Trial Run for a A Paleo Thanksgiving

Looks like Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, my little family will be traveling to join the big family to celebrate.  I'll admit that the idea of a road trip combined with a holiday centered around stuffing yourself with "once a year" foods has me anxious.  It is difficult to be Paleo on the Road.  I'm trying to be optimistic, afterall it'll be GREAT fodder for the blog.  I'm also determined to work on some family favorites, to alter them to be paleo and still be acceptable to my non-paleo family.

My new toy

On Monday, since I couldn't really walk due to the fact that I'd run a half marathon the day before, I cooked.  Almost all day.  It's what you do when you have a day off due to a National Holiday but can't really walk without grimacing.  So I did a trial run for Thanksgiving.  I made a 10lb turkey in my new 18qt Electric Roaster, tried the Paleo Stuffing from Julian Bakery, and just because I found the ingredients at my local Sprouts I made Caveman Cooking Creation's Almond Coconut Chocolate Drops.

roasted breast side down

The turkey came out SO great!  You can find the recipe at CookingCaveman.com.  The only changes I made were to mix my olive oil and herbs together to make a wet rub.  I'm a bit infatuated with wet rubs for poultry.  I'm just never convinced that herbs sprinkled on top of olive oil or butter will STAY long enough to infuse the meat with flavor.

fail

The stuffing was good, but not great.  I burnt my first attempt at making bread crumbs from the Julian Bakery's Paleo breads.  The second attempt was a success, but when making the stuffing I should have been less afraid to add MORE broth when asked.  The taste was GREAT, especially for my first meat based stuffing recipe, although the breadcrumbs were dry.  That recipe can be found at the blog for the Julian Bakery.

These are good right out
of the bag!

For "dessert", I made the Caveman Cooking Creations' Almond Coconut Chocolate Drops.  I had stumbled upon the ENJOY LIFE vegan chocolate chips that this recipe needs at my local Sprouts. They were on sale 2 for $7!  So I snagged a bag and then giddily bought almond butter, knowing that this recipe was about to happen.  These definitely benefit from a SOLID almond butter.  Mine was room temperature and a bit runny.  So when I tried shaping the balls they flattened out to more of a disk.  That did NOT stop me form enjoying them immensely.  SO good!  And easy!

I'll be doing another trial run of Thanksgiving dishes this weekend.  Up next is a paleo version of Southern-style green beans and cranberry relish!

When life hands you a neck bone,
make broth!