Thanksgiving Prep: Balancing Emotions and Logistics

I have such a fun, delicious and inspiring conversation for you today. We’re diving into everything Thanksgiving with three-time James Beard Award-winning food writer David Leite. David is the founder of the website acclaimed website Leite’s Culinaria and is the author of The New Portuguese Table and Notes on a Banana. He also publishes the newsletter The David Blahg.

David shares his strategies for preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, not just logistically, but also emotionally. David and I both spent years of our lives stressing over the holidays and have found tools to bring us more ease, including planning menus that can be largely prepped ahead. David describes the dishes he makes (warning: you will leave hungry), and he shares his prep timeline (don’t miss David’s pumpkin cake and pumpkin meringue ice cream recipes in the links below!). You can also get my make-ahead Thanksgiving menu and prep list, along with my favorite side dishes and desserts (all of which are gluten-free) in the links below.

David also opens up about his experiences with depression and offers simple but profound tips and tools for supporting ourselves emotionally this season. These are tools that any of us can benefit from, and they feel more relevant than ever. As David says, it’s critical that we drop our expectations, know our own limits, and give ourselves the grace to not do it all (or any of it). His motto is, “If I can’t do it, I can’t do it,” which is something I’m adopting for myself. If I can’t do it, I can’t do it, and that is perfectly okay. Finally, I just want to remind you that no matter how you’re feeling in the season ahead, you’re not alone.

EPISODE LINKS

* Mind, Body, Spirit, FOOD Newsletter: https://mindbodyspiritfood.substack.com/

* Find Nicki on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickisizemore

* One-on-one sessions with Nicki: https://mindbodyspiritfood.substack.com/p/coaching-and-cooking-sessions

* Nicki's Thanksgiving Recipes & Prep List: https://mindbodyspiritfood.substack.com/p/lets-talk-about-thanksgiving

* David’s Website: https://leitesculinaria.com/

* David’s Newsletter: https://davidleite.substack.com/

* Find David on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidleite/

* David’s Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting: https://leitesculinaria.com/7518/recipes-pumpkin-cake-maple-cream-cheese-frosting.html

* David’s Pumpki