Wow, I can’t believe it’s almost here.  Christmas again.  I really do love the holidays but  I always find myself feeling nostalgic and a bit emotional as we head towards the 25th of December.  I miss the simplicity of how it used to be when I was little; when my mom was still with us and the innocence of not knowing that someday we would have to face Christmas without her. I miss when my grandma’s house in Huntington Beach, CA would be our warm winter escape from our old and drafty farmhouse in cold Northern California.  I miss the wonderful feeling of when the two week break from school would seem to last forever. And finally, I miss being really super extremely excited about everything in the entire world and how great it feels to wake up on Christmas morning knowing that it was a SPECIAL DAY!

Although these memories make my heart ache for the familiar, I am also grateful for the new memories that we are creating.  I can’t wait to cook a giant paleo feast to share with my family who will soon be spilling into our house, making the kids laugh and scream and the dogs bark and spin in circles. I am beyond excited to spoil my precious little niece who is such a bright light in my life. I love it that we will hold true to our goofy family tradition of singing our favorite Christmas carols at the top of our lungs.  I can’t wait to hug close my dear brother and sweet sister.  I know I can count on my dad and uncle to tell us hilarious stories in extremely loud voices, and that my boys will stay up way too late and run around and drive me crazy while I try to cook for 15 people. More than anything else, I know that at the end of the day on Christmas, I’ll snuggle up with John and soak up the warmth and love that comes along with the holiday season, and once again I will realize that what I have right now is amazing and beautiful. Although things will never be like they used to, I don’t want to live in the past because it’s up to me to make the most of right now, this moment, this second…

With that being said, my hope to all of you is to have the Happiest, Healthiest, and most peaceful of Holidays and I send you my deepest appreciation for your continued support of this little blog along with our warmest wishes from my family to yours.  Hold your loved ones close, honor those who are no longer with us, give gratitude to the brave men and women who are protecting us from harm, and revel in the beauty of what we have in each other.

Here is what I plan to make for Christmas dinner.

Prime Rib,  Everyday Paleo Stuffing, Garlic Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Pear Salad, and Bacon Wrapped Asparagus, with Pumpkin Pie for dessert.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus is super easy.  Wrap your raw asparagus tightly with a piece of bacon, sprinkle with some black pepper and grill over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the bacon is crispy, turning once half way through the cooking time.

On Christmas Eve I’m making a giant pot of Albondigas Soup.

My Holiday Ramblings and Our Christmas Menu is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Thanksgiving Dinner - Paleo Style!!

My family all pitched in yesterday and we created an amazing holiday feast.  We ate a lot, laughed a lot, and stayed up way too late on a school night; but it was well worth it. We even managed to throw together a cooking demo for my Everyday Paleo Pumpkin Pie which we all had way too much fun filming, probably because of how blurry eyed and tired we were at that point!  As far as the meal was concerned, I personally am proud of how the stuffing turned out, and I am now forever in love with Prosciutto Wrapped Pears…  Jaden’s favorite was the Broccoli Casserole, and Rowan ate a pound of turkey before it even made it to his plate!

I hope that these recipes will at least offer a few ideas to make the holidays easier – and most of all have fun and enjoy!  This meal should serve 5-8 adults.

The Turkey!

I understand that the turkey is often an area of concern.  I have cooked a few turkeys in my day and I always end up freaking out and calling my mother-in-law to make sure I’m doing it right!  With that said, here’s what we did, and it actually turned out pretty darn tasty!

1 turkey

4 tablespoons grass fed organic butter

Several fresh rosemary and thyme stalks

Preheat oven to 400.  Wash and dry the turkey with paper towels – make sure you remove the giblets.  Place the turkey in your roaster breast side up.  Pull back the skin from the breast (as pictured) and in between the skin and the meat, place the butter, rosemary, and thyme.  sprinkle the entire bird with sea salt and pepper.  Cover and roast for 20 minutes.  Lower the heat to 350 and cook for an additional 20 minutes per pound, uncovering the bird for the last 30 minutes to brown the turkey.  Remove and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.  Make sure you use a meat thermometer to ensure that your turkey is done!

Appetizers

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

15 -20 white button mushrooms, wiped clean with a paper towel and stems and gills removed

2 cups cooked crab claw meat, canned or fresh and finely chopped (I used canned and it was surprisingly good!)

½ cup jarred roasted red peppers, finely diced

3 tablespoons minced chives

3 garlic cloves, minced

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ cup paleo mayo

black pepper to taste

Mix together the crab and all remaining ingredients.  Stuff each mushroom with heaping  tablespoons of the crab mixture.  Bake on a baking sheet greased with olive oil for 15 minutes.

