranging vegetable platters. Tell them jobs
that they will have when guests start coming. For example one can
be the greeter and open the door, another can take people??™s coats
and so on.
If dinner is not quite ready when everyone has arrived go around
the table and have everyone tell one thing they are thankful for.
This checklist has been provided
courtesy of
http://www.MyKindaLiving.com. This website is a wonderful
resource for homemaking, crafts and lifestyle. Be sure to give
them a visit!
THANKSGIVING
DINNER TABLE GAMES
Dinner Table Bingo:
Create bingo cards that have common words or phrases
that you would hear at Thanksgiving dinner, such as, turkey,
pilgrims, thankful, please pass the rolls, and so on. Hand them out
to each person along with some kind of small candy to mark their
cards with. Tell everyone that as dinner progresses you will be
playing bingo. Everyone needs to listen to what is being said and
when they hear something that is on their card mark it off. The
catch is that you can??™t count anything you have said. Have some fun
small gifts wrapped and nearby for the people that get to bingos
during dinner.
The Thanksgiving Tablecloth:
Keep that fabric tablecloth in the drawer this year,
and instead use long pieces of butcher??™s paper. Provide everyone
with a couple of crayons and tell them to write or draw pictures of
what they are Thankful for while they are waiting for dinner. After
the meal is cleared away take the tablecloth off and look at what
everyone is thankful for.
Visit our website for more
Thanksgiving Dinner Table Games.
HAM DINNER MENU FOR THANKSGIVING
If you have a family dinner or a holiday party coming up, or
want to reinvent the Sunday roast, there??™s nothing outrageous
about buying a ham and roasting it. You can feed loads of people
and the possible side dishes are endless. I prefer a side of
creamed corn, and a sticky toffee pudding as an amazing end to a
great get-together. It??™s all delicious and easy to serve to lots
of people, especially during the holiday season.
Roasted Marmalade Ham
There is something quite old English about roasted marmalade ham.
It really does make the most wonderful roast dinner and the
leftovers can be sliced and served on a crusty baguette the next
day with some hot mustard and a little arugula.
Serves 10 Plus
Ingredients:
- 7 ??“ 81/2 pound middle cut ham with the knuckle left on 2
carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 16 black peppercorns
- 1 bouquet garni (a piece of leek, celery, a bay leaf, a sprig
of fresh thyme)
- 2 oranges
- 2 tablespoons sea salt
- 3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 jar of best thin-rind marmalade
- A handful of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
Directions: First of all, you want to place the ham in a
large but snug-fitting pot. Cover the ham with water, then throw in
your vegetables, bay leaves, peppercorns and bouquet garni. Peel the
zest from the oranges and add to the water, then squeeze the juice
in and add the salt. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and
simmer for an hour and fifteen minutes with a lid on, skimming when
need be. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a half an hour
in the broth. This will allow the flavors to really penetrate the
meat. Discard the vegetables from the broth, but keep the broth for
making minestrone-type soups ??“ it will freeze well for use another
day.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Carefully remove the meat to a
board and, using a knife, take off the skin. You should have a nice
layer of fat. Remove for roasting with potatoes another time. Score
the far left of the meat in a criss-cross fashion, and while it??™s
moist, season it generously with the ground black pepper. Place the
meat in a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes in the oven until
the fat renders and becomes slightly crispy. Remove from the oven,
stir up the marmalade to loosen, then smear and rub it all over the
meat with the rosemary. Place back in the oven for about one hour
and baste frequently until beautifully golden and crisp. Once the
ham is ready, serve as you would a roast dinner.
Creamed Corn (Side Dish)
This creamed sweet corn is delicious, and a great alternative to
mashed potatoes or polenta. First of all, cook 14 ounces of corn in
a pan with a good knob of butter, a wineglass of water and some
crumbled, dried chili. Cook with the lid on, on a medium heat until
the corn is tender. Then place it in a food processor and blend
until creamy and smooth. At this point you could add a little cr??me
fraiche, but you may like it just as it is. Season to taste with
salt and pepper and serve on a big plate, sprinkled with some baby
mint leaves and orange zest.
Sticky Toffee Pudding (Dessert)
Serves Eight
- 8 ounces fresh dates, stoned
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 3 ounces unsalted softened butter
- 6 ounces caster sugar
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 6 ounces self-raising flour
- 1/4 teaspoon ground mixed spice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons Ovaltine
- 2 tablespoons natural yogurt
- For the toffee sauce:
- 4 ounces unsalted butter
- 4 ounces light muscovado sugar
- 5 fluid ounces double cream
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put the dates in a bowl with
the bicarbonate of soda and cover with 7 fluid ounces of boiling
water. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes to soften, then drain.
Whizz the dates in a food processor until you have a puree.
Meanwhile, cream your butter and sugar until pale using a wooden
spoon, and add the eggs, flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and Ovaltine.
Mix together well, then fold in the yogurt and your pureed dates.
Pour into a buttered, ovenproof dish and bake in the preheated oven
for 35 minutes.
While the pudding is cooking, make the toffee sauce by putting
the butter, sugar and cream in a pan over a low heat until the sugar
has dissolved and the sauce has thickened and darkened in color. To
serve, spoon out the pudding at the table and pour over the toffee
sauce.
Find more
Thanksgiving menus on our website.
THANKSGIVING PRAYER
O Lord my Savior and my Master,I, Thine unprofitable servant,
with fear and trembling give thanks unto Thy loving goodness for all
Thy benefits which Thou hast poured so abundantly upon me, Thy
servant. I fall down in adoration before Thee and offer Thee, O god,
my praises; with fervor I cry to Thee: O God,deliver me henceforth
from all adversities and mercifully fulfill in me such of my desires
as may be expedient for me. Hear me, I entreat Thee, and have mercy,
for Thou art the Hope of all the ends of the earth, and unto Thee,
with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, be ascribed glory, now and
ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.
You can find more
Traditional Thanksgiving Prayers & Psalms on the Dot Com
Women website.
CLASSIFIED ADS
Herbalife
Stay young looking and have beautiful skin! A new multivitamin skin
care line that provides antioxidants and botanical ingredients to
protect your skin from damage caused by the environment and stress.
With vitamins A, C and E its basic nutrition for your skin.
G.uaranteed!
http://www.better-nutrition.net/outer_nutrition.php
----------------------------------------------------------------
Buy a Listing in the Dot Com Women Shopping Directory
Advertise your business, products and services to a 1100,000
potential customers visiting the Dot Com Women Shopping Directory
for just $10/year.
http://www.dotcomwomen.com/listings.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------------
475 Gift Basket Ideas Ebook
Do you love to
make your own gifts for Holiday gift-giving? 475 Gift Basket Ideas
Ebook is your perfect DIY gifting companion! Features ideas
for making your own gift baskets, 'Survival Kits' Holiday Poops,
Just for Fun gifts, Gift Basket making tips, Candy Gram gifts etc.
http://www.celebrating-christmas.com/ebooks/475gbi.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------------
Ad Spot Available next on November 28, 2005. Scroll down for Ad Info.
|
