I don't want to buy a whole turkey this year. Last year I remember doing it - I got a safe Shelton's whole turkey at the health food store and baked it in the oven. None of us liked it very much and most of it was thrown in the garbage weeks later. The meat was just too dry and tasteless.
Thanksgiving last year was great for me because I had gone into my first short period of remission - do y'all remember how excited I was about my rice cooker and making rice/meat/veggie combos in the rice cooker?! I had found a way to controlmy symptoms with diet and I was invincible - I absolutely loved those meals
I no longer use the rice cooker because I am not eating rice.... The paleo diet. I still recommend eating that way to anybody who needs to find a nutritious, easy, and inexpensive way to control their MC symptoms with diet. Just watch what you put into the mix!!
I loved all the recipe swapping and food talk last year leading up to Thanksgiving. Perhaps we can do that again?
I am interested in figuring out how to make trigger free eggrolls - do you guys have a recipe? Are you making eggrolls? Is the wrap gluten/dairy free? Can you buy premade wraps that are safe for us MIers? Jean, any experience from the Asian market with eggrolls?
Eggrolls would have to be deep fried, right?
I am looking forward to some more food talk with you guys.
Love,
Karen
Inspired by the paleolithic diet and lifestyle -
living w/o gluten, dairy, soy, corn, and yeast.
I'm not very good with Thanksgiving recipes because we go to my MIL's every year and eat out. She is 90 so we don't let her cook anymore. But I seem to recall that there have been some good recipes floating around in the past.
The turkey meatloaf is a great idea. Some other thoughts: mashed potatoes or root veggies (parsnips, turnips, carrots, potatoes, etc.) made with chicken broth or mayo; a sweet potato casserole - could be made with pineapple, cinnamon, etc.; squash (Matthew probably knows of some good ways to make squash). I like to steam zucchini, yellow squash, and onions and then saute them all in olive oil and garlic. And butternut squash is yummy just plain or with cinnamon, olive oil, etc. One of my favorite veggie dishes is steamed cauliflower which is then mashed and mixed with a little mayo and salt and pepper. A homemade cranberry relish would be good, with cranberries, orange, maybe some nuts. I imagine we could make a stuffing/dressing with rice instead of bread - saute celery/onions/garlic in olive oil, add chicken broth and poultry seasoning and pour over the rice and mix. I'm sure others may have more creative stuffing ideas.
Someone (I think it was G'Ma Mary) used to made pumpkin pudding instead of pumpkin pie. She would buy those miniature pumpkins, cut off the top, scoop them out, and then fill them with the pumpkin pie mixture. Each person would then have one at the table. Very festive! I guess we could use coconut milk to make it. Although that's not paleo, it shouldn't hurt on a one-time basis.
I think Katy has made GF gravy, but she is out of touch right now.
WOW- gotta go eat something. This is making me hungry!
Love,
Polly
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
I enjoy planing Thanksgiving dinner. I have found that natural Turkeys that are not injected with some unknown often come out tough and dry even with my best efforts so at least for the moment have given up on them. The best part is to have the house smell good with what is cooking, so many memories are of not what I ate but how good it smelled.
So here are my plans that might give everyone some ideas
Starter of Squash Souffle. Not hard to make. About two cups squash cooked pretty dry mixed with the yokes of half dozen eggs that have been separated. Season with Salt , Pepper and a pinch of tarragon Beat the egg whites to a stiff peak and fold into the squash mixture . Pour into a Souffle pan and bake at 350 for about an hour and a half .
Cornish Game Hens. I can get free range Cornish Game Hens at a very reasonable price. I have read that they are just small chickens but even a wood chip would taste good when cooked this way. Cut the bird in half by cutting down each side of the backbone with kitchen shears then cut in half down the breast bone. Marinate over night in a mixture of dried tarragon, minced shallots dry white wine and a little olive oil. When ready to cook place in roasting pan and brown under the broiler for a few minutes. Remove from oven and strew around whole garlic cloves ,sliced mushrooms and a good dollop of white wine. Finish cooking in oven at 350. The backs can be made into a wonderful brown sauce by browning them and then simmering with onion, celery, chicken broth and some white wine. This is a trigger free adaptation from a Julia Child cook book “Julia Child & More Company” that you might find at a local library. Takes a little planning but is well worth it.
Cranberry sauce. I like cranberries really tart so buy a bag of fresh berries and cook as directed but with only about a quarter of the sugar. This may not be to every ones taste but i enjoy just a few spoon fulls with the game hens.
Desert. A crust less apple tart. Core and slice tart apples like Braeburns into thin sections and fan out an inch deep around a tart or quiche pan. Dilute sugar free apricot jelly with a few tablespoons of rum and brush over the top . Bake in 400 degree oven until apples are soft and brown at the edges. Serve warm.
Of course I will have some kind of steamed vegetable, green salad and have to make my guest comfortable with ice cream for the apple tart and dinner rolls. I am just really careful to clean up the crumbs. Ha, Ha, Ha.
Hope this gives you some ideas to fill your homes and memories with the smell of good and healthy food to eat.
You are QUITE the chef. Everything sounds mouth-watering. Did I hear you say that all of us cavepeople were invited to your house for Thanksgiving dinner? LOL! Your guest is one lucky person....and probably doesn't even have any intolerances!
