I am working on my plans for a gluten-free Thanksgiving. In years past, I haven’t had the best attitude about this whole gluten-free thing , so this year I’m determined to at least change the ‘tude.  It will only be the seven of us this year—which is also common. Holidays like this really make me miss my family, more than 700 miles away.

On the menu for next Thursday:

·         Turkey, rubbed with olive oil and seasoned with poultry seasoning, garlic, onion, black pepper, and rosemary

·         Mashed potatoes. I will be making this recipe to freeze tomorrow. One less thing to do day-of.

·         Sweet potato casserole. I’m making this recipe and plan to freeze it. Hopefully it’ll work out okay.

·         Kale with Feta Cheese Sauce.

·         Dinner rolls. These are not gluten free. I bought them with a coupon for less than a dollar. J My kids will be thrilled to have real bread.

·         Homemade cranberry sauce

·         Apple pie. I’m trying this today using Pamelas Baking Mix. We’ll see if it turns out okay

·         Pumpkin pie. If the pie crust works, I’ll make a crusted pie; otherwise, I will be making a naked pumpkin pie.

·         Pecan pie.

Starting next week (after Thanksgiving), I will be posting recipes for a gluten-free Christmas goodie box.

Black Bean Casserole with Cornbread Topping

• 1 lb large lima beans, sorted and rinsed
• 6-8 cups water
• 2 TB EVOO
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 package GF smoked sausage
• 1-2 large carrots, diced
• salt and pepper to taste

Place rinsed and sorted beans in large pan and cover with water. Bring to boil and remove from heat. Cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain. Cover soaked beans with 6 cups of water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and cover.

In skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil. Add in diced smoked sausage and carrots. Add this mixture and the salt and pepper, to taste,  to the beans when the beans are tender. Continue cooking for another 30 minutes. Serve with cornbread.

This is a nice and easy recipe. Something that I love!!  Here are my changes:

• 3 cups water
• 2 cups white basmati rice
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or vegetable oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1/2 cup GF smoked sausage, diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups red beans, drained
• 2 tablespoon cayenne sauce (recommended: Frank’s Red Hot)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook rice in the water, adding 1 tsp salt. In saucepan, saute the onion and the garlic in the oil until the onion is tender. Add in the smoked sausage, cooking for a couple of minutes. Add beans and cook to heat through. Stir in the rice, hot sauce, and salt and pepper.

Here is my menu plan for this week. I am getting it up late due to the blizzard. Once again, breakfasts will be spur of the moment and lunches will be mostly beans which will be posted each day. We’re using up last year’s beef in preparation of the new order, so you’ll see lots of beef dinners.

Dinners:

• Marsala pot roast with potatoes and carrots
• Rice Crust Pizza with salad
• Healthy green bean casserole (recipe will be posted this week) with GF biscuits
• Ribs with mashed potatoes and corn
• Chicken noodle soup with GF biscuits
• Swiss steak with rice pilaf and peas
• Bunless hamburgers with roasted potatoes and broccoli

Here is another $5 Dinner recipe. I have been surprised at how much my kids like lentils. It’s a good thing since I just bought 25 pounds of them.

Reviews coming soon!

My girls got up first thing this morning and, instead of watching cartoons, headed right out to build another fort.

Fort pic 1. If you ask me, it looks more like an arch instead of a fort but since they didn't ask for my architectural opinion, I'm keeping my mouth shut.

Fort pic 2.

DD2. Digging in the snow is hard work.

Split pea soup is easy and, thankfully, all of my kids enjoy it. They are so funny sometimes–they’ve been bugging me to make it every time they open the pantry and see a bag of peas sitting there.  I don’t always have the smoked sausage that I added today, so I will use liquid smoke. It’s a great way to make the kids think you’ve added meat to a dish. If you are using the liquid smoke instead of smoked sausage, you will want to add it carefully as a little bit goes a long ways and also add additional salt.

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, large, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 TB bacon grease (you can sub EVOO for it but the bacon grease adds flavor)
• 1/2 package gluten free smoked sausage
• 1 lb. split peas, sorted and rinsed
• 7 cups water
• 1 TB chicken base, gluten free
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• salt to taste

Saute onions, carrots, and garlic in bacon grease until the onion is tender. Stir in the smoked sausage and continue cooking for a few more minutes. Add in the split peas, the water, and the chicken base. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add in the pepper and salt as necessary. Simmer over medium low heat for 30-45 minutes or until the peas are tender. You may need to add additional water to the soup.

Thankfully we still have power–some neighbors do not. And since we *do* have power, I thought I would upload some of the pictures I took yesterday and today.

That is my poor little pine tree in front of my house. It's looking rather Charlie Brown at the moment.

This is in the alley behind my house. The snow drift stretches from my lilac bush in the backyard all the way over past the neighbor's shed and to their clothes line.

DH is standing on the snow drift by my lilac bush. I would guess that the lilac bush is at least 6 ft. tall.