After serving 100 at school, it was hard to begin thinking about our family Thanksgiving menu at home. Thankfully, my seven-year-old happily wrote the menu and I had several helpers in the kitchen. A funny thing happened with our pumpkin bars, which I can now laugh out loud. It turned upside down twice. My teenager made the first cake and I accidentally turned it over in the sink. I made the second one and it was cooling in the laundry room already frosted. Guess what? It was mysteriously on the floor upside down. It wasn’t meant for us to have pumpkin pumpkin kace (cake or bars for Christmas.

Unfortunately my parents didn’t make it because my dad got sick. He’s still in the hospital and my family appreciates prayers.

We had quite a feast as you can see.Plenty of delish butterhorns that we turned into gratitude rolls with a thankful message inside using parchment paper and Jen’s idea. I sub out the shortening with real butter with this make ahead butterhorn recipe. We made these for our school Thanksgiving Feast for 100 and they were a real hit.

I thought it was a good idea until I froze a lot of them and wanted to thaw for quick sandwiches. Pulling out the paper caused them to crumble a part. Also, I’d recommend edible ink, though we didn’t eat the bread portion where the ink rubbed off. It’s a sweet idea like fortune cookies and my kiddos got excited to see what was inside. I will limit this activity to the fresh rolls we are planning to eat right away, next time.

Our turkey was super moist and so yummy.

We all loved the creamy cranberry salad recipe.

My husband and I were the only ones to eat the homemade dressing so we had plenty to freeze, though I’m not sure I will eat it again. I’m not a crazy fan of stuffing like my dad and I missed him. Notice I freeze my mashed potatoes and stuffing flat in a gallon size freezer bag. It thaws quicker that way. I also labeled turkey bags and shredded or sliced. We’ll use the sliced for paninis and shredded for enchiladas, our fave after Thanksgiving. I plan to use the shredded turkey for fajita soup. Can you tell we love Mexican?

We had plenty of leftovers for the freezer.

Plenty of rolls for the freezer. Except we’ve had the the paper problem after slicing, but still edible, not so great for sandwiches like I anticipated.

What did you freeze from your Thanksgiving feast? Are you re-creating new leftovers yet?