Need some last-minute help in the kitchen?

Thanksgiving morning inspiration to ease your preparations

Nov. 26, 2020

We’ve all been there. The turkey is in the oven and several other dishes are in various stages of preparation. You are trying to keep the kitchen from looking and feeling like a full-on war zone when folks start wandering in. The guests who arrived two hours early (as they do every year). The children who have unplugged to peruse the land of sizzle and enticing aromas. Even your spouse, who usually only enters the kitchen at mealtime, is hovering. Yes, you love them, but right now you want to be alone in your zone.

As Russ Parsons notes in his 2003 story, The party starts here, (yes, in your kitchen), best to accept it and be prepared. Russ has some great ideas for no-fuss appetizers to keep them away from “dinner” and for what tasks to delegate to them so that either you will get some real help or they will get out of the kitchen — and your way — fast.

Still not sure how you’re going to get Thanksgiving dinner on the table? It doesn’t need to be a week-long or even an all-day undertaking. Noelle Carter’s sheet pan approach can get you there in about four hours. That means you still have time to grocery shop this morning.

Still need just one dish? Check out these 29 Thanksgiving recipes you still have time to pull off.