thanksgiving week meal plan with lots of leftover re-interpretations

one of the views from our 2nd floor deck - we live downtown and this is the trees in the backyard, the river and the hills, and it was a beautiful day for thanksgiving

the desserts i made - and the one i bought (pumpkin pie)

last week was thanksgiving. beautiful, colourful thanksgiving. it wasn't blazing hot, but the autumn wind held off and we were able to feast outdoors. our 2nd floor deck is covered and we love sitting out - we have table and chairs and the all essential slide, water table and cars and trucks present so dh and i could enjoy meal and wine.

...sigh...i really do love thanksgiving, am just not thrilled with the end of a perfect summer.
(note this meal plan is not completely gluten free this week)
breakfast
omelette -  cheese and pico de gallo
yoghurt and fruit
zucchini breakfast slices
leftover jam pie
leftover apple cinnamon caramel muffins
cereal
snacks/lunch
watermelon
pears
apples
bananas
veggies and dip
leftovers...
spaghetti sauce over rice pasta shells
leftover slow cooker chili from the freezer, with rice
chicken breast pieces
salads
raspberry sorbet - made in the ice cream maker

suppers
thanksgiving dinner
-meatballs and dipping sauces
-salad - caesar salad
-sides/main - turkey and stuffing (the only time of year i must have turkey)
- roast potatoes
- mac and ch-easy bake
-dessert - raspberry sorbet, chocolate chocolate chip and mini marshmallow ice cream (both in the ice cream maker), jam pie, apple cinnamon apple muffins

and...a week's worth of leftovers (all in this post)
- mac and ch-easy bake with spaghetti sauce in a skillet
- mexican flavours for turkey with chicken bacon and mayo with habernero on pico de gallo and lettuce
- turkey quesadillas
- turkey nachos (chopped turkey - in a skillet with black beans and green bell pepper cooked in mexican chili spice and the juice of 2 large hothouse tomatoes) then put that on tortilla chips, covered with cheese and served with sour cream and pico de gallo
- butter chicken (turkey) on rice

i share my weekly meal plans at orgjunkie.com - you can find hundreds of meal plans on menu planning mondays there...helped me get back into meal planning.

enjoyed by all!

thanksgiving menu - pre-recipes

my favourite holiday is coming up.
i love thanksgiving
here in canada there is no black friday shopping, it's not close to christmas, it kind of stands alone
and sometimes it's warm enough to sit outside and eat out on the deck (without an outdoor heater)

growing up, my duty for thanksgiving was to decorate and set the table. my parents have a beautiful garden, and gourds galore at the grocery store, so i would gather pine cones and brilliant coloured leaves and gourds and twigs and get creative. and the beautiful spread of food (my mom is a chef), and family.

so now, it is both a happy and bittersweet holiday. having 2 young boys and a long drive for a 3 day weekend is a bit too much. my one year old HATES being in a car (as in cease-less screams). but i still love the holiday and we've made some of our own traditions - we go for a hike along one of the trails in the nearby provincial park (the one in my autumnal gratitude post) - we feast al fresco when possible - we reflect on the things we are thankful for - and i still gather "decorations" from the outdoors to set the table.

this is a rough sketch of my thanksgiving menu (will post it when i've made it all...
app - meatballs and dipping sauces
salad - caesar salad
sides/main - turkey (the only time of year i must have turkey)
- roast potatoes
- mac and ch-easy bake (i am going to make it all gluten free so rice pasta shells, and am going to hide pureed veggies in it to make it healthier)
dessert - raspberry/apple sorbet - hopefully these will work together
jam bake
and skor squares

i'll post the