Once you do enough cooking, you start to realize that most recipes can be rendered down to a few basic components and combinations … and it all depends on what region of the world you’re in, what culture, what foods are available and what you grew up with.

Cooking, preparing, cutting and serving a turkey/chicken is fairly simple if you stick to just the basics … and use a digital thermometer to monitor the internal temperatures

Gravy is a bit of a trick but do it enough times and you get the hang of it … if all else fails, have a packet of instant gravy mix handy (it makes gravy in about ten minutes)

Everything else with the Thanksgiving dinner is basically just boiled vegetables … if you plan on anything more complicated than this, then you are spending the entire day in the kitchen.

Dessert can be very simple or very complicated … depending on how masochistic you want to be … but it’s best to prepare the sweet stuff a day or two ahead of time.

Whatever you do … stay in the kitchen and pay attention to everything that is cooking, baking, frying or boiling … if it’s roasting for hours, stay nearby and be ready to act on it if anything changes or goes bad … in your off time when nothing needs to be done in the kitchen, wash the dishes and clean the space, because you’ll be making a mess again as soon as you start processing food again anyway.

If you’re not cooking, you’re cleaning. If you’re not cleaning, you’re cooking.