Thanksgiving mistakes you never want to make

Thanksgiving is about a week away and for all you hosts out there, now is the time the pressure starts to set in and you have nightmares of all the things that can go wrong. Below is a list of the top mistakes that you do not want to make at your Thanksgiving meal.

Keep your rolls fresh: When you have a million things to do for one meal, preparation is next to godliness. Nothing helps more with preparation than items you can make ahead of time. Rolls are the perfect item to make the day before and warm right before you serve them. Always remember to put your rolls in an air tight container when you store them over night. If you don't, you will have little hockey pucks in the morning and a lot of stress trying to get new rolls to rise in time for dinner.

Thaw your butter- Nothing is worse than having beautiful golden warm rolls ruined by an ice cube of butter that shred your roll the minute the butter touches it. Butter is meant to be spreadable so be sure to take it out of the fridge in time to ensure that can happen. It makes for happy guests and less awkward moments of people trying chip off the butter like they are chiseling an ice sculpture.

Mix cornstarch with water for the gravy- We have all done it. You know that your mom always added cornstarch to the gravy to thicken it. Unfortunately, many of us failed to notice that she mixed it with a bit of water first and we go ahead and dump the powder right into the simmering gravy. Nothing like a chunk of gluey bitter mouth to go along with your creamy mashed potatoes. Always remember to mix your cornstarch with water before adding to your gravy.

Do not use a non-stick pan to mash your potatoes in- Non-stick pans are awesome. But what is not awesome is having that black non-stick coating marbled through your white potatoes. Potatoe mashers will tear that coating right off and cause havoc to your meal. After all, you can only claim  that you went overboard with the pepper for so long. Sooner or later everyone will figure it out and you will be horribly embarrassed.

Finally, the top mistake that you do not want to make for your Thanksgiving meal.

THAW YOUR TURKEY DAYS IN ADVANCE- Did you know that thawing a turkey can take up to 4 days? Please do not be the host that wakes up in the morning feeling completely prepared and then you realize your turkey in nestled down on the bottom of your deep freeze. It is a hard mistake to recover from. Do yourself a favor and put a reminder in your phone right now. You will be glad you did.

We hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Let us know of any experiences that you have, good or bad, that made a Thanksgiving to remember. Happy cooking everyone!

Andrea