This was my very first Thanksgiving where I've been planner, cook, and cleaner upper.  And I LOVED it!  The past few months I've been back at getting healthy again (another post worthy discussion in itself!) and so my Thanksgiving menu was geared toward being as gluten free, processed food free, and sugar free as possible.  I had LOADS of fun looking for recipes and how I could work them and everything turned out fantastic!

We picked up this little beauty for our first ever turkey at Whol*e Foods...


And used THIS RECIPE to make it into the glorious bird it was!


In addition to the turkey, we had SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE, Stuffing from a box mix from W.F., Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Amazing CREAMED CORN, MASHED POTATOES, Cranberry Sauce, Pumpkin Pie, and Chocolate Pumpkin Trifle!  (YES!  We had leftovers!!!!)


With the Sweet Potato Casserole I made the recipe as stated with the exception of the almond flour.  There I subbed in oat flour instead and left out the nuts.  Next time I will add the nuts, I just had forgotten to pick them up.  

The Creamed Corn and Turkey I made as stated and they were amazing!

The Mashed Potatoes I subbed greek yogurt in place of the sour cream.  So good! 



For the cranberries I had really wanted to make a relish like the one I grew up eating.  My mom used to hand grind cranberries and it was amazing!  This RECIPE that I found was what I had planned on using, subbing Xylitol for the sugar.  However, I didn't have anything to grind the cranberries. :(  I DID pick up a mini food processor on Zulily recently that I think is going to be getting a LOT of use, but it came about five days too late!  So... I set out to find another option and came across THIS RECIPE which we used instead.  SO GLAD I DID!!!  Although the texture was different, it was easy to make and tasted JUST THE SAME!  Delish! I subbed Xylitol for the sugar and did not use the nuts or Grand Marnier.


Pumpkin Pie!  Couldn't forget the pie!  But I wanted gluten free.  There are quite a few recipes out there but since I am new to all this and had never even made a regular pie crust let alone a gluten free crust, I chose an easier route and bought a package of two frozen GF pie crusts at W.F.  For the filling, I used THIS RECIPE.  When I was making out my shopping list however, I misread the ingredients and instead of maple sugar, I read maple syrup! :(  So... upon researching online a bit, I ended up subbing in a portion of maple syrup with a portion of Xylitol.  It turned out SO TASTY!!!  We absolutely LOVED it!


The trifle was a total creation of my own.  I used THIS RECIPE for a coconut flour chocolate cake for the cake sections.  To make the cream, I took heavy whipping cream, whipped in two packets of stevia, a few drops of liquid vanilla Sweetleaf Stevia, pumpkin pie spice, and pumpkin puree.  It was perfect and Olivia and Braeden couldn't get enough!


They were all so excited to eat at home and have such great food, the pictures speak for themselves!  And while I was exhausted, it was SO WORTH IT!






We are so blessed this Thanksgiving!  Not only to have one another, but also for all of the love and support we felt this week as we were the featured family on Give One, Save One!  In total we raised just over $400!  I'm in awe and so thankful!  Here is what Liam shared at school for his Thanksgiving list...