Thanksgiving- A Big Success!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  This was my first big holiday after changing my eating to grain & sugar-free, and it was great!   We celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family at my parent's house.  I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures.  I was in charge of bringing pomegranate salad and sweet potato casserole.  I also decided to make a gluten-free pumpkin pie so I could enjoy some dessert.

The pomegranate salad is so easy- you just mix the seeds from two pomegranates, one can of pineapple tidbits, cut up two apples (I used gala), and add sweetened whipped cream and pecan bits.  I should've tried honey sweeted whipped cream, but I wasn't brave enough & used a tiny bit of powdered sugar in it.  This recipe is so forgiving, too.  You an pretty much just add whatever amounts of the different ingredients you want & it will work.  I would've added more pomegranate, but they were stinkin' expensive:  2 for $5.  My sister found them at her grocery store for $0.70 each!!!!  If I would've know I would have had her pick up 10 for me!  We love them around here.

The sweet potato casserole turned out AMAZING!  I am always in charge of the sweet potatoes, because I love them.  I always have candied them up & made them more like a dessert.  This year I used the sweet potato casserole recipe from gnowfglins.  It was a lot like my old recipe, but it asked for honey instead of sugar.  I also added a couple eggs, even though they weren't called for.  Everyone raved about them, and yes, I agree they were amazing.  I wish I had a picture.

Here's the recipe:

Sweet Potato Casserole (from http://www.gnowfglins.com/)

• 4 large sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons raw honey
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons tablespoons butter or unrefined coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup chopped crispy nuts*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and chop sweet potatoes coarsely. Place in pot and cover with filtered water. Bring to boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Partially cover and let sweet potatoes cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Drain.

While still hot, beat or mash until smooth. Stir in 1/4 to 1/2 cup honey, 1/4 to 1/2 cup of butter or coconut oil, sea salt, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg; beat or mash until the mixture is light and fluffy. Transfer mixture to an ungreased 3 quart casserole dish. Arrange the nuts in a single layer on top. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons honey. Top with 2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil in chunks. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and bubbly**.

When I printed off the recipe to take I forgot to grab the 2nd page, so I didn't remember to drizzle the top with honey or top with extra butter.  They were amazing, just the same, so I probably won't do that in the future.  My kids are begging me to make them again, so I'll probably make them again during the week.  I'm going to make another Thanksgiving dinner and enjoy the leftovers.

I think I'll try this recipe for celery root mash (from Recipes to Nourish) instead of mashed potatoes.  I've never used celery root before, even though I bought some.  I planned to use it in a recipe about a month ago, but I never got around to the recipe & I think it's still in the back of my fridge.  I'm a bit nervous, considering how awful my other mashed potato substitute went. 

I'll review the pumpkin pie recipe I used tomorrow.