Gluten-Free Thanksgiving 2012: The Leftovers.

Ahhhhh.....Thanksgiving.  

I love Thanksgiving.  I love the food, the friends, the festive atmosphere in the air...the cooking, the prepping, the planning.

I love it all.

But I especially love the leftovers...

I'll get to those in just a minute...

First I want to tell you about how we had two delicious feasts this year.  We spent Thanksgiving Day with Heidi and her beautiful family.  We love these people.  Seriously. Spending Thanksgiving with them felt like we were hanging out with our own extended family.

Heidi is one of those friends who loves to cook...and I've never, EVER, eaten anything from her kitchen that wasn't absolutely AMAZING.  But, aside from that, Heidi knows that our family has to deal with that pesky celiac disease "thing".  Toting celiac along to holiday meals can be a pain.  Sometimes it seems like there's gluten in everything, and it's hard to be the "problem child", always asking about ingredient lists for all the dishes and whatnot.

Except, we never have to worry when Heidi is cooking.  She keeps some GF flour on hand, and happily modifies anything she can.  I never asked her to...she just does it.  And she doesn't make us feel like we're being picky or hoity-toity, because we need something gluten-free to eat.  Some of the best gluten-free stuff to ever pass these taste buds have come straight from her kitchen...and no one in her family even needs it!!!!  From appetizers with GF crackers, to the BEST GF streusel topped sweet potatoes, to chocolate torte and pecan pie...she just made it work.  If I'm honest, THAT fact is what really made our Thanksgiving so special:  The fact that we have friends like Heidi and her family in our lives.

On Friday, Mr. Rose and I cooked up a feast of our own!  My father and step-mother, along with her father and a cousin joined us for dinner.  We had planned to eat at 6:30, but dinner didn't actually make it to the table until 7:30.  OOPS!  Such is life when you only have one oven and three littles wandering in and out of the kitchen all day :)

So what DO you serve for a gluten-free holiday feast?

You might be surprised at how easy it is.

Here...let me break it down for you:

1. Mashed Potatoes -- potatoes, butter, milk, salt.  Nope!  No gluten!
2. Stuffing -- I used some random GF bread that had been in the freezer for awhile, along with some Udi's and made THIS recipe.  It was DELICIOUS!
3. Cranberry Sauce -- From a can, but I added the juice of 2 clementines and some chopped pecans to make it look fancier.  I'm the only one who eats it...but I want to make a fresh batch one of these days anyway.
4. Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans -- I just made up my own recipe, but I guess it's kind of like this one, except I like more sugar and don't add the garlic salt.  Again...no gluten! 
5. Gravy -- I was always afraid of making gravy before going gluten-free forced me to start making my own sauces, creamed soups, and gravies.  With Jules Gluten Free Flour, it's just a matter of substituting the GF flour for regular flour, and moving on.  Again, it's in my head, but here's a recipe that should work for you :)  PS -- My gravy got great reviews this year!
6. Pecan Pie -- Heidi sent us home with some of her GF pecan pie.  She tells me this is the recipe she used, along with a GF pie crust from Whole Foods Market.  All I know is that is was SCRUMPTIOUS!!!!
7. Sweet Potatoes -- Okay, mine weren't as fancy as Heidi's.  But they were still mighty delicious :)  I used Kraft Marshmallows, because #1) They're my favorite and #2) They're GF...though I have to admit that I've never found a marshmallow that wasn't GF.
8. Marshmallow Salad -- Speaking of marshmallows...this is a dish I grew up with...but we add walnuts and maybe some other stuff too.  Bottom line:  My holiday table wouldn't be the same without it.  This year, my dad brought it along...every time I eat it, part of my heart is transported back in time to when I was a little girl.
9. Turkey -- OF COURSE!  We aren't turkey professionals, but our bird was pretty fantastic this year, if I do say so myself :)  PS -- Here's a list of GF turkeys.

Oh, but there was more!!!!

Fried Rice -- ?????  WHAT????  Yes.  Have I ever mentioned that Mr. Rose is half Japanese?  Well, when I asked him what Thanksgiving dishes remind him of his childhood, he started rattling off things like "wontons" and "duck" and "fried rice".......so...... there ya have it.  His fried rice has been one of the most popular dishes at our Thanksgiving table for as long as we've been married.  His recipe is top secret (and DELICIOUS!!!!!)  I do know, however, that he uses San-J GF Soy and Teriyaki Sauces.

Ham -- Yeah, we had a GF spiral ham in addition to the turkey.  More leftovers :)

I should also mention that I made some of these GF crescent rolls, except I forgot about them so they didn't actually make it onto either plate.  I ended up using the dough to make cinnamon rolls on Saturday morning.

And, of course, we had REAL whipped cream to top our pie :)

(Hey, I never said our feast was healthy...just that it was gluten-free!)