Hope those of you that celebrated had a wonderful Thanksgiving and weekend.
Did any of you get out there in the crowds for all the sales?? I remember when I was in high school and the couple years I was in college I enjoyed that. Now not so much-actually quit doing that a very long time ago. I have always made or baked most of my gifts.
Growing up as kids our parents would take us to Chicago to view all the awesome window displays, and the decorations downtown. A magical time-which is why I think I really enjoy all the Hallmark Christmas movies. It was really amazing back then-and I still remember certain things. We always ate at a German restaurant Berghoff 's They are loaded with history and are still in business today.
We were invited to our friend's home for Thanksgiving, they always invite a few couples-this time it was someone new in the area that had just bought the home and acres from people we knew that have since passed. This couple were both in their mid 80's
We enjoyed the company and the day out but not the food. The turkey was good as were her collard greens but everything else was either burnt or almost burnt-and all carbs. She always cooks gluten free for me-which is very thoughtful of her-the gravy, mac and cheese, and dressing were all gluten free. I gave her a big hug for that-and ate it so not to hurt her feelings.
The food is not the important thing but rather I am so thankful to have such good friends as this hosting couple are.
So I had purchased a small 10 pound butterball turkey that has been in the frig about a week defrosting. I roasted it in my Mom's roasting pan Saturday, stuffed it with cored fresh apples and plums and fresh sage leaves. We love homemade full berry cranberry sauce-after about a half an hour of searching in my very full deep freezer for the cranberries I gave up looking. I thought why not make it with dried cranberries?? There were actually allot of recipes on pinterest. It turned our really good except I totally didn't realize the dried cranberries are loaded with added sugar. I usually add fresh blueberries and in the end add mandarin oranges. I ended up adding in lots of frozen wild blueberries-I had found those at Wal Mart and were in the freezer. It turned out delicious and the blueberries really cut the sugar.
Instead of water to simmer them in I had cranberry only juice-no sugar-so that helped too
This is the recipe I started ( I doubled the recipe) with If I had realized these dried cranberries already had sugar added I would not have added more-I followed the recipe but used keto sugars.I did not have an orange to zest but I did have dried orange peel which I used a sprinkling of and I did add about a teaspoon of orange extract. I used this juice instead of water and I did not use cornstarch to thicken. You can actually cook this down til it thickens nicely but I did add in about a tablespoon of instant tapioca to finish thickening. When the cranberries were almost finished getting soft I added in at least a pound of the wild cranberries that I had rinsed to unfreeze them. I needed a bit more liquid after the blueberries so I added a little of the mandarin orange juice from the can. when finished I added in the drained mandarin oranges. and then put it all in the frig.
Simmering cranberries before the blueberries.-These simmered probably for about 20 -30 minutes to get plumped up and soften.
Blueberries added
This was so good that I will be on the hunt for dried cranberries with no sugar to make it this way again.
I also made a pumpkin bread that was so good too. sorry I forgot to take photos. I found the recipe on facebook that a friend had posted-it makes two loaves. here is a link to the recipe
Of course I changed up the recipe and everyone loved it-I shared one at Thanksgiving and kept one for home. I changed the flour to gluten free and almond flour/changed the brown sugar to coconut sugar/ changed the white sugar to keto sugar. I also replaced the nuts with golden raisins. The bread was so moist-will make again. My husband does not like pumpkin anything and he loved it.
This past week I have been enjoying this beverage-kinda like those alcohol eggnogs but pumpkin nog instead-it was really good. Found this at the Aldi store
Hope I haven't rambled on too much-just wanted to pop in and wish everyone Happy Sunday and Welcome in December
Sounds like the company might have been better than the food, which is too bad because if you are like me, the Thanksgiving dinner is one to look forward to all year. But your turkey recipe looks delicious-and sounds that way too. Happy December Kathy. Hugs-Erika
ReplyDeleteI love those dried cranberries as a snack, but they're like the dried pineapple -so sweet! I've never had homemade cranberry sauce, and we've always had that canned cranberry sauce without the whole berries. We stayed in and just had a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey. We use dressing instead of stuffing It's fun for me to hear about what's traditional fare for other folks :) It's a shame about your meal out, but you're right to focus on the spirit of it :) Better over-cooked than under-cooked ;)
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a great time with plenty to eat. Your recipes look good, too. Happy December, hugs, Valerie
ReplyDeleteYour cranberry sauce looks delicious. I like whole cranberry sauce as opposed to the jelly. I never would have thought of using dried cranberries. I haven't seen sugar-free dried cranberries, but the Craisins brand does offer a 20% less sugar. That's what I try to buy.
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