Happy Thanksgiving (belated of course) to everyone reading this! Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. In addition to the amazing family time and seeing all the people I love so much, I am obsessed with the planning, grocery shopping, menu designing, and cooking for days beforehand. Here is a list of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes and Celiac Thanksgiving tips!
The Thanksgiving Turkey
Although I cooked many dishes for the holiday this year, the turkey itself was not something I made. My mom recently bought a pellet smoker, and we just could not pass up the opportunity to smoke turkey legs and turkey breasts.
What I Cooked:
Thanksgiving looked different this year for all of us. Usually I cook everything at my cousin’s house and we all eat there. This year, however, instead of the 15+ people that usually come, we had 11 of only our immediate family sitting outside, socially distanced with masks. We ate outside and did everything to make sure everyone was safe and sitting apart, but missed the rest of our family. Nonetheless, I cooked everything I usually cook!
My mom, my uncle, and I usually divide up the work for Thanksgiving, and even with Covid restrictions, we still had the same menu! Here’s a photo of the AMAZING spread we made last year in 2019, when COVID wasn’t a thing and nobody knew how challenging 2020 would be.
This year, I made the cranberry sauce, the mashed potatoes, salad, gluten free stuffing, pecan pie, my gluten free pumpkin pie cupcakes, and bacon cornbread muffins. Everything was gluten free and Celiac safe.
The Stuffing
Okay, real talk, I had never prepared my own stuffing recipe before this year. I made stuffing last year by strictly following a recipe, but this year I knew I wanted to be more creative.
I loosely used THIS RECIPE by Heidi over from Foodie Crush blog, but made some adaptations. Instead of just melting the butter, I made a brown butter and added about 1/4 cup of chopped sage and 1/4 cup of fresh thyme. I used my ABSOLUTE favorite gluten free bread for this recipe too: Schar.
If you are interested in buying Schar bread (my favorite ever and I use it for everything), here is the link!
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
I have been making the mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving for 5 years now, and at this point I’m going to be honest with all of you – measuring has become less important as I am more casual now when I prepare it. I do not know how many potatoes I used, I do not know how much salt, half and half, or milk I added either. My recommendation is you follow any basic mashed potato recipe you like, and then use the following tips:
- Even if you don’t like garlic, adding a tiny bit of garlic powder is helpful to make sure the potatoes aren’t bland.
- Don’t be shy with the butter. It makes everything better!
- I used salted butter this year and I was really happy with how it worked out. Usually, I use unsalted.
- Cook the potatoes in the instant pot! They take SO MUCH less time.
Cranberry Sauce
I didn’t use a recipe for this either. I made my own!! You can find it on my Instagram (@lycheeandlavender) and it was amazing!
My one tip is that I was a little shy with the sugar and it ended up being pretty tart. You can totally add more if you want a sweeter sauce.
The rest of the recipe is posted on my instagram, which is linked at the bottom of this website!
Gluten Free Bacon Cornbread Muffins
First of all, these were SO yummy and a huge hit overall!
Second of all, the day AFTER thanksgiving, my dog ate all of the leftover muffins. He loved them and he approves!
I used a boxed mix for this recipe. It is easy, very quick, and turns out well every time. It is no surprise, however, that I added a twist to it.
I made homemade bacon bits and sprinkled them onto the top of the muffins halfway through baking so they don’t become soggy. It worked really well! Also, instead of using 1/3 cup of oil that is called for, I used 1/4 cup of oil and replaced the rest with melted bacon fat. It was dreamy to say the least.
To serve, I also made a whipped honey butter which was also delicious. Here’s the link to the mix I used:
The Salad
Okay, this was the easiest salad ever. It was huge and so tasty, and you can find the recipe right here! Aside from being delicious, this salad is also bright and colorful and will make a beautiful addition to your next spread.
I created this fall squash salad recipe a couple of weeks ago, and made a modified version for Thanksgiving. It was a huge hit!
The Pecan Pie
Again, I also used a pre-existing recipe for this. In all honesty, I had NEVER made pecan pie before attempting to make this one. The day before Thanksgiving, I was ahead of schedule on all of my components to the meal and just decided to throw a pie into the mix. Why not?
I used this premade gluten free pie crust by Wholly Wholesome, and this recipe by the Pioneer Woman, and everything was extremely simple and easy. Not to mention, completely delicious.
My Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
Last but not least, I made a batch of my most recent dessert recipe (gluten free pumpkin pie cupcakes) for Thanksgiving this year. This recipe is easy, impressive, and a real crowd pleaser! You can find the recipe here.
That’s it for my thanksgiving tips and tricks + menu from 2020! Hope you enjoyed and learned a thing or two! Happy cooking and happy Thanksgiving!
There is certainly a lot to know about this issue. I like all the points you made. Susanna Boyd Sofie