We had a great Thanksgiving day yesterday. With Kayla having a stomach virus last Sunday I was expecting to have to cancel the festivities. Thankfully none of us came down with it. Not surprising since Kayla’s is much more susceptible than most, but it was apparently running rampant through her school the past few weeks.

My parents were off to my Sister’s for the long weekend. J’s parents and his brother joined us for dinner as did our friends Jen, Jeff & Emma. The girls were thrilled to have Emma there and J and I were just has happy to have Jen and Jeff join us this year. Jeff made a dairy-free stuffing dish which was delicious. He is really the only person besides my Mom and Sister who I’ve trusted to cook for Kayla. This is a big deal for us, but he really works with me and never makes me feel neurotic for my questions, ingredient inquiries and reminders. He has a love of cooking and has a better understanding than most about ingredients.

So without further ado…our menu for this year’s festivities.

Turkey
This is a recipe my Sis gave me years ago and it’s very delicious and tender. The recipe is for a 12 pound turkey, but I got a 21.8 pounder, so I adjusted the seasonings accordingly.

12 pound turkey
4C warm water (110 degrees)
3 T Chicken bouillon – I use Better than Bouillion
6 T Soy Garden soy butter substitute
Salt & Pepper
Poultry Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Paprika

Preheat oven to 350. Rinse & wash turkey; take out the neck and innards. Place turkey in roasting pan. Rub the turkey inside and out with the spices. Combine the water and bouillon and pour over the top of the turkey. Sprinkle the paprika over the turkey. For tenderizing, make a large cover sheet out of 2 sheets of aluminum foil by placing 2 large ends together and rolling the edges together. Make sure the seam is sealed. Place loosely over the turkey making sure there is some space between the breast and the foil (however small). Seal the foil to the edges of the pan and without tearing the foil, push a small ditch around the inside of the pan walls. This seals the juices in; the turkey steams and bastes itself. Bake at 350 for 4-5 hours; for at least 45 minutes of so remove the foil and baste every 10 minutes; the turkey will brown nicely.

Whipped Sweet Potato Bake (from Kraft Foods)
3 Cans (15oz each) vac packed sweet potatoes drained
¼ C Soy Garden soy butter substitute, melted
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ginger
¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg
24 Jet puffed marshmallows or mini (as much to cover the sweat potato)

Beat the sweet potatoes, soy garden (or butter), cinnamon, salt & nutmeg with an electric mixer on medium speed until well blended; spoon into lightly greased 1 ½ quart baking dish; top with marshmallows; bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are hot and marshmallows are lightly browned.

[With nuts not being a part of our gatherings for a while, this has become a favorite of mine. Especially since both my girls devour this. I was reminded tonight that I need to make this more often…]

Roasted Broccoli with Lemon
I found this at Allergy Moms.

I’m not a broccoli fan, but this looked easy and good for those who do. It got rave reviews, so I will be making it again!

4 C Broccoli Florets
1 T Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
¼ tsp Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper
Lemon Wedges

Preheat the oven to 425. Toss the broccoli with oil, salt and pepper. Place on a large baking sheet (not air-insulated) and roast until the broccoli is tender and blackened on the bottom, aprox 10-12 minutes. Serve immediately with lemon wedges.

Grandma Winnie's Turkey Stuffing

INGREDIENTS
1/4 pound Soy Garden soy butter substitute
1 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
9 cups soft bread cubes
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms
1 egg, beaten
1 cup chicken stock

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease one 2 quart casserole dish.
In a saute pan, cook onion and celery in butter until soft.
In a mixing bowl, combine onion and celery, bread cubes, poultry seasonings, mushrooms, egg and stock. Mix well and add to casserole dish. Bake for 1 hour.

I also made some home made French Baguettes with my bread machine. Yum!

Chocolate Cream Pie
I used a dairy-free frozen pie crust and made the chocolate pudding from scratch

Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients
1/3 cup cocoa
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cornstarch (1/3 cup cornstarch if making a pie)
3 cups Silk Soymilk ( Plain, Vanilla or Chocolate)
3 Tbsp. margarine
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Preparation
Combine the cocoa, sugar, salt and cornstarch, and mix well. Then add the Silk®, whipping constantly. Bring this mixture to a boil over medium heat, still whipping constantly, then lower the heat and cover. Let boil gently for 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and whip in the margarine and vanilla. Pour into a bowl or baked pie crust and chill.

Cheese-less Danish
2 pkgs. Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
2 - 8 oz. pkgs. Better than Cream Cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease pan. Lay out 1 pkg of the crescent rolls without separating them. Mix together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice. Spread cream cheese mixture on the crescent rolls. Lay 2nd pkg. of rolls on top, pressing edges and ridges until closed. Spread top with egg yolk. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes til brown. Watch carefully.

Icing:
1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
3/4 tsp. vanilla
Soy Milk to desired consistency (adding by tablespoon)

Mix ingredients together. Drizzle on top of pastry. Chill before cutting.

In addition to the yummy food, we had a fun day. I’m not a fan of making gravy, so I bought canned gravy. But Jeff, being the chef, jumped in and made it for us. Since home made is always best, this went over really well.

The kids had a blast together and we got some cute photo ops. And I got Alysa on video singing the Turkey Song Kayla learned at school last year.

The lyrics:
Albuquerque Turkey
(Tune: “My Darlin’ Clementine”)

Albuquerque is a turkey
And he’s feathered and he’s fine.
And he wobbles and he bobbles
And he’s absolutely mine.

He’s the best pet you can get,
Better than a dog or cat.
He’s my Albuquerque turkey-turkey,
And I’m awfully proud of that.

He once told me, very frankly
He preferred to be my pet,
Not the main course at my dinner,
And I told him not to fret.

Albuquerque is a turkey,
And he’s happy in his bed.
‘Cause for our Thanksgiving dinner,
We’ll have pizza pie instead!

Watching J put up the inflatable decoration


Being goofy with J


A family picture


Kayla & Emma taking pictures of each other...


My pesonal favorite - the boys goofing around.


I hope everyone had a fun and family-filled day as well!