This year for Thanksgiving we were planning to have a very low key day with Scott and Christa coming over to hang out, do a bunch of sewing, and maybe another movie night. But at the last minute those plans changed and, very long story short, we ended up hosting dinner for 14 people!
***Warning: extremely long post to follow.***
Did I mention this was very last minute? As in, I found out we were hosting that many people around 6:00pm the night before Thanksgiving??!!! Fortunately I was at the grocery store at the time and simply planned to make more. The biggest challenge was making everything totally gluten free for the very first time (and the added pressure of all of these people coming over to eat it and hoping these brand new recipes I had never tried before would actually turn out edible!).
Before we could begin any of the massive cooking plans, we had to figure out some additional seating in our tiny home. I bought a fold up table and set of 4 chairs to add to our dining table and also picked up these barstools...which we also need to use in the P90X program on one of the videos. Of course, they were a very light wood color, so I picked up some cans of black spray paint and went to work. Voila!
While everyone else worked on cleaning up the house, EJ was my absolutely amazing assistant cook! Here she is cracking and peeling the eggs for my family tradition of Pickled Beets & Eggs. It's an old German dish, and for us it's simply NOT Thanksgiving without it!
I grew up eating this and simply love the fact that my kids love this dish too, and now I'm passing on those extremely fond memories to them. They get so excited when I make this. A can of sliced beets mixed with hard boiled eggs and seasoned with apple cider vinegar and sugar until it tastes just right. Don't let this awful picture fool you, it's seriously a DELICIOUS dish!
Next up was the GF stuffing, a totally new recipe. Last year at a get together with some friends one of them made stuffing with sausage and apples...something I had never heard of before, and it was unbelievably good. So when I went searching for a GF stuffing recipe I made sure to find one with those ingredients.
It also had onion and celery mixed in with the Italian sausage, apples, and bread crumbs and it beats old store bought boxes of stuffing hands down!!! This stuffing recipe was the BOMB! And it made a TON of stuffing, even with all of those people, I saved half of this dish in the freezer and we still had leftover stuffing, which I ate a lot for the next 4 days after Thanksgiving.
The process involved a LOT of cutting and chopping all of those fresh ingredients.
For the bread crumbs I made a loaf of Pamela's bread mix, sliced and cubed it up, and then seasoned it and toasted it in the oven to harden into bread crumbs. These would also make great croutons!
When it was done, it was seriously amazing!
GF Stuffing:
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
5 cups chopped onion (about 3 large)
2 cups chopped celery
6 cups diced cored tart green apples (such as Granny Smith)
1 tablespoon dried rubbed sage
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
5 1/2 cups Ener-G stuffing/croutons, gluten free (Or you could toast a loaf of your favorite GF bread until it's hard and cube it yourself).*
Directions:
1. Sauté sausage in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through, crumbling sausage with back of spoon, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl.
2. Add butter, onions and celery to skillet; sauté until onions are tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Add apples; sauté until apples are tender but still hold shape, about 10 minutes. Add sage, thyme and allspice; sauté 1 minute.
4. Add to sausage. Stir in stuffing cubes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.)
5. Preheat oven to 325°F. Generously butter a baking dish. Transfer stuffing to prepared dish. Cover with foil and bake until heated through, about 40 minutes.
*GF Croutons:
Chop up the loaf of bread into cubes. Put the cubes into a bowl and drizzle the olive oil on top to just slightly coat the bread and mix. Add a pinch of sea salt, black pepper. Mix and add 1/2 Tbs. garlic powder, 1 Tbs of Italian Seasoning and 1 Tbs. of Thyme. Mix well and then put it on to a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown and toasty.
Okay, next up was the GF green bean casserole, because cream of mushroom soup and cans of French fried onions both contain gluten. So I began with making the homemade cream of mushroom soup. Then, I bought fresh onions and sliced them up in rings. EJ coated them in milk and a GF flour blend and gave them to me to fry up in a large pan.
Drying off in a paper towel, adding a little Lawry's season salt, and these onion rings tasted AMAZING! Even EJ who hates everything was an awesome sport and actually tried these AND she actually really liked them! They'd be perfect as a snack themselves with some fry sauce for dipping!
Then we added these to the green bean casserole, following the typical recipe instructions to bake.
