Thanksgiving Recipe Round-up

I was going to try to come up with a few original recipes for Thanksgiving this year but alas, life has gotten in the way. Sometimes I wish there were just a few more hours each day to get everything done!!

So what I have done is visited a few of my favorite sites and compiled a feast of options that made my mouth water just by looking at the pictures! I'm sure they taste awesome as well or else they wouldn't be my favorite sites :) This is a tiny list compared to what is out there but I'm confident these will be great additions.


First, I'm going to start out with the turkey, what is Turkey Day without the turkey? This looks absolutely amazing! Just a few simple ingredients and the main dish is complete!

Roasted Rosemary Turkey by The Food Lovers Primal Palate




Next up will the cranberry sauce. I grew up eating the stuff from the can and thought it was the best thing in the world! I didn't want anything to do with the real thing. Looking back on it, I don't even know what I was really eating, was it really even cranberries? I have actually made this recipe and I have to say, wow, it's awesome!!

Tart Cranberry Sauce by The Food Lovers Primal Palate




 

Of course I'm going to include the one recipe I actually did convert! My poor picture looks so sad compared to these professional pics... But the taste is what matters!!

Sweet Potato Souffle

Honestly I have never tried this stuffing before but just by reading the ingredients, it looks and sounds amazing! Anything I have ever made from PaleOMG is delicious so I have perfect faith this will be as well!

Thanksgiving Stuffing by PaleOMG





I always thought I would miss buttery mashed potatoes and I never liked cauliflower but honestly, I can barely tell the difference between the two. I actually crave mashed cauliflower now. Here is a great recipe for it!

Mashed Cauliflower by The Clothes Make the Girl






Mmmm gravy! Nuff said :) Plus is can go on the turkey, stuffing, and mashed cauliflower!!

East Paleo Herb Gravy by Nom Nom Paleo






Brussels sprouts, in my opinion, are an acquired taste. A taste that I am still acquiring actually. They have to be cooked a certain way in order to enjoy them. This is my go to recipe and I think it would be an awesome addition to any holiday table.

Balsamic Onions and Roasted Brussels Sprouts by The Food Lovers Primal Palate






Pumpkin pie is usually the staple dessert, right? Well I'm going to do you one better.... Pumpkin Cheesecake!!! I've personally made this. I made it for Thanksgiving last year and it was a huge hit! Even my family members that aren't Paleo loved it!

Pumpkin Cheesecake by Wellness Mama

Sweet Potato Souffle

First off, I want to apologize for the hiatus. I have been super slammed lately and being creative was put on a back burner. I basically only cooked to stay alive and it was the same old thing over and over because... well that's easy!

I don't want anyone to think I forgot about them so I thought of my favorite Thanksgiving side dish. The best part is testing it out and eating it before Thanksgiving!! Another awesome thing is that since I'm still trying to gain weight, it doesn't matter that this is normally what you would consider a huge treat :)

So, what is a Thanksgiving feast without sweet potato souffle? A crappy one in my opinion. This is the best part, aside from the pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. I could make my meal off of that! My suggestion is to not do that though.

This souffle is so sweet and delicious. I personally prefer mine with the crust of candied pecans on top. I know some people put marshmallows on theirs but to me that's just wrong! Luckily for me, this is one of the easiest recipes to "paleofy" because you just have to exchange a few ingredients.

Ingredients

Souffle:

• 4 cups cubed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup palm sugar (found at Whole Foods)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons Ghee (Whole Foods)
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (Trader Joe's canned or any cream from full fat coconut milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

• 3/4 cup palm sugar
• 4 heaping tablespoons coconut flour (Whole Foods)
• 4 tablespoons Ghee
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Peel and cube your sweet potatoes and place in a steamer basket over boiling water and cook until tender, 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and mash them up! 
3. Then add in the palm sugar, eggs, salt, ghee, coconut cream and vanilla extract. Mix them all together until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish rubbed with oil. 
4. To make the topping, mix together the palm sugar and coconut flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is slightly coarse but almost pasty. Stir in the chopped pecans. Sprinkle the topping over the sweet potato mixture as best you can, it's a little sticky.
5. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown and it smells like Thanksgiving throughout your house!

I adapted this recipe from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/yummy-sweet-potato-casserole/

Spiced Bacon

Ahhh November.... The weather is starting to cool off, there are so many holidays coming up, my birthday is this month, what isn't to like?!

A while back I decided to do the Whole30 program, which was awesome by the way... everyone should do it. So that meant bacon was off my list of items I was allowed to have, I didn't realize bacon had sugar in it until then. After ending my Whole30 I just didn't have a taste for bacon, I know I know, that's ridiculous, but true.

Something I love about being in the Paleo community is we don't just limit bacon to breakfast. It's in EVERYTHING! I tried it in muffins once, it was ok but I didn't get it crispy enough. That might be my next mission.... Or maybe I need to get started on Thanksgiving foods!

This isn't so much a recipe but an idea of how to make bacon even better! What?! Is that possible?! It is in my opinion! I like my bacon with a little kick to it. I honestly have no idea why I started doing this but I'm glad I did because it makes the bacon even more delicious!

Ingredients:

• Bacon (as much or little as you want)
• Cinnamon
• Cayenne Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay your slices of bacon flat making sure they aren't overlapping each other.
3. Sprinkle the cinnamon and cayenne pepper over the bacon. How much depends on your own taste. Remember cayenne pepper is spicy.
4. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until crispy, about 30 minutes.
5. When you remove it from the oven, transfer the bacon to a paper lined plate to cool off a little.