Our family's Thanksgiving Meal

Ok, this is a funny time for posting about Thanksgiving, but I thought I ought to follow up the last post with what I ended up fixing for the holiday. It turned out very well- relatively simple, filling, and good.

I prepared the day before a coconut chocolate pie(see another post) and also tried a sweet potato pie, using my mom's pumpkin pie recipe and just substituting coconut milk for evaporated milk, sweet potato puree for pumpkin(just cause I had a bunch of sweet potatoes in the house I had gotten on a really good sale), and I'm thinking I may have substituted gelatin for the eggs(see egg substitution). The crust was a pat-in-the pan experiment, where I substituted oat flour for wheat flour. You can look for a pat in the pan pie crust recipe and then substitute the things you need to. I think my recipe was basically just oat flour and shortening. It turned out, though it is much more rich than I'm used to (I grew up on low-fat, whole wheat pie crusts). The pies were good, but after the yummy and filling meal, I was thinking, why do we even have dessert? Of course, some may not ever wonder that : )

The meal ended up including: a turkey, which I just rubbed some seasonings on and let bake while we were out hiking. Mashed potatoes, which, instead of adding butter/milk/ and that sort of thing, I added some coconut cream(I keep little ice cubes of it in the freezer). I used some of the potato water the potatoes cooked in when I whipped the potatoes, too- just to get a good consistency.

The gravy turned out really flavorful- really, it was the best dairy-free gravy I had made before. My sister was impressed at how good it could be. It was made from some of the turkey drippings, some drippings from a steak my husband had recently cooked with onions and soy sauce/and/or worcestershire sauce), and some vegetable water I had saved in the freezer. (Sorry I have no recipe, but you can get the hang of the concepts. Vegetable water makes more flavorful gravy than plain water. So when you boil potatoes, or steam or blanch broccoli, or boil drumsticks, save the water and freeze in containers. You can also make chicken/beef/or vegetable broth/stock in large batches and freeze that. I think I've done that once; I just find it convenient to save vegetable water or meat drippings when I have them as a part of my cooking meals. When I have flavorful meat drippings, I sometimes pour them into a glass jar in the fridge, scrape off the fat when it's solidified, and then freeze the drippings for later use.

Back to the meal- so, turkey, gravy, potatoes, green beans, I think I had, and that's all I remember. I may have add apple slices or something. But, we all really enjoyed it and filled ourselves, so that we had to wait until later for dessert.

This was my first Thanksgiving meal that was made without any of my girls' allergens in it. It was neat to see how we could have a meal that everyone really enjoyed, without using dairy, wheat, eggs, or nuts! Of course, at the times our family joins with many other family members, we expect to just bring separate food for the girls. But when we have our own small family gatherings, we know we can prepare the food so we all can enjoy it all!

Thanksgiving meal ideas

Check out LivingWithout.com for Thanksgiving ideas. Sometime I'm going to try out their pumpkin-coconut pie, or make my own variation. Sounds good to me!

For my Thanksgiving meal, I plan to make it nice and basic- Turkey, just rubbed with spices from home and baked. The gravy for the turkey I will make with dairy for those of us who can have, because my girls just haven't been interested in gravy anyway, even when I make it so they can have it. They'd rather just have season-all, or soy sauce or barbecue or ketchup. : ) In addition to turkey, I'll fix mashed potatoes, with either oil and salt added or maybe a bit of coconut cream. Green beans. A baked sweet potato for the girls(baked in the microwave - I like simple baked sweet potatoes much better than sweet potatoes with marshmallows and brown sugar). I'm doing an experiment to see if it's worth having stuffing this year- my husband and daughters aren't stuffing fans anyway, just me). I have crumbs from a gluten-free bread I made and didn't like very well, and I'm soaking just a few crumbs in some seasoned meat juice from cooking chicken thighs. I'll try a couple bites and see how flavors mesh. I have a chocolate coconut pie recipe on this blog, which I'll make again this year. I might try making some oat-rice rolls from my favorite yeast bread recipe. I think I'll either have fresh apple slices or a simple juice mixed from concentrate. Wouldn't cranberry-raspberry go well with the meal? So that's my Thanksgiving meal! And maybe one pumpkin-coconut pie as well. I really like simplicity. Especially so I can enjoy more time with my family. And have less stress so I can feel more grateful for my family and my other blessings!

