Thanksgiving Meal Ideas

 

 

 

If you're like me, you're already planning for Christmas before Thanksgiving even arrives. Well, I wanted to make your life a little easier and give you a list of delicious Thanksgiving proteins, sides and gravy to make your tummy scream THANK YOU!

These recipes are all found on my other blog but I wanted to share it here as well.

 

So, here's a list of what will be on our dinner table this year along with some extra goodies. Enjoy!

 

Chicken, or turkey! No Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner is complete unless there's a bird involved. My husband loves turkey and I love chicken so please use this recipe on either birds and enjoy because it is just so juicy and moist!

 

Then there's the gravy. This is honestly the easiest and most full-proof method I've been able to follow. Making the gravy nice and dark cooks out the flour taste and gives it a rich deliciousness that you need to smother the chicken with.

Hey you paleo and gluten free people.. I know corn starch isn't exactly paleo but substitute equal parts corn starch for the flour and you'll have an excellent gravy. You might try it with arrowroot flour but I've never had good luck with that for some reason. Corn starch is easier on my tummy.

 

 

 

The next item of business is a green vegetable. No matter how you cook your green beans, you need to try this blanching method before cooking. It truly makes life a lot easier. Give it a shot!

 

 

 

Hey, how about some dessert? Tired of the same old pumpkin pie every year? Okay, maybe not but if you are, give this delicious Sweet Potato Pie a try. It's so sweet and creamy. I love how it tastes right out of the oven but it's even better after it's been refrigerated!

Here's a paleo recipe for it, too.

 

 

Last, but certainly not least is sweet potato souffle. This is, by far, the best thing at our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. Always good hot and/or cold and if I make a paleo/gluten free recipe, I'll be sure to post it.

 



 





There are a lot of other delicious meals so look at the search bar on the top right side of my page and type in an ingredient and I'm sure you'll find some great recipes there. If you have any questions or need any help with preparing a meal, feel free to leave me a comment below or shoot me an email at angelasglutenfreebakery@yahoo.com

 

Here's to a THANKFUL holiday season this year.



Stuffed Bell Peppers

Printable Recipe

 

I've been super busy preparing for our local farmer's market that I sell my gluten-free baked goods at. Thanksgiving is also around the corner and I've had to mentally prepare for that so I needed something quick and easy to throw together and this was truly delicios!

Other things I'm thinking about lately is opening up a food truck business (Paleo and GF items only), writing an e-book, and selling to one of our local mom&pop shops.

Life is busy, isn't it? Phew!
 

Well, here's a delicious paleo and/or primal meal all in one. It has the carbs, proteins and fats all in one pretty little package. Now, this recipe does include cheese so if you don't eat cheese, leave it out. Just add some salt and pepper and you're good to go!

 

Ingredients:

Serves 2

2 green bell peppers

1/2 - 3/4 pounds ground meat. beef, chicken, turkey, sausage.. whatever you like

3/4cup crushed tomatoes

1/2cup onion, diced

1/4cup bell pepper, diced (see notes below)

S&P (salt and pepper) to taste

1/4cup cheese, shredded

 

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and preheat a skillet over medium heat.
Slice off the tops of the bell peppers and reserve them for future use. Remove the seeds/ribs on the inside and discard. Using a knife, remove the stem from the tops of the bell peppers you just sliced and dice into bite sized pieces.

In a medium skillet, add the ground meat, onions and bell peppers and cook thoroughly (about 8-10 minutes) and season with salt and pepper. Drain the excess fat and place back in the skillet or clean bowl. Add the crushed tomatoes and stir thoroughly. Scoop the mixture into the bell peppers and top with cheese.

 

In an oven-safe dish, add a tiny bit of water - about 1/4 cup - and place the bell peppers inside and then bake about 40-45 minutes until the peppers have softened.

 

*Tip* If you want to make a lot of these and freeze them, make it all the way up to where you stuff the peppers then freeze them. When you want to bake these, transfer to an oven-safe dish and immediately bake. Do not defrost these. Baking times will be longer since it's frozen.

 

Eat and enjoy!



Greens. Southern Style.

Greens. Southern Style.

Printable Recipe

 

 

 

To me, growing up in the south meant that there was usually greens and cornbread on every menu in town. It's surprising how that has somewhat gone away now but I guess people just forget what makes a good and healthy meal.

