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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!

Menu Plan: April 28 - May 4

Date-Nut Rolls - Photo by Taste As You Go

Stephen and I typically kick off our Sundays by heading to our favorite weekend spot for brunch and bottomless cups of coffee. But, for the first Sunday in a long time, I found myself at home with a strong urge to bake something.


After weighing my options for a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that today was the perfect day to try the recipe for Date-Nut Rolls from Jim's cookbook. (Jim Gunther was one of my hosts at The Inn on First during my trip to Napa. These treats were available to the guests for breakfast each morning.)

The finished Date-Nut Rolls tasted fantastic... even despite the fact that some of them were horribly malformed. While it's slightly embarrassing to admit that my baking skills need work, I'm not ashamed to admit that I ate three of them with my (second) cup of coffee. I can't wait to share the recipe with you!

For now, though, it's time to share the Menu Plan for the week.

Menu Plan: April 28 - May 4


Sunday: Parmesan-Breaded Turkey Cutlets with Arugula
Monday: Scallops with Apple Pan Sauce from Bon Appetit
Tuesday: Rigatoni with Sauteed Eggplant and Tomatoes from Real Simple
Wednesday: Stephen's Choice
Thursday: Spaghetti with Meatballs
Friday: Barbecue Chicken Pizza
Saturday: Leftovers

You can see that I factored in a night for leftovers. Since starting this whole menu-planning exercise, Stephen and I have been absolutely inundated with leftovers. I've discovered that, for two people, it's not really necessary to plan something new every night, so Saturday's going to remain open (at least for this week) to accommodate any leftovers we might have by the end of the week.

Always learning!

What's on your menu plan this week?

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