Now I'm reading through the list, and it doesn't sound so simple if I do all of it! : ) Hmmm...
I know there are a lot of things I can do ahead of time. And I really don't need to mess with the stuffing, or the rolls, or the pumpkin pie if I don't think it's worth the stress and time away from my family...(my husband and kids aren't pumpkin pie fans anyway, and chocolate really can suit everyone just fine- the pumpkin pie is more for me if I make it). And who says you need stuffing and rolls in a meal where you already have potatoes and sweet potatoes? Talk about duplication of complex carbs! : ) I do want the meal to be special in some way, though.

Lentil-Rice soup and homemade broths

This lentil soup is savory! My 4 yr. old exclaimed, "I love the broth!" She ate all of the soup really well- lentils, rice, carrots, and broth. My 3 yr old took out the celery : ) but ate the rest.

Like I mentioned in my "Many Beans Soup," I don't use recipes when I cook bean soup, so something may be different each time. Even the broth base I use depends on what I have on hand and if there's something I want to use up in the fridge or freezer.

Here's a diversion from the lentil soup about homemade broths:

I often save liquid from meats and from steaming vegetables. If I think I have a use for it in the next couple days, I keep it in the fridge. Sometimes I just freeze it. These liquids can be frozen in freezer containers or in ice cube trays and then freezer bags. Sometimes I end up dumping it out- if it's been in the fridge and I haven't used it. It's nice, to me, though, to use vegetable water whenever possible, because there are good water-soluable vitamins in the liquid that I don't want to miss out on.

As far as vegetable water goes, you can use it instead of regular water whenever you need to cook something with water. Potato water is especially helpful in making non-dairy gravy or sauces- it has more flavor dimension than regular water. You can make a good meat stock or vegetable stock that's flavorful for soups, sauces, or gravies. Basically you just boil a meat bone, with some meat left on it, with various herbs/seasonings, for several hours. The vegetable stock I remember you can brown the vegetables for more flavor, then I think you boil them in water. You can look up recipes for stock if you're interested. Right now I like conveniently keeping the meat juices and vegetable water that I have just from my everyday cooking, and using them.

Now to the savory Lentil-Rice soup:

Broth- this time I used hamburger broth from the fridge- about 1 cup, and also about 1/4 cup chicken broth. I add these liquids in a measuring cup, then added water up to the 4 cup line.

I had recently cooked big batches of hamburger meat to put in the freezer. I had seasoned the hamburger with salt, onion, garlic, and pepper. I poured off the juices and fats into a glass jar. When cooled a bit, I set it in the fridge. When all the way cooled, the juices and fats separated. When I wanted broth for my soup, I just scraped off the fat and threw that away. I had about 1 cup of flavorful liquid left. The chicken broth was simply juice poured off from cooking chicken thighs or drumsticks with season-all. The fat had separated from the liquid so I could scrape off the fat and discard. I think I left just a bit of fat- I didn't scrape it off thoroughly- for a bit of flavor.

salt- about 1 tsp.
lentils- about 1/2 cup.
celery, chopped
bay leaves- 2 medium
pepper to taste

Simmer until tender. Then add rice that has already been cooked.

Many Beans Soup

I don't follow recipes for making bean soup, I may do something differently each time. I wanted to record the particular method and ingredients I used a particular time, because the soup extra good and simple to make. The first night I served it, my 4 yr. old daughter ate almost the amount I as an adult would eat! The girls continued to eat it 3 more times during the week. Pretty good for beans, I think! It's great when they eat healthy foods well!

