Thanksgiving Recipes
First, to brine or not to brine the turkey . . . Brining simply means to soak your turkey in a water and salt solution and naturally, I suggest orange juice and herbs and spices to bring it up a niche in flavor. Other ingredients can be added to the brine, such as honey or maple syrup. The purpose of a brine is to produce a more tender and flavorful turkey. But safety first. You must keep the bird below 39 degrees (average temp of a fridge) and you need space. Most home refrigerators don't have enough room for a pot with a soaking bird, so one needs to plan well because the bird needs to stay cold while brining.
Though you can brine a thawed frozen bird, it’s best to brine a fresh turkey. Please only consider buying a turkey from a small local turkey farm. See below for choosing your turkey.
Brine
Make this brine a day ahead so you have plenty of time to allow it to cool. Mix the dry ingredients ahead a few days before so all you need to do is heat the apple cider, add the fresh ingredients with the dry, and allow to cool. This is perfect for a 12-pound turkey. For a 20-pound turkey, make 1.5 times the recipe.
Dry Ingredients:
1.5 cups kosher salt
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons dried rosemary
2 tablespoons dried thyme
3 tablespoons peppercorns
To Add To Brine:
1 gallon apple cider
4 cups ice-cold water
3 6-inch sprigs fresh rosemary
10 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups brown sugar or 1 cup maple syrup + 1 cup date puree
Three large organic oranges, with skin, each cut into 8 pieces
Directions
Bring apple cider and water to a boil in a 3-gallon stockpot. Add the dry ingredients and dissolve. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook mixture at a simmer for about 20 minutes.
Refrigerate brine until completely cooled.
Pour cooled brine into a nonreactive container large enough to hold your turkey. Add turkey; add brine to cover the turkey with liquid. Refrigerate overnight up to 12 hours.
Remove the turkey from the brine and let it sit on the counter about 2 hours before roasting.
Each year over 40 million turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving. Most of those turkeys were raised in a factory and lived a miserable life. The “free range” turkeys live in a building with thousands of other birds and are given between 2-4 sq feet of space per bird, fed a diet of grains that have been grown with chemical fertilizers, pesticides and heavy application of glyphosates. The turkeys are miserable and in pain their entire 15 weeks of life. Support a Local farmer!
Almond-Flour Pie Crust Recipe
Almond flour is a great flour for recreating your favorite baked goods. It is best to grind your own almonds with a Vita Prep blender. Almond flour is gluten-free and grain-free, and is the best low-carb flour. It’s perfect for special-occasion treats like Thanksgiving, and it works great for filling with pumpkin mousse.
Makes 1 pie crust
Ingredients
2 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
¼ teaspoon Celtic sea salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted, or cold salted butter
1 large egg
Directions
Place flour and salt in a food processor and pulse briefly.
Add coconut oil or butter and egg and pulse until mixture forms a ball.
Press dough into a 9-inch glass pie dish.
This can be wrapped well and frozen for up to one month.
Defrost and then bake at 350°F for 8-12 minutes.
Fill with your favorite pie ingredients or pumpkin mousse.
Pumpkin Mousse
Ingredients
¼ cup cold water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (a scant tablespoon)*
3 eggs, separated
1 packet (4 drops) stevia ( choose your sweetener- 1/2 cup maple syrup or 1/2 cup of date puree is a nice sweetener too)
1¼ cups cooked pumpkin puree
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt, if desired
1 cup organic heavy cream
Directions
In a small pot, add ¼ cup of cold water, sprinkle gelatin* over the top, and let soften for a minute or two. Place on the stove and stir over low heat to liquify, being careful not to boil. When gelatin is dissolved, remove from heat and let cool.
In a medium stainless steel mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and stevia or your sweetner of choice.
Add the pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and milk, and beat to blend.
Set the bowl over the pot of simmering water on the stove and beat constantly with a whisk (this could be done with a portable electric mixer on a low setting, but it tends to splatter) until the mixture thickens and becomes custardlike, about 5 minutes.
Pour and scrape the gelatin into the pumpkin mixture.
Beat the cream until it is stiff, and fold it into the mousse.
Divide prepared mousse among parfait or wine glasses. Chill until set, at least 2 hours or up to a day.
*I prefer Great Lakes Gelatine, 100% grass fed and pastured. Fill a medium pot with a few inches of water and bring to a simmer.
Raw Cranberry Relish
1 organic orange
1 organic apple
3 cups organic fresh cranberries
½–1 teaspoon cinnamon or raz el hanout spice blend (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, etc.)
5 drops stevia or 2–4 tablespoons 1/2 cup date puree or 1/2 cup maple syrup (see below) or your sweetener of choice
Directions
Scrub the orange and apple and rinse the cranberries. Zet the orange and use the zest in the ingredients. Remove the white pithy from the orange, leaving the segments. Cut the orange with skin removed, into eight or more pieces.
In a food processor, blend the orange and apple (skin on) and cranberries and pulse until a nice consistency.
