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Ellen White

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christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by Ellen White » Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:06 pm

Christmas Eve dinner (hopefully around 5:00-5:30 p.m.)
We are getting one of those turkey dinners from Kroger with turkey/dressing/gravy/rolls. The turkey will have to be heated in the oven.
We are having roasted potatoes, which also need to go in the oven.
We are also having squash casserole, green beans, and cranberry sauce.
We are also making a pumpkin pie.

For Christmas Day, we are making a cake.

1. I can cook the squash casserole on Tuesday and reheat on Wednesday. I'm not sure how long the dressing needs to be heated, but I think it's 30-40 minutes in the oven.
2. I think I can cook the turkey and then, while it's resting and being carved, the potatoes can be roasting.
3. I'm kind of worried about the pie and the cake, though.
The last time I made the pie, it had to cook for over an hour.
The cake recipe says it cooks for 40 minutes.

I only have one oven, which will need to be cooking dressing, turkey, roasted potatoes, pie, and cake.
I don't really know if this is do-able all on one day.

Timetable questions:
1. Do you think it would be okay to cook the pie on Tuesday? Then, we could either have the pie cold or gently re-heat individual pieces in the microwave.

2. How far in advance could I bake the cake for Thursday?
I guess if I got up on Christmas Eve and baked the cake first thing, then there would be plenty of time to cook the other stuff in the oven, IF I didn't also bake the pie that morning.

3. Or, could I bake the cake on Tuesday and keep it in a covered cake plate and still have it be good for Thursday?

4. Or, would it be better to just get up early on Christmas Eve and try to make everything that day, so that the pie and cake are as fresh as possible?

(This is why I avoid cooking!)
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Deb Hall

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Re: christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by Deb Hall » Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:59 pm

Ellen,
1. I can cook the squash casserole on Tuesday and reheat on Wednesday. I'm not sure how long the dressing needs to be heated, but I think it's 30-40 minutes in the oven.
2. I think I can cook the turkey and then, while it's resting and being carved, the potatoes can be roasting.
3. I'm kind of worried about the pie and the cake, though.
The last time I made the pie, it had to cook for over an hour.
The cake recipe says it cooks for 40 minutes.

I only have one oven, which will need to be cooking dressing, turkey, roasted potatoes, pie, and cake.
I don't really know if this is do-able all on one day.

Timetable questions:
1. Do you think it would be okay to cook the pie on Tuesday? Then, we could either have the pie cold or gently re-heat individual pieces in the microwave.

2. How far in advance could I bake the cake for Thursday?
I guess if I got up on Christmas Eve and baked the cake first thing, then there would be plenty of time to cook the other stuff in the oven, IF I didn't also bake the pie that morning.

3. Or, could I bake the cake on Tuesday and keep it in a covered cake plate and still have it be good for Thursday?

4. Or, would it be better to just get up early on Christmas Eve and try to make everything that day, so that the pie and cake are as fresh as possible?

Here's my suggestions:

Best option is to cook the cake ahead of time ( tommorrow?), cool, tighltly wrap and freeze the layers. You would then defrost and, frost on Xmas eve day. Cakes freeze perfectly so this is a great one to get out of the way.

Pies on the other hand do not hold up well - though pumpkin is better than fruit pies- you really want to do it the same day served. So I'd do it a couple of hours before the Turkey, etc goes in the oven, and let it cool while those heat.

The stuffing will heat perfectly in a microwave- you don't need the oven for it. Same with the gravy.

Is the Turkey a whole turkey, or already sliced? Be very gentle with reheating your turkey, you don't want to dry it out. Make sure it's covered tightly and on low heat. Alternately, if it's sliced, it can be gently re-warmed ( 50%) in the microwave in a covered dish. (Thats the way I personally would do it).

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

Deb

l
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Re: christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by Ellen White » Sun Dec 21, 2008 12:42 am

The cake is a bundt cake, so there are no layers and it won't be frosted. It just has a glaze. I've never made it before.
The turkey is a whole turkey. I get this every year. I think it takes a couple of hours to heat up? Can't remember exactly.
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Re: christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by Deb Hall » Sun Dec 21, 2008 1:50 am

Ellen,

The Bundt cake will also freeze perfectly- just glaze it after it has defrosted ( which should only take a hour or two at room temp).

I've never reheated a whole turkey- I'm guessing that Kroger has full reheating instruction though since you are getting it from them...

Deb
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Mandy R

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Re: christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by Mandy R » Sun Dec 21, 2008 11:49 am

Well since you posted on my thread you certainly know how much I have to cook, and trust me when I say the most vital part of success is the timetable! (pies, cakes, 3 turkeys, 2 hams, rolls, broccoli casserole, roasted corn and one oven lol). I didn't know cakes could be frozen, a little late for me to experiment on that one but I very seriously will take that into consideration for next year, hmm... Well the one thing I do know about making Christmas dinner a success no matter how many people you serve is doing AS MUCH PREP AHEAD AS POSSIBLE. Without that it would be a total disaster for me personally. I am making my pies/cakes Weds morning after I get home from working third shift, this has worked well the last two years I've done this. I keep the pies well wrapped in the fridge and use covered cake plates to keep the cakes fresh. I don't know about anyone else but it does work for me. Anything else you can do ahead of time would probably help. One thing I have to make by popular demand is my broccoli casserole, and I've found I can make those up to the point of putting them in the oven the night before, cover the pans tightly, and then bake them in the oven when needed. I know that different dishes like that can be prepped at least to that point ahead of time and it's a lifesaver! Another thing that I adopted last year (actually I am working on it right now :) ) is what I call my "battle plan." I make of list of everything that will have to go in the oven once I start my straight block of final cooking with the times required (I go for the high end of the cooking time to be safe, i.e. for 35-45min put down 45min, if the item gets done sooner then great, the more time I have to do other things). Once that is done I put them in the order that they need to be finished and if the oven temp needs to be changed put that between the items on the itinerary. To give an idea it's something like this:

