Cooking your first Thanksgiving? Tips from an old pro…

Guess what? It’s almost Thanksgiving!

Turkey day is my favorite holiday of the year. Once a year, I can just spend all day cooking and all day eating – my two favorite things in the whole wide world. This year, my hubby and I decided that we will stay home this year and enjoy our first Thanksgiving as a family of four!

Instead of my usual attempt to remake the classics, I’ve decided that we will have a very traditional Thanksgiving with all the fixin’s. Yummy! Roasted turkey, cornbread stuffing, sweet potatoes, greens, macaroni and cheese – oh my! I’m getting fat just thinking about it.

But for most of my friends, the kitchen is not their friend. They don’t really know how to cook, so the whole premise of spending hours upon hours in the kitchen is not something they look forward to.

So to make life easier for my non-cooking young moms, here are a few tips.

1) Something doesn’t taste quite right? Use a little bit more butter and black pepper.

2) Don’t try to make a whole turkey if you’re a Pizza Hut mom. It’s hard to make an amazing turkey right out the gate. Instead, just roast a whole turkey breast, which is easier and quicker to cook.

3) Clean up as you go! The only downside to Thanksgiving is that usually every single dish, pot and pan is dirty by the time you get done. Argh.

4) Make a menu. Choose one or two things that you will cook yourself, then buy the rest. No need stressing yourself out if cooking really isn’t your thing.