Prosciutto Wrapped Pears

½ red onion, very thinly sliced

2 pears

1 package of prosciutto di parma

Baby Spinach leaves

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400. Heat the coconut oil in a small skillet and sauté onions until they are carmelized.  (onions should be brown but not burnt).  Peel and slice the pears into thick slices.  Top each pear with a little bit of carmalized onion and one spinach leaf, wrap tightly with a piece of prosciutto.  Grease a baking sheet with a little bit of grassfed organic butter, and place the pears on the baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes.  While the pears are baking, add the balsamic to a small sauce pan, heat over medium low until the balsamic is reduced down to a syrup like consistency, stirring often.  Drizzle a small amount of the balsamic reduction over the pears and serve.

Side Dishes

Stuffing

1 lb mild Italian pork or chicken sausage, casing removed (I used chicken sausages from my local butcher)

4 ½ cups mushrooms, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

6 celery stalks, diced

4 carrots, diced

1/2  cup chicken broth

1 tablespoon diced fresh sage

½ tsp minced fresh thyme leaves

½ cup dried cherries, finely chopped

½ cup slivered almonds

½ tablespoon garlic powder

4 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. In a large soup pot, sauté onions in olive oil until translucent.  Add the sausage and brown.  Add the carrots, celery, mushrooms, chicken broth, cherries, almonds, sage, thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Mix well, bring to a simmer, and cook for 5-10 minutes or until the veggies begin to absorb the chicken broth.  Transfer to a large glass baking dish, cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

Paleo Holiday Yams

5 large yams, peeled and cut into 2 inch rounds

2 small apples, peeled and cut into large chunks

1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

¼ cup 100% pure maple syrup

4 tablespoons organic grassfed butter

1 cup chopped pecans

Cook the yams in a pressure cooker for 6-8 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon, move the cooked yams to a large mixing bowl.  To the yams, add the apples, butter, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and maple syrup and mix well.  Spread the yam mixture evenly into a 11×7 glass baking dish.  Top with pecans and bake uncovered at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole

2 ½ cups broccoli florets, finely chopped

1 ½ cups of cauliflower, finely chopped

1 shallot finely chopped

2 eggs

1/3 cup coconut milk

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon sea salt

4 garlic cloves, minced

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the shallots, broccoli and cauliflower.  In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, garlic, salt and pepper.  Pour the egg/coconut milk mixture over the broccoli, cauliflower and shallots and mix well.  Bake in an 11’ round glass baking dish, covered at 350 for 45 minutes.

Cranberry Sauce

4 cups fresh cranberries

1 cup water

1 cup unfiltered apple juice

Juice from 1 orange

1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

½ tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons raw organic honey (make it 4 tablespoons if you like a sweeter sauce)

In a large soup pot add the cranberries, water, apple juice, and orange juice and bring to a boil.  Add the ginger, cinnamon, and honey and simmer, stirring often until the cranberries are broken down and the sauce becomes thick, about 10-15 minutes.

Dessert

Everyday Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Crust

1/2 cup hazelnuts

1 cup pecans

4 tablespoons melted organic grass fed butter

pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Place the nuts in a food processor and process until the nuts are a flour like or almond meal like consistency. Pour into a small mixing bowl, add the butter and salt and mix into a thick dough. Using your hands, spread evenly into a pie pan and back for 10 minutes.

Filling

1 – 14oz can of organic pumpkin puree (nothing added, just pumpkin)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

2 eggs

1/2 cup raw organic honey

1/2 cup coconut milk

While the crust is in the oven, whisk all of the pie filling ingredients together.  Pour into the curst that has been baked for 10 minutes, return to the oven and bake for and additional 45 minutes.  I hope you enjoy the demo!!

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Thanksgiving Recipes and Everyday Paleo Pumpkin Pie Cooking Demo! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Prime Rib:Rub prime rib with salt, garlic powder, and pepper and lay on a bed of fresh rosemary in a roasting pan and cover with more rosemary.  Roast in 350 degree oven for approx. 20 minutes per pound if you like it medium rare, less time if you like it rare.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms:

9-10 portobello mushrooms - stems removed and scoop a little out of the inside

1 lb grass fed ground beef

2 big handfuls of chopped spinach

sea salt to taste

pepper

basil

garlic powder

olive oil

Cover the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil and place cleaned mushrooms in dish.  Mix all other ingredients and stuff the mushrooms.  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until stuffing is no longer pink in the middle.  We sprinkled with some parmesean but omit this to keep it totally paleo.

Mashed Cauliflower:

1 head of cauliflower

1 stick of butter

2 big spoonfuls of goat cheese

6 strips of crumbled cooked bacon

pepper

Again, not totally paleo because of the butter and goat cheese but omit these and this recipe is still great.  Steam the cauliflower until very soft. Mix with a mixer all ingredients.  Delicious…

Baked Asparagus: Lay asparagus spears on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, a little sea salt and pepper and bake for 15 – 20 min at 350 degrees.

Pear Salad: Mixed salad greens, two diced pears, 1/2 thinly sliced red onion, crushed pecans.  Drizzle salad with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle on some cracked black pepper.  My dad who still thinks McDonald’s serves quality food LOVED this salad!!

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Happy Holidays!! is a post from Everyday Paleo - licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License