There's nothing like a table full of nourishing foods to really make a heart feel thankful this time of year. It's not easy to stray from "traditional" Thanksgiving foods like boxed stuffing mixes and canned cranberry sauce (especially when grocery stores heavily discount these foods). But this year I'm proud to say my family and I will be trying our best to pull off a Weston A. Price-friendly holiday meal. My folks have already purchased a free-range turkey to roast (this is the first year I will be favoring dark meat over white!), and they will be whipping up some delicious sweet potatoes, so I just have to tackle a few side dishes. My favorite is a slight adaption from a recipe in Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon:
Coconut Macaroons
4 egg whites
2 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup unrefined sweetener (like palm or coconut sugar)
Pinch unrefined sea salt
Whip up the egg whites until stiff. Beat in sugar and salt. Fold in coconut. Form into balls and bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 30 minutes . Reduce temperature to 200 degrees and bake for another hour (or more if you like crunchy macaroons).
The original recipe calls for no sugar at all, but I added just a bit for a sweeter cookie. They still are quite low in sugar and carbs. I plan on using these to replace the typical cookies and crackers as snacks while we wait for the big meal to finish. With healthy fats from the coconut and a little protein from the egg whites, these ought to hold our stomachs over much better than the usual commercial snacks.
I will also be cooking creamed green beans (using homemade bone broth and raw cream). And finally I'll be attempting a homemade pumpkin pie using the recipe from Nourishing Traditions. The crust is a little bit of a cheat with organic unbleached flour, but I'll make it with coconut oil which should be delicious (and healthy!). And what would a pumpkin pie be without a dollop of fresh whipped raw cream on top?
I must admit I'm looking forward to a Thanksgiving where a bit of indulging won't be so bad for us!
Do you have any alternative holiday dishes to share? I would love to hear from anyone who's successfully modified a modern dish into something more traditional and nourishing!
And, of course, have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope you are blessed enough to share this time with those you dearly love.
P.S. It's Real Food Wednesday this week at Kelly the Kitchen Kop's blog! Go check it out for great links to real food posts!
It's definitely not perfect, but I improved the typical pecan pie for Thanksgiving this year.
ReplyDeleteI made a grassfed-butter piecrust (with white flour, alas, but I don't think you can get good results with soaked flour. Short on nutrients, but not too bad for you.) Three eggs, maple syrup instead of corn syrup, and 'crispy pecans' - it was delicious.
Other than that, I just got plenty of butter and bone broth into everything I could.
That sounds like a delightfully nourishing pecan pie! I'm from the south so I love my pecan pie. :) Glad to hear you made such a health version of it!
ReplyDeleteSO, the coconut macaroons original recipe called for NO sugar??? is it a "non sweet" macaroon?? I don't know if that would taste good? you think? I'm very curious??
ReplyDeleteI wasn't brave enough to attempt the recipe without any sweetener. :)
ReplyDeleteCoconut leans towards the sweeter side of things anyway (it is a fruit after all), and it sweetens up quite a bit even with just a little sugar. I felt the compromise on the sugar was worth the flavor! I don't think the macaroons would have been sweet enough for me without it.
I wonder how these would taste with fresh, raw shredded coconut. Mmmmmm...
ReplyDelete