Green Bean Casserole w/French Fried Onions:
Large Onions, peeled and sliced in rings
Enough Milk for soaking onions
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. White Pepper
gluten free flour blend + xanthan gum
oil for frying
Directions:
1. Put the sliced onion rings in a bowl and cover in milk, let soak while you
prepare everything else.
2. Put about an inch or so of oil in a large pot or pan and allowed it to get
hot. You will know if the oil is ready by flicking a few drops of water into
the oil and if it sizzles, it’s ready.
3. Put a few of the pre-soaked onion rings (allow excess milk to drain off)
into the bowl with the flour mixture. Stir to coat. Place
onions in the hot oil, a few at a time and allow to cook for a couple of
minutes.
Repeat until all of the onions have been cooked.
Green Bean Casserole:
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Condensed
Cream of Mushroom Soup (or GF equivalent)*
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce (La Choy is GF)
Dash ground black pepper
4 cups cooked cut green beans
1 1/3 cups French Fried Onions
Directions:
1. Stir the soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in a 1
1/2-quart casserole.
2. Bake at 350°F. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and
bubbling.
3. Stir the bean mixture.Sprinkle with the remaining onions.
Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.
*Cream of Chicken or Mushroom Soup:
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp potato starch
3 ½ cups chicken broth
1 cup light cream or milk
2 cups finely chopped cooked chicken
For cream of mushroom soup, omit cooked chicken and instead add one 4oz. can chopped mushrooms
Mix all together in a large pot in order listed until thickened. Be careful to sprinkle in the potato starch to avoid clumping.
Next up, LA practiced her ironing skills on the tablecloths, I threw a can of sweet potatoes in a dish and later covered them with marshmallows for simple yams.
Meanwhile one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is that I never have to cook the turkey! In fact, I never even have to touch it! Last year for Christmas we splurged on this really nice, oil-LESS turkey fryer that cooks all kinds of meats, and makes an amazing, juicy turkey in about 2 hours! It's also incredibly easy to clean up with no giant oil mess, I love it!
SD decided to flavor half of the turkey with lemon pepper and the other half with BBQ sauce. They didn't mix strangely as you might think, and despite the photo nothing was burnt. It was totally perfect and awesome!
In the turkey picture above you can just barely see my attempt at some GF rolls, which turned out to be much more like biscuits and slightly burned on the bottom, so we threw them out, but nobody cared since there was so much other food to eat.
Moving on, I went to work on some GF pies! One pumpkin and one pecan, I'd never made a pecan pie before and ended up making a double batch of filling for the big 9 inch pie crust.
I rolled out the dough onto some wax paper which made it really easy to flip over into the pie dish. Then pinching the edges to make it look pretty.
Here's the first pie shell all ready to go. I forgot to stop and take a picture of the pumpkin pie as I was hurrying to finish everything, but you can see it in some upcoming pictures below.
Pecan pie ready to bake.
And then baked, delicious! Now, my only complaint on the pies was that I swear I can taste some very slight, weird, almost indescribable aftertaste in the crust...almost like a bean flavor of some kind, which makes no sense since there's no bean anything in them.
SD and the kids loved the pies, couldn't taste anything like what I described, and thought I was smokin' something for saying so, so I guess as long as they were happy I'm good.
SD and the kids loved the pies, couldn't taste anything like what I described, and thought I was smokin' something for saying so, so I guess as long as they were happy I'm good.
GF Pie Crusts (makes 2):
2 1/4
cups of gluten-free flour blend*
about 1 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp
salt
3/4 cup
cold butter, cut into pieces
1 egg
4-6 Tbl
cold water
*GF Flour blend: 2 parts white rice flour to 1 part tapioca flour and 1 part potato starch
Directions:
1. In a mixer blend the first three ingredients until butter is
incorporated. This will take a few minutes - you want it nicely mixed
without being overdone.
2. Add the
egg and blend until it's mixed in. Add 1/4 cup cold water. Dough
should begin to form a ball. Add more water if needed until dough reaches
a firm, yet pliable state.
3. Remove from bowl and press into an oval. If
dough is a bit too dry, you can sprinkle water on top and knead it into
the mixture.
4. Divide
into two equal size pieces and roll each piece out on a floured surface. I suggest rolling this out onto parchment paper,
waxed paper, or even plastic wrap. You'll want the extra stability the
surface will give when it comes time to placing the crust into the pie
plate.
5. Once
crust is to desired thickness, turn a pie plate upside down over the crust
and then lift up the entire mat, plate and all, and turn it over so the
plate bottom is sitting on the counter. Gently peel your mat away and then
press the crust into the plate. If it tears, no worries, take the torn
piece and just press it into place. Flute the edges and you're done.
