Thanksgiving is just one big homey meal, but its outsized pressure is a good opportunity for cooks to plan out a meal step by step. This skill is one that transfers into more frequent and everyday weeknight meals.

Most of our menu can be made days if not weeks ahead. Here's how I would do it.

3 to 4 Weeks Ahead

• Buy wine
• Make and freeze gougères
• Make and freeze cranberry sauce
• Bake and freeze rolls
• Make turkey stock and gravy and freeze
• Make sure you have necessary equipment, tableware, and linens, and buy or borrow anything you need.

1 Week Ahead

• Make the shopping list
• Make a cooking plan
• Clean out the refrigerator

5 to 6 Days Ahead

• Go grocery shopping
• Put the turkey in fridge to thaw
• Make and freeze quince sorbet (or just buy a seasonal sorbet)

3 Days Ahead

• Make centerpiece or arrange flowers
• Iron linens (or just make sure they're clean)
• Gather any other table-setting accessories

2 Days Ahead

• Make creme brûlée and refrigerate
• Make molasses cake and wrap cooled cake tightly
• Make shrimp sauce
• Make sure serving dishes are clean and handy

1 Day Ahead

• Set the table
• Chill sparkling wine in the refrigerator
• Thaw cranberry sauce in the refrigerator
• Thaw frozen shrimp in the refrigerator
• Make sage and onion dressing. Refrigerate unbaked and covered with foil.
• Make Brussels sprout salad. Refrigerate, with apples and nuts left out
• Remove turkey from its wrapping. Remove giblets and pat turkey dry. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper and return to the fridge, uncovered on a sheet pan.

Thanksgiving Morning

• Put the turkey in the oven
• Make the mashed potatoes. Transfer to slow cooker to keep warm.
• Prep the hot cranberry cocktail
• Take rolls out of the freezer and thaw at room temperature
• Toss salad with nuts and apples and set out on the table

1 Hour Before Dinner

• Take turkey out of the oven
• Bake frozen gougères
• Set out shrimp and sauce, along with bubbly and hot gougères, for guests
• Bake dressing
• Warm rolls
• Warm gravy (or make it fresh)
• Carve turkey
• Transfer food to serving dishes

Source: The Kitchn.com http://www.thekitchn.com/a-makeahead-thanksgiving-dinner-menu-the-schedule-gatherings-from-the-kitchn-196827

Bogle Phantom is a yearly favorite here at The Hills Market Worthington, and it has arrived, as usual, just in time for Halloween. Not only does the label reflect a spooky scene, but the wine itself is also dark and brooding. Petite Sirah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Mourvedre are sourced from Lodi, Amador, and Clarksburg, and the wine is aged for 24 months in American and French oak. Aromas of bright red cherry fruit, rich blackberry, brawny juniper, and briary boysenberry entice you to take a sip, and what follows on the palate is a supple and succulent mouthfeel with tones of spicy vanilla and toasted coconut. The finish is focused and intense with moderately firm tannins. This is a scary good crowd pleaser that is perfect for any fall party. Only $19.99/bottle.

Fettucini with Balsamic Delicata Squash & Bitter Greens
 serves 6

1 pound fresh or dried fettucini 

2 Delicata squash (1 to 1 1/2 pounds total)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 sweet yellow onion, such as Vidalia, sliced
1/4 pound pancetta, diced (about 2/3 cup)
1/4 teaspoon dried red chile flakes
10 ounces bitter greens, washed, stem removed, chopped crosswise into 1/2-inch ribbons
freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Slice the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Slice crosswise into 1/4-inch thick crescents, discarding the root and stem ends.

Grease a baking sheet with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Arrange the squash slices in one layer and sprinkle with the vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Place the baking sheet on the lower rack of the oven and roast, agitating every ten minutes, for 25-30 minutes until squash skin shows some wrinkling. Remove from oven and set aside.

Set 4 quarts of water with 1 tablespoon salt to boil in a stockpot.

While the water is heating, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium low heat. Add the onion slices and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until onions caramelize to a light brown color, about 10 to 12 minutes. Scrape from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan over medium heat, cook the pancetta and chile flakes, stirring frequently, until crispy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Raise the heat to high and add the greens, stirring until wilted.

When the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserving a few tablespoons of pasta water, and add that water to the pan with the greens. In a large serving bowl, combine the cooked pasta, greens, roasted squash, and caramelized onions. Serve with freshly cracked black pepper and Parmesan.

Recipe: The Kitchn. http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-pasta-wi-1-15183

Homestead Beer Company 

Granville, Ohio

Just in! Our shelves are stocked with six packs of Homestead 1805 IPA and Tenpenny Amber Ale! We couldn't be more excited to get a few cases of Homestead's first Columbus delivery of their craft beer! Stop in and stock up for the weekend. While supplies last.

Homestead's 1805 IPA is old world meets new world with this combination of American hops and barley with a European yeast. The Centennial hops produce a citrus and orange aroma combined with a light, drinkable body and a delicate, lacy head. 

The Tenpenny Amber Ale is also a crowd favorite! Tenpenny Ale balances sweet, caramel malt with a mildly bitter, fragrant hop nose. Underneath those flavors lurks a powerhouse yeast that contributes the classic ale ester profile rather than the too clean flavors in modern beer. Tenpenny Ale is unpasteurized and never filtered, it’s beer the way it was intended to be

Flavors of Fall

School has started and football is near. That can only mean one thing for our beer department, Fall beers are here!

SHOW NUTRITION

Summer isn't over yet!  Try this trio of white wines, guaranteed to satisfy your palate from these last warm weeks of summer into the cooler months of fall.  And, they're new!