More Holiday Recipes Redux

Sorry for the duplicate-looking posts!  I just didn't REALLY finish that previous post before I hit publish and I felt lazy and left it like that.  Sorry!  But here's BOTH recipes that I wanted to share.

I wrote about my pre-Thanksgiving menu a while back and I hope it helped make a few dinners a bit more paleo.  Now that we're halfway through December I need to start planning my Christmas Dinner.  I haven't completely made my choice between a Rib Roast and a Turkey yet.  But regardless, my dinner will also include recipe like these.

Paleo Green Bean Casserole by Fed&Fit.com
I'm ashamed to admit that I did NOT get a picture of this awesome dish that my even awesomer Sister-In-Law made me for Thanksgiving.  I'm the ONLY one in the family that likes Green bean casserole, and she made a paleo version.  That's Family Love right there.  But I can only blame my lack of photographic proof on the fact that I couldn't WAIT to stuff my face hole with it.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb Fresh Green Beans (I prefer Haricot Vert)
• 8 oz Roughly Chopped Mushrooms
• 4 oz Bacon (about 5 large strips)
• 1 cup Thinly Sliced Yellow Onions
• 1/2 cup Finely Chopped Shallots
• 3 Cloves Garlic Minced
• ½ cup Almond Meal
• 1.5 cups Unsweetened Almond Milk
• 3 tsp Sea Salt
• 2 tsp Cracked Black Pepper
• 2 Tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  
3. Drizzle 1 Tbl EVOO on the thinly sliced yellow onions and sprinkle with 1 tsp sea salt.  Massage the EVOO and salt evenly into the onions with your hands.  Spread the onions out on the baking sheet evenly.
4. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F, removing from the oven and stirring/flipping every 10 minutes.  You’re looking for a brown/crispy texture.  [Note: cook for an additional 5+ minutes if they aren’t crispy enough].
5. Put a large pot of water and salt on high heat and bring to a boil.  Cut the green beans into half and add to the water when it starts boiling.  Boil for 5 minutes then remove from the water and place in a bowl.
6. Roughly chop the bacon and add to a sauté pan on high heat.  Lightly crisp the bacon then add the chopped shallots.  Once the shallots are slightly clear, add the minced garlic.  After a few minutes, add the mushrooms and continue to stir on medium/high heat.  When the mushrooms have cooked down and have a golden color, remove the entire bacon/scallion/garlic/mushroom mixture and place aside in a separate bowl.
7. With the heat on medium/low, add 1 Tbl EVOO and 1 cup of the almond milk and stir with a metal whisk.  Add half of the almond meal and whisk until it dissolves.  Carefully add the rest of the almond milk and almond meal, whisking the mixture together over a medium simmer.  Add 2 tsp sea salt and the 2 tsp pepper.  Whisk until the gravy thickens slightly to the texture of heavy cream.
8. Reduce the heat and add the bacon/mushroom mixture then stir.  Add the green beans to the sauté pan and stir.  Pour the entire mixture into a medium-sized casserole dish.  Cover with aluminum foil & the lid (if you have one) and bake at 350F for 15 minutes.  
9. Remove the foil/lid and sprinkle the dried onions evenly on top.  Place back in oven for 5 minutes at 350F uncovered.
10. Enjoy!

Approximate Nutrition Facts:  Serving size: ¾ cup scoop  Makes ~9 servings  170 Calories; 12 g Fat; 

9 g Protein; 1 g Sugar

Paleo Cranberry Sauce

The problem with traditional cranberry sauce is that it is made with an ENORMOUS amount of sugar.  Usually a whole cup for 12 ounces of berries.  And I've tried to replace it in the past (pre-paleo) with Splenda.  It just tastes all wrong.  So this year I did the following and it tasted wonderfully tart and complemented my herbed turkey really well.

Ingredients

• 12 oz bag of cranberries
• 1 cup of Orange Juice
• Honey 

Instructions
1.  Place the cranberries and orange juice into a sauce pan (that you don't mind having to scrub afterwards, this stuff is sticky!)
2.  Heat on high until boiling, then simmer for about 10 minutes.  The cranberries will make alarming popping sounds.  Don't worry, this is supposed to happen.
3.  Let sit for a bit before scooping it into a pretty bowl or storage container.
4.  Enjoy with some honey added to taste to adjust the level of sweetness that you like.  I only added a bit, to help curb the tartness.  I didn't miss the canned gelatinous mass at all.