My Thanksgiving Challenge

It's definitely holiday season! Airplanes are full, roads are backed up, stores are filled with anxious shoppers and Christmas music is bursting through the speakers. Stores are stocked up with bread, turkey, cranberries, squash and pie. As I look around my mouth starts to water. For a moment I wish I was 7 again, eating yummy Thanksgiving classics at the counter with my brother as the rest of my family sits in the living room at the dinner table that can't fit all of us, not a care in the world about what food is going into my mouth, just enjoying every bite.

But I'm not 7 anymore and it's time to create some new classics. My challenge this holiday season is to create a classically inspired meal free of wheat, eggs, dairy and low in sugar. Who will be my guinea pig for this experiment? My brother. We have graduated from the counter to a real table and a glass of wine in hand. It's more of a treat to spend this day with him after all these years than the pumpkin pie is.

I told my brother if he took care of the meat I would take care of the rest so along with his crock pot turkey breast, my menu will be as follows:

-Gluten free sausage and pear stuffing
-Ginger pear cranberry sauce
-Rosemary and sea salt fried sweet potatoes
-Green beans with slivered almonds
-Gluten, dairy, egg free, low glycemic coconut pumpkin pie

I found the stuffing recipe in the "Living Without" magazine. I LOVE this magazine. It has great information, tips and recipes. I had a slight hiccup finding a bread to use for this stuffing. I was excited to use a delicious brown rice bread from Great Harvest Bakery until I got it home and realized it was made with eggs, milk and butter. I was a bit crushed but I re-gathered my creative cells and decided on using a combination of their buckwheat bread and a brown rice bread from Ener-G (found at your local health food store). An interesting fact, buckwheat is not wheat. It is actually a berry from the rhubarb family. 

For the cranberry sauce I will be using Blonde Coconut Palm Sugar (a tasty, low glycemic brown sugar substitute found at Whole Foods, PCC and Amazon.com) and possibly some Blue Agave Nectar (also low glycemic and found in the baking isle at most grocery stores).

The traditional sweet potatoes served at Thanksgiving with marshmallows and tons of sugar actually grosses me out. Sweet potatoes are so tasty by themselves, it's a shame to cover them up with all that gooey sweetness. I cut my potatoes into cubes, fry them in olive oil over medium high heat and season with a little sea salt and rosemary. The sweet and savory combination is fantastic and the rosemary enhances the natural flavor of the sweet potato instead of over-taking it. I learned this combination from a flight attendant friend of mine in Anchorage and it's truly amazing.

Green beans are one of my favorite vegetables. I just steam them until they are soft but still have a little crunch. Then I add some Smart Balance butter substitute, a dash of salt and pepper and finish them off with a sprinkle of toasted almond slivers. A simple, healthy and delicious side dish.

My biggest challenge will be the pumpkin pie. My crust will be made mostly from finely ground pecans, a little coconut flour to hold it together, a small amount of coconut palm sugar, Cinnamon, salt and Smart Balance. The filling will be pumpkin, canned coconut milk (found in the oriental isle at your local grocery store), flax paste (egg substitute), a combination of Agave nectar and coconut palm sugar, a dab of molasses and of course the classic spices. Then I will toast some large, unsweetened, dried coconut flakes to sprinkle in the middle of the cooked pie and serve it with vanilla bean Coconut Bliss ice cream (made with agave nectar and found at your local health food store and Fred Meyer). I have no idea how this is going to turn out but I accept the challenge and will inform you of my success or failure after it is served to my lucky guinea pig.

I am looking at Thanksgiving as my practice run for Christmas. I have faith that these lower sugar, wheat, dairy, egg free recipes will be delicious and festive. Once I have perfected them I will post the recipes so you can enjoy them this Christmas. 

Happy holidays to all and as always,

Here's to Life, Love, Health and Happiness. Cheers!