On Saturday my husband and I prepared our first thanksgiving dinner for our friends.  We were pleased with the turn out!  The following foods in a wonderful atmosphere were enjoyed….

 

The napkins are actually dish towels from IKEA – a little secret, all restaurants use these to add to their “farm to table – rustic” look.  I cut off the inside label and the hanging string, ironed them and my husband rolled up the silverware!  The poinsettias are from Wegman’s and were repotted in these awesome tin cans from IKEA.  We had a fun time at IKEA the day after thanksgiving to do some non-sale shopping.

The food warming up and getting ready for your meal tour:

We must begin with the foundation of every good thanksgiving meal…TURKEY:

The turkey was purchased from Wegman’s – nothing fancy just a basic turkey that took forever to defrost!  We seasoned it with salt, pepper and garlic powder.  The turkey was extremely moist (sorry that’s the only word that properly describes the food) with delicious flavor!

Some other traditional favorites:

• Cranberry Sauce:  I mixed one 12oz bag of cranberries, 3/4 cup water, 1/2 cup honey and a few tbsps of coconut palm sugar to taste (see under Vittles section which product I keep in my cabinet).  I cooked this mixture for about 25 minutes to ensure all the water had been absorbed, the cranberries had popped and the sauce was adequately thick.  The sauce was a little tart, however, my taste buds prefer this flavor as I “believe” it is more natural and less man-made.

• Mashed…turnips & parnsips for me and potatoes for the others.  I used this recipe for my paleo side dish:  mashed turnips and parsnips from Primal Palate.  Very basic ingredients and simple instructions, I used half an onion, instead of the full for a sweeter lighter taste… ENJOY!  The texture was thick lite and fluffy; I think I will use this recipe for our little one’s baby food!! Pictured below: paleo mash is featured first, followed by the potatoes being mashed & the final product.

• Brussel Sprouts:  we dolled these bland veggies up.  They were seasoned with salt, pepper & olive oil and baked with dried cherries & pistachios,  They were enjoyed by all, even those who don’t normally eat this vegetable…SUCCESS!!

• Stuffing… quinoa & red rice Williams Sonoma mix.  To make this treat more paleo friendly, I did not use butter – substituted with olive oil.  Additionally, I used half an onion, a full yellow pepper and the zest of half a lemon to add additional flavor.  Not a paleo dish as these are super food grains, however, you gotta splurge every now and then!

• Biscuits:  No bread!!! We made the famous Bacon and Chive Sweet Potato Biscuits from PaleOMG.  We had made these last year and fell in love with them, after being pregnant and eating GF CARBSSS I hadn’t made them since.  We forgot how good these biscuits are and will be making them again this weekend just to have around during the week!

• Pecan Pie:  You just have to have some dessert!! I made Gluten-Free Pie Crust by following the recipe from Living Without Gluten Free’s online recipes.  I used Cup4Cup flour, coconut oil and coconut palm sugar and followed the rest of the recipe as stated!  The filling, I cheated, I used Williams Sonoma’s Chocolate Pecan Pie filling which is sold in a glass jar and is absolutely divine!!!  Note:  the coconut ingredients gave the crust an additional unexpected coconut flavor, which paired with the chocolate pecan filling very nicely!

Last but not least, you must sit down and feast!!!!!                      

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!! My goal for this week… EXERCISE EVERYDAY!!!!

peace. love. paleo.