Thanksgiving food (and Gluten-Free Options)!

If you have read my blog before, or know me, you know that I love to cook, and I absolutely love this time of year where baking and cooking abound, and Thanksgiving week is especially fun and delicious. I thought I would share what I'm making this year, and perhaps some links to things I have made in the past if you wanted to check those out. I did make the turkey about 3 times in the past, and have fond memories of it, but now that we live near my in-laws, my MIL cooks the turkey in her huge roaster so I don't have to do that part. I do kind of miss it, but I also love making lots of sides, so it's fun!! This year I am making:

Stuffing
I usually make the stuffing, and I usually try different recipes. This year I am excited to try a new recipe that is in the slow cooker, and thought that would be one I wouldn't have to fuss with closer to eating time. So here is the link for that from Allrecipes.com, my go-to for recipes!!
Corn Souffle
I have blogged about this recipe before. It is a super old recipe that is out of our old church cookbook from when I was little, and my grandma has made it for years and years, and is a fond childhood memory. It is so good, that I make 2 so that we have enough for everyone, plus leftovers for dinner! It is that good!!

Cranberry Sauce
I have also blogged about this cranberry sauce. I don't think there are too many who love cranberry sauce, besides my husband and I, at our Thanksgiving, but we love it, and this recipe is oh, so good. I usually only choose recipes from Allrecipes.com that have lots of reviews and really high ratings, and when I found this recipe the other day, it didn't have the most reviews or the highest ratings, but we love it, and I make it every year. So that's good enough for me. The spices in it are amazing.
Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
This is a recipe I got from my dearest friend in Chicago, Emily, and I have made it several times. I actually don't like cinnamon rolls, but these pumpkin cinnamon rolls, with yeast and pudding mixtures, among other ingredients, are to-die-for!! I am excited to make them, and eat them!! I am making them for the morning, while we are cooking thanksgiving food!! Here is the link. And here also is the link to the recipe on my blog.

Applesauce
I have made this applesauce recipe for years because I just love the combination of cinnamon and cloves in it! My family loves it, and it is nice because it is one thing that can be made well before Thanksgiving. You could even make it a month before, and freeze it!! Also, it's on my blog.
Broccoli Cheese Casserole
While I have never made this casserole before, and this usually wouldn't appear on our Thanksgiving buffet table, I thought it sounded good and I know Maddy loves this kind of thing. I'm using GF creamy mushroom soup (see below) for this so she can have it.

Pecan Pie
Oh, the blessed pecan pie. I never even remember having one until I was an adult. And then realized I didn't know what I was missing. I have really only ever made Pioneer Woman's pecan pie, because it is easy and always turns out great!! I make her Perfect Pie Crusts ahead of time, freeze them, and then use them for my pies. They always turn out great, too!! Here is the link for the pie and the crusts.
Crustless Cranberry Pie
I am hoping that this pie will become a new, easy favorite. It looks delicious on Allrecipes.com and I'm not making it because it is crustless (it isn't GF), I'm making it because I love cranberries, it is easy, it had very high ratings on AR, and it looks like cake!!
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie
I am not even sure which recipe to be exact I will be using for my standard pumpkin pie. Probably something from AR that has high ratings, lol. The key is just to make a regular 'ole pumpkin pie that Maddy can enjoy, since she loves them!! And with the GF pie crust mix that I am getting from Braum's!!

Gluten-Free Thanksgiving
Since this will be Maddy's first Thanksgiving with her gluten intolerance, I have to be creative and still make it special for her and have her favorite Thanksgiving food! She doesn't like stuffing so I don't have to worry about that. She can already have the turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and applesauce. I am also making a broccoli-cheese casserole with gluten-free creamy mushroom soup that I found at a local grocery store! I will be bringing one of her GF rolls that I get from Walmart. For dessert, I am making her favorite, Pumpkin Pie, with some GF pie crusts that I found the mix for at Braum's, which is carrying a whole line of GF products now. I will also probably pick up some GF cinnamon rolls or donuts for her for that morning, since I am making Pumpkin cinnamon rolls for everyone else. And for the gravy, I am going to bring some corn flour to add to the gravy so she can have some thick, GF gravy. So she should be good with all of that food!

