A Lonely Thanksgiving with Recipes

The title is a bit melodramatic, but we're alone this Thanksgiving.  Just us.  In years past, we've always gotten together with either family or friends....(except for that first year we were in Florida, and we went to the beach..because ya know, it was 80 degrees).   But, down here in Virginia, we're too far from family and haven't really made any good friends  (although I did invite another family over, unfortunately they can't come).  C'est la vie.   

So, it's slightly depressing being alone, but we're still going to have a Thanksgiving feast, and, at least I don't have the pressure of having to have a clean house.  Plus, we get to eat all the pie ourselves. 

This is what we're having,

1. 

Turkey

Of course.  I love snatching up turkeys super cheap when they go on sale.

This year, I'm hoping  to get the perfectly moist and juicy turkey.

To achieve this, I'm going to roast the bird in an oven bag and shove melted butter, garlic, salt and spices under the skin.  You just melt butter and mix it with some minced garlic, sea salt, and whatever other spices you like (I tend to go all Simon and Garfunkel like with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme).  Lift the skin of the turkey and shoved that yummy butter mix underneath it and then roast as you normally would.

2.

Stuffing

Since we are all gluten-free and healthy down here, I'm going to try Cam's Gluten-Free Stuffing Recipe.  With a few modifications.   Instead of ground pork, I'm using sausage and I probably won't use all those spices.  I am using mushrooms though, which means that I might be the only one eating it, but hey..more for me!

3. 

Cranberry Sauce

It's wicked easy to make your own cranberry sauce.  Just mix sugar with fresh cranberries and water.  Boil it all together and mash.  Super yummy and super easy.

4.

Sweet Potatoes

I just slice sweet potatoes, place in a backing dish and dot with ample butter.  Sprinkle with sea salt, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Bake at 400 degrees or so until the  potatoes get soft.  

Super yummy!

5. 

Mashed Potatoes

I boil several potatoes (skins and all) along with a peeled onion and a few cloves of garlic.  Once the potatoes are cooked, mash all that up with butter and some sea salt.  Mix in milk to make that creamy consistency.  These are so good!  The onions and garlic really adds a delicious flavor.

6.

Roasted Green Beans

Toss green beans with olive oil, salt, and garlic powder, Spread out on a baking dish and roast in the oven until they are well...roasted.  Soft on the inside and bit crispy on the outside.  

7.

Bread

I'm not 100% sure, I'll be making this, but I do love a good loaf of artisan bread.   So, I think I'm going to make the Gluten-Free Crusty Boule.

8. 

Crust-less Pumpkin Pie

It's super easy and super tasty.  One could maybe even make the claim that it's sorta healthy. 

9.

Swedish Apple Pie.

I saw this recipe on Colleen's blog and KNEW I had to make it. 

I'm pretty sure I can just sub in gluten-free flour and it will be fine.

10.

Chocolate Pie

Because my other desserts contain fruit or vegetables so they don't count as dessert (right?). 

I'm going to make it crustless, because with an inside like that..who needs crust?  I've never made this recipe before, but it looks easy and delicious.  And hey...it contains tofu, which makes it sorta healthy as well, right?

And, because I have to link-up, I'm linking up with Cari for T-Day recipes. 

Five Favorites (the totally random, unrelated things edition).

I've been feeling a bit stressed/anxious/edgy lately, so this Five Favorites Link-up came along at just the right time.   Blogging always makes me feel better and thinking about my favorite things makes me happy.   So, here they are!

1.

DeMontfort MusicRun by friends of ours, Kevin and Monica Fitzgibbons (writing that kinda makes me feel  important, like we hobnob with celebrities  or something).  Anyway, they just released a beautiful CD from the Benedictines of Mary.  Normally, I don't like music, as with all the noise from kids around, I feel like silence is golden, but this music is so beautiful and uplifting.  

image from demontfortmusic.com

2.

You know how I've mentioned that I've been feeling stressed/edgy/anxious lately.  Well, this supplement has definitely been helping!  It contains high levels of EPA and NO DHA.  For some reason, studies have shown that the high EPA without any DHA really improves mood and brain chemistry.  It's a bit pricey as far as supplements go, but totally, totally worth it. 

image from Amazon.com

3.

The other thing that helps me is eating gluten-free.  And. this flour blend is the BOMB!  I can make ANYTHING gluten-free with it (well, anything I can make normally...I make no claims as to fancy things like doughnuts and bagels...but any muffin, cake, quick bread, pizza crust, yeast bread, scone, popover, etc., etc...I can make gluten-free with this awesome flour blend. 

Image from Amazon.com

4.

Daughters who can bake and decorate a cake all by themselves.  Heidi made this rosary cake (that's supposed to be a rosary on it) for our First Saturday get-together with friends.  It was a big hit..and she did it all by herself  (even clean-up). 

5.

And, in honor of Mother's Day..my Mom.  Here she is with her granddaughters when she came down to visit after Elsa was born. 

Not sure, why Heidi and Greta look so tired...it's not like THEY were up all night nursing a newborn baby? 