6. If
you're baking the crust separately from the pie, poke the bottom and sides
with a fork multiple times before doing so. Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes,
or until very lightly golden brown. Let cool and then fill with your
favorite pie filling. Recipe makes 2 - 9" pie crusts.
For Pumpkin Pie: follow the directions on the back of the can of pumpkin (everything else was enough work already, so I opted for simple pie, not totally from scratch with an actual pumpkin).
For Pecan Pie: (I had to double the filling to fill the pie crust)
1 unbaked 8 or 9" gluten-free pie crust
2 large eggs
2/3
cup sugar
1/2
teaspoon salt
1/2
cup light corn syrup
2
tablespoons melted butter
1
teaspoon vanilla
1
cup pecans plus about 20 whole pecan halves
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425° F / 218° C
2. Add eggs, sugar, salt, corn syrup, melted
butter and vanilla in a blender jar and pulse several times until mixture is
combined.
3. Add 1 cup pecans and pulse once or twice,
just until pecans are coarsely chopped.
4. Pour filling into prepared pie crust and
place remaining pecan halves around the top of the filling.
4
5. Bake in 425° F / 218° C for 15 minutes and
then lower oven temperature to 350° F / 177° C and bake an additional 30
minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the pie is lightly browned.
6.Cool on a wire rack before serving. Yield -
6 to 8 slices
When all the housework was done the kids laid around watching movies and waiting for guests to arrive.
The table was set. I pulled out my beautiful china I inherited from SD's grandmother. The set only has 8 settings, so last year SD found some awesome matching china with silver trim to increase the set. It doesn't have the fine detailed flower etching of the original set, but when you space them out on the table with every other plate it blends in perfectly!
My kids loved sitting up on the new barstools at the counter. Oh, see that bowl on the far left? Yeah, those are some homemade candied almonds I made early that morning for the very 1st time, they turned out AMAZING, and we snacked on them all day long while cooking. And they've been specifically requested to be made again, often, and esp. at Christmas.
So, turkey SD made in the fryer...check.
GF stuffing...check.
GF green bean casserole...check.
Gravy SD made from the turkey drippings mixed with some cornstarch and GF chicken broth...check.
Mashed potatoes, simple...check.
Sweet potatoes, simple...check.
Pickled beets and eggs...check.
GF rolls...bombed, but I don't care.
Candied almonds...awesome!
Tons of sparkling apple cider, cranberry juice, and sodas...check.
GF pumpkin and pecan pie with cool whip...check.
The guests arrived:
And a KILLER amazing meal was had by all!!!
Time for clean up.
Playing with cousins.
And on to dessert...oh yeah, I also made a GF pumpkin ice cream cake with gingersnap crust the night before. It was seriously MONEY! Yum!!!!
GF Pumpkin Ice Cream Cake: (also known as the Pampered Chef Frosty Pumpkin Dessert)
32 gingersnap cookies, finely chopped (1 1/3 cups crumbs)*
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 (1/2 gallon) container vanilla ice cream, divided
2 1/2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
2/3 cup toffee bits
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
1 1/2 teaspoons Pantry Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend (or just regular cinnamon & nutmeg)
*I bought a bag of GF gingersnaps at Fred Meyer, Mi-Del brand
Directions:
1. Chop cookies, place butter in small bowl and microwave
on high 30 to 40 seconds or until melted. Stir in crumbs. Firmly press crumb mixture
onto bottom of Springform Pan. Place in freezer.
2. Scoop half of the ice cream into a large bowl.
Place in refrigerator 10 minutes to soften. Fold 1 cup of the whipped topping and toffee bits into softened ice cream just
until blended. Spread evenly over crust. Freeze until
firm, about 1 hour.
3. Place remaining ice cream in refrigerator 10 minutes to soften. Meanwhile, mix pumpkin, brown sugar and spice blend in batter bowl. Scoop softened
ice cream into pumpkin mixture. Mix just until blended. Spread evenly over ice cream
layer. Freeze until firm, about 8 hours or overnight.
4. When ready to serve, place dessert in refrigerator 20 minutes for easier slicing. Decorate with remaining whipped topping and
sprinkle with additional spice blend, if desired. Yield: 16 servings
It was an AWESOME Gluten Free Thanksgiving!!!!
