Hosting is fun and rewarding on so many levels, and spending time with family is very high on my list of things I love. Our family celebrates Thanksgiving the traditional way, with the whole family gathered and eating turkey with lots of sides. It really can be quite an undertaking though, both to prepare the food and to clean up afterward, even with lots of help. This year I decided to make some changes and to do in advance everything that I could. My goal was less stress during food preparation and less dishes to clean afterward, but still serving the wonderful turkey dinner my family has come to love so much. Simplify, simplify. Here’s what I came up with: The week before Thanksgiving: Turkey: (Here’s a link to how I slow-roast my turkeys) For the turkey, I baked it the week before, then carved it, saved the drippings, and cooked stock on the bones for yummy, delicious soup later (Turkey Stock). I put the meat into two 9×13 aluminum pans; white meat in one, and dark in another, covered them well with foil and plastic, then placed them in the freezer. I also saved a cup of drippings for each pan to use during heating.  See below for heating and serving. Gravy: I made gravy ahead of time as soon as the turkey was done cooking. I used turkey drippings, some potato broth, corn starch (instead of flour to […] Read more »