Thanksgiving 2015

So I'm sure you're all wondering how my first low carb/high fat Thanksgiving went and did I stick to the plan. I'm happy to announce that I sure as heck did!

Of course it's not that hard to stay low carb on Thanksgiving because the main event of the meal are pure protein.

But those side dishes!!! Mashed potatoes with gravy, rolls with butter, dressing made with cornbread and/or bread, pumpkin pies, breads, rolls!

Luckily I have help in my WOE (way of eating)! My mom made for me a special low carb stuffing alongside the regular stuffing she made for the rest of the family. As luck would have it I did not get a picture of it, but she took the ground beef she had browned and put about two cups into a separate pan. She added chopped bell pepper, green onion and celery. When I saw what she was doing I gave her a big hug and then I added some chopped cauliflower. She added the chicken broth and when it was almost done I added about a cup of chopped pecans! It was delish and I didn't even miss the bread! It had a nutty rich, crunchy texture and that wonderful bell pepper/celery/green onion taste that I love!

I also made a low carb version of cranberry sauce, this one from Gourmet Girl Cooks. It's a Cranberry Orange Coconut Sauce. Her picture is much prettier than mine, but it still tasted delicious! Some of my family members that swore they did not like cranberry sauce tasted it and loved it.

As I am not one to love feeling left out I made a low carb pumpkin dessert for me to enjoy while the rest of the family enjoyed the regular pumpkin pies that I made. The recipe for this I found on the most awesome low carb site ever!!! Linda's Low Carb Menus or genaw.com

This website is a staple for almost all low carb eaters. I've enjoyed many of her recipes and they always turn out perfectly! The recipe I chose was Jody's Pumpkin Bake and it was better than real pumpkin pie! Again, those that tasted it had a slice of this instead of the regular pumpkin pies I had baked. I added a dollop of whipped cream and then had the bright idea to top it with slivered almonds which gave it a delightful crunch and a nutty flavor!

So these dishes along with some green beans sauteed in bacon fat with almonds were so satisfying that I didn't even miss the rolls or the mashed potatoes. I had planned to make a cauliflower mash but time got away from me and it's hard to make room in a kitchen when there was already so many other foods being prepared.

So it was a great Thanksgiving spent with family and I'm glad I didn't give in to temptation, in fact, I wasn't even tempted! Now we'll see how I cope with Christmas as that is when we make and eat Tamales and it's really hard to find a low carb method of making those since three quarters of the tamale is made with corn masa. But I'm not worried, I'll figure something out!

     

Doing Thanksgiving Day Low Carb Style

I can't believe that November is almost over! Next week will be Thanksgiving already. How time flies!

And speaking of Thanksgiving being next week I have to admit I'm a bit worried about what to eat. You see...my mom makes the best stuffing/dressing on the planet. I love her stuffing, it's my whole reason for living! But as all good stuffing is, it's made with bread and bread is one of the item that I don't eat in my new way of eating, LCHF (low carb/high fat).  So I've been researching ideas in my head of how to have a Happy Low-Carb Thanksgiving.

The Turkey and Ham are a given, luckily I can have that without too much worry. The ham may have a syrup glaze on it so of course I would need to be more careful with that. But what about all those lovely sides? Buttery mashed potatoes drenched in gravy, stuffing made with bread and those fluffy soft dinner rolls that we all love to slather with butter. Then there are the pies and cheesecakes and cookies and pumpkin breads! What's a low carb girl to do?

I am not a foodie, I don't invent foods or make tweaks to current recipes to transform them to low carb, but lots of others do. There are hundreds of bloggers and foodies out there that love to share their ideas. This is the best time ever to be a low-carb eater!

My mom's stuffing, that is my kryponite! That is what will be the hardest to stay away from. I have promised myself a small helping in the morning while mom is making it. Just 1/4 of a cup. I'm not even going to try to figure out how many carbs will be in that 1/4 of a cup I'm just going to eat it and savor it and be extremely grateful that my mom is still with me and able to make stuffing for me again!

However, I am also going to make this lower carb version from Davida of The Healthy Maven blog,  Cauliflower Rice Stuffing from The Healthy Maven.

Cauliflower Rice Stuffing from The Healthy Maven

Doesn't that look delicious? The stuff that looks like bread...that's cauliflower! This sounds so amazing, it also uses yellow onion, garlic, celery, mushrooms, pecans, sage poultry seasoning, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. I'm not a big fan of the mushroom so I think I will leave that out. Mom makes her stuffing by using ground beef, I know lots of others use sausage, to I will replace the mushrooms with ground beef. One serving made with the ground beef instead of the mushrooms will be close to 8 carbs.

Photo Credit - Ocean Spray.com 

Another favorite of mine is the cranberry sauce. You're all going to shake your head at me and "tsk-tsk" me because I love and adore canned cranberry sauce, both the jellied and non-jellied version. Hey! It's what I know, it's what I was brought up on! Love this stuff!

Unfortunately it's a bit high in carbs as well as it's made with sugar and high fructose corn syrup. 1/4 of a cup will be 28 carbs.

So I have been searching high and low for an alternative as I really do love this stuff on my turkey!.

I came across this recipe that was also shared on The Healthy Mavens blog but is a creation of Gina from the blog Running to the Kitchen.

This is 5-ingredient slow cooker Cranberry Sauce. Best thing it's slow cooked, so you can prep it, set it and forget it! This will lower the carb count to about 8 per serving. I will miss my canned jellied cranberry sauce though!

What I will be on the hunt for next is something to replace my pumpkin pie! That was even hard to type, but it must be done. For those of you that have been following my low carb journey, I have now lost 23 pounds. I feel so great and I am having so much fun fitting into my skinny clothes again! Yay me! So yes, I could splurge, I could do a cheat day, but looking at these yummy recipes above, why would I want to when I can substitute with equally fulfilling and delicious dishes?

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food that you can't live without?