Thanksgiving 2012

We had a great Thanksgiving this year, just spent at home in Texas. Alex's mom came from Vegas to be with us for four days, and we just had a low-key time watching movies, going to the Dallas Arboretum to see the Chihuly Glass exhibit (beautiful!), and eating delicious food. This was my first year to craft a gluten-free Thanksgiving feast, and it was just as amazing as a gluten-laden dinner would have been. I was pretty proud of my menu; everything turned out well, and the timing somehow ended up perfect.

The sous chef and I at the beginning of the preparations...

I served:

• (A giant) Turkey breast, which was rubbed with a mixture of olive oil, sage, garlic, salt and pepper
• Parmesan mashed potatoes
• Gluten-free cornbread, cranberry, sausage dressing
• Sweet potato casserole (that was only 130 calories and absolutely to DIE for!)
• Gluten-free green bean casserole, made with sweet onion Kettle potato chips in place of the French's onions
• A pumpkin pie with gluten-free crust
• Gluten-free apple-cranberry cobbler (I made two because the first one was so delicious, everyone asked for another one!)

Un-melted marshmallows on the sweet potato casserole...

The traditional turkey-shirt shot. Grammy has re-sewn this turkey onto a new shirt since he was one.

Artsy turkey shot

The sides: cornbread stuffing casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole and apple-cranberry cobbler

Miraculously, everything was ready and came out of the oven at the exact right time, and we ate around 3 o' clock. It was seriously perfect!

The day after Thanksgiving we did a little Black Friday shopping, only at one store, to get some things for Dresden. It was a fruitful, stress-free trip. The next day, we headed to the Arboretum and walked around to see the glass. There were so many beautiful pieces. They remind me of things you'd see in the world of Dr. Seuss.

I love the contrast of the bright blue sky and the yellow

Me and the map-reader, starting out

They still had the pumpkin houses up, so those were fun to see

My princess and I in Cinderella's carriage, 20 weeks!

Brilliant blue glass, one of my favorites

An Autumn tree and me

This one was absolutely my favorite!

The water feature glass was my other favorite. Love that boy in my lap!

This brother loves his little sister so much already!

The mist...

I can't wait until next year, to see what other fun gluten-free recipes I can come up with, and to celebrate all we have to be thankful for with our table set for a family of FOUR! We had so much to be thankful for this year as well, among them, our sweet boy, our baby girl on the way, and Alex's amazing job!

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

Love,

Cassie