The plans are set—you’re carting your family across town to your sister’s for Thanksgiving. The day before, you get the dreaded call: Your sister is sick, and can you please have the clan over to your house tomorrow? Sure, you say, even as you break out in a sweat. You have no turkey, no recipes and no time to ready a holiday feast for your fussy extended family. So you run over to your sister’s to offer your sympathy—and grab the ingredients. Now what?

 Whether you’re stuck for a last-minute meal or just have limited time to pull off Thanksgiving magic, you can do it, says chef-mom Sara Moulton (saramoulton.com), cookbook author, host of public television’s Sara’s Weeknight Meals and food editor for ABC’s Good Morning America. “Never apologize. Never explain. However the meal comes out is how you meant it to come out.” To that end, try her time-saving, taste-tempting, stress-reducing ideas. 

Tame the turkey. Your prime timesaver here: Don’t stuff the bird, says Moulton. It’s more work and takes longer to cook. Instead, brush the turkey with melted better, season with salt and pepper, set in a roasting pan and add 2 to 3 cups chicken broth to the pan. Then follow the cooking times on the USDA’s website (fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Lets_Talk_Turkey/index.asp). “Check the turkey at least an hour before the earliest time the USDA says it should be done, since they pad the times,” Moulton advises. The final trick: Let the turkey rest for 30 minutes. Resting time allows all the juices to redistribute, making the turkey moister.  

Make simple stuffing. Tear up some homemade-style white bread—think, Pepperidge Farm or Arnolds—into small pieces, add some finely chopped onions and celery, melted butter and dried sage and thyme. For extra zip, cook some breakfast sausages and throw them in; season with salt and pepper. While the turkey is resting, bake the stuffing in a buttered casserole dish 15 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered, until crispy. 

Smash the potatoes. Mashed potatoes take too much effort. Instead, place sliced potatoes in a large pot with cool salted water; bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Drain and return the potatoes to the pot, then smash with a potato masher or fork. Blend in some butter, heated milk and salt. 

Freshen up the berries. Forget about boiling and mixing a bunch of ingredients for cranberry sauce—and forget the can, too. Instead, create a relish, meaning uncooked cranberry sauce, by throwing oranges, sugar and fresh cranberries into a food processor. The easy recipe is located on the back of most cranberry packages. Then tell your guests you invented the recipe yourself. 

Be sweet. You just need one stand-out dessert to make your quick meal complete.   Moulton suggests easy apple turnovers. Sauté some chopped, peeled apples in butter until soft. Add sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice to taste. Take several pieces of the leftover homemade-style white bread, cut off the crusts and roll each with a rolling pin until thin. Brush each piece with some melted butter and put a spoonful of apples on top. Fold in half to enclose the apples, press the edges firmly to seal and brush with more butter. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F until golden. Serve with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or custard. Gobble gobble!