Thanksgiving Leftovers

Have you all come out of your food coma yet? I hope so. We had seven people here for our Thanksgiving and it was a whirlwind. The two grandkids were nonstop but then isn't that how grandkids are suppose to be? The grandkids had a sleepover the night before so we had a full day of Thanksgiving playtime. Lauren, Nick and Sachiyo eventually made their way over for our Thanksgiving dinner and it was a great time. All the food was superb, of course. I love Thanksgiving food.

Our turkey was grand. We did our usual wet brine and then cooked it on the Traeger. The grandkids were intrigued with all the hoopla going on about the turkey.

Of course, their favorite part of the meal was the turkey and the Rhodes Bake-and-Serve Rolls.

The 5 year-old ate three of the rolls and a turkey wing and drumstick. I've always served the Rhodes frozen bake-and-serve rolls because everyone loves them so much and they taste just like homemade. They are especially good hot right out of the oven which I did this year, per request. Everyone has their favorites on Thanksgiving. Neither grandkids like pecan or pumpkin pie so I made little apple hand pies for them that they had for dessert on Thanksgiving and the night before.

We barbecued cheeseburgers for dinner Pre-Thanksgiving, but since I made a lot of the side dishes ahead of time, we brought them out on Wednesday night to get a head start. They tasted so good when you're not full of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy! This just might be our new tradition since we hardly make a dent in all the food on Thanksgiving. Which brings me to my next topic - leftovers. I got an idea for distributing the leftovers this year since we always have so many side dishes leftover. I saw this idea from @brunchwithbabs IG account. You take those aluminum cupcake tins

(I got them on Amazon) so you have a little section for each Thanksgiving side dish for people to take home.

From top left going clockwise, you have roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon, turkey gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce (I asked if they wanted jellied or whole berry), stuffing, and sweet potatoes. I was one spot short for the gelatin salad so I made everybody two tins substituting the cranberry sauce for the gelatin salad for the second one. You could customize it depending what people want. Unfortunately, I didn't want to ask people because I'd have to disrupt their food coma...

It was a really good way to get rid of the leftovers. The extra turkey was put in zip lock bags for everyone to take home and the pies were wrapped individually. Those two things are much too big and precious so must be done individually. Pies are my favorite and we always have pumpkin pie and pecan pie.

When your guests leave, their leftovers look like this.

I wrapped each tin with foil and then wrapped both up in plastic wrap and put in the fridge. When they left, I added the baggie of turkey and their pie. It was so slick and easy this year. You can't just stick the tins in the microwave to heat up your sides since it's not a microwavable container plus I also included cold dishes with the hot dishes. But it's still a good way for your guests to be able to transport their sides home and then scoop out what they want to eat, when they want to eat. You could make a point of only putting hot foods in the tins and then your guests could warm the whole thing up in the oven. But I like also giving away the cold foods this way. I will definitely keep these tins handy for future giveaway leftovers. It is certainly the best way to take food home from Thanksgiving dinner. Only two people went into food comas this year and it wasn't the grandkids. And it wasn't Grandma and Grandpa. N. and L. had their little naps after dinner, the two hardest workers from their day jobs. They deserve time to enjoy their food comas. We have no problem when it comes to entertaining the grandkids or should I say, they entertaining us.

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides a plan for responsible eating that covers a no-nonsense rundown on

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free. But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one. My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends. We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop. She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots. We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.) The views are always quite lovely, too. Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception. I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, there was a big party go

Waking Up in Vegas

and just like that...we were Waking Up in Vegas. Just like the Katy Perry song. We went to her 78th performance which was her second-to-last Las Vegas residency show entitled "Play". That was perfect for us because we went to Vegas simply to play. Her concert was a great finale for us because it was high energy and full of silliness, just the way Katy Perry is. And we were feeling it after three nights in Las Vegas. "Get up, and shake the gutter off your clothes now, That's what you get for waking up in Vegas". Here's what she said about her show: "I created this show after the birth of my daughter, Daisy Dove. When I met her, it was like all the love I was ever searching for finally showed up. This show is for everyone’s inner child and for the hope that maybe if we could all see life through the eyes of a child, we would be free. Because never forget, love is and will always be the key,” she said. We went to Vegas spur of the moment because Br

Sylvia's Scenario

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