A “Clean” Thanksgiving

Well I have to admit, I don’t get all that excited about Thanksgiving food. Don’t get me wrong, I love turkey and I LOVE any holiday that gives me an excuse to make sweets. But I am not into gorging myself on mash potatoes, stuffing, and cranberries. Don’t leave me alone with a pan of date sweetened brownies though.

Thankfully I have an amazing mother-law who makes practically the whole Thanksgiving meal. My sisters-in-law also get in on the cooking action. I usually make a side of roasted sweet potatoes and pear or other roasted veggies. And I always make a sweet treat that isn’t loaded with processed sugar, but I am no Thanksgiving chef.

So, I have compiled a list of other peoples delicious looking “clean” Thanksgiving dishes from other bloggers.

I will also include a few of my desserts because well since that’s what I’m good at.

Here’s the list!

The Turkey:

Free rage turkey from your local farmers market is by far the best choice, but here are some recipes for cooking a turkey no matter where you get one from.

Here is a simple roasting recipe from “the kitchn”.

And here is another great turkey recipe from “healthy green kitchen”.

And one more turkey recipe…  Rosemary Apple Turkey by “Amazing! Paleo”

Here is a great smoked turkey breast recipe by “zenbelly”. This would be great for lunchmeat on a non Thanksgiving week as well.

 Sides:

Gluten Free Gravy from “Holistic Squid”

Roasted Sweet Potato and Pears by Martha Stewart: (this one is a favorite of mine. I use coconut oil rather than olive oil though)

While I have never been a fan of traditional stuffing, I may just have to try this Apple-Cranberry Holiday Stuffing by “Autoimmune Paleo”.

Roasting makes ANY vegetable taste amazing. Why not try this simple roasted carrots recipe by “Healy Eats Real”. I have made similar recipes with coconut oil before. My kiddos call them carrot fries.

You could roast most any vegetable. Some of my favorites are broccoli and cauliflower. I have even hear that beats are good roasted-although I have never been brave enough to try them myself.

I have never liked green bean casserole. My hubs, on the other hand, looks forward to it each Thanksgiving. Here is a “Healthy Green Bean Casserole” recipe I found by “Optimal Beauty”.

What Thanksgiving would be complete without some sort of bread.

I have yet to try a recipe I didn’t like from “Elana’s Pantry“. Here are her grain free biscuits.

Cranberries are not my thing… but if you like them here is a cranberry sauce recipe from multiply delicious that includes no processed sugar. Grade B is the best maple syrup. I am sure raw honey would work just as well for this recipe.

Sweets:

I plan on making my “Open Face Apple Pie” this year.

Here is my favorite gluten free pumpkin bread.

This is the same yummy pumpkin bread recipe in muffin form with added protein….

I might alter this recipe a smidge and use honey rather than black strap molasses. But this pumpkin pie looks amazing! I used to love pumpkin pie topped with copious amounts of whip cream but this Paleo Pumpkin Pie by “The Health Foodie” looks good enough to pass on the whipped topping.

But if you ARE looking for a healthier whipped cream  you may want to give this recipe (by Tasty Yummies) a try. Using honey as a sweetener this recipe is dairy free and the post talks about different canned coconut milk options.

This would be my choice of coconut milk with a BPA free can and no guar gum added.

And while there isn’t anything particularly “Thanksgivingy” (yep, pretty sure that’s not a real word) about this dessert… it’s one of my absolute favorites. I made these for my birthday this year and I may have to whip some up for Thanksgiving as well. Here are my favorite Peanut Butter Brownie Bars. I make these with almond butter now that I am avoiding peanut butter and they are amaze-bars! They are best after letting them cool in the fridge for a bit. Doing so gives them a nice fudgy chewy consistency…. if you can wait that long to eat them.

Photo Credit: all photos taken from blogs the recipes are found on.

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