Add one ¼ teaspoon of stevia or ½ cup of date puree.
Taste and add your sweetener to your desired sweetness.
This will keep 2–3 days, or several weeks in the freezer- so make it ahead!
Note: Cinnamon is a nice spice to add––carefully––to this dish!
Date paste
Date paste is the best natural sweetener I know. Not only is it a quick and relatively cheap sweetener to make, but it's also packed with nutrients. Two ingredients and \15 minutes is all it takes! And it keeps in the fridge for weeks! Use this to replace the sugar in many recipes 1:1 ratio.
It's comparatively low in sugar compared with many other sweeteners like maple syrup and cane sugar, and it also provides a lot of fiber which you don't find in most sugars.
2 dates pitted- about 1 cup add to 1 cup boiling water
Pour boiling water over the date and soak the dates for about 10 minutes. I prefer a food processor, but you can mash with a fork until a paste forms. If you wish this puree to be thinner, add hot water to desired consistency. Use this to replace the sugar in many recipes 1:1 ratio.
Cooked Cranberry Sauce
3 cups organic fresh cranberries
1 large organic orange (use the zest and the sections- with the white pith removed)
½ cup water or orange juice
½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (ou can use raz el hanout as a substitute for cinnamon)
4 tablespoons date paste or 2 packets stevia or 5 liquid drops of stevia (taste to your desired sweetness)
Directions
Start by giving your organic orange a good scrub to clean it. Rinse the cranberries too.
Zest the orange and cut away the white pith. Chop the orange into 12-14 pieces. Remove seeds.
Put the cranberries and orange pieces into a heavy-based pan and add the crushed coriander seeds and ground cinnamon. There should be enough juice from the orange to start the cranberries cooking nicely without burning, but if you need to, add a little bit of water or orange juice.. You do not want your cranberries to burn, you want them to steam enough to burst open. You also don’t want too much water. Heat on low and bring to a gentle simmer. Add the sweetener.
The cranberries will start to pop and split, sounding like a mellow and somewhat laid-back popcorn session. Once they pop open, they are cooked! Now, taste. If you want this to be sweeter, you can add 3 drops of stevia or more date paste. If you want a smooth texture, place it in a food processor, or blend well with an immersion blender. Allow it to cool, and serve–– or store in the fridge and use within one week, or freeze for up to three weeks.
And just because This tart is so darn beautiful!
Cranberry Curd Tart – An almost perfect keto dessert
This is a great dessert anytime. If you are looking for a dessert that is keto, then take out the orange juice and replace it with water. One cup of orange juice adds 26 grams of carbohydrates.
Makes one pie: 8 to 10 servings
Macadamia Crust
1¼ cups (180 grams) raw macadamia nuts
1 cup (125 grams) almond flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons date puree (loaded with carbs!) or ¼ teaspoon stevia
6 tablespoons (100 grams) softened butter
Directions For Crust
Heat oven to 325°F.
Put macadamia nuts on a baking sheet and roast 10–15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow the nuts to cool.
In a food processor, grind nuts with half the almond flour until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
Add remaining almond flour and salt and pulse briefly.
Cream butter in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon for a minute or two, until pale and thick.
Add nut mixture and combine until dough comes together. If needed (if it seems dry or crumbly), add 1–2 tablespoons softened butter or a little cold water.
Press dough evenly into a 10-inch tart pan; use half the dough for the sides and half for the bottom.
Prick bottom with a fork and freeze for 30 minutes (or several days if desired).
Heat oven to 350°F.
Bake the chilled tart shell for about 15 minutes, until lightly brown. Cool.
Cranberry Curd
12 ounces (340 grams) cranberries
1 teaspoon stevia or 1/2 cup of date puree or 1/2 cup maple syrup
Juice of 1 orange (this would add 26 carbs to this tart––omit if you want this to be keto)
Zest of 1 orange
4 ounces(113 grams) softened butter (1 stick)
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
Directions
While the crust bakes and cools, make the cranberry curd: Put cranberries, stevia, and orange peel with ¼ cup of water or orange juice in a saucepan over medium heat.
Simmer with a lid until cranberries have popped and softened, about 10 minutes.
Transfer to a food mill or medium mesh sieve and press cooking liquid and solids into a bowl.
Purée the cooked cranberry mixture with an immersion blender or in a food processor or blender. If you want a super smooth curd and it’s not smooth, press through a fine-mesh sieve.
Whisk the butter into the warm liquid.
Put eggs and egg yolks into a bowl and beat lightly.
Slowly whisk a cup of warm cranberry liquid into the eggs to temper, then combine both and whisk together.
Wipe out the pot if necessary, return liquid to the pot, and cook over low heat until nearly bubbling and thickened, about 10 minutes.
If using immediately, let cool to room temperature and pour over the crust and refrigerate. If working ahead, cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap (press wrap against curd) and refrigerate. (Curd may be cooked up to 1 day ahead.)
Pour cranberry curd into the cooled prebaked tart shell and smooth top with a spatula.