A few quick questions. What kind of squash do you use for the souffle? Do you think you could post the recipe for the trigger-free brown sauce (giving credit to Julia, of course)?. I have been looking for something like that for ages...... What do you mean that the "backs" can be made into the sauce? Wherever did you get that idea for the crustless apple tart? Very creative and sounds yummy. Am going to try it this week! I guess it would work for other fruits too.
Love,
Polly
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused.
OK - our realtor sends us a postcard every couple of months with a recipe on it (and a reminder to think of her if we are considering selling ) Some of them have been quite tasty. One came the other day for Wild Rice Stuffing - it looks good
3 1/2 c chicken stock
2 c wild rice blend
1 lb. sausage (chicken or turkey)
2 garlic cloves - minced
1/2 white onion finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
1/3 c parsley, finely chopped
1/3 c slivered almonds
1/3 c grated parmesan - I'm sure this could be omitted
Bring stock to a boil in saucepan. Stir in rice, reduce heat, cover and cook 25 min. In a skillet, brown the sausage, add garlic, onion and celery. Cook 2 min, then remove from heat and drain excess grease. Toss with last 3 ingredients and rice. Salt & pepper to taste.
Don’t know that I am a Chef but have never felt that I have needed to be deprived of really good tasting foods just because I could not eat certain foods. Cooking is a lot like my work. Put 2 and 2 together and come up with five. Haha!
Not sure that the Wine or Rum is very Paleo but on special occasions it does add a lot to getting flavor into foods and does not appear to change my digestion.
I have used Butternut , Acorn , Buttercup and even those elegant square bricks of frozen squash for the souffle and they all work. The trick is to not have them to wet. I don’t know how to explain how dry to have them except to say that the squash needs to kind of stand in peaks when you spoon it in the pan. It will work no matter if you bake the egg, squash and beaten egg white mixture long enough. The souffle dish needs to be greased or oiled before you put the eggs in. I use Olive oil.
I will post the brown sauce recipe when I get a chance. I should make it clear that the recipe for not only the brown sauce but the Cornish Game Hens is and adaptation from Julia Child’s book. The original had lots of cheese and was served on a bed of potatoes . The recipe is just is good leaving them out . The basics are that you take the backbones that you have cut out of the hens and brown them in a skillet on the stove top and then simmer with onion, celery, chicken broth and some white wine. It is nothing like the sauces that have butter and flower added to them but is full of flavor from the caramelized browning of the backs and the vegetables.
As far as the idea for the tart goes my two local PBS TV stations have run a cooking program Saturday at noon for years and years. Since I am a creature of habit and always sit down to eat at noon I have watched and learned even if the ingredients are not what I would choose now. I guess I have just picked up ideas, techniques and concepts by osmosis and learned to use them with what I can eat now.
Thank you for sharing your food ideas. I will have to agree that you, Matthew, are quite the chef!! May I put in a quiet Wow here?!
I think you are right about the dryness of the natural turkey being due to the fact it is w/o injections and added flavorings; I just don;t want to go there again. When I read your plans for the Thanksgiving meal, Matthew, I couldn't help feeling a little jealous of the time involved in the preparations. I find myself w/o any time for cooking and/or planning these days. I am sure this will change one day and then I will think of you as I start to put more time into being creative in the kitchen. My mother didn't enjoy cooking that much but when we were children she actually cooked every day and around the time of the Holidays she baked a lot and the house smelled wonderful from all the exotic ingredients. The smells are a wonderful part of the cooking experience.
I think I will try the apple pie.
Mary, the wild rice stuffing sounds tasty - try it!!
I am very troubled by this morning's news about Wayne having surgery so I think I will end this writing. I am anxiously awaiting news.
Love,
Karen
Inspired by the paleolithic diet and lifestyle -
living w/o gluten, dairy, soy, corn, and yeast.
Have you ever just cooked a turkey breast? I find if you don't cook it longer than you should, it turns out pretty moist (not that I'm accusing you of over cooking LOL). I never stuff my whole fresh turkeys now, and they seem to cook quicker and stay moister. I think the problem with whole birds is that some parts are thicker than others. I've considered getting one of those injectors they use for turkey friers and injecting my turkeys with my own solution. I'd probably use olive oil, salt and water.
I love turkey breast on the grill. They are very flavorful. I do a few a summer.
I'm upset about Wayne too.
Jean
Be kind to everyone, because you never know what battles they are fighting.
I haven't tried the turkey breast but it sounds delicious the way you describe it. Why not try the injection thing, Jean - you are so creative to think of that. About the only turkey thing I do now is using some ground turkey for meat loaf or sausage; I usually mix it with some pork. It is good that way. Do you find ground turkey at any regular grocery store that does not have added flavor? I can only find fresh ground turkey w/o additives at the HF store - it's frozen from Sheltons.
I am not fond of any kind of fowl cooked - I even find chicken to be dry; and yes, I do overcook it LOL!!! Love it when the meat falls off the bones but it is really only the dark meat that tastes good that way. Pork baby back ribs are good that way too.
Love,
Karen
Inspired by the paleolithic diet and lifestyle -
living w/o gluten, dairy, soy, corn, and yeast.
) Some of them have been quite tasty. One came the other day for Wild Rice Stuffing - it looks good
May I put in a quiet Wow here?!