AIP Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner
Today is the Monday before Thanksgiving, 2016 and I was just craving a Thanksgiving dinner.
On a relatively strict AIP diet, and faced with family obligations, I will be a visitor at a lovely home where someone cooks a complete Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. Likely the meal will consist of nothing I can eat, except perhaps salad, maybe some sweet potatoes, and plain turkey.
So I wanted to imagine what a full AIP Thanksgiving dinner would be like with all the trimmings. Since my boyfriend cannot eat nuts, we are eliminating nuts from this meal as usual. However, I am eating some grains again, so one of the dishes, the stuffing, is not strictly AIP. Everything else is strictly AIP. The sides can also all be made vegan.
The dinner tonight is just for the two of us, my boyfriend and me. We both adore Thanksgiving dinner. So as a precursor to T-Day, I purchased a rotisserie chicken and prepared the following dishes from scratch:
Mashed White Yam
One very large yam, peeled and chopped into large chunks (about 2 cups)
1 cup water for steaming (reserve after steaming)
2 Tbsps oil (coconut cream, lard, and/or vegan margarine)
2 to 3 Tbsps brown sugar, to taste
pinch cinnamon
pinch allspice
pinch nutmeg
Steam potatoes for 20 minutes, or pressure steam for 12. Toss in large pot with all other ingredients, adding water 1/2 cup at first, and mash with potato masher. Add water as needed and mash until the texture you want is achieved. For more of a dessert flavor, you can use coconut milk instead of water.
No Bake Green Bean Casserole
1 lb fresh green beans, washed and ends snapped off
3 fresh crimini mushrooms, halved and sliced thinly (about 2mm thick)
1/4 onion chopped
1/2 Tbsp lard, coconut oil or vegan margarine
4 Tbps coconut cream
Salt to taste
Steam green beans for 7 to 9 minutes, or pressure steam for 4. Steam until al dente or preferred doneness. Saute mushrooms and onions in oil until mushrooms have absorbed oil, about 2 to 3 minutes. Toss green beans and coconut cream in pan and toss with all ingredients. Serve warm.
Homemade Stovetop Gluten-free Stuffing
1/2 loaf sliced vegan gluten-free bread
1/2 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 Tbsp oil, either lard, vegan margarine, or coconut oil
2 Tbsps chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 c to 2 c broth (chicken broth or vegan broth)
1 tsp Bell's Turkey seasoning
1/2 tsp dried rubbed sage (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Toast slices of bread until dry. Break into bite-sized pieces. Set aside. In sauce pot, saute onion and celery for 3 minutes or so in the oil, until onion begins to turn transparent. Add spices and herbs, salt and pepper, and mix well. Add broth and turn up heat until broth begins to boil. Turn off heat and stir in bread. Mix well. If bread is still not completely moist, add warmed broth and mix until bread is just moist. Serve hot.
Hand-carved Rotisserie Chicken
Carve chicken off the bone and set on platter. Keep warm in oven.
No Oil Instant Gravy
1 c broth (vegan broth, chicken broth, bone broth, etc.)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch, or preferred thickener (such as tapioca starch)
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
Pinch Bell's turkey seasoning
Put all ingredients into small jar, close lid, and shake until blended. Pre-heat small saute pan over medium heat. Add liquid and whisk over heat continuously until thickener is cooked and broth becomes clear. Whisk in more broth if too thick, until desired consistency over heat. Serve immediately.
Timing strategy:
I set the oven to "Warm" and placed the still-warm-from-the deli rotisserie chicken on the center rack to keep warm. I started preparing the yam first, and set it to steam. Then, I toasted all of the toast slices and set them in the oven to keep warm. Next, I then prepped and chopped the vegetables: green beans, onion, celery and parsley. I broke the toast into pieces. With all of the prep work done, I started to saute the vegetables for the stuffing, added the broth, and brought it to a boil. I broke the bread into pieces and then added it with the heated broth into the vegetables, mixed well, and set aside to let the liquid absorb. Once the yams were steamed, I mashed them and set them aside with a lid to keep warm. The pressure cooker free, I then used it to steam the green beans. I sauteed the vegetables for the green beans in a cast iron skillet. Once the beans were done, I added them to the cast iron skillet. My boyfriend is a great fowl carver, and he carved the chicken up!
We then sat down to eat.
Well worth the effort.
Next I need to work on how to make this or parts of this in bulk and then make freezer meals!
