Here comes T-day!!! If you are someone who celebrates Thanksgiving, what are your plans? Family? Friends? Cooking? Big Blue Test?! Let’s share our plans for this day of thanks 
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In the morning I plan to either go on a bike ride or attend a spinning class (and log it as a Big Blue test.), and then I’m cooking and hosting a dinner! This is the only time I really cook, all year long, and I’m super excited about it. My guests will also be bringing some dishes, but here’s what I plan to make:
- mushroom, tofu and pecan stuffed squash (my vegetarian answer to turkey. Super tasty!)
- coconut fish chowder
- steamed spinach with nutmeg
- corn pudding (savory)
- apple bread pudding
- pumpkin ginger bread. I made this already, substituting wheat gluten for half the flower and stevia for half the sugar. I may be the only person who likes it
Several of these recipes came from Cooking Light magazine. I’m happy to share any of them, if anyone’s interested!
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Thanksgiving Day is one of the few days that I throw caution to the wind and eat/cook whatever I want and just bolus accordingly.
This year I will have all kinds of finger foods laid on the table first so I don’t have hungry teenagers asking my when dinner will be ready.
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brined herb roasted turkey
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mashed potatoes and gravy
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cranberry chutney
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sweet potato casserole
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Sage Dressing
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Corn casserole
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Homemade green bean casserole
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Homemade rolls
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pumpkin pie
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pecan pie
Friday I will be back on the low carb bandwagon…I swear.
Sarah 
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I live in spain and i get together with my one of my american friends. we are few and far between here, i am afraid. lots of brits and irish and spanish come to our thanksgivings as well, and they are always amazed at the amount of food there is! i am in seville and she is in madrid so its a bit of a long trip. we have a long weekend the first weekend of december here in spain, and we take turns hosting, taking advantage of the 5(!!!) day weekend.
i am eating everything put in front of me. EVERYTHING. i mean, i wont eat a bucket load of mashed potatoes, but ill have a bit of that and some stuffing and were having cheesecake for desert-easier on the bg than pecan or pumpkin.
ill stack my insulin but it wont matter because ill just be winging the carb counting. ill also drink lots of wine, which helps the insulin even out the bg. ill go for a bit of a walk if i have to, but im just going to enjoy myself. it feels so good to let things slide and just be like everyone else on a holiday like thanksgiving.
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We celebrated a few days early. One of our big hits was this lc pumpkin pie-- we doubled the crust recipe to make a thicker crust which worked out nicely
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Three blessings of the Holiday seasons
As I write this we are bareley two weeks away from Thanksgiving in the United States, our Canadian brothers and sisters have already celebrated Thanksgiving, and we are already slipping into Christmas. It is a time when we stop to count our blessings, and take stock of the world both as we see it and as we would like it.
We all have many blessings. I am blessed because of my children (two sons I love more than life itself) my daughter in laws both past and of course my grandchildren. I am blessed with a wife of 38 years whom I love and with a comfortable life.
But I am also blessed with three other things that are unique to me because I am a person with diabetes and RA.
Community
Outside of people I have met in the online community I do not know a single person with RA. Amazing as that seems it is true. Without the online community I would be relegated to discussing treatments, techniques and coping mechanisms with my doctor and in his waiting room.
Instead I have a community that I regard with the deepest of appreciation. I turn to this online community when I feel good and feel bad, when I accomplish things and when I fall short. Not because anyone in that community can do anything to make my life better, rather because they understand what it is to fall short, or the pure joy of excelling at a task that is unexpected.
Community, the RA and Diabetes online communities is certainly one of my best blessings of this holiday season.
Perseverance
Those of us with RA obviously have the gift of perseverance. I do not know a single person who shares this reality who lacks perseverance. We struggle to walk, yet we walk. We struggle to sleep, yet we sleep, and we struggle with pain, yet we go on. RA teaches us perseverance in great abundance.
