Life in the Cheese Drawer

i was going to review john green’s new book, “turtles all the way down,” but it’s been a couple weeks since i finished it, and i have a much more pressing thing to review for you: THANKSGIVING FOOD.
first, just know this isn’t my first rodeo (i think you know that). second, know that i really ENJOY doing this. i’m not sure why. but i just do. 
tomorrow i start the work. i’ll do a lot of prep cooking tomorrow because there’s no timeline, and i can just do it willy nilly. which means i end of doing a lot more cooking tomorrow than on thanksgiving itself. 
day before
i’ll brine the turkey. i use the pioneer woman’s brine and i get organic cage-free turkeys (not fresh – they’ve been frozen). 
i’ll make a couple pies. this year, it’s pecan and pumpkin cheesecake. (!)
the DRESSING. this is everyone’s favorite and it’s always the first thing we run out of. i think i’ll make a double batch this year and see how it goes. 
cranberry-orange sauce. we do the cold version. i tried the hot version last year, and people weren’t as impressed. it’s like we need something cold and tangy to go with everything warm and homey. 
i’ll cook the squash and get it in a bowl. the day of, we’ll throw in some butter and brown sugar and stick it in the microwave.
sweet potato casserole. this is something that we never had growing up, and one year i decided to try it out. SO DELICIOUS. so we’ve been making it ever since. it’s easy to warm up, so we’ll make it the day before.
apricot coronne, a technical challenge from the great british baking show, will be breakfast. i’ll make it the night before.
day of
for a snack/lunch, i’m making a squash galette with bacon. it’s so yummy! and filling, so it should be enough for everyone if we have some cheese and other snacky stuff with it.
then we’ll pop in the rolls – i just use bread dough from the freezer section and make pull-apart rolls. 
spatchcocking the bird. if you do it this way, it takes a little over an hour to roast, which is a-ok with me. 
throw on the potatoes. 
put in all the things that need to warm up – dressing, sweet potatoes, squash
this year we’re trying a parmesan cilantro corn dish instead of green beans. we’ll see how it goes!
then time to cook the brussels sprouts – just fry them up in some bacon. 
bird comes out and time to make GRAVY. 
LET’S EAT.
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then it’s time for DIE HARD.