Many Dishes, One Oven

It just occurred to me that I've always done all of my cooking, baking, roasting, steaming, sauteing, braising, rolling, cutting, and searing in a ridiculously inadequate space.  And worse, I've almost always done it with ONE OVEN.  Now, some of you may say, "Why would you need more than one oven?' and the only response I have for you is, "Go pick up your Thanksgiving meal at Whole Foods."  But, really, I think the biggest challenge everyone faces with holiday meals and worse, holiday entertaining, is the dilemma of one oven and many dishes.  So, I figured I'd help you put it all in perspective using my dinner last night as an example:
On Monday night, I received a chat message on Facebook from my dear friend, Nancy.  Nancy lives most recently in Nairobi and formerly in Abuja.  Now, one would think that when you live that far from family and where you grew up, you might plan ahead a bit more when you are flying thousands of miles to visit your former home.  This is not the case with Nancy and her husband, Kirk.  Due to a complicated web of extended family, vacations and work-related stuff, they often only give us a day or two notice when they are in town.  And, I must admit:  I am so happy to see them, and thankful that they are choosing to spend their limited family time with us, I don't really care that I often have to juggle and pull some switcharoos to see them.  It is totally worth it.  So, on Monday night, when Nancy sent me a chat message saying, "We're at my in-laws, what are you all doing Wednesday?"  I replied, "Hanging out with you!"  Our friendship with them goes back to our pre-children days when we were big movie buddies with them, so when Nancy said, "Want to go see Megamind?" I immediately started thinking in terms of a quick family dinner so they could see the kids, and then how to arrange a sitter so we could get to a 7 pm movie.  So... what to serve for dinner so that I am not wasting our precious dinner conversation slaving over a hot stove or grill, and, also, something light enough that we will still have room for popcorn?  Et, voila!  Seasoned Roast Pork Loin with Herbed Roasted Root Vegetables and my favorite Cranberry-Feta Salad.  Oh, and because Nancy is a known brownie junkie: A pan of walnut brownies.  
Now, if you know anything about cooking, you can look at that menu and realize that other than the salad, every single part of my meal is going to do some time in the oven.  And, if you know anything at all about my crazy week, you know that very little cooking gets done on Dance Night, which is Tuesday.  So, it leaves me Wednesday afternoon to cook everything before 5:30, and after 2, which is when I return home from volunteering at the book fair at our school.  So... how to do it?  It's easy:  Just organize your cooking times and resting times.  First of all, I love brownies, but you can't serve them hot from the oven unless you just want to crumble them over ice cream, which I've also done, but there was a chance that the brownies might become contraband at the movie theater, so that would not do.  Also, the roast was BIG, so it needed a good hour or more to roast, then certainly some time to rest to retain its juiciness.  Finally, the roasted vegetables are best served hot from the oven.  With that in mind, here's how it went down:  
Tuesday night, before bed, I rubbed the roast down with a seasoning of choice.  (Right now, that choice is Emeril's Seasoning mixed with a little bit of my friend's family's secret seasoning, Keith's Salt). Once it was good and rubbed, I wrapped it tightly in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.  
2:30 pm Wednesday:  I came home and immediately turned the oven to 325 and whipped up a pan of Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownies.  (BEST BOX MIX EVER.)  
While they were baking, I pulled the wrapped pork out of the fridge to allow it to come to room temp.  
I then washed, spun and chopped my lettuce for the salad, put it in a bowl and topped it with the craisins, walnut and feta, covered it and put it in the fridge.    
3:15 pm:  I removed the brownies from the oven.
3:25 pm:  I turned the oven up to 400 and drizzled a roasting pan with some olive oil.  I placed the pork loin fat-side up on the pan and put it in the oven for 15 minutes.  Then I turned the oven down to 300 and roasted the pork until it reached an internal temp of 160 (yes, this is low, but you'll see....)
While the pork roasted, I peeled and cubed (about 1.25-inch dice) some parsnips, carrots, small yellow potatoes, a red onion, and cut the bottoms off of some brussel sprouts and threw them all into a big roasting pan.  
3:40 pm:  When the roast came to temperature, I tossed the root vegetables in olive oil, salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence.  I then removed the roast from the oven and covered it in foil.  I cranked up the temperature to 375 and placed the vegetables in to roast.  
So, by this time, it was 4:30... an hour or so before my guests were to arrive.  I set the table, hid the remaining junk in closets, drawers and under the sofa and chilled some beers.  
At 5:25, the vegetables were ready, so I pulled them out of the oven and turned it off.  I then returned the roast to the oven to keep it warm and covered the vegetables to keep them from drying out.  (At this point, the sitting roast in its heavy (and hot) roasting pan had continued cooking and its internal temperature had reached the perfect 170.)
Our guests arrive at 5:45.  
And I served a beautiful sliced roasted pork loin that was deliciously hot and juicy, surrounded by lovely slightly and randomly browned roasted root vegetables on a platter.  With a gorgeous salad to the side.  And everything was the perfect temperature and, if I say so myself, deeeeelish!
So... how to convert this to a holiday meal?  
First, focus on your longest-roasting item and build the oven schedule backward and forward from that.  Turkey needs 5 hours to roast?  Put that bird in the oven at least 7 hours before your guests are scheduled to arrive, which leaves you time for the bird to rest because all cooked meats must rest before being sliced, as it helps them retain their juiciness when sliced.  
Anything in your menu that needs to be baked, but can be served room temperature or slightly warmed?  Make sure you bake that BEFORE the bird goes into the oven, so figure that time in before the bird's start time.  
Hot casseroles?  Go right into the oven when the bird (or other big roast) comes out.  
And, most importantly:  EVERYTHING should be cut, chopped, sauteed, seasoned, and at least mostly assembled a day ahead of time.  The only stuff that should be prepared the day of are the dishes that absolutely cannot be prepared ahead of time, like sauces or salads.  And if you have limited fridge space:  Chop and prep everything into ziplock baggies and lay 'em out flat to store, just make sure you cool anything that has been sauteed first so you don't melt your baggies.  When you're ready to assemble your dish, just pull out the bags you need and mix it up, pour it into your baking or serving dish and you're ready to go into the oven or onto the table.  (Treat these baggies as checked luggage during the holidays:  Identify the contents AND their destination, lest they end up in Denmark.)
I don't know if this will help you with your holiday meals, but this is how I do it, and, for the most part, it's always worked well and my guests are normally pretty happy with the results.  As am I.
So, as we come into the holiday season, I wish you all the happiest of times with your families and friends, and a table full of great food to enjoy with them.