My mother's garden is so much more vibrant than mine. She keeps reminding me "It's been 5 or 6 years that I've been planting and harvesting and working on my soil." Compared to her green bean harvest, I only have about 15 beans and I planted a day before her! Oh well.. my soil sucks and I know it but hey, my eggplants and peppers are abundantly producing so go me.

Back to her garden. She was kind enough to let me have a bag full of fresh cut mustard greens the other day and wanted me to try a recipe she found online and of course I gratuitously accepted her garden veggies and went home and cook them. Let me tell you, there is nothing better than baby mustard greens cooked fresh. Tender and delicious.

 

Thanks, mom.

 

Ingredients:

1 pound mustard greens, washed and de-veined

1/4 diced white onion

1tsp minced garlic

2 pieces of bacon

1/4cup chicken stock

1tsp olive oil (or coconut oil)

S&P (salt and pepper) to taste

Pinch of red pepper flakes

 

 

Directions:

In a large skillet, pre-heat olive oil over medium low and add the bacon. Cook until crisp and remove from pan, drain on a paper towel and crumble. Set to the side.
While the bacon is draining, add the onion and cook 2-3 minutes and season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes then add the garlic. Once the onions are soft, add the greens, chicken stock and 3/4 bacon pieces (1/4 will go on top as a crunchy garnish). Stir until the greens have wilted. Once the greens have wilted, cover and reduce heat to low and cook 30-45 minutes until soft. Garnish with remaining bacon pieces and serve hot!

 

 

Let me tell you something.. I never was a big fan of greens until the past few years and this is by far the best tasting recipe. Give it a shot.. and if you eat cornbread, smother it in butter and indulge!

Time for Another Whole30

Time for Another Whole30

 

This past October, my diet was pretty terrible. And by terrible, I mean I ate wheat, dairy, lots of grains and sugar. When I was eating it, I didn't think too much about it but when I really looked at the whole month, I ate way too much bad stuff. I think this was the first time since January that I let it get out of control. I don't know why it happened this particular month, but it did. October is over and I have a new mindset.

 

Determination.

 

As I begin this journey for the second time this year, I will be monitoring my daily consumption of food and liquid and see how I feel at the end of each day and in the morning when I wake up. If you'd like to start on a great health journey, start it with me today! Check out Whole 9's web page to get started on a Whole30.

 

I'm going to share with you some very helpful information, some gross information and some recipes. Let me know if you have a recipe you'd like to share so I can test it out! It has to be grain free, sugar free, dairy free, processed free.

 

This morning for breakfast I had two scrambled eggs, two pieces of bacon and a smoothie that you can find here at my other blog. For lunch, I had taco meat (recipe coming soon), a large salad of romaine lettuce and some tangy salad dressing (recipe coming soon), an apple and some garlic toasted pecans which you can find here at my other blog. I also had an apple pie lara bar because I was pretty hungry before church (thank you time change for screwing up my meal time!), half a cup of coffee (the other half is in the fridge for iced coffee tomorrow) and 12 ounces of water.

I have to drink 70-80 a day to be where I want to be with that quota so I have a lot of work to do today.

My gut is pretty normal right now but I do have some itchy rashes, which I thought for the longest time was eczema, but not I believe it's a side effect of eating wheat. (I've diagnosed myself with celiac.. I've yet to get that medically confirmed). I also have acne on my back and shoulder but I think it's from sleeping in a sports bra so I'm doing my own research with that lovely eyesore, meaning no sports bras unless I'm working out. The acne on my face has cleared up thanks to washing my face with castor oil and olive oil (crazy, right?). My body goal this time is to replace the fat I have with healthy muscle and gain weight. When I work out hard and eat right, I can gain some pretty good looking muscle so I'm hoping it works out this way for me.

As for emotional/mental, I don't have too many up's and down's but I hope to have a lot more energy than I do right now. As I'm typing, all I can think about it finishing up and going to bed for a quick afternoon nap.

And for being in the gym, or working out at my home gym, I plan on 3-4 days per week with no slacking. I'm trying to better myself so why be a slacker?

I hope you join in and keep me posted on your goals. Happy Sunday!

~Angela