Variety of beans- ie baby lima, black, kidney, pinto, great northern, lima.
-Quicksoak, or soak overnight, according to package directions.
Cook in crockpot or stove-
-beans, and water according to package directions
-broth(mine was from the freezer some chicken drumstick broth and previous bean soup broth)
-bacon, snipped and browned
-salt to taste
-garlic and onion to taste. For me, I added some light shakes of garlic and onion powder at the end of cooking. The girls would notice if I added chopped or minced onion, and I don't have garlic cloves on hand.

I like to serve oat/rice/flax bread("Really Good Yeastbread" post) with this meal. Then something crunchy like carrot sticks or apple slices.

Bean soup is a really versatile thing. Choose a meat if desired, to help flavor- like a ham hock or bacon or even hamburger. I hear if you brown your meat first, you get more flavor (I wouldn't brown the ham hock or any bone). You can add vegetables such as carrots and celery and onions if your kids like them. You could add boullion but don't need to if you have enough flavor from other things. The beans boiling with a ham bone get flavorful- see recipes for this- I've only done it on the stove, I think the flavor would come out more than in a crockpot.

Crockpot Roast Beef and Chimichangas

My sister cooked some beef in a crockpot while I was visiting. We really liked it. I had told her that my girls love meat cooked fresh, but then don't eat it leftover. Not necessarily, I learned afterwards. My sister boiled, seasoned, and shredded the beef(to use for tacos), and my girls LOVED it! They ate it plain, and lots of it!



Crockpot Roast Beef

1/2 - 1 tsp salt per pound of beef
garlic cloves(3-4 for a big roast)
onions
mushrooms, if desired

Deliciously simple!

The next day, use leftovers:

Chimichangas

2 lb. stew meat(can cut into chunks to speed tenderizing)
1 1/2 cups water
2 cloves garlic, minced, or 1/4 tsp. powder
2 Tablespoon chili powder(or 1 1/2 -2 tsp if powder is hot)
1 tsp. vinegar
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. black pepper

Bring meat and spices to a boil. Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours or until tender. Shred with two forks. Eat with tortillas; can add guacamole, lettuce, tomato, etc. Or, let your kids just eat the meat plain, with potatoes, or rice.

Note: You can homemake some wheat-free tortillas. I have an oat tortilla recipe that tastes really good and is really wholesome. One drawback: it hasn't rolled very well for me. It still can be eaten with the meat and toppings, though. Sometime I hope to try out a few other recipes for tortillas and find one that rolls well! Let me know if you have a recipe for a good tortilla.

Baked Beans

2 c white beans
1 tsp salt
1 onion, chopped
1/8 lb bacon, diced
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c catsup(watch for wheat)
1 tsp dry mustard
1 T soy sauce

Prepare beans, cook until tender. Drain all but 1 cup of the water. Add other ingredients. Place in casserole and top with bacon. Bake 275 for 6-8 hours.

Quinoa-basil bell pepper stir fry

Quinoa is a very nutritious grain, and also has low allergenticity, meaning that few have reported to be allergic to it. It can be used in meals as rice is. I've enjoyed it in vegetable stir fry with chicken and soy sauce. I've also enjoyed a dish that was on the back of a Trader Joes package of quinoa. I've altered the recipe.

Rinse quinoa thoroughly in a sieve or colander, until water runs clear. Cook the quinoa in chicken broth or boullion and water. Meanwhile, cook chicken separately in a frying pan, in strips. You can add oil if desired. You can saute garlic cloves or onions as well. (I usually just add garlic and onion powder instead, after the chicken is cooked). When chicken and quinoa are each cooked, add red, yellow, and green bell peppers to the chicken. Cook until tender, but not limp. Then throw in fresh basil leaves and let them wilt. Or, as I do, you can just use crushed basil leaves earlier in the recipe, and not use the fresh stuff(I ought to try the fresh basil, I'm sure it'd be really good). I cook the quinoa or the chicken, or both, with onion powder, garlic powder, pepper, and crushed basil.

Simple bouillion-free variation from Nov 2010: cook boneless, skinless chicken thighs first, covered. Then use broth from thighs for cooking quinoa, adding as much water as needed for broth. Add salt(try 1/2 tsp per cup broth). No chicken boullion needed. Instead of bell peppers, try shredded cabbage.