Erica's Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole Recipe.

My happy family- Me, my amazing husband and our two delightful fur-babies.

I hope everyone had a blessed and abundant Thanksgiving holiday last month. Honestly, I didn't know where to go with my Thanksgiving blog (which is why this blog post is a few weeks late, sorry guys). I am mostly at peace with my infertility situation but I'd be lying to you if I didn't admit that the holidays are pretty rough. For those of you who are untouched by childlessness, let me be the first to tell you that the holidays are a lonely and difficult time in the infertility world. There are literally a million websites and bloggers who offer "holiday survival guides" for the childless population. An exceptionally good resource is http://gateway-women.com/holiday-blues/.

Wes & I made a ham and a medley greens for our Thanksgiving dinner.

I have a great (although not as novel of an idea as I originally thought) Thanksgiving leftovers recipe that I want to share so I knew I had to post a Thanksgiving themed blog. But I had a challenge ahead of me. On the one hand, I didn't want my Thanksgiving blog to be categorized as "written by a bitter infertile." But on the other hand, I didn't want to lie and say that everything went great. I had a few ideas... I could blog about the many things I have to be thankful for despite my childlessness, or I could blog about how I felt my fair share of the blues, or I could blog about what I did to cope. Toward the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, I sat in front of my laptop with zero good ideas. I decided to not stress out about it and just give it some time. I figured a good idea would eventually come to me. Well, it's officially December and I still don't know exactly how to approach the topic so I won't. I will just share my leftovers recipe.

The impressive and delicious turkey that Wes made for Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's.

As Thanksgiving approached, Wes and I started to discuss what we would make for our dinner. We usually have a small meal as husband & wife and then we have a more traditional Thanksgiving meal at my mom's house with her & her husband. I thought I had invented a new casserole incorporating all the components of a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but I was wrong. (I found out I was wrong when I bought a jar of Heinz home-style turkey gravy and saw a similar recipe on the label.) Sadly, I am not the inventor of the leftovers casserole but here is my version of it.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole Recipe-
       Ingredients needed: stuffing/dressing, green bean casserole, turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and French fried onions.

You can actually cook these things fresh or you can use leftovers. Leftovers is probably the best way to go. We had a bit of both... a little leftover stuffing, mashed potatoes and turkey from my mom's house and the rest we made.

1. Prepare the stuffing/dressing (we used the stuff from a box so we just followed the instructions).

2. Prepare the green bean casserole but do not cook. Everyone has their own way of making a green bean casserole so I won't post a recipe here.

3. Prepare the mashed potatoes (we took the easy route and "made" instant mashed potatoes).

4. Spray an oven safe casserole dish with butter.

5. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

6. Spread the stuffing/dressing on the bottom of the casserole dish.

7. Place the fully cooked turkey on top as the second layer.

8. Spread the uncooked green bean casserole on top of the turkey... layer three!

9. Spread the mashed potatoes on the very top.

10. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes.

The layers sort of got blended together so it looks a little crazy but I promise it tastes yummy.

11. While that is baking, prepare the gravy. (Sorry forgot to take a picture of me heating up the pre-made gravy. LOL)

12. Once cooked, serve with gravy and French fried onions on top.

Mine is the one slathered in gravy. Wes is a weirdo and ate his dry.