8am Broccoli Casserole (350 for 45min)
8:30 Place the Oven Roasted Corn on the Cob on second rack (350 for 30min)
8:30-8:45 Take out Broccoli Casserole
9am Take out corn
Increase temp to 375
9:10 Crescent Rolls (11-13min)

There will be points where the timetable may not go as perfectly as you want but then I just shrug it off, mark new times and move on. While one thing is baking make sure to have the next item ready to go in, the whole point of doing this for me at least is it seems a lot easier to have it all down of paper and SEE what needs to be done and the amount of time each thing will take. It helps to prevent any mixups, confusion, or forgetting to do something and therefore panicking when the oversight is realized. Hope any of this helps!
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Leann C

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Re: christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by Leann C » Sun Dec 21, 2008 4:45 pm

Mandy or Ellen (I got confused on who's doing what & have lack-of-attention-to-detail disorder right now).

To Whom it May Concern,

If you need it, I have a 20 qt. roaster oven that we use for Thanksgiving. Turkey goes in it and frees up your oven for the sides. It hasn't found its way back down to the basement from this past Thanksgiving and you are welcome to use it if you like. It can also be used as a REALLY big crockpot to keep things like meatballs etc. warm/hot during parties. It can do from 150 degrees to 450 degrees. Plugs into a regular 110 outlet so you can hook it up just about anywhere.

Let me know if you need it. - Leann
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Re: christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by C. Devlin » Sun Dec 21, 2008 5:06 pm

Ellen, Deb's absolutely right about being able to handle a lot of the stuff in the microwave.

But here's how I'd handle your pie and cake issue (and I do a LOT of this): The bundt cake can be made several days in advance so long as you wrap well (plastic and then foil) and refrigerate it. Many cakes can be frozen either by freezing individual layers or even assembling and then wrapping very well and freezing and then thawing in the fridge and then bringing to room temp an hour or so before eating -- it depends on what you're making.

Since your bundt cake sounds like a fairly simple thing with glaze (although you don't say what sort of glaze), I'd go ahead and prepare it well in advance. Since it's for Thursday, I'd probably go ahead and make it Tuesday. Although, seriously, so long as you wrap it well and refrigerate it, you could probably make it on Monday. With many cakes, depending on what they are, they often develop seriously better flavor when they sit for a couple or more days.

The pie can be handled in a way that'll make things much easier as well, and that is to prepare the dough/crust in advance. If you're not going to bake or partially bake the crust before adding the filling, you can just make the crust (and I mean make the dough and fit it to the pie pan) and then freeze the unbaked pie dough til you need to fill it, and then bake it off the day you want it, or even the day before which, again, means you'll have a better flavor the next day.

You can also make the filling in advance and then just take the frozen pie dough out of the freezer, take the already-prepared filling from the fridge, put the filling in the frozen crust (and for sure put the stuff into the frozen shell, and that'll keep it from shrinking in the oven) and bake. If you need to partially bake the shell, then take it out of the freezer, put into a preheated oven still frozen and partially bake before adding the filling.
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Re: christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by C. Devlin » Sun Dec 21, 2008 5:20 pm

To clarify the timetable:

If you can, and because it sounds as if you're unused to doing this and you have a lot on your hands, do both the cake and the two separate pieces of the pie all on one day, on Monday, just to get them both out of the way.

So, Monday:

Start the cake first. Whip it up put it in the oven.

And then make the pie dough, roll it out or however you want to handle that (you can even press it into the pie pan if you're not comfortable rolling and lifting and putting the dough into the pan), wrap with plastic wrap very thoroughly, and put in the freezer.

And then make the pie filling and cover very thoroughly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. When I do this sort of thing, I make sure the first layer of plastic wrap goes smack dab on top the filling, and then I cover again.

When the cake comes out of the oven, you'll of course glaze it, and then let cool before wrapping very thoroughly and put it in the fridge.

Tuesday:

Take the frozen pie crust out of the freezer. Take your already-prepared filling out of the refrigerator. Put filling into frozen pie crust, bake (or partially bake crust first, whatever the recipe calls for).
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Re: christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by Ellen White » Sun Dec 21, 2008 10:48 pm

Luckily, I am just using a frozen pie shell. I went ahead and started cooking the green beans today and am going to leave them cooking all night in the crockpot. I'll cook the squash casserole on Tuesday and heat it in the microwave on Wednesday. It's usually better the second day anyway.
I think I'm just going to leave my alarm set like I have to go to work Thursday and get up early and do the pie first thing. While the pie is baking, I'll mix up the cake and as soon as the pie comes out, I'll put the cake in.
That will take up the whole morning, but I am pretty sure that the turkey only takes about 2-3 hours, so even if I don't start cooking the turkey until 1pm, it should be okay.
I just have to MAKE myself get up early.
Thanks for all the great suggestions!
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Joe Pennington

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Re: christmas dinner cooking timetable suggestions?

by Joe Pennington » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:56 pm

In a pinch, dont forget that grill out doors can be utilized. if for nothing else a warmer a place to keep hot food hot and free up oven space. 140 or above. to keep it safe.
Advance confidently in the direction of your dreams and endeavour to live the life which you have imagined and they shall meet with unexpected success. HDT

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