 Now, go check out Camp Patton for this week's Five Favorites. 

Why this Health Food Nut is a little less Nutty..or Why I'm Unliking a Bunch of Stuff on Facebook

Most people who know me, know that I'm really into natural health and medicine, home remedies, supplements and healthy eating.  You've got a cold or mastitis or sinus infection or eczema or warts, or psoriasis or constipation or canker sores or allergies...I've got a home remedy for that. 

I've spent way too much time reading and learning about healthy eating...you name a food trend....juicing, green smoothies, paleo, traditional foods, vegan, raw, macrobiotic, fermented foods, soaking grains, perfect health diet, gluten-free...I've heard about it, read about it and probably even tried it to some extent.

My Facebook newsfeed was cluttered with updates from all these different natural health foods and bloggers...Natural News, Natural Health Society, All Diseases Begin in the Gut, Heal Thyself,...I could go on and on.

Every day I'd read more about the dangers of GMO's and fluoride and non-organic, conventionally raised food, and BPA's and THC's and XYZ's and microwaves and cell phones and wireless internet and oh..just about everything else that makes life even remotely easy. 

 Not to mention all the confusing information...grains are good, but you have to soak them....grains are bad, avoid at all costs.  Beans are good, if you soak and sprout them....beans are bad..just eat meat, coconut  oil and vegetables. Dairy is evil and increases inflammation....dairy is good as long as it is raw, grass-fed and from happy cows named Daisy.  Meat is evil...meat is great and you can live off bacon..   Honey is great for you....except when it's not.  Vegetable oils are good...vegetable oils are evil...except for coconut oil which is the holy grail of oils.  Vegan only is the way to go,...except  eggs are the most healthful food on earth...as long as they come from free-range chickens that eat only organic grass and bugs and run around in fields all day happily doing the chicken dance.    

And then there are the recipes.  No, making cauliflower wraps is NOT easy...you have to pulse the cauliflower and then steam it and then wring it out and form it and bake it....and that's just to make ONE wrap.   Or the infamous recipe for cauliflower pizza crust....which uses a boatload of mozzarella and takes a ton of time...and is way harder than making your own pizza crust with flour.   And, apparently everything has to be soaked before eating...grains, nuts, beans...and if you sprout it, it's even better.

Finally, there comes a point when it's time to say enough.   For me, that point came when I looked on Facebook and saw a recipe for chocolate placenta truffles.   Now, I love me some chocolate truffles...but placenta truffles??!?!?!?  Really?!?!?!?  Not even I am that crazy.    So, I'm unliking a bunch of stuff.  I don't want to be bombarded with 3,000,000,000 reasons why GMO's will kill us, and plastic is evil, or why I should spend hours each week driving around to 15 different farms in pursuit of raw, healthy, organic, pure foods that were picked 15 minutes ago.  I just want to feed my family healthy food.  Don't worry, we still avoid processed foods, we still eat all real food.  And, I still make my own deodorant.  But, I refuse to be wracked with guilt because our eggs are from the supermarket or our apples aren't organic or that I don't have the money to spend on an expensive filter to remover fluoride from our water..  At this point in our lives...with (very) limited funds and limited ability to grow anything ourselves...this is the best we can do.

When you run in natural health circles, you tend to know lots of crunchy, healthy, natural-health oriented people.  And, it's great to be healthy...but there comes a point where health becomes a God, and there is this futile pursuit to cheat death.   Eat this to prevent aging.  Eat that to avoid cancer.  This person eats like this and is running marathons at age 95.   Why anyone would want to run a marathon at age 95 is beyond me? If I make it to age 95, I figured I'll have earned the right to sit around and watch TV all day.   

I recently read this article by Dr. Steven Bratman, who coined the term orthorexia.  Orthorexia is an eating disorder categorized by an extreme obsession with healthy and pure eating.  Now,  I've never gone this far, or actually suffered from this and I am NOT saying that everyone who is interested in healthy eating has an eating disorder.  But some might...

This line from the article, especially resonated with me:

I was eventually saved from the doom of eternal health-

food addiction through two fortuitous events. The first occurred when my guru in eating--a vegan headed toward fruitarianism--suddenly abandoned his quest. "A revelation came to me last night in a dream," he said. "Rather than eat my sprouts alone, it would be better for me to share a pizza with some friends."

 

And, that really hit me.  Because our mental and emotional health is just as important as our physical health.  So, if healthy eating causes too much stress and worry and anxiety..or is isolating..then maybe it's not so healthy after all?  And, I was constantly stressed and worried and anxious over our non-organic food.

So, we will still eat healthy.  We will still avoid chemicals and junk and processed stuff.   We still eats tons of vegetables and fruits and only real food. But I'm giving myself permission to not feel guilty over the non-organic lettuce and regular milk.

  And, we're still basically gluten-free...but I've been testing the girls to see how they react to occasional gluten.  The jury is still out on Heidi (headaches and stomachaches we're trying to pin down)...but Greta seems to do just fine with occasional gluten. And, I'm going to be carefully testing myself.   Because, I want us to share pizza with friends..it's better than eating sprouts alone.