It Smells Like Thanksgiving...

We have so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. My good friend Barb was going through breast cancer treatment last year and this year she is feeling great and is back to regular life! For that I am very thankful!! We are also very full of thanks that my biopsy came back negative! No more treatment!! So very thankful for all the prayers that friends and family prayed for me! Thank you! Thank you! 

This weekend, our family is hosting a multifamily and extended family Thanksgiving. I was up this morning at 6:30 and started the Make Ahead Turkey Gravy. 

After 1 hour in the oven

After 2 hours in the oven. You want every drop of the dark bubbly stuff on the bottom.

I will be making another recipe this afternoon!

Last night, dear hubby baked cornbread for the stuffing/dressing. We like a mix of regular bread chunks and cornbread in our stuffing. We won't be stuffing the two turkeys. Now I will keep stirring the bread up to make sure it dries out before Saturday.

It takes a couple days to get the moisture out of the cornbread

This morning I also made a new recipe for cranberry sauce. I couldn't resist a Vanilla Cranberry Sauce with Blueberries!

Cooling

I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Baking Bites. You can find the recipe for it right here.

That's my day so far!

Update!

Well, here it is now, the Monday before Thanksgiving. We celebrated our Thanksgiving on Saturday and we fed 48 family and extended family. A couple times yesterday and today different people have asked me if I am ready for Thanksgiving. It has taken me by surprise each time, and I have to stop and remind myself that the real Thanksgiving is this Thursday. We had a great time and there was only one glitch, a big glitch! During the last minute details, I left my camera at home. We were too far away from home to go back. Such is life sometimes. At least we all have the memories in our heads and hearts! It was a a ton of fun and well worth the hours I spent baking and cooking.

I didn't stray very far from my regular, tried and true recipes. I made a triple batch of Make-ahead Mashed Potatoes, and a double batch of Sweet Potato Puree with Pecan Streusel. Dear hubby made the dressing/stuffing using cornbread and regular bread and lots of other great ingredients without a specific recipe. 

I also baked a batch of Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and a double batch of these Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes. I also made a recipe for caramel sauce to drizzle over them before they were served with a dollop of whipped cream. They turned out perfect. That is what I contributed to our Thanksgiving dinner this year.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year as you celebrate with the ones you love!