I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year we kept it fairly low key. Our good friend joined us for a Thanksgiving lunch, and then we sat outside and relaxed while the kids took their naps.
Instead of the traditional “what am I thankful for” routine, I put down my phone (after I finished cooking, that is) and made a special effort to be present in the kids’ day. When The Dot woke up from her nap, I snuggled with her in front of the heater and took the time to appreciate that she still likes to be held. When Lamborghini woke up, we all drove down to our town’s miniature trail of lights. I loved watching his face light up when he saw the ice skaters on our seasonal skating rink. I also love how inquisitive he is about the little things that are not obvious to the everyday person. Smoke alarms, pull stations, doorbells, and just about anything with a battery or wire. Instead of focusing on the giant light displays of Santa and snowmen, he would point out every light that wasn’t working and inquire about why it wasn’t working and how we could fix it.
Along the lines of keeping life simple this Thanksgiving, we also kept it simple with the food. Mr. L lives a low-carb lifestyle, and I try to avoid bread and sugar most of the time. While we usually cheat on holidays, we decided to stick to our diets this Thanksgiving. My plan was to keep the food low-carb, but to make it look and taste delicious.
The Turkey:
This was the first year of my life that I didn’t make a stuffed turkey for Thanksgiving, and I have to say—I’m never going back!!! Instead of the traditional stuffed bird, we spatchcocked our turkey (basically flattened it out), and roasted it over a bed of root vegetables. Read that line as: Instead of waiting five hours for the turkey to cook, we spatchcocked our turkey and it was done in less than two hours. I am kicking myself for not taking a photo of the final result because it turned out perfectly with nice, crispy skin. But there’s a pretty photo at this website where I found the turkey recipe.
If you are interested in the precise instructions for spatchcocking and cooking the turkey, definitely check out the link above. But basically you roast the turkey at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours and then increase the temperature to 400 degrees for an additional fifteen minutes. We had a 15 pound turkey, so I ended up roasting it an additional fifteen minutes on top of that at 400 degrees. I also rubbed kosher salt and, um, a stick of softened butter underneath the skin of the turkey before putting it in the oven.
The Veggies
For the base of the turkey, I cut up enough carrots, yukon gold potatoes, and red onion to cover the bottom of the roasting pan. I then tossed them in a tablespoon of oil and about 1.5 teaspoons of kosher salt and spread them out on the roasting pan. Then I put the turkey on top of the vegetables and cooked it according to the instructions. While the potatoes are not necessarily low-carb, the kids and I enjoyed eating them while Mr. L sampled the other offerings.
I also made butternut squash soup as a side. I’ll share the recipe at a later date.
The Low-Carb “Stuffing”
Every year my family traditionally makes my grandmother’s white-bread stuffing (or “Yankee” stuffing, as we call it) for Thanksgiving. I love the flavor the thyme and marjoram add to the stuffing, but I knew we couldn’t resist eating it if I included the breadcrumbs. So I did what I do when I make low-carb meatballs and substituted chopped mushrooms for the bread. It turned out AMAZING. The low-carb version has the same flavor and similar texture to real stuffing, even without the breadcrumbs. By the way, I’m calling it stuffing even though I technically didn’t stuff the turkey. Because it tastes just like the real deal.
Low-Carb Mushroom and Thyme Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1 white onion (diced)
- 1 cup celery (diced)
- 4 tbsp butter
- 4 cups chopped mushrooms (raw)
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp dried thyme (ground)
- 1 tsp dried marjoram (ground)
- salt and pepper (to taste)
Instructions
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Saute the onion and celery in 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat until the onion is clear and the vegetables are soft. Add the thyme and marjoram and stir to combine. Set aside.
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Cook the chopped mushrooms in 4 tablespoons of butter until their liquid is released and the mushrooms start to brown.
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Pour vegetable mixture into mushrooms and stir to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste.
The Low-Carb Gravy
We went low-carb with the gravy too. Most gravy recipes call for butter and flour to make a roux. I found this low-carb recipe online that uses unflavored gelatin powder to thicken the gravy instead of flour. I use a similar technique when I make French pot roast, so I knew gelatin would be a good substitute.
The recipe I found online is non-Thanksgiving specific, so I made a few modifications so I could use the broth left over from the turkey drippings in the bottom of the roasting pan (remember to separate out the fat). I couldn’t remember which part of the giblets you use for gravy, so I ended up using a piece of the liver. Apparently nobody does that because that’s the one part you’re supposed to discard. Oops! My gravy was delicious, though, so I’m leaving it in the recipe:
Low-Carb Turkey Gravy
Ingredients
- 2 cups broth from turkey drippings (add chicken broth if less than 2 cups)
- 1.5 packets unflavored gelatin
- 2 egg yolks
- 0.5 turkey liver (from the giblets in the turkey)
- 4 tbsp butter
Instructions
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Cook the turkey liver in boiling water until it is slightly pink inside. Dice it into small bits and set aside.
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Bring the broth and unflavored gelatin to a boil in a small pot over medium-high heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for two minutes.
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In a separate bowl, add roughly 1/4 cup of the broth mixture to the two egg yolks, beating continuously with a whisk. Pour the egg mixture back into the broth and continue whisking until combined.
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Add minced turkey liver and butter. Stir to combine.
The Naturally Sweetened Cranberries
I said above that I try not to eat sugar most of the time. However, the absolute caveat to that is cranberry sauce. I cannot have a Thanksgiving meal without cranberries. But I did make some modifications to my usual recipe. Instead of adding 1/2 cup of granulated sugar to the bag of cranberries, I used 1/8 cup of maple syrup.
Naturally Sweetened Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/8 cup maple syrup
- 1 bag fresh whole cranberries
Instructions
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Bring water to boil in pot. Add cranberries and syrup and return to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
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Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate before serving.
Adieu, Sweet Turkey
All in all, we had a lovely low-stress Thanksgiving. We missed seeing our extended family, but we enjoyed trying out new recipes and spending quality time with the kiddos. Now we’re off to decorate the tree and get on with Christmas stuff! Happy holidays everyone!
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