Okay, it is a couple weeks after Thanksgiving.  So, sue me.  Life is hectic isn’t it?  Do you want these recipes for next year?  or next week?  Relax, take a deep breath.

Our Thanksgiving was our first living in our multigenerational home.  Daughter, Son-in-law, Grandkids, us…and to make things interesting our daughter’s in-laws from the UK.  It was a festive time.

The lists paid off with all preparations done with very little hassle on the day of.  The meal was delicious and we will be eating leftovers in various forms for weeks to come.  (It is two weeks after the fact and we are still concocting variations on turkey and ham.  Still yummy.)

The main attractions were a spiral sliced ham with a cranberry glaze.  The ham was great, the glaze okay.  And, turkey from Pioneer Woman…yum.  There were an extraordinary amount of drippings to make into gravy.  Don’t know if it was the brining or the slow roasting that created those drippings.  I will say that the turkey was cooked through more quickly than the recipe predicted.  I do not like to risk any pinkness in poultry so we let it roast the full time the recipe indicated although the thermometer said otherwise a half hour earlier.  Still the meat was moist and flavorful.

Image courtesy of Pioneerwoman.com

Now, the gravy.  Who can have too much gravy.  Well, it turned out we have the pleasure of having too much thanks to those plentiful drippings and the fact that we made Michael Symon’s make ahead gravy to which those drippings were added for flavor and quantity.  The scary part of gravy making was done in a less stressful moment than just before serving with the drippings added at the end.  Tasty and we ended up with almost a gallon of gravy!  Talk about adding flavor to leftovers!

The dressing was my Mom’s.  So simple and so delicious.  We had to make it gluten free but it still stood up as the best dressing recipe ever! (Next post)

Courtesy dishmaps.com

We had a wonderful sweet potato casserole my daughter freehanded.  Sweet potatoes, toasted coconut and pecans.  Wonderful.  Not too sweet but more on the sweet side than the savory.

The mashed potatoes were decadent.  Again, from Pioneer Woman.  Who else but Paula Deen adds butter and cream cheese to potatoes.  For my next birthday, just frost my cake with these potatoes….but forget baking the cake, I will just take the potatoes with a candle or two on top.

Courtesy Pioneerwoman.com

There was homemade cranberry orange relish.  There were pumpkin pies (regular and gluten free).  There was a gluten free apple cranberry crisp.  There were other sides that were delicious on any other day but were not worthy of mention on such a day of feasting.

We were blessed with a day of plenty and a day with extended family.  Now we are blessed with many meals touched and inspired by that day of gratitude.