Grain Free Thanksgiving

Happy American Thanksgiving! (Well, almost)

This year, we cheated a little.

As in we already had our Thanksgiving last weekend.

I’ve seen some questions on how to make a grain free Thanksgiving meal. Luckily, this is exactly what I had last weekend.

It was a great day; we had some friends over, cooked together, laughed, drank delicious wines and ate beyond-glorious food. And we didn’t watch football. How very un-American of us! But almost the best part was that while the boys were cooking, the ladies got their nails done, while drinking some bubbly. (thank you Sam!)

You might be wondering how on this green Earth we pulled together a completely grain free menu. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t all grain free, as some cornbread stuffing and a pumpkin pie were present. But the rest, and the dishes that I put my focus on were all grain free.

And as we’re so close to Thanksgiving, literally hours away, and I am so very thankful that you’re part of my world, I’m sharing The Menu, as well as some options, with you today. There are of course many, many other alternatives and options for a grain free Thanksgiving, but here’s what happened last weekend:

Grain Free Thanksgiving Turkey

I sincerely hope the turkey you get IS grain free…!

One thing I can recommend is to rub your turkey in the deliciousness that is duck fat. The flavors get intense and I’ve never had a juicier bird. I “blame” the duck fat.

Grain Free Thanksgiving Stuffing

I already mentioned the grain filled stuffing with cornbread before. But we also had another one, made entirely out of meat. (again, thank you Sam!)

It was minced meat with sausage, duck meat and some herbs. And it was heavenly.

As alternatives for stuffing, here are three fantastic (sounding) ones:

Best Ever Paleo Thanksgiving Stuffing

Apple-Cranberry and Veal Stuffing

Savoury Sage & Sweet Apple Stuffing

Grain Free Thanksgiving Sides

Moving swiftly on to the side dishes of the glorious grain free Thanksgiving meal!

On our buffet last weekend we had the following ones. Note that none of them are complicated or weird to make. Just really simple, honest food:

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Cut the Brussels sprouts either in halves or quarters across. Cut the bacon into smaller pieces. Fry the bacon first and then add the Brussels sprouts to it. Cook until the sprouts are sproutin’ done! 🙂

Kale Salad with Avocado

Cut the kale off the stems and into smaller pieces (or rip it, if that’s more fun). Put it into a bowl. Open an avocado and put the meat in the kale, and then use your hands to mix it all together until the kale wilts a little. This removes the sometimes overpowering taste of kale. Add salt and pepper as desired.

Broccoli Salad with Pomegranates

Shred raw broccoli into a bowl. Add pomegranates and some olive oil. Mix.

Pretty printable recipe here!

Butter-fried Cabbage

As an extra idea, I suggest cutting cabbage into thin strips and frying them in butter until soft and, well, buttery. Few things on earth beat that combination.

Grain Free Thanksgiving Gravy

My husband makes the world’s best gravy, second only to what my grandmother used to make. (Sorry honey!)

Last weekend, he took the juices from the turkey, put it in a pan and added butter, bone broth and red wine and let it simmer until it reduced into gravy.

This is so simple, but of course doesn’t give you thick creamy gravy. For that you need to add either cream or coconut cream.

Grain Free Thanksgiving Desserts

Everyone’s favorite part, of course, is dessert.

Except when you’re more stuffed than the turkey and feel like you might just cry. Then you’ve done Thanksgiving wrong, and I recommend you start from the beginning.

Ha, no just kidding!

Do make sure you leave some space for dessert though. It’s well worth it for these two recipes!

This one I made for last weekend, and holy-turkey-day was it fantastically yummy! The super talented Kelly from The Spunky Coconut really got the flavors together in this one!

Salted Caramel Pecan Pie without Corn Syrup

And, because it’s very traditional, I’m also giving you a link to a great grain free pumpkin pie from Mark’s Daily Apple, click here.

You can serve any or both of these with whipped (coconut) vanilla cream.

If these recipes and ideas just aren’t enough, or they just don’t tickle your fancy, I HIGHLY recommend Danielle Walker’s e-book Thankful, with 20 recipes for Thanksgiving and other Holiday events.

Over to you, what did you have on your Thanksgiving table this year? Share the awesomeness in the comments below.

Also, don’t forget to be #thankful!