Canadian Thanksgiving...

Or better yet, "What I did with all that food in my fridge!".

Yes, as another Thanksgiving comes and goes I am again faced with the dilemma of how to transform the leftovers into something fabulous... something that my family will eat... Now, I'm blessed with fairly good eaters and I'm not complaining but that still doesn't stop them from shouting, "Ick, what IS that?" when the plates hit the table. And I think they are on to me - you know, with my 'hiding' of food. Darn kids. Darn husband.

So, I took matters into my hands and tried my best to come up with something edible. I think you'll agree that it's all going to be quite yummy.

1. Mashed Potates: I played around with Robins recipe for Breakfast burritos and now I've got many a burrito in my freezer. Since my mashed potatoes already contain cheese (yours don't?) I just added them to some scrambled eggs, and canned chilies. Now, all I have to do is micro them for a couple of minutes in the morning and breakfast is done.

2. Acorn Squash: An easy one? Yes, I think it is. I whipped up some Pumpkin Spice Cookies. I thought about pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie or even just eating it all out of the dish but I thought this might be a better alternative. I made some changes - adding applesauce and maple syrup and cutting the sugar in half (way to much sugar in this). Since I make my squash with applesauce anyway it should be sweet enough . I'm not sure yet though as they are sitting on the counter patiently waiting to go into the oven.

3. The Chicken and Corn: Mixed with black beans, cheese, and salsa then rolled into a casserole with enchilada sauce and VOILA tonights dinner. Mmm... enchiladas. I think a Margarita is in order don't you?

4. The Stuffing: Nothing yet. I always get stumped here. I've seen recipes for bread souffle and stuffing patties with turkey (I think I made those last year) but nothing is jumping out at me just yet. Any ideas?

5. Homemade Cranberry Sauce: Easy enough to make and easy enough to use up. Cranberry muffins. This helps me out in the breakfast area as well. If you remember I'm trying to cut down on processed cereals (easier said than done) and thus, I'm always looking for easy and fast ways to feed the family. Since Cranberries were on sale last week - go look - I bought a few bags! I don't have a recipe yet but it's only a google away.

6. Broccoli: Soup. I used the carcass (awful word) to make stock and so a very, very yummy broccoli soup will be on the table tomorrow night. With the addition of some bannock (talked about all weekend by my little redhead, A. and now craved by me, T.) it should be a very nutritious and easy dinner.