When I am hurting and I must go on I think of a famous quote from a character in the movie ‘The outlaw Josey Wales” in that movie the character
Blessings with Rheumatoid Arthritis
I am not blessed because I have RA. But I am blessed and coincidentally I have RA. I am blessed because of my children (two sons I love more than life itself) my daughter in laws both past and of course my grandchildren.
That is the only way I know to operate my life. This holiday season I look around and think to myself what are my blessings, and could I have more if I did not have RA? I do not think so. My blessings (there are many) are really not influenced much by RA.
It is true one of my blessings is the friends I have developed in the RA and diabetes communities. As I look around my (mostly virtual environment) I see dozens of friends and acquaintances I would never have had without RA and Diabetes. But truly I think I would have found an extended online circle of friends with or without RA and Diabetes. I try to be a social person.
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Over the Thanksgiving break my husband & I plan on renovating our living room with new paint & flooring. For Thanksgiving day we will have dinner at my parents. I’ll be cooking the broccoli casserole, festive onions & making cranberry relish (YUM!).
Hugs to the Tudiabetes Family!
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My husband eats gluten-free these days and I was planning on just buttering a ceramic dish and coating the sides with pecan meal for his pumpkin “pie” but this recipe looks a pretty yummy alternative!
We help organize a pot-luck meal for folks whose family live elsewhere. I skip the rolls and mashed potatoes and enjoy the cranberries, a bit of stuffing and gravy, and the desserts! A Big Blue Test may be on the docket after the feast, I reckon!
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For some reason I am obsessed with green bean casserole this year. Don’t know why. It’s not something we eat on Thanksgiving as a rule. According to NPR it’s not a midwestern tradition, but a product of Campbell’s soup company!
I will make it with alfredo sauce instead of mushroom soup though. We’ll see how that goes.
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I subscribe to Fine Cooking, and they had an article a while back about Updating your Thanksgiving Favorites
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/baked-haricots-verts-fried-shallots.aspx
I find their recipes very reliable (and gorgeous pictures) Plus, they include all the nutritionals
I’m making Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Carrots, Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, and right now I’m making Pumpkin Rolls - I have a little home based bread business and I’ve gotten a lot of orders for these.
Pumpkin Yeast Bread Recipe | King Arthur Baking (makes 30 2 oz. rolls)
My husband and I will do all this together and we’ll be having his brother & wife over for dinner in the afternoon. They are bringing a green veggie. oh, I also got a nice pumpkin pie. I’ll probably just try to limit quantities & take a lot of insulin.
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I cook all the time, but it turns out Thanksgiving is a day when I often am asked not to cook. Sometimes I’ll be asked to do the turkey, but not this year. My daughter is coming home from Boston tonight and we will be going up to my sisters for Thanksgiving. I’m not happy about the 1.5 hour drive each way but I’ll deal with it.
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Since I made my pumpkin-ginger bread early, and did some substitutions to reduce the carbs, I decided to try a piece and make sure it would pass muster with my guests (actually, I just wanted some). Um… no. My girlfriend and I decided we’ll keep the experimental version and make a new one to serve tomorrow, complete with all the carbs.
More low-carb pumpkin bread for ME!
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I’m hoping to eat “normal” Thanksgiving food (STUFFING!)… we’ll see how it goes, as so far, each year has presented its own challenges…
… in the past, at least, the one thing I could count on was pumpkin pie!! Odds, anyone? 
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We will have a family Thanksgiving Day dinner, for which I am thankful! Everyone contributes–there will be a turkey breast, our own butternut squash casserole with green apple, etc., pumpkin pies, and all sorts of good (and healthy) things as well. including at least one good wine! Our Goldens will love the socializing, not to mention a few really good bites of Thanksgiving dinner . Happy Thanksgiving Day to all!
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I am going to my son’s house. I am bringing homemade cranberry sauce,stuffing,chocolate chip cookies,and DH is making bread. I will play with the kids and dogs outside. We have 5 grandchildren under 33 months. We will have 13 people. I will also bring diet ginger ale,diet cranberry juice. Try a bit of this and that,but back to usual next day. I skip potatoes and bread. Happy Thanksgiving Nancy
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