Well, I hope you all have a very Merry Thanksgiving, and are looking forward to all of the family-togetherness, food, and gratitude that goes along with it!!

 

 "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

 

 

Family Holidays!

Briana and her family in Branson

I'm so excited that my sister and her family are coming to visit for Thanksgiving! We haven't gotten too many visitors since we moved to Oklahoma, and I was so happy when she said they wanted to spend Thanksgiving with family! So we will all venture over to Tad's family's house for a big feast! I can't wait! And it just so happens that Tad is off work on Thanksgiving and the day after, so it works out perfect! We saw my sister and her family this past summer in Branson for our family vacation, but it will be nice to get the cousins together (our kids only actual cousins!) again and show them all where we live! I warned them there isn't much to do in our town, but they are looking forward to just spending time with family! I always have to throw that disclaimer in there, especially after everyone was used to visiting us in Chicago where there were so many fun things to do! All you have here is us in Oklahoma!

The cousins!

 I'm still in the middle of planning my part of the menu for Thanksgiving! I pretty much had everything picked out, and then I realized that I was making a lot of fun extras and not really helping with the traditional sides. Then my mother-in-law told me that she wasn't going to assign me ANYTHING since I will have family in town. Well, if you know anything about me, you know I just LOVE to cook and I look forward to Thanksgiving especially because it is so fun to make so much stuff. So anyways, I know I am going to make Pioneer Woman's pecan pie, as usual. And I think I will make my homemade applesauce. I still need to figure out which traditional sides I should help make. I just love cooking outside the box, and making different, exotic, yummy tasting things but Tad's family isn't used to anything like that, so I have to stick to traditional things. But that's okay!

Homemade applesauce!

We are just getting over being sick, and got a little "fall break" from school, if you will, so it's nice to have a little bit of extra time to get things done. The stomach flu is making its way through our family right now, and I'm wondering who it's gonna hit next! But it's a really fast bug! Hopefully everyone will be better by Thanksgiving!

What are you making for Thanksgiving? Any fun new websites, recipes, or ideas you could share! Please share in the comments section!

Ice Cream Pie with Caramel Sauce

This is such a fun dessert!! Of course, anything that Pioneer Woman makes is fun, and I haven't posted one of her recipes in awhile!! I don't know what's wrong with me!! I have come to realize that ice cream is one of my all time favorite desserts, and I crave it on a regular basis. So, in my opinion, you can't go wrong with an ice cream dessert!! This recipe combines two different kinds of ice cream, your choice, with a yummy meringue crust that is whipped together with pecans. The caramel sauce is simple to make, and you can use the leftover sauce for an ice cream topping for later!! So make sure you buy extra ice cream!! This is also a great recipe for when you are entertaining because you can make it ahead of time, and stick it in your freezer for whenever you need it!! 

Ice Cream Pie with Easy Caramel Sauce

Pioneer Woman

For the Caramel Sauce:

4 Tablespoons Butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup half and half

Pinch of Salt

1 Tablespoon Vanilla

For the Crust:

1/4 cup egg whites

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup Pecans, finely chopped

For the Filling:

2 Pints of Ice Cream (1 Pint each of different flavors)

Making the Caramel Sauce:

Mix butter, brown sugar, and half and half and salt in a saucepan over medium low heat. Cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minute, until thicker. Add vanilla and cook another minute to thicken it a little bit more. Turn off the heat and pour into a jar; I used a little mason jar. Refrigerate until cold. 

Making the Crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat egg whites until frothy (this took my little hand mixer quite awhile, but if you have a nice stand mixer, it shouldn't take as long or as much effort!!). Add sugar and salt and beat on high until stiff peaks form. Fold in nuts. Spread this mixture all over the bottom and sides of a non-glass pie pan; make sure you adequately coat all of the pan or else you won't have a sufficient crust!! Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, making sure you watch to make sure it doesn't get too dark. It is done when it is a golden brown. Let it cool completely. 

