Holiday Cookin'

I've been home for a couple of weeks, which means that I have had time to start obsessing about Thanksgiving Dinner...We don't do anything too big, just us and maybe a friend or two (this year, our pal Shaboo from Charlotte is coming), but I like to cook it up like there's no tomorrow.

The typical Thanksgiving includes me running around Oakland and Berkeley the Wednesday before, trying to find that last container of buttermilk for my knock-'em-dead biscuits (let's just say they were a hit with Leona's sister-in-law in Atlanta...), and then I cook all Thursday so that by the time dinner is ready my tongue is hanging out & I can't enjoy a thing.

I've got a new plan for this year--buying non-perishables last week and this coming week, and then I plan to hit the grocery story around 10:30 am on Tuesday before Thanksgiving to get the fresh stuff. And I'm going to start cooking & baking early too, so that there's just a minimum of preparations needed on Thursday itself.

Here's our menu:
* Game hens (with stuffing, if I get my way, Leona's not that excited about that prospect)
* Collard greens
* Mashed sweet potatoes
* Mac-n-cheese (an awesome recipe--so delicious I could eat the whole pan)
* Buttermilk biscuits
* Pecan pie
* Pumpkin cream cookies (a new recipe from Real Simple--it looks awesome)

Wish me luck!