I can't believe it's been a year since I started doing the recipe shares!
I've had so much fun talking with folks who've tried them and hearing about their own creative takes.
This whole thing started last year when I kept getting requests for my mushroom gravy recipe -- just because you're a vegetarian doesn't mean you have to eat dryyyyyy stuffing, lol! If you missed out here's the link to that post:
For Thanksgiving 2021 I wanted keep with the "hack" theme and share something a bit unorthodox, legitimately THE BEST HOLIDAY DINNER HACK I have ever been told about.
No, I didn't come up with this.
I do, however, tell as many Thanksgiving cooks as I can about this every November.
Y'all know I am the Thanksgiving host, and that my family requires an ungodly amount of potato dishes to be represented. I think the most out of control it got was 7 different potato options...which doesn't sound that bad except we rarely have more than 9 people at dinner. Oy Vey!
I learned years ago that I have to start the food prep early, like the Sunday-before-kind-of-early. I do that so I alleviate as much of the day-of madness as possible. It's also one of the busiest weeks at the salon, I usually clock about 30 hours from Monday-Wednesday of that week.
Any Thanksgiving cook will tell you that no matter how long of a head start you have, the last 2 hours or so are a stressed out chaotic rush to the end. Especially if you have one oven and four stove top burners.
For me, most of my juggling act has to do with all of the damn potatoes.
A few years ago a family friend gave me the TIP OF ALL TIPS: make your mashed potatoes earlier in the day and keep them warm in a large crock pot that's been well-sprayed with butter-flavored Pam.
I know that sounds super sketchy, I was skeptical, too!
Nonetheless, after making my own yukon gold and roasted garlic mashed potatoes ("chef's kiss"), I did the unthinkable and put them in the crock pot in the morning (we don't eat until about 4:00).
And OMG did they keep perfectly. I even think the texture got a bit better as they sat.
If you have a crock pot available, and you're willing to take a chance, I promise this hack will make your day so much easier. <3
