Thanksgiving Menu on GAPS

I’m going to go ahead and put this up and pretty it up and add a few more links later. We are getting close to the big day and I hope that my plans will inspire some of you.-PattyLA

This is last year’s turkey. It was a 32lb monster bird! It was hard to cook it evenly because of the size hence the burnt parts.

I know how difficult it can be to plan holiday menu when you can eat anything you want. It is even more difficult to plan them when you are on a special diet like GAPS. For me, consider what foods mean the most to me for that holiday and try to emulate them and any foods that we don’t really love (or that are too difficult to make with our current diet restrictions) I let go of. Some foods just aren’t worth the effort to make something that doesn’t taste right, while others can be as good as the original or even better.

So for me the Thanksgiving menu needs to include, Turkey, Pie, Squash, Pie, dressing/stuffing, and oh yes, pie. My fondest memories of Thanksgiving are of my extended family on my mothers side all together at my grandparents home eating massive amounts of food and what seemed like hundreds of pies. (It was probably only 15 or so but that still is what I want most for Thanksgiving, lots of different kinds of pie.) For my husband it needs to include Mashed Potatoes and Gravy along with some of the foods I already mentioned but he does not understand my pie obsession and dislikes pumpkin (more for me!).

So for the big day I am planning to make

Bacon wrapped Turkey

Dressing from my Coconut Butter Sandwich Bread (I haven’t worked out the recipe yet)

Mashed Winter Squash with lots of Grassfed Butter

Fauxtatoes and Gravy (I just mix some of the fauxtatoes with the drippings and some broth to make the gravy. I may boil an onion in there too for flavor)

Brussel Sprouts and Bacon (or something else green)

Fermented Cranberry Sauce/chutney. I’m looking at a couple but they both have sugar. Increasing the fruit and leaving out the sugar should work but I haven’t tried it.

Cranberry, Orange, Apple, Relish

Spicy Cranberry Pineapple Relish

Probiotic Cranberry Chutney

Pineapple Banana Salad This is a favorite from my family of origin and I always make it for holidays. I plan to share the recipe on here soon. It is super simple and always gets raves when I share it with others.

Veggies and dip

And for the Pie Course

Pumpkin- I’ll use Be Young Essential Oils for the high ox spices (cinnamon and cloves), coconut milk for the dairy, honey for the sweetener and otherwise a regular filling recipe should work.

Lemon Meringue I made this last year. It was the best Lemon Meringue pie I have made. Fantastic.

And some sort of fruit pie. Possibly Apple with a crumb topping. Making a GAPS pie crust that works to top a pie and doesn’t burn is very difficult so I usually avoid that by using something else to top the pie.

For my crust I will use the crust from my Bacon Arugula and Cheddar Quiche Recipe.

Oh and I’ll make whipped cream from heavy cream yogurt made in a Pickl-It jar that I will then sweeten with honey and whip just like regular heavy cream.