Day Three hundred and fifty-seven

Our first gluten-free Thanksgiving. Sit back in your chair- this may take a while.

First, the turkey.  As it is, I leave the raw-turkey-prep to my husband, since I'm bothered my handling the raw bird. Did it have to come with a feature still attached? This grossed me out.

A morning smoothie.  This was a peanut butter-banana-flax seed (recipe: Cooking Light).

Pumpkin soup.  My mom makes and brings this along.  Yum.

The turkey.  Post-roasting, post feather-removal.

Carrot-basil-cornmeal biscuits.   These are a family tradition- my mom has been making them since the beginning of Thanksgiving time.  This is the first year they were made gluten-free.  (Next year I'll add more milk, tablespoon by tablespoon, until the dough is more moist). 

Smashed potatoes.  The sour creamy kind.  Only difference is, I sometimes use red potatoes instead of Yukon Gold, and then leave the skins on before boiling (steakhouse style).

Green beans with shallots.  Another contribution from my mom.

Cornbread apple-sausage stuffing. This was the crunchy in-the-oven kind, and there was also an in-the-bird version.  For the cornbread, I make my own using a recipe by Sneaky Chef.  It has pureed corn in the bread and it is *so* moist. 

Indian cornbread pudding.  My mom made this one was well, and it was an easy one to make gluten-free.

The moist cooked-in-the-bird version of the stuffing.

The turkey, carved. Thank goodness my dad worked in a deli as a teen-- he's a pro at carving.

Gravy.  My mom makes it every year. This was another recipe easy to convert to gluten-free.

Sweet potatoes with crunchy roasted marshmallows.  'Nuff said.

Butternut squash.  I think my grandma made this.

Thanksgiving dinner: Turkey, gravy, cornbread apple-sausage stuffing, biscuits, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, smashed potatoes, and Indian cornbread pudding.  Whew.

Pumpkin pie.  I made this using my grandma's recipe, but made a gluten-free crust (crust recipe: Gluten-Free on a Shoestring). 

Apple pie.  My grandma made this with her secret recipe, and used a gluten-free baking mix for the crust.

Pumpkin mousse with fresh vanilla creme- another contribution from my mom.

Pecan pie.  My husband made this (with some help) because he didn't think it'd be Thanksgiving w/o pecan pie.

Day Seventy-five: Thanksgiving

Cornbread and chicken-apple sausage stuffing... about to go into the turkey

The turkey... just stuffed and headed for the oven. We roasted it breast-side down for the first 1 1/2 hrs, and then breast-side up for the rest of the time.

The turkey... all roasted and ready to be carved. Carving is my dad's contribution to the meal. :)

Indian corn pudding... made by my mom

Carrot-herb biscuits... these are a tradition in my family, and SO yummy. Made with half whole-wheat pastry flour.

Pumpkin soup, made by my mom. Garnished with sour cream, toasted pumpkin seeds, and applewood bacon.

Sweet potato casserole... with marshmallows

Butternut squash... made by my grandma

The stuffing (from inside the turkey)

Gravy.. made by my mom

Mashed potatoes

Green beans with carmelized shallots

The meal... turkey, gravy, green beans, stuffing, cornbread pudding, biscuits, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and butternut squash. I'm full just typing that out!

The aftermath. I don't normally put pictures of people up, but when my husband fell asleep with his head in his dish, I felt I'd done my job. ;)

Pecan pie. As a rule, nothing store-bought goes on the table; but my husband woke up wanting pecan pie, and ran out to buy it while the turkey was roasting.

Maple pumpkin fudge, made by my mom

Apple pie, made by my grandma

Pumpkin pie, also by grandma

Thanksgiving butter cookies... also by grandma.

Day Seventy-three

Two days until Thanksgiving... let the preparations begin! Sweet potatoes roasting, and cornbread baking.

Shredded carrots, for a carrot-herb biscuit. This is another pre-prep done for Thanksgiving. For this recipe, I measured and combined the dry ingredients, and shredded the carrots, but I won't do the rest of it till the morning of Turkey day.

Cornbread! Recipe: Sneaky chef. This cornbread will go in the stuffing. It was made with half white/half whole-wheat pastry flour, with a cauliflower-zucchini puree, some coarsely-chopped corn, and a little flax seed. May sound weird, but it is super moist and delicious.


Pumpkin pie pudding (Recipe: Cooking Light). This won't be on the Thanksgiving menu, but a friend of mine gave me some cooked sweet pumpkin from her garden, so I pureed it, made a double batch of this, and sent half home with her.


Breakfast for dinner: Spinach and cheese omelets and whole grain english muffins. After this, we had some sliced bananas, and then dipped into the pudding a little bit. ;)