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2024 Thanksgiving Menu and Meal Prep Timeline

* image These past few months have been busy for our family, especially since our oldest joined a local swim team. Between juggling our work schedules and balancing school with practices... we're all pretty wiped out. Although it's a lot of work, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. Preparing the holiday meal for our family fills my heart with joy, and I can't wait to get started. To make things easier for me, I don't deviate much from  our first Thanksgiving  as a family. The dishes I make are familiar ones, and the recipes for them live at my fingertips. Keeping the same menu year after year means I don't have to spend time researching recipes or planning a new one. Here are my tried-and-true Thanksgiving recipes, as well as my prep timeline for the big day!

Taste As You Go Has Been Adopted


Kristen (of Dine and Dish) has organized another round of an amazing program she started that pairs newbie bloggers with experienced bloggers for a three-month mentoring period. I'm very fortunate to have been included in Round Three of Kristen's Adopt a Blogger program and am ecstatic to announce that Taste As You Go has been adopted by Sara Rosso (of Ms. Adventures in Italy).

Taste As You Go is approaching its one-year anniversary in August. Admittedly, I'm still trying to find my way as a food blogger and am still getting used to the responsibilities that come along with that role, including putting a spin on recipes and making them really mine; keeping on top of food trends and food issues; and continuing to write in a way that engages readers and encourages them to come back for more. I'm looking forward to consulting with Sara and getting her feedback and advice over the next few months.

Since Sara and I are in different time zones -- she's been living in Italy for the past six years (color me jealous) -- we're still figuring out the best way to proceed with our mentoring. In an early email exchange, I discovered that Sara didn't get into food blogging until she moved to Italy and that we both started our blogs in the same way, with a personal interest in writing about food and with a desire to share what we've written with others.

It's no secret that I'm concerned that what I contribute to the world of food blogging is minuscule and insignificant. Especially since, in the grand scheme of things, I'm a home cook without a culinary degree or any real journalistic experience. (Though, to be fair to myself, I did win the Home Economics Award in eighth grade.) I want to be able to set myself apart from other food bloggers, which is, as many will tell you, a task in and of itself. Sara's first piece of advice for me was to ask what I obsessed over: "What do you spend time discovering, finding, tasting, sharing?". Whatever it is, focus on that.

Sara's advice may sound "generic" (her word), but I consider it to be very valuable. And as we continue our mentor/mentee-adopter/adoptee relationship, I hope I'll be able to come to a more definitive answer to her question.

While I think about the question, I want to remind you to enter the Popchips™ Coupon Giveaway! You have until 11:59pm EST TONIGHT to enter! Just leave a comment on the giveaway post and let me know which flavor of chips you'd like to try. There will be three winners, who will be chosen at random and announced on May 11. Make sure you enter before the deadline! Please note: ONE entry per person unless you've taken action to earn bonus entries. Good luck!

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Comments

FOODalogue said…
wow...I don't consider you a 'newbie' and this piece was so well written, it proves it. However, an association with Sara could only enhance a job already well done. Have fun.
Joan - Thank you so much for your compliments. Kristen managed to squeeze me in as a participant for the third Round of Adopt a Blogger, and I'm thrilled to have been paired with Sara!
Sue said…
I think you give a unique spin to the restaurants you write about. I like hearing about the evening as a whole and the entire experience - food, service and ambiance. You're young and you go out a lot in the greatest city in the world! That's something pretty wonderful to be passionate about.
Sue - Thank you! Sometimes I think I get more excited about the restaurant reviews than the recipes because they mean I'm trying a "new to me" restaurant. However, I hope the people who do read the restaurant reviews realize that I'm usually reviewing places I've never been to before. My experience may differ completely from someone else's! ;-) But I absolutely love exploring New York this way!
Anonymous said…
adopt a blogger sounds so fun. i hope it keeps going well!

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, my birthday twin!! :D
talesofexpansion - Thank you, Sarah! I hope you have a FABULOUS birthday, too! Try and have some fun in between writing all of those papers!
I'm honored to be your mentor!! I think you're off to a great start already :)
Sara, Ms Adventures in Italy - Thank you, Sara! That means a lot to hear!