T'was the day after Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love gathering family and friends to celebrate life's goodness with good food and conversation.  Things have been remarkably different for us over the last few years.  The "Holiday Hens", as my brother in law called us, have been disbanded.  One moving out of state, another simply retiring from the planning and execution of big gatherings.  Last year found me in a tent with other volunteers cooking turkey dinners on donated gas grills after Sandy ravaged our community.

This year marks a new era for our family Holiday traditions.  My eldest daughter decided she would like to host this year and her cousin, not to be outdone, has decided Christmas will be at her home.  We have a new brood of "Holiday Hens."  And so far, they have proved very capable.  All of which helps me since I have taken on responsibility for managing our parish soup kitchen and the holidays require extra attention from me.

The Allrecipes Ambassadors were asked to prepare a casserole made from leftovers and Kraft Foods products.  I kept looking at the recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/thanksgiving-leftovers-casserole/detail.aspx and thinking it could easily be adapted so I could serve a more festive meal to our vegetarian guests at the soup kitchen Thanksgiving dinner than the usual plate, stripped of turkey and gravy.

Since we would need about a dozen vegetarian meals we made two large pans, lining them with Stovetop Cornbread stuffing prepared with extra onion, celery and grated carrots.  We filled the cavity with chopped Portabella mushrooms, sautéed with garlic and onions and liberally sprinkled with shredded Kraft Italian blend cheese.  We topped this with mashed potatoes, piped into rosettes by one of our amazing staff and dusted with paprika.  After baking at 350F we presented our guests with as appetizing a meal as their carnivorous friends ate.

Thank you Kraft and WalMart for helping make this holiday a little happier for those in need.

Note: this is Kraft's photo as we do not permit photographs in the soup kitchen.

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I am an Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (a voluntary position) and I’m not compensated for my work with Allrecipes.com. 

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