Oh how I love the holidays.  And all of the food you get to eat.  Oh, and of course spending time with the family … phew, got that in before the husband roasted me.

On Thanksgiving I baked and cooked and sliced and diced my way through the day.  And I loved every moment of it.

We started with croissants for breakfast with coffee and mimosa's.

We skipped lunch in order to hold out for our big Thanksgiving dinner.

But, I caved in the afternoon and gave in to the delicious ginger snaps and blue cheese.  Which my darling daughter decided to force feed to me well after I had eaten quite enough.

And then there was our annual Thanksgiving dinner. 

Complete with my turkey … and I say that is if it's MY recipe, but really it was handed down to me by a neighbor, way back when.

HOW TO ROAST A TURKEY:

Wash and pat the turkey dry.

Stuff with roughly chopped apples.

Lather with butter.

Pour a bottle of Dry Ginger Ale over the top (very gently so as not to wash the butter away)

Make a foil tent over the top

Roast according to the instructions on the turkey.

Pour a little more Dry Ginger Ale over the top every hour.

If the wings are starting to brown too quickly, wrap a little foil around them.

Remove the foil before the last hour of roasting.

And of course there was stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, peas and corn, warm bread rolls, gravy and cranberry sauce to go along with that delicious turkey.

And then for dessert there was my mum's famous pumpkin pie.  Hey, it's famous in our family.  And shhh, it's a secret family recipe that was passed down to her, modified by her and I finally convinced her to pass on to me a couple of years ago. 

And of course you've already seen the adorable little turkey cupcakes I baked for the little ones.

Did I mention the CRANBERRY SAUCE.  Because seriously, I knocked it out of the park with this one.  No really.  I did.  I know because my husband doesn't eat cranberry sauce.  He ate it this year.

Recipe:

• 1 x 12oz bag of cranberries
• 1 fresh mango (peeled and finely chopped)
• 1 red apple (peeled and finely chopped)
• 1 cup 100% orange juice
• 1 cup white sugar

Dissolve the sugar in the orange juice in a pan on medium heat.  Once dissolved add all of the other ingredients.  Leave on medium heat, stirring occasionally until the cranberries pop.  Once the sauce is thick enough, it takes about 10 minutes (it will thicken as it cools) remove from the stove and serve.

Guess what I'll be serving up for our Christmas dinner … maybe with a few variations though.

Disclosure:  As one of the #sfsmarties I received a gift card for Smart & Final to help with my Thanksgiving dinner food shop.