My wonderful husband recently backed up my computer and got it working, but hasn't restored my old photographs back onto it yet. But I wanted to still put up a post regarding our Thanksgiving this year.
It was a quiet affair (especially compared to my family visiting last year!), but an enjoyable one. We had time to just focus on each other. I also tried some new recipes. Because Asher was on a GF/CF diet at the time, I decided to do an all gluten-free, casein-free dinner. Although I wasn't expecting much, surprisingly everything turned out delicious and looked very gourmet! We did have a mishap with the turkey however. I didn't realize, until now, that my oven will automatically shut off after 10 hours or so and I was attempting to slow-roast our turkey this year at a very low temperature overnight. It wasn't until 8am or so that I realized the oven was off and the turkey's internal temp had dropped. Although I nearly panicked, Jase had me just crank it up to 225 deg. until our dinner at 1pm. Although a little scared, we all dug in and had turkey this year--and none of us got food poisoning!
Here was my menu, along with a few recipes:
Slow-roasted Turkey stuffed with Wild Rice
Sides:
Spiced Cranberry Sauce (recipe)
Cranberry Almond Green Salad (recipe)
Savory Green Beans with Tamari
Garlic-Greens Mashed Potatoes
Deviled Eggs
Dessert:
GF/CF Boxed Brownies :*)
Gooey Chewy Caramel Corn (recipe)
Recipes:
Spiced Cranberry Sauce
3 C fresh cranberries
1 C apple cider
1/2 C Brown Rice Syrup (to taste) or Agave Nectar
1-2 T Sucanat (to taste)
optional: 1/2-1 tsp. cinnamon
Add all of the ingredients to a medium sauce pan. Cook on medium heat until all of the cranberries have popped and the sauce has thickened, about 10 min.
Note: If the sauce is still not thick enough, add 1 T ultra gel and let it sit 10 min. to thicken
Cranberry Almond Green Salad
1 C sliced almonds
2 T sugar
3 T red wine vinegar
1/3 C olive oil
1/4 C cranberries (thawed)
2 T Dijon mustard
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T honey
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
8 C mixed salad greens (spinach is nice)
Preheat oven to 375 deg. Place sliced almonds in a single layer on cookie sheet; sprinkle with sugar and toast in oven for 5 min, until nuts begin to brown. Watch carefully! Cool.
In a blender or processor, combine vinegar, oil, cranberries, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, and honey; blend or process until smooth.
In a large bowl, toss the almonds, onion, and greens with the vinegar mixture until evenly coated. Serves 8.
Gooey Chewy Caramel Corn
Contains no diary.
10 C popped popcorn (about 1 C kernels)
1/2 C honey
1/2 C Sucanat
1/2 C brown rice syrup
1 t molasses
2 t vanilla
1/2 C coconut oil
1 T salt
1/2 C pecans
1/2 C dried cranberries
Mix the honey, Sucanat, molasses, vanilla, coconut oil, and salt together in a medium sauce pan. Cook on medium heat until it is just about to boil. Take off of stove and pour over popped popcorn. Fold in the pecans and dried cranberries.
Note: If you are really missing the buttery flavor here, instead of using 1/2 C coconut oil, use 1/4 C coconut oil and 1/4 C butter.
