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Christmas/Thanksgiving Recipes


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I am starting to think about Xmas & meal prep, because I want to have a variety of "W30 & delicious" dishes to serve to the "but what can you eat?" crowd, and the "you're not eating the stuffing?!" crowd. I would like to show that healthy eating really is scrumptious, and I'm not looking to just do the "substitute & replace" sort of cooking that we all do, 'cause it just won't taste like Grandma's Original to anyone. At my house, we don't just have a special Xmas Day turkey dinner, we also have Xmas Breakfast (traditionally quiche, fruit salad, homemade cinnamon rolls), Xmas Eve surf & turf (lobster, steaks, lots of salads, homemade rolls, 3 kinds of pie), and Boxing-Day-Drop-In-&-Graze meals, so all suggestions are welcome. I'll start by posting some of the recipes I am thinking about (but I'll probably make & try them at least once before Xmas, just to be sure). Thanks in advance.

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I am starting to think about Xmas & meal prep, because I want to have a variety of "W30 & delicious" dishes to serve to the "but what can you eat?" crowd, and the "you're not eating the stuffing?!" crowd. 

Try this stuffing: http://zenbellycatering.com/2012/11/13/its-beginning-to-smell-a-lot-like-thanksgiving/

 

It's not at all like a bread-based stuffing but it is damn well delicious in its own right so could fill the gap quite nicely.  Excellent flavour profile!

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Try this stuffing: http://zenbellycatering.com/2012/11/13/its-beginning-to-smell-a-lot-like-thanksgiving/

 

It's not at all like a bread-based stuffing but it is damn well delicious in its own right so could fill the gap quite nicely.  Excellent flavour profile!

 

Wow! I'm going to try that with my Solstice cornish game hens.

 

Loved the discussion with the recipe about stuffing versus dressing. I grew up in the South, and it was always dressing and served separately in patties. And yeah, the rest of it happens to go inside the turkey, but the baked-on-its-own version was always so much better.

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I like this Cranberry Waldorf Salad, but it's definitely a less sweet version of the original, and if you traditionally have the original version (the cool whip & marshmallow version), this one may not be very popular with most people, since it won't be at all as sweet as they're expecting.

 

This broccoli salad might be good for your drop-in-and-graze day -- I doubled the recipe and took it to a potluck at work, and it all got eaten. I also like her Belly Dance Beet Salad, but you already have a root vegetable salad, so that might be overkill.

 

If you need a snacky type thing to set out, these rosemary roasted almonds are good.

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I like this Cranberry Waldorf Salad, but it's definitely a less sweet version of the original, and if you traditionally have the original version (the cool whip & marshmallow version), this one may not be very popular with most people, since it won't be at all as sweet as they're expecting.

 

how odd! To me, Waldorf salad is a salad of apples, walnuts and celery in a light tangy dressing, like this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/waldorf-salad-recipe2.html I wonder where her aunt got the idea to put in sugar, mini marshmallows and a container of cool whip?  :blink:

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how odd! To me, Waldorf salad is a salad of apples, walnuts and celery in a light tangy dressing, like this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/waldorf-salad-recipe2.html I wonder where her aunt got the idea to put in sugar, mini marshmallows and a container of cool whip?  :blink:

 

I'm not actually sure what my family calls it, I just know it shows up at Thanksgiving, complete with marshmallows and cool whip, sometimes with different mixes of fruit, sometimes with cranberries (my mom has never been the one to make it, someone else always does, so I don't know the recipe) -- I think it's more of a variation of an ambrosia salad, really, not a Waldorf, but Mel calls it a Waldorf, and since that's what I was linking to, I went with her name for it. I always think of a Waldorf as apples, walnuts, and celery too.

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I think it's more of a variation of an ambrosia salad

 

Ah, that makes sense. My family had something similar but with white rice (or minute rice, actually) in with fruit and whipped cream. We called it "glorified rice", I think? It was served as a desert with cookies on christmas eve. Maybe I could make a whole30 version with coconut cream and cauliflower rice? lol, no.  :P

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I've learned over the years that 'substitute and replace' is usually a fail. Holiday meals or not, if I call it "x" and they're expecting "x", nothing else will do. I've also found that the more complicated the dish (as in, more and/or unfamiliar ingredients) the less successful it was. 

 

I introduced roasted veggies this year at Thanksgiving and they were a hit. Especially because they were so simple, fast, and I got to sit and visit while my 1-3 ingredient foods cooked.

 

For Christmas I'm looking at pork roulade with tenderloins. I can half one tenderloin to make two recipes each stuffed with something different. Maybe one savory and one "sweet" with fruit. Still researching recipes. No traditional ham for me, especially when the family's traditional ham is prepared with canned pineapple, brown sugar, and 7-Up soda.  :blink:

 

My family also does those ambrosia things with the Cool Whip and marshmallows. Like eating wet, sweet air. Blech!

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