Thanksgiving In April!

First off, thank you all for making me feel better yesterday! Some days I just think too much. Today is going to be a non-thinking day! Oh and kickboxing and core fusion help! My legs are officially like jello. I'm weird, but that makes me feel good!

Now, back to Thanksgiving in April...well, really, why not? The illustrator has been craving a big pan of turkey dressing, so when we had his friend from high school's family over on Friday night, it was proclaimed as the perfect opportunity to cook a turkey for his leftover cravings. It's kind of funny that he planned the whole meal just for the leftovers. 

For the actual dinner, we made cornbread dressing muffins, oven roasted turkey with gravy and roasted asparagus.

The next day, the muffins were gone...so, turkey dressing was on the menu. I planned ahead and made two pans of cornbread to make this easier.

This is the best way to use up leftover turkey! Especially the dark meat since everyone always eats the white meat first. Except Max...he prefers the dark meat. I don't know where he came from.

We had leftover gravy that made it that much better! Jay could have bathed in the gravy...he went nuts for it! He is getting so much better with eating things...he even ate asparagus the night before. Go Jay!

This was actually the first time I'd made this dish for the boys and they were really happy with it...my guess is it won't be the last!

Gluten Free Dairy Free Cornbread

1 cup brown rice flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
3/4 cup cornmeal (I used Bob's Red Mill)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup egg whites or egg substitute or 2 eggs
1 1/4 cup regular almond milk
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray or coat with butter.
Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Then add both mixtures together and mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool.

Gluten Free Dairy Free Cornbread Turkey Dressing

1 pan of cornbread cut into cubes (see above)
25 large corn based chips (tortillas chips you use for salsa), crushed
1 TBSP flax meal
2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste (I used fresh ground)
1 cup diced onion, sauteed
3 cups hot chicken broth (I used Not Chick'n Broth)
1/2 cup egg whites, egg substitute or 2 eggs
2 - 3 cups cooked left over turkey

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray.

Mix the cornbread thru onion together, but don't over mix because you want there to still be chunks in the mix. Now add the hot broth and stir. Next add the egg and turkey. Stir so that everything is well combined. Now pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes or until the dressing is firm and browned on top. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Not Chick'n Gravy

3 cups Not Chick'n Broth (cooled) 

1/3 cup gluten free flour blend (I used Bob's Red Mill)

Mix the broth with the flour in a sauce pan and heat on medium heat until thickened. 

***I've discovered that mixing the flour with the broth before it's heated really keeps it from clumping up on you.