Gluten Free Thanksgiving

All About our Turkey Time!!!

This year, we hosted our first gluten free Thanksgiving dinner. With a little trepidation I rolled up my sleeves and began baking and roasted our traditional dinner with a twist. I was a little nervous, that the traditional Thanksgiving meal wouldn’t be enjoyed by our gluten consuming guests, but everything went off without a hitch. Even the little ones scarfed down dinner and people even helped themselves to seconds of our gluten free apple bake.

As usual, we celebrated with Denis’ side of the family, as mine is spread across the entire country & parts of the states. However, this still meant hosting 10 people, and a huge Bouvier/Standard Poodle puppy in our little bungalow!!!

Essentially, what that meant is I had to be very organized. When I host, I want to schmooze and mingle with the loved ones I don’t get the chance to see as much as I would like to, so I tried to choose my recipes wisely and focus on those that could be made ahead of time. Most of the meal was prepared before our guests even arrived.

This year The Robinson Clan feasted upon…

Honey’d Goat Cheese Bites

Roast Turkey with Savory Rice Stuffing

Thyme Turkey Gravy

Decadent Mashed Potatoes

Harvest Squash Medley

Warm Apple Bake & Vanilla Ice Cream

Even though, most of these recipes were ready beforehand and reheated, nobody was any the wiser. I prepared the Savory Rice Stuffing, the Decadent Mashed Potatoes, the Warm Apple Bake, and I roasted squash for the Harvest Squash Medley the day before.

For everything that had to be done last minute, the day before, I pre washed, cut and measured all the ingredients and stored them in individual and labeled containers in the fridge. Yes, this means that the day before I was a busy bee, but the day of our Thanksgiving Feast I was hardly in the kitchen at all. The key is to have a cupboard stocked with many different sized airtight, plastic containers.

My hubby Denis, takes care of the cleaning. As most of the messy work was done the day before, the house was ready to go in the morning. Thanksgiving Day, we got to sleep in just a little, shoved the bird in the oven, walked Kelly our puppy and best of all we enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee on our patio.

I know that Denis and I had a great time and truly enjoyed the company of his sister Stephanie, her beautiful family (Dan, Sabrina and Zoe), my father-in-law Tom and some truly great friends Val, James and their precious daughter Gabrielle. This year I was definetly thankful for the realization that we are surrounded by such wonderful people.

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner and are as blessed as we are,

Kimberly