Thanksgiving

I totally forgot to take a picture of my plate when it was piled high.
Here's my plate when I had finished off half my food!

This is horrible of me. I made so much yummy food for Thanksgiving, I don't know where to start!

I suppose I'll start by saying it was an awesome day with family and food, and that I look forward to our Christmas together. (Christmas weekend will be such a weekend of food! Friday is Christmas with my folks and Grandma, morning is just our little family, afternoon/evening with TBG's family, Sunday morning is a Christmas celebration at church, and then that afternoon/evening with my cousins! Wooiee!)

I love my family

We enjoyed amazing food-turkey, potato's o'Doyle, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, cranberry relish, gravy, dinner rolls, red jello for Grandma (her favorite food), fruit salad...and then apple pie, spicy molasses cookies, chocolate cupcakes and ice cream for dessert! Gluttony! Of all that, the only foods TBG and I couldn't have were the potato's o'Doyle-dairy-and I couldn't have the jello-sugar. But everything else? Gluten free. Dairy free. Sugar free. And so darn yummy! (the ice cream is called Rice Dream, btw..)

Tonight I'll just post the green bean casserole recipe. I kinda altered the original sweet potato recipe...a lot,... so I need to remember how I made it.. >_>

1.5 lbs-ish of fresh green beans
10 ounces mushrooms-I made a combo of 3 different mushies 
3 cloves garlic, minced

generous pinch cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
Fresh pepper to taste
2 tablespoons TG's all purpose flour
3/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon dry sherry
3/4 cup coconut milk
5-6+ bacon strips, cooked
1 can water chestnuts, chopped

onions, sliced and cut into small pieces
1 egg or egg white, whipped
all purpose flour seasoned with salt and pepper

1. Steam the green beans. Boiling them takes out lots of the nutrients. We want this casserole to have a semblance of health. ^_^
2. Chop the mushrooms into small pieces. You want pieces that you won't mind taking bites out of from your fork-so not huge chunks!
3. Toss mushrooms, salt, pepper and cayenne into a non-stick pan. Stir it around on medium-low heat until softened and the juices start smelling really good and earthy.
4. Whisk broth, flour and sherry together, add to the mushrooms and simmer for about 10 minutes or until it starts to thicken on its own. Add the milk and simmer until it thickens a bit more. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.
5. Crumble/cut the bacon into small pieces. Toss bacon, water chestnuts and green beans together in casserole dish. Add the mushroom sauce. Stir together so the mushroom chunks aren't just on top.
6. Coat onions in egg and dip into flour mix. Fry on stovetop until golden brown and smelling really good. Layer on top of the casserole.
7. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so.

Enjoy! Serves roughly 10, with 90 calories and 10 carbs a serving!



And also the sweet potato casserole-

2 sweet potato's-LARGE
2 yam's -LARGE
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 TBSP coconut milk

1/4 cup butter, softened
3 TBSP TG's all purpose flour
1/2 cup+ chopped pecans
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Cut the sweet potato's and yam's into even chunks. Steam until a fork runs through them smoothly.
2. Mash the potato's, eggs, salt, butter, syrup and milk until they reach a consistancy that you like.
3. Pour mixture into casserole dish.
4. Now mix together the remaining butter, flour, cinnamon, pecans and sugar. Dollop over the sweet potato's. Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Serves 16ish, 155 calories and 18 carbs apiece

And I leave you with this image of Lulu, for her Thanksgiving dinner: