I grew up in Brazil and Spain and celebrated my first Thanksgiving in California almost 16 years ago. Back then it was more about the days off than the Turkey. No cooking, no stress, no school and no work.

Oh my, how Thanksgiving holiday has evolved!

It’s now one of my favorite holidays. It’s All-American, it’s all about cooking and highlighting all the things we’ve been grateful for all the way.

I have to say that the supermarket ads made it easy to find the best fresh turkey deals out there. I’ve done the free range organic turkey in the past and came to the conclusion that it’s way too expensive for the amount of left overs we get. I get a small fresh turkey instead and avoid eating turkey wrap sandwiches for a week!

So, for our Thanksgiving dinner we had:

48 hour marinated turkey (fresh herbs, garlic, onion, spices, vodka, salt and sugar all tied up in a heavy duty plastic bag, turning it twice a day). Our turkey weighed less than 12 lbs. and it was the perfect size for our family and our fridge.

Brazilian farofa (stuffing made with yucca flour) that I proudly stuffed our bird with.

White country bread stuffing with apricots

Curry creamed spinach (see recipe at the end of this post)

Sweet potato gratin

Macaroni salad (Hawaiian family style)

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Pimped Jiffy corn muffins (made it with the kids. Sour cream instead of milk, add 1 15 oz. can of cream of corn and 1/2 15 oz. can of corn. Super moist and yummy!)

Gravy and cranberry sauce (the canned kind)

Pumpkin pie

Dulce de leche Profiteroles

Curry Creamed Spinach

2 tbsp olive oil or butter

2 or more garlic cloves minced or crushed

3 tbsp of flour

2 cups of low fat milk

2 tsp salt

2 tsp of mild curry powder

1 tsp of turmeric (optional)

1 small bag of fresh baby spinach steamed and chopped

Heat the OOil or butter over medium-low heat until melted. Add garlic until brown. Add the flour and stir/whisk until smooth. Over medium heat, cook until the mixture turns a light, golden sandy color, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a separate pan until just about to boil. Start adding the hot milk to the butter mixture slowly, whisking continuously until smooth. You can stop or continue adding milk until you get a thick consistency. Bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly, add curry then remove from heat. Add spinach. Season to taste.