When the crust is cool, take the ice cream out of the freezer. Let it soften a little bit. When it is soft, spread the first pint over the bottom of the crust (Pioneer Woman used Butter Brickle, I used Butter Pecan which I think is the same thing! But you could use any ice cream flavor you want! Just remember you have a pecan meringue crust so you will want it to go with that flavor well!). Spread the second pint over the first pint (Pioneer Woman and I used Vanilla Bean, but again, you can choose your flavors!). Cover and freeze until very hard.

To serve, cut slices out and put onto plates. Serve with cold caramel sauce drizzled over the top! It's a great summer dessert! Pioneer Woman kept talking about how she wanted to use Coffee Ice cream sometime, and the possibilities are endless with what kind of ice creams you could use!! Enjoy!! 

Entertaining: Do's and Don'ts

I love entertaining. It's something I never knew I loved until I got married and started having people over. I had no idea what to do! But over time, I got ideas of how to have my house in order and cook and have a meal ready for people to come over! I really love having an excuse to super clean my house (my house doesn't look like this all the time, folks!) and to cook some really yummy food. It's the perfect combination of getting my house clean, cooking, and hanging out with friends!! But although I love it, entertaining has become a pretty stressful thing around here.
Although people might say I'm good at entertaining, they don't see the mayhem that goes on around my house before people arrive for dinner. Trying to clean a house with little ones running around who practically destroy your best efforts right behind you is exhausting. I try to clean throughout the week if I know people are coming over, but how quickly things get in disarray as the kids play. I don't want to tell them they can't play or make a mess, but inevitably their rooms go off limits at some point closer to when people will come. They just can't help but destroy them!
I have done a pretty good job of stressing out my poor husband when company is due to come, leaving him probably wishing we didn't entertain instead of all the stress that comes with people coming over. I guess I have 2 options: to either let go of my standards of how the house should look when people come over or have a better cleaning/cooking schedule that allows more time to get the house ready.
But it's not all horrible!! I really do enjoy it, and I will share some of the good things I have learned to do when having guests over, which I did a lot more of in Chicago, and am starting to do more of here in Oklahoma!!

I love to have people over for dinner, moms over for a morning playdate with a mid-morning snack, an afternoon playdate with snacks for the kids, dinner with friends, and I have been wanting to do a brunch for the ladies! Someday!! I have learned to plan to cook during the kids nap time and to try to keep as much stuff warm in crockpots so that I'm not rushing around finishing dinner when company gets here. I used to be finishing my cooking when people were walking in the door, and if I wasn't finished, it was stressful to try to talk to them while measuring ingredients and cooking. I would rather calmly greet people at the door and be able to talk to them instead of frantically cooking and finishing dinner!!
Something else I did was to start writing down dinners that went well for company, were easy, and had a good reaction. That way when company is coming over, I can just look up a meal I haven't made for them, and it's something I'm familiar with and I'm not as stressed out about it. I used to always cook a new recipe for company, but using a familiar meal cuts down on the nerves about dinner turning out!!
With little kids, you can still clean earlier in the week and get things done, and then close off the rooms, like the bathroom, master bedroom, kitchen counters, surfaces, decluttering, etc. You can pick the areas that they can't reach or you can shut off to clean earlier in the week, and save the main areas that they will destroy throughout the week for last. That way you aren't cleaning the same area more than once.

Do you think my house always looks like this?? Why do you think I had to take a picture? To enjoy this sweet, brief moment!!

And the more you can get done ahead of time makes your time with company more enjoyable. Get out all the plates, napkins, utensils, and cups. Make the drinks ahead of time and have them in the fridge. Prep the coffee for dessert, set out dessert plates and forks, and pick a dessert you can make a day or more in advance so that isn't even on your list for that day!! Make to-do lists for each day until they arrive, so all the stress isn't at the last minute. Make a to-do list for your husband on the Monday before they come so he has all week to get it done. Like right now, since I'm pregnant, I can't do heavy lifting. So I try to save all the big stuff for him to do when he gets home from work. That way you aren't yelling at him at the last minute to get stuff done. He knows ahead of time what you expect him to do, there isn't miscommunication about it, and he can get it done in his time. Which believe me, isn't your time!!
So, sorry this is so long!! Hopefully this might give you some ideas about what to do, and what not to do, and of course, adapt it to how you like to entertain and get things done!!


Happy Entertaining!!