Turkey Day, My Way

I like Thanksgiving.  Sky King LOVES Thanksgiving.  Not only the food, but the people.  Each year, I try to make sure he gets the Thanksgiving he deserves.

Now, I have thought about traveling over this holiday-you know, taking a cruise with the kids, going to Disneyland, something epic. 

NO.  Hell no.  Thanksgiving MUST be a group of friends and relatives.  There must be turkey, stuffing, gravy.  LOTS of gravy.  Wine, of course.  Pie-pumpkin and apple.  After that, the rest is bonus.  And, it cannot be done by faceless restaurateurs. 

Fine.  So we sent out the evites.  I planned and coordinated.  I put together a list of stuff for others to bring.  I have begun the shopping list, as we will be out of town Sunday through Wednesday that week (not smart on my part, but did you expect anything less?)

Now, it is recipe time.  These are things I have to factor in:

• What needs to be gluten and casein free-that I MUST get to eat?  Green bean casserole, for one.  I can skip the stuffing.  I WOULD like some pie, but we will see.  Maybe I will use my cheat pills, maybe  will order some special pie from my fave store. 
• What do we have ROOM to cook?  I only have one oven, and one micro that can be a convection oven.  Something needs to be in the crock pot, and the turkey goes in the roaster.
• What can I do ahead of time? With the impromptu trip in the middle, I have to be able to pre-make many items

Here I go:

GF French Fried Onions, here: 
http://glutenfreemommy.com/how-to-make-french-fried-onions/
I will make these Sat before. 
I will use them in a casserole in my head which will use mushrooms sautes then cooked in coconut creamer, maybe thickened with corn starch. I expect this to be pretty standard, easy and like what I am used to. I just gotta make sure not to screw up the salt-I always add too little.  Not good.

Cranberry-Pecan-Sweet Potato Casserole, done in the CROCK POT!:
http://healthy.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-sweet-potatoes-cranberries-with-toasted-pecans-267920
I am looking forward to this one. I will sub the butter for my margarine, but pretty easy stuff.

I'm over the stuffing thing.  I always have loved Stove Top.  (Don't judge me.)  So, I will skip it this year, I don't care enough to be bothered with GF stuffing.

Turkey and ham, easy.  Wine, duh. Looks like it will all fall together, as long as I am not bedridden from the trip!

Wish us luck.

How do you finagle to get what you want on Thanksgiving?