So how did our healthy and nutritious menu turn out? As you know, I was trying a lot of new dishes that were from Nourishing Traditions. Here’s the complete run down on our meal.
Turkey – Great!
Onion Cranberry Compote – NT pg.392 (this was to replace the sugary cranberry relish I normally make and love!) This tasted very good by itself, but when I had it with my turkey, it just wasn’t the same as having the sweet/tart taste of cranberry relish. You could definitely taste the onions.
Mashed Potatoes (was going to make NT recipe on pg.401 but couldn’t find celery root at the store) – Great!
Sweet Potato Puree – NT pg. 406 – Good – Maybe try adding a pinch of nutmeg or some similar spice next time.
Ginger Carrots – NT pg.95 (NT recommends a lacto-fermented side to aid in digestion if everything else that you’re serving is cooked) – AWFUL! This was so salty, it was not edible. I didn’t use whey but substituted it for 1T salt as was recommended in the recipe.
Baby Spinach Salad – NT pg.178 – Excellent! – Roquefort cheese was recommended in the recipe but it was much too expensive, so I substituted bleu cheese.
Whole Wheat Rolls – How can you go wrong with bread unless you overcook them… which I did a little. 
Desserts:
Pumpkin Pie – NT pg.562 I used a pumpkin from our garden instead of the pumpkin puree they call for in the recipe but I was not real excited about this. A few of the children really liked it but I’d give it a pass next time. It just wasn’t full of flavor and didn’t have enough sweetness for my liking.
Whole Pecan Tart – NT pg.563 – I love pecan pie but this one didn’t live up to my expectations. Just like the pumpking, it didn’t have enough flavor or enough sweetness for anybody’s liking. (It’s all gone – the kids polished it off yesterday, but I don’t think they’d want a repeat.)
Vanilla ice cream – NT pg.550 – I couldn’t find my mix! I looked and looked in my refrigerators but couldn’t find it… so I used some leftover Dairy Queen mix we had.
Persimmon ice cream – NT pg.552 – Good – this is something I would make again, except I would want to add some spices that complement persimmons to give it more flavor.
This post is getting rather lengthy, so I will write up about the rest of our day in Part II.
Filed under: Family Life Updates • Holidays
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Sounds like it all went rather well!
I am going to try and cut out most sweets this Thanksgiving…
but who can resest Grandpa’s Fruit Salad?
*sigh* we all have our weak points
Happy Thanksgiving!
Zoe
Oh, dear! I think I’ll wait to start really cooking healthy until AFTER the holidays. Maybe by next Thanksgiving we will have lost the taste for sugar and the healthy alternatives will taste marvelous. (One can always dream!)
It can happen. We just have to brave enough to step out and actually begin. It’s hard though, isn’t it?
It is very difficult. But it’s a great incentive knowing you are doing it too! I’m planning next month’s menu now and it’s all healthy! We normally make home made cinnamon rolls or doughnuts for Christmas breakfast and buckeye candy (after the buckeye nut and tree…not a male deer!)as well as cut-out cookies. I don’t think I’m going to try to make them “healthy”, I think I’m going to replace them with other traditions. Although, I have a recipe for maple cheese cake that does not call for any sugar and is really good, so I may make that for our dinner. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks, Elisabeth for trying all that before I arrived. I enjoyed my Thanksgiving dinner very much with Family and Friends and sugar.
Just 1 step closer to Heaven….