Your ideal Thanksgiving meal!!

Fairysoul
Fairysoul Posts: 1,361 Member
I know I am on a roll today. Not like me but hey I am enjoying this and look forward to answers!!!
Here is what I would like to have on my thanksgiving table!! Everything of course paleo style.

Veggies for appetizer, maybe some almonds too

Turkey
Green beans Cooked with clarified butter, bacon and garlic.
Pumpkin smoothie
Salad
Sweet potato casserole

Paleo chocolate cranberry pie

Replies

  • hopsonc24
    hopsonc24 Posts: 143 Member
    Do you have the recipe for the choc cranberry pie? It sounds delicious. I have not been successful in making tastey paleo desserts :(
  • Fairysoul
    Fairysoul Posts: 1,361 Member
    I haven't made it yet but here is the link:
    http://paleodietlifestyle.com/chocolate-cranberry-pie/
  • ichorica
    ichorica Posts: 475 Member
    I'm having mashed sweet potatoes, turkey, sirloin tip roast, and a huge salad! Dessert eh I don't need anything after I eat my delicious sweet potato....mmmm cant wait!
  • My mom's baked ham.... so simple (no glazes or fancy stuff) but it is always perfectly tender with just the right crispiness to the outside. I could eat it for days. I like the green beans mentioned earlier, so some of those along with a good sized salad and maybe a crustless pumpkin cheesecake. Oh, and some roasted sweet potatoes.
  • Fairysoul
    Fairysoul Posts: 1,361 Member
    Yum to both!!
  • onematchfire
    onematchfire Posts: 13 Member
    Olives, crudités, and maybe a little hard cheese
    Loads of turkey
    Big salad
    Buttery garlicky green beans
    Cranberry chutney (no sugar added!)
    A glass or two of red wine

    I have three Thanksgiving meals this year (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday) and will also be receiving a turkey from my CSA, so I really need to pace myself. In any case, there will be lads of turkey and greens!
  • Flowers4Julia
    Flowers4Julia Posts: 521 Member
    speaking of turkey.....

    I just did turkey thighs overnight in my crock pot and the meat is just falling off the bones this morning! Sorta my pre-Thanksgiving warm-up.

    I don't have a menu planned yet but I'm definitely getting ideas from you all!! :bigsmile:
  • I just emailed Neese's sausage to see if they'll ship me some extra sage sausage. All I care about is my cornbread sausage dressing. That's a cheat worth making for me.

    In all likelihood, there will be:
    Deep fried turkey (yuck)
    Green beans sautéed with bacon (tolerable)
    Pumpkin pie (a Paleo version, probably from Paleo Comfort Foods)
    Pecan pie (with a GF crust at least, but probably not paleo thanks to the pile of corn syrup)
    Mashed sweet potatoes made with butter, fresh OJ and cinnamon (actually how my mom used to make them)
    Possibly collard greens, if I can find some, cooked all day with a ham hock and then fried
    Cornbread sausage apple dressing (this is the one item that seriously matters to me- the rest is just food)

    **Editing to say that I know that corn syrup isn't paleo at all, but I am not really sure about a honey based pecan pie. Though it might be worth trying in one of my small tart tins.
  • Fairysoul
    Fairysoul Posts: 1,361 Member
    No worries we all understand that sometimes it just isn't all paleo. Thanks for the great idea with the mashed sweet potatoes, I was actually trying to figure out how I wanted to make them :)
  • onematchfire
    onematchfire Posts: 13 Member
    I think pecan pie made with honey would taste better than one made with corn syrup, since honey has more complex flavor than straight up pure sweetness.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
    Here's my tentative menu... Mel from theclothesmakethegirl.com just posted 10 T-day sides, and I want all of them!

    - Pastured turkey (just ordered) slathered with pastured butter and herbs
    - Small green bean casserole, traditional, Durkee's french onions and all, for hubby and kids
    - Roasted green beans for me, or maybe these: http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2012/03/14/coconut-almond-green-beans/
    - Brussel sprouts with prosciutto: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/10269462281/roasted-broccoli-with-crispy-prosciutto-balsamic
    - Garlicky mashed cauliflower
    - My mom's yams for hubby and kids: can of cooked yams, simmered with a **** ton of brown sugar
    - I might buy a container of coconut yams from whole foods so I don't have to cook it. Or, maybe I'll make Velvety Butternut Squash casserole ahead of time and just defrost for t-day: http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/2011/11/17/velvety-butternut-squash/
    - not sure yet for stuffing. I've always wanted to do an oyster stuffing since I've never had that, but never could because of family tradition dictating otherwise. Maybe I can find a paleo version of it.
    - orange cranberry sauce, with honey instead of the sugar I usually use
    - desserts TBD
  • No worries we all understand that sometimes it just isn't all paleo. Thanks for the great idea with the mashed sweet potatoes, I was actually trying to figure out how I wanted to make them :)

    Yeah, I just feel like I have to explain myself, not to mention remind people that perfection isn't worth it if it takes away things that are actually really important to you (cornbread sausage apple dressing was the first recipe I really perfected on my own). I actually called Neese's Sausage about shipping some of their extra sage sausage out to me (which will be stupid expensive, but worth it to me).

