Thanksgiving is THIS WEEK!!!

Boy, these years when Thanksgiving's on the early side, it really creeps up quickly! In fact, it's the earliest it can be this year. I've been loosely working with a dinner menu subscription service this fall, and this week is a good indicator as to why those don't always work for me. Why? Because I need to work in some cornbread and biscuits into the rotation in the next day or two so I'll be good and ready to make up my Grandmother's Cornbread Dressing later this week. Mmmm..... I *might* be drooling on the keyboard.

So, here's what a pre-holiday menu looks like over at the full tummies house: trying to keep it reasonably healthy, easy, cheap, and incorporate some do aheads.... kind of a hard task. I also try to avoid too many flavors that show up on Thursday and stick to meals I've made before so I don't have to hover over recipes when I need to be cleaning and multi-tasking.

Tonight (Saturday): Butternut Squash Soup, leftover Kickin' Collard Greens (YUM), and Cornbread

Sunday: Leftovers, sandwiches

Monday: BBQ Baked Chicken, roasted winter veggies (leftover butternut squash, acorn squash--one of the last CSA items), bok choy (also leftover from CSA)


Tuesday: not sure yet.... will pull something out from freezer (lasagna perhaps) or bump Wednesday's BBQ to tonight OR Breakfast for dinner--with biscuits!

Wednesday: (first out-of-town company arrives tonight) Boston Butt BBQ, baked sweet potatoes, baked beans from the freezer, something else??  We'll definitely have leftover meat which I'll freeze for later quick dinners.

Thursday Morning: Cranberry Orange Bread, Sausage Balls, and some baked pears

The BIG Day (I am not making all this--my in-laws are bringing some! A side note: my Southern sister-in-law and I are delighted to share a SOUTHERN cornbread dressing together this year):

• Roast Turkey a la Bittman (How to Cook Everything, 10th ann edition)
• Gravy
• Cornbread Dressing
• Onion Casserole
• Steamed Green Beans (which we all mix into the onion casserole)
• Sweet Potato Souffle
• Corn Pudding
• Rolls
• Apple-Cranberry Pie
• Pumpkin Pie