Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide: Thanksgiving Day

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Happy Thanksgiving! Time to sit back, relax and let your appliances take care of dinner for you. The marathon is over, the finish line is in sight and all that is left is pouring some cocktails, sipping a glass of wine and chatting with your favorite relatives. Put on your stretchy pants and get your crock pot going. Its game day!

Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide: Wednesday

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Hooray! You've almost made it! One more day until Thanksgiving. The finish line is officially in sight. The Wednesday to-do list is short and sweet, intended to keep the kitchen clean and the dishwasher empty. Consider grabbing a pizza for dinner or using paper plates for dinner tonight. Take it easy! This is the end of the Thanksgiving marathon.

Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide: Tuesday

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The Tuesday to-do list is all about getting ahead of the food prep. All of the grocery shopping should be done, the house should be spruced up and decorated. The only things left are the meal and setting the table. Over the weekend we prepped all of the freezer friendly dishes. Tuesday is for prepping the pies and baked goods that will keep until Thursday and starting the great thaw.

Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide: Decor

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I'm a little late on Monday, but I fell victim to a cold over the weekend so instead of writing, I slept. Hopefully by now your weekend to-do list is all checked off, the side dishes are prepped and the end tables are dusted.

Luckily for both of us, the Monday is pretty easy. It's just time to decorate. Stop, I know what you're thinking. "Decorating for Christmas takes days, weeks." Well, this isn't Christmas. The motto of the Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide: Decor is "If you don't have it, don't go buy it". This saves money, time and ultimately the headache of trying to head to the store the week of a holiday. So work within your attic, storage closet or your backyard! Head over to my Thanksgiving Pinterest board for inspiration, but here are some of my favorites. Customize them to what you have packed away.

Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide: Weekend

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The key to a successful Make-Ahead Thanksgiving is leveraging your free time this weekend for prep. Don't worry, this weekend is for more than Thanksgiving. The recipe prep on this weekends to-do list should only take about 2 hours! It seems early to start cooking for Thursday, but that's what your freezer is for! Focus on prepping and freezing the dishes that can stand the cold to minimize your cooking on feast day. Watch the daily guide for thawing instructions later in the week!

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This recipe is part of my Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide. Find it on the Weekend to-do list. For daily to-do lists leading up to turkey day, follow on my blog or sign up for emails. New to-do lists everyday at noon through Thanksgiving!

Creamy Dairy Free Butternut Squash Soup

Prep Time 1 hour 20 min, serves 6.

Ingredients

• ~3 lbs. Butternut Squash
• 3 Tbsp. Olive Oil, plus more for squash
• 1 Small Onion, Chopped
• 5 Cups Vegan "No Chicken" Chicken Flavored Stock 
• 1 Dash Nutmeg
• 2 Tsp. Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tsp. Thyme
• Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
• Fresh Pepper
• 1 Cup Unsweetened Original Almond Milk, on soup day

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This recipe is part of my Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide. Find it on the Weekend to-do list. For daily to-do lists leading up to turkey day, follow on my blog or sign up for emails. New to-do lists everyday at noon through Thanksgiving!

Freezer-Friendly Pigs in a Blanket

Prep Time 15 min, serves 12.

Ingredients

• 1 package Cocktail Wieners 
• 1 tube Crescent Rolls

Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide: Friday

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Happy Thursday...T-Minus one week until turkey day touches down! Are you ready? Fear not, I have the ultimate Thanksgiving guide. Watch for daily guides and to-do lists for the perfect turkey day, starting with tomorrow (Friday).

The week leading up to Thanksgiving can be plagued with deadlines at work, half-days at school for the tiny humans, and reunions with friends and family, home from afar. Follow my Ultimate Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Guide for a smooth holiday spent outside the kitchen and with your guests.

Pantry Raid: #Crocktober Vegetarian Chili

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Ladies, start your engines crock pots. I know, I know, #Crocktober is over but the it was in the 60's and 70's here for most of October, hardly stew and soup weather. It's finally cooling down and I'm in the mood for soul warming dinners! Check out my Pantry Raid Vegetarian Chili recipe, perfect for that Meatless Monday morning when you wake up and forgot to prep your pot! No need to fall off of your #Crocktober wagon even though the month has passed. Simply crack a few cans and let your cooker do what it does best!

November - Give Thanks & Reflect

October was an awesome month for All About the Benjamins. I kept my promises to myself and my readers...I offered seasonal recipes, festive haunted Halloween freebies and stuck to my writing schedule. I've been working on my social media presence, tweeting, facebooking, instagramming and updating my stories more, to keep my readers satisfied, especially on days that I'm not writing. With my remaining 5 minutes everyday, I sleep until my alarm goes off and I start over again. With a nice back-log of ideas and posts, November should continue to be an awesome month of recipes, Thanksgiving inspiration and fall fashion. For that I am thankful!