    It's just about what food makes a holiday to you. Christmas Eve is lasagna (though I am going to try some of those grain free noodles), Christmas Day is pastrami on rye and Easter is all about Cadbury eggs. Halloween is candy corn-- the rest of the holidays are pretty irrelevant to my life. There are plenty of other ways I celebrate the holidays, but food is a very important one to me.

    The actual way to do my mom's sweet potatoes:
    My mother used to squeeze the orange juice from orange halves, then scoop out halves and put the mashed sweet potatoes in them. She'd put a few pecans on top (or marshmallows) and bake them for a few minutes, then serve them so that everyone had their individual cup of mashed potatoes.
  • jenjersnapco
    jenjersnapco Posts: 206 Member
    I am not sure if we will be home for Thanksgiving but I have been dreaming of my menu.

    turkey
    mashed sweet potatoes
    brussels sprouts with bacon
    big green salad
    the cranberry relish I have been making for years. It has 1/2 cup of sugar in it but I think I will try it with honey or coconut sugar http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/11/my-familys-cranberry-relish-recipe.html
    elana's gingersnap cookies
    something pumpkin-y,perhaps paleomg's pumpkin pie bars
  • idauria
    idauria Posts: 1,037 Member
    This will be my first paleo thanksgiving so it's going to look a lot different than what I usually eat. Normally we have the requisite green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, biscuits, broccoli and cheese casserole. This year in addition to the turkey we're having roasted sweet potatoes with orange and maple syrup, sauteed green beans with shallots, sauteed cabbage with bacon, mashed cauliflower, and my sister might try making a stuffing(but not going in the bird so I guess it's dressing?) using paleo bread. For dessert I am going to make a pumpkin pie that I found over at Mark's Daily Apple. My sister is making something chocolately. I might make something else too. Hopefully none of us will find ourselves in a carb coma this year! Just remembered that my mil is making a cranberry relish for the turkey. I am sure it has a ton of sugar in it, but it's not like you eat a whole lot of the stuff. I personally don't really care for cranberry sauce so I might skip it altogether.
  • Fairysoul
    Fairysoul Posts: 1,361 Member
    No worries we all understand that sometimes it just isn't all paleo. Thanks for the great idea with the mashed sweet potatoes, I was actually trying to figure out how I wanted to make them :)

    Yeah, I just feel like I have to explain myself, not to mention remind people that perfection isn't worth it if it takes away things that are actually really important to you (cornbread sausage apple dressing was the first recipe I really perfected on my own). I actually called Neese's Sausage about shipping some of their extra sage sausage out to me (which will be stupid expensive, but worth it to me).

    It's just about what food makes a holiday to you. Christmas Eve is lasagna (though I am going to try some of those grain free noodles), Christmas Day is pastrami on rye and Easter is all about Cadbury eggs. Halloween is candy corn-- the rest of the holidays are pretty irrelevant to my life. There are plenty of other ways I celebrate the holidays, but food is a very important one to me.

    The actual way to do my mom's sweet potatoes:
    My mother used to squeeze the orange juice from orange halves, then scoop out halves and put the mashed sweet potatoes in them. She'd put a few pecans on top (or marshmallows) and bake them for a few minutes, then serve them so that everyone had their individual cup of mashed potatoes.

    Thank you!!
  • twinmom01
    twinmom01 Posts: 854 Member
    we have turkey day at my moms...

    My sister buys an organic free range turkey so thats all good...

    we have the usual stuff - mashed potatoes, gravy, oyster stuffing, green bean casserole (I don't touch that ever - I think it is nasty)...

    I can forgo mashed potatoes - but I am having some of the oyster stuffing....

    I might see about making a small butternut squash cassarole for myself this year - and maybe see about making a paleo friendly crustless pumpkin pie (I have to have my pumpkin pie)
  • jenjersnapco
    jenjersnapco Posts: 206 Member
    Elana's Pantry posted a menu, if anyone is looking for additional ideas. http://www.elanaspantry.com/paleo-thanksgiving-recipes/