Yes, I realize Thanksgiving over. The turkeys have all been cooked, pies enjoyed and thanks have been given. Still, with Christmas dinner just around the corner I thought I’d share some tips on how to make your next holiday dinner even easier.

When I began cooking just over six short years ago (has it really only been six years?!), I signed up to make Christmas dinner. It had been exactly four months since I’d picked up my kitchen knives, determined to learn how to turn out edible delicious dinners. We’d just built a new house, had a four-month-old daughter and I’d flailed my way around the kitchen in mostly terror I’d taught myself to cook…so a holiday dinner made sense…right?

The dinner that year turned out exceptionally well. I put so much effort into that bad boy that honestly, I’m not sure it could have failed. I had so many dishes on the menu that even if half burned to a crisp, the other half would still have been enough to feed everyone and then some. But I was stressed. The week leading up to the dinner I created spreadsheets, accounting for every minute of cooking time and attempting to anticipate every possible thing that might go wrong. And so what if I forgot to peel the stickers off the roasted pears? I caught them before they went into the oven. And the puff pastry that sat out just a bit too long? It was salvaged and still rose to a nice, crispy brown crust. But I didn’t relax and I couldn’t enjoy my time with my guests. Thankfully, I’ve learned a few things since then.

• Have a plan. You don’t need to have a detailed, down-to-the-minute spreadsheet like I did, but you should at least have your menu planned out well in advance. Are you going to have an appetizer? What about a first course and/or salad? You can’t plan anything else until this step is done, so make sure it’s done early and thoroughly.
• Choose simple, make-ahead dishes. If you’ve never hosted a big dinner before – and even if you have – why not make it as easy as possible on yourself? Most stuffing dishes can be made ahead, refrigerated, then brought to room temperature before baking. Mashed potatoes hold well over a pot of simmering water, so while they can’t be made hours ahead, you can at least buy yourself thirty minutes if you need it. And there are so many holiday desserts to choose from that finding a delicious favorite to make the day before is easy as, well…pie.
• Set your table the night before. I’ll admit it – I’m terrible at this. But learn from my repeated mistakes…this will make your life sooo much easier (unless you have a groovy husband like me and just ask him to do it…year after year). It’s usually an hour or so before dinnertime and I realize I haven’t set the table. It always gets done quickly, but still, it would be much easier if it was done the night before.
• Don’t go overboard on the drinks. Hosting holiday dinners are expensive, so to keep costs down it’s a good idea to serve beer, wine, and just one specialty drink. Make some Pumpkin Punch for Thanksgiving or a Candy Cane Swirl for Christmas. Enlist one of your guests to play bartender ahead of time and set out ice buckets with beer and wine so your guests can refill their own drinks. Just one less thing for you to think about!
• Mise en place. For every dish that can’t be made ahead, make sure to prep everything first thing in the morning. Chop those onions and grate that garlic, then set it aside until you need it. You can have all your prep dishes washed and put away before you even begin cooking. I always feel much more in control when I’m cooking in a clean kitchen, and you will, too.
• Decide what dishes you’ll use in advance. This goes for both baking and serving dishes. Knowing in advance exactly what you’ll be using will go a long way toward saving you precious serving time. Will you be carving your turkey table side or placing already carved slices on a serving tray? Will your stuffing be baked in one dish then served in another? Decide this before you even turn on your oven so you’re not scrambling around at the last minute.
• Not everything comes out of the oven at the exact same time. Your turkey will need plenty of time to rest when it comes out of the oven, up to 45 minutes depending on how big it is. My side dishes go in the oven when my turkey comes out. This way, my turkey can rest while the other dishes bake and I whip up my mashed potatoes. My husband carves the turkey while I plate everything and it all ends up on the table at the same time.
• Keep your menu simple and easy. Sure, a flaming dessert is impressive, but it’s not realistic. All people want is really good food, so just make simple dishes and put your heart into them.

This is what I chose to serve this year:

• Goat Cheese Marinated with Lemon and Herbs, served with crostini
• Shrimp Bisque
• Roast Turkey with Lemon, Thyme and Rosemary (soy brined)
• Whipped Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Individual Carrot Souffles
• Caramelized Onion and Cornbread Stuffing
• Fresh Cranberry Sauce
• Chocolate Souffles with Brown Sugar and Rum Whipped Cream

It sounds like a lot of food (it’s Thanksgiving, people) but it really was quite easy. Here’s how I prepped everything, step by step:

1. Two days before: Purchased all ingredients. Note: I bought a fresh turkey. If you buy yours frozen, make sure to buy your turkey at least 3-4 days before.
2. One day before: Made the cranberry sauce and goat cheese appetizer, then prepared the stuffing and the chocolate souffles so they’re oven-ready. Yes, the chocolate souffles can be made ahead; in fact, this particular recipe must be made ahead. And frozen. It’s the perfect holiday dessert – elegant and impressive, yet completely stress-free.
3. The night before: Placed the turkey in the brine so it was ready at oven time.
4. That morning: Prepared the carrot souffles so they were ready for the oven. Prepped all my ingredients for the shrimp bisque.
5. Noon-ish (we wanted to eat around four o’clock): put the turkey in the oven.
6. About two hours before dinnertime: started the shrimp bisque so it had plenty of time to reduce and develop flavor. Took the goat cheese appetizer out of the fridge so it could soften and be served about half an hour later. Peeled the potatoes and kept them ready in a pot of water on the stove.
7. Chilled out until the turkey was done.
8. When the turkey was done, took it out of the oven and tented it loosely with foil and left it alone. Put the stuffing and carrot souffles in the oven. Prepared the mashed potatoes.
9. While my husband carved the turkey, I plated everything.
10. We ate until we passed out.
11. An hour later, I popped the chocolate souffles in the oven and whipped up the Brown Sugar and Rum Whipped Cream. Yes, I know they weren’t pumpkin flavored. That’s why I’m working on a pumpkin version so next year I can eat all the chocolate ones myself offer two flavors. Although these souffles are soooo good that no one was complaining.

Holiday dinners are time-consuming no matter what you do. But they really don’t have to be stressful; in fact, they can be relaxing and fun. I’ll post recipes for every dish above throughout this week, and if you have a question, please feel free to drop me a line.

Happy Holidays!