Thanksgiving dinners are always a wonderful experience, and a delicious one that I know my family looks forward to every year.  Stuffing and mashed potatoes can be a year-round meal, but having a big turkey maily falls around the holiday season because they're just so expensive.  But this has become one of my favorite recipies because it allows us to have a Thanksgiving-like dinner any time of the year for cheap.

Ingredients:

• several pieces of turkey lunch mean (buy it from the deli counter and ask for it sliced thick/extra-thick)
• a jar of turkey gravy
• instant mashed potatoes
• a box of stuffing (turkey or cornbread flavor)

     Pre-make the mashed potatoes as normal, as well as the box of stuffing.  Non-stick spray a casserole pan, and then layer the bottom of the pan with the stuffing - do not mash it down or try to flatten it.  Lay out the slices of turkey on a plate so that they are flat.  Scoop mashed potatoes onto the middle of each slice (as much as you would like).  Roll the meat around the potatoes and lay each roll on top of the stuffing in the pan.  Open the jar of gravy and pour it over top of the turkey rolls and stuffing.  Like with the mashed potatoes, use as much gravy as you would like - I prefer to use quite a lot, but some people might prefer less gravy than me, so it's completely up to you.
     Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, and serve.  You can pair this with a seasonal side (like cranberry sauce) to add to the Thanksgiving feeling, or serve it with a vegetable medly or fruit cocktail for a quick dinner any night.

     My husband is a picky eater when it comes to salads and the kind of dressing I put on them.  I can get him to try a vinaigrette from time to time, but his favorite dressing has always been Italian.  His favorite version of Italian dressing is the one I started whipping up on the fly one night when we ran out of dressing from the store.  It doesn't have the somewhat bitter aftertaste that some store bought dressings have, and you can always add or remove ingredients to taste.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 3 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp coarsely ground pepper
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 cup olive oil (canola oil works just as well)

     Combine all ingredients except for the oil in desired container (I save glass bottles from juices and such, and usually use one of those).  Shake container to mix ingredients until sugar and salt have dissolved.  Add oil and shake well to mix.  Pour over salad and store remainder in the refrigerator.

     This makes 1 cup of dressing, so if you want to make it to last a few days instead of just a night, just double everything and you're ready to go.

     Rice in general is a very versatile food, and fried rice is one of my favorite ways to prepare it because you get a little bit of everything eating it that way (instead of using it as a side dish).
     For lunch, plain fried rice is a wonderful meal, and add some meat (and maybe some vegetables) and you have a nice dinner.  Fried rice is very simple to make, especially if you're a mother who doesn't have hours to spend in the kitchen.

Ingredients:

• rice
• oil
• soy sauce
• salt
• pepper
• spices (oregano, basil, parsley) opt.

     One of the biggest things about fried rice is you want to use rice that you've already cooked and that has cooled.  If you have rice left over from another meal that hasn't been seasoned, that works great.  And if not, you can do what I do - cook the rice a few hours before and place it in the fridge.
     There's not a whole lot to making fried rice once the rice has been made and cooled.  Pour a bit of oil into a frying pan and let it heat till you hear it start to pop.  Once it does that, add your pre-cooked rice to the pan and stir it around a bit.  It usually clumps when it cools, so you'll want to break apart the big clumps as much as possible (the smaller clumps will mostly fall apart as the rice heats up).  Now that that's been done, you can add soy sauce to the pan.
     I tend to eyeball this part instead of measuring it out, since how much soy sauce you add depends on your taste and how much rice you have.  The best way to start is to add a little at a time until, after you mix it around, all of the rice has taken on the light brown coloring from the sauce.  If you like heavy soy, you can add a bit more now.  Let the rice continue to cook in the oil and soy sauce on medium-low heat, stirring often.
     While the rice continues to cook, it's time to cook up some eggs.  I usually do 1 egg for every 2 servings of rice, since you don't want to add too much egg.  Scramble the eggs in a small bowl and cook them in a small frying pan while the rice is cooking.  Make sure to keep the egg chunks fairly small as they cook.
     By now, your rice should be almost done.  Add salt, pepper, and spices to taste and stir the rice well.  Pour the rice into a large bowl and add the egg, stirring well.  Serve.

If you want to add chicken or pork to your fried rice:
     Cut raw chicken/pork into small pieces and cook in oiled pan (the same pan you'll later use to cook the rice) until fully cooked.  Add rice and proceed as usual.