On a relatively strict AIP diet, and faced with family obligations, I will be a visitor at a lovely home where someone cooks a complete Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. Likely the meal will consist of nothing I can eat, except perhaps salad, maybe some sweet potatoes, and plain turkey.
So I wanted to imagine what a full AIP Thanksgiving dinner would be like with all the trimmings. Since my boyfriend cannot eat nuts, we are eliminating nuts from this meal as usual. However, I am eating some grains again, so one of the dishes, the stuffing, is not strictly AIP. Everything else is strictly AIP. The sides can also all be made vegan.
The dinner tonight is just for the two of us, my boyfriend and me. We both adore Thanksgiving dinner. So as a precursor to T-Day, I purchased a rotisserie chicken and prepared the following dishes from scratch:
- Rotisserie chicken from the deli (not homemade)
- Mashed white yam
- No Bake Green bean casserole
- Homemade Stovetop Gluten-free Stuffing
- Homemade oil-free Instant Gravy
Mashed White Yam
One very large yam, peeled and chopped into large chunks (about 2 cups)
1 cup water for steaming (reserve after steaming)
2 Tbsps oil (coconut cream, lard, and/or vegan margarine)
2 to 3 Tbsps brown sugar, to taste
pinch cinnamon
pinch allspice
pinch nutmeg
Steam potatoes for 20 minutes, or pressure steam for 12. Toss in large pot with all other ingredients, adding water 1/2 cup at first, and mash with potato masher. Add water as needed and mash until the texture you want is achieved. For more of a dessert flavor, you can use coconut milk instead of water.
No Bake Green Bean Casserole
1 lb fresh green beans, washed and ends snapped off
3 fresh crimini mushrooms, halved and sliced thinly (about 2mm thick)
1/4 onion chopped
1/2 Tbsp lard, coconut oil or vegan margarine
4 Tbps coconut cream
Salt to taste
Steam green beans for 7 to 9 minutes, or pressure steam for 4. Steam until al dente or preferred doneness. Saute mushrooms and onions in oil until mushrooms have absorbed oil, about 2 to 3 minutes. Toss green beans and coconut cream in pan and toss with all ingredients. Serve warm.
Homemade Stovetop Gluten-free Stuffing
1/2 loaf sliced vegan gluten-free bread
1/2 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 Tbsp oil, either lard, vegan margarine, or coconut oil
2 Tbsps chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 c to 2 c broth (chicken broth or vegan broth)
1 tsp Bell's Turkey seasoning
1/2 tsp dried rubbed sage (optional)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Toast slices of bread until dry. Break into bite-sized pieces. Set aside. In sauce pot, saute onion and celery for 3 minutes or so in the oil, until onion begins to turn transparent. Add spices and herbs, salt and pepper, and mix well. Add broth and turn up heat until broth begins to boil. Turn off heat and stir in bread. Mix well. If bread is still not completely moist, add warmed broth and mix until bread is just moist. Serve hot.
Hand-carved Rotisserie Chicken
Carve chicken off the bone and set on platter. Keep warm in oven.
No Oil Instant Gravy
1 c broth (vegan broth, chicken broth, bone broth, etc.)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch, or preferred thickener (such as tapioca starch)
Pinch salt
Pinch pepper
Pinch Bell's turkey seasoning
Put all ingredients into small jar, close lid, and shake until blended. Pre-heat small saute pan over medium heat. Add liquid and whisk over heat continuously until thickener is cooked and broth becomes clear. Whisk in more broth if too thick, until desired consistency over heat. Serve immediately.
Timing strategy:
I set the oven to "Warm" and placed the still-warm-from-the deli rotisserie chicken on the center rack to keep warm. I started preparing the yam first, and set it to steam. Then, I toasted all of the toast slices and set them in the oven to keep warm. Next, I then prepped and chopped the vegetables: green beans, onion, celery and parsley. I broke the toast into pieces. With all of the prep work done, I started to saute the vegetables for the stuffing, added the broth, and brought it to a boil. I broke the bread into pieces and then added it with the heated broth into the vegetables, mixed well, and set aside to let the liquid absorb. Once the yams were steamed, I mashed them and set them aside with a lid to keep warm. The pressure cooker free, I then used it to steam the green beans. I sauteed the vegetables for the green beans in a cast iron skillet. Once the beans were done, I added them to the cast iron skillet. My boyfriend is a great fowl carver, and he carved the chicken up!
We then sat down to eat.
Well worth the effort.
Next I need to work on how to make this or parts of this in bulk and then make freezer meals!
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