Thanksgiving

Woooo Hoooo for Thanksgiving! Our family usually does the same thing every year: stress stress stress and then head to my sister's house for grub, gossip and yawning after stuffing ourselves silly. :) No, really, it's a lot of fun, but our family hasn't had a Thanksgiving (that was PLANNED) with just us. At our house. So, much to the chagrin of some of my family members, we opted against the "status quo" and stayed home. We let each of the kids pick a dish that they wanted to make, and it was absolutely delightful! We didn't go overboard, didn't have a "set time" to eat and just enjoyed each other, learned how to set the table properly together, played games and went at  our own pace. 

And I got to do something that I love: COOK! 

Our turkey was the best we've ever had! I will do a separate post on that, along with a new trick we learned on how to peel a whole bunch of garlic in 20 seconds.  No joke!

Here are a few recipes that we LOVED this year:

Okay, isn't this picture beautiful? I love the colors!!!

 

Cranberry Sauce:
2 clementines
12 oz fresh cranberries
1/3 c agave nectar
1 cinnamon stick
With a zester or fine grater, remove 1/2 t zest from the clementines and set aside. Peel the clementines and chop the flesh coarsely, discarding any seeds. Place in a saucepan and add cranberries, agave, cinnamon and 2 T water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, and then lower the heat, simmering. Stir occasionally until cranberries pop open and sauce thickens. (Kids love to listen to the berries pop.) Remove from heat and stir in zest. Discard the cinnamon sticks and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for up to a week.

Pear Hazelnut Salad
1/2 c hazelnuts
3 c or more of mixed greens
2 pears, cored and cut into thing wedges
1/2 c crumbled blue cheese (optional)-we decided we didn't care for blue cheese!

Preheat oven to 375. Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet and toast until lightly golden, 10-12 minutes. Wrap nuts in clean dish towel and rub together to remove skins. Set aside to cool and then chop. Make salad by combining remaining ingredients and tossing with 2 T olive oil, 1 t Dijon mustard, 1 T white wine vinegar, 1/4 t sea salt and a bit of cracked pepper.


Sourdough Stuffing
1 loaf sourdough hearth bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 T coconut oil
3/4 lb-or less- fresh chicken sausage, removed from the casings
4 Gala apples, cored and diced
4 ribs celery, thinly sliced
1 large onion, diced
2 T organic butter
2 1/2 c vegetable broth
1/3 c fresh sage leaves, chopped
3/4 t sea salt
1/2 t ground pepper

Preheat oven to 300. Spread bread cubes on 2 baking sheets and bake until dried but not browned, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
Meanwhile heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat and add sausage. Break into chunks and cook until browned. Add apples, celery, onion and butter and cook until vegetables are softened. Add to the bread along with remaining ingredients. Heat oven to 350 and bake in a butter dish until lightly browned on top, about 50-60 minutes.
***This is our family's new FAVORITE! YUM!

Sweet Potatoes
***warning: no measurements here...we just put stuff in until it tasted good!
Peel and cut sweet potatoes into chunks. Cover with water and boil until tender.
Combine with organic butter, canned coconut milk (to desired consistency), cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, sea salt (a little bit!), maple syrup, agave nectar. Use a hand mixer to whip together. They were so yummy, we couldn't get enough!

 Thanks to my sister who introduced me to Leftover casserole: layer your Thanksgiving leftovers in a casserole dish to eat the next night for dinner. Oh, it is so yum! This one is layers of the following: stuffing, turkey, a bit of gravy, a bit of cranberry sauce, green beans and sweet potatoes. Mmmmmmm!!!! Bake at 350 until bubbly.