My Heart...

Our Family

 

We celebrated Handsome's Birthday yesterday with a family gathering. We haven't all been together for a family meal in far too long, so our celebration was extra special.

Handsome and I decided to do all the meal preparation on Saturday, so the turkey was roasted, the side dishes were made and we went to bed knowing that Sunday would be much easier. I was so happy because I was able to be with family once they arrived, instead of working in the kitchen.

Our menu consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, Loaded Cauliflower Casserole, Hash Brown Casserole, and Corn Casserole. We had lots of cookies and fudge for dessert.

You can click on the links above to find the recipes for the Cauliflower and Hash Brown Casseroles, but I'm sharing a photo of the Corn Casserole recipe. I saved and printed it ages ago, but I'm not sure where I found it. It just looked so good, I had to try it. 

Click on Image to Enlarge and Save/Print

Even though there's no Jiffy Mix (usually used in Corn Casserole recipes), the flour keeps it from being gluten free. Both our daughters-in-law avoid gluten, so they couldn't eat this, but it was otherwise well-received (and I loved it). Feel free to save and print out the recipe to try for yourself. The Loaded Cauliflower Casserole recipe is gluten free (as well as the turkey and mashed potatoes), and there was none of that one left at the end of the munching. Although I thought the gravy mix was GF, I realized I'd grabbed the wrong one at the store, so they ate their mashed potatoes with butter.

We removed the turkey from the bone on Saturday, and along with the sides, everything was placed in its own aluminum foil container (I purchased mine HERE), so all I had to do is remove the cardboard lids on Sunday, cover with foil and pop in the oven. I covered the turkey with its own baking juices when we put it into the baking pans to keep it from drying out during the reheat. It was so much easier than getting up at the crack of dawn to roast the bird on Sunday and then fret over timing. Our dinner came out of the oven as everyone was arriving for a noon Packer game.

Granddaughter's boyfriend is like a family member. We really like this young man, and we were glad he came with her for our gathering. I traded places with him in other photographs so he was in some of the images, too, but I'm extra grateful that he was willing to capture this photo of all our family together. I think you can see from all the smiling faces that we really did enjoy the day. Grandpa and I were especially happy to have our family around us for the afternoon, and we're looking forward to the next time.