Sunday, October 9, 2011

Thanksgiving Goodies

Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay your vows unto the most High.
Psalm 50:14

It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and we celebrate Thanksgiving on Monday, October 10, 2011.  I was wondering what to make that would be healthy.

Most of my lovely readers know that I've been trying to eat healthier and find different and fun recipes for using vegetables and other healthy foods. Creative and interesting ways of eating these foods means I will be more likely to eat them.

In my family we tend to eat turkey for the Thanksgiving meal. This year we will have a stuffed chicken. For dessert we will probably have pumpkin pie or maybe a pumpkin mousse pie.  For mashed potatoes I thought I would  make mashed cauliflower (mock mashed potatos) for a change and I'd like to try this new recipe for kale salad. I haven't cooked the dinner yet and probably won't until Monday so I am having to use other photos (with proper credit given). I wanted to share the recipes with you in case you want to use any of them.

The first recipe comes from nutritionist, Julie Daniluk, host of Healthy Gourmet, a reality cooking show.  The other recipes I picked up here and there.  Ms. Daniluk's  first book, Meals that Heal Inflammation is soon to be published and I understand it will advise on allergy free foods that both taste great and help the body's healing process.



THANKGIVING KALE SALAD

Photo credit: Julie Daniluk and Chatelaine magazine

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa (yields 4 cooked cups)
2 1/2 cups water, divided
8 cups kale (yields 4 steamed cups), stems removed, cut into ribbons
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries (juice-sweetened)

Dressing:
1/4 cup pumpkin seed butter (use almond butter if you can't find pumpkin)
1/4 cup apple cider
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp salt (reduce if needed)

Directions:


1. Place quinoa and 1.5 cups of water into a medium pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, then simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat for five minutes, then fluff with a fork. Let cool.

2. Place kale and 1 cup water in a large pot and steam for two minutes. Drain well.

3. Place cooked quinoa into kale pot. Add seeds and berries. Mix well to combine.

4. Mix all dressing ingredients together in a bowl and add to pot.

5. Combine well. Serve warm immediately or chill and serve.

Makes nine cups.

Modifications:  Since there will only be two of us for Thanksgiving dinner, I will quarter this recipe. I also plan to use almond butter rather than pumpkin seed butter as that is what I could find at the shop yesterday.

For my readers in Africa or for those who don't have quinoa readily available you could use cous cous, bulgar wheat, cracked wheat, or barley.  For the pumpkin seed butter you could substitute smooth peanut butter in the dressing recipe and use any kind of seeds (pumpkin, sliced almonds, peanuts, cashews, etc.) in the salad itself.

CAULIFLOWER "MASHED" POTATOES 

1 head cauliflower
1/8 skim milk
Salt & pepper
Optional seasonings: Ranch dressing, garlic, cheddar cheese, chili powder.
 
Cook cauliflower until fork tender. Place cauliflower (in pieces), skim milk, salt and pepper in blender. Whip until smooth. Pour cauliflower into small baking dish. Sprinkle with seasoning to taste. A few shakes of Ranch dressing powder,  or add garlic, salt and pepper, cheddar cheese, or a dash of chili powder. Serve hot/warm.


PUMPKIN MOUSSE PIE


1 graham wafer pie crust
2 tbsp. gelatin powder
1 cup water
1 cup whipping cream
1 can (19 oz). pumpkin pie filling
1 cup walnuts
1 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg

Sprinkle gelatin in 1/2 water.  Boil remaining water, add to gelatin and stir until dissolved. In a separate bowl, whip whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine pumpkin pie filling, walnuts, mascarpone, honey, cinnamon and nutmeg, stir well.   If you don't have mascarpone cheese you can use creme fraiche or cream cheese beaten with heavy whipping cream (about 3 parts cream cheese and 1 part whipping cream). Perhaps you could even use thick, plain yogurt. I think I will look use the yogurt myself.  Add gelatin. fold in whipped cream until combined and pour mousse into the ready made graham wafer pie crust. Gently shake the pie pan to release the air bubble and smooth out the surface.


 I hope  you enjoy these Thanksgiving meal recipes.
 It is a good time to reflect on all the many blessings we have at this time of year, especially the things we may take for granted.  For example, parents or loved one, a job or some means of financial support, shelter, food, the ability to walk, see, hear, etc. I am thankful for all these things and more especially since my ability to walk has been recently restricted.
Check out my post tomorrow to read one more thing for which I give thanks.

20 comments:

Angelika Poe said...

Hi Joyful, here is the Geli, I am now a follower with you and have you in Google Reader and now I see how it looks in your home to Canada, I have a dear friend in Hamilton, and where you're at home ? ... warm greetings from Geli, please excuse my bad English, but it was long ago, when I learned it in school.

Joyful said...

Hi Geli, thank you so much for your visit and for following me. I hope you find many nice pictures by going through my archives. You know more English than I know German but I will use Google translator to help me.

Angelika Poe said...

Joyful ... hi, I'll take the Googgle translator too and I also think we understand each other even then, for me it's a little exercise and you can read on, and about Kenya, I see it many years ago, a very poor country. .. see you soon back with greetings from Geli

Fred Alton said...

Wonderful sounding recipes here! I've been on a short "three day away" trip and yours is the second blog I've read. You remind me that our Thanksgiving is just a few weeks - on Nov 24, I think. We already have a couple of pumpkins ready to open up for making pie! Happy Thanksgiving week to you this week.

Joyful said...

Geli, I'm sure we will have more time to visit and comment. I enjoy travelling and I enjoy wonderful travel photos too. Have a wonderful night.

Joyful said...

Thank you, Fred. Pumpkin pie with fresh pumpkins sounds wonderful. Have a great time catching up to the blogosphere and welcome home.

Barbara Rosenzweig said...

These look wonderful!!
I've never tried the kale. I heard that it was bitter. Is it?

Thanks for your visit!

Barbara Rosenzweig said...

I'll have to give kale a try, as long as there are a lot of sweet flaors, too.
Thanks!

Joyful said...

Hi Barbara, yes, the kale is bitter and so I usually use it along with other flavors. It helps me to eat more of it. I'm learning to eat this very important veggie.

Joyful said...

Good for you, Barbara! I'm glad the bitter taste of the kale won't put you off from trying it.

Linda said...

Happy Thanksgiving, Penny! My relatives are celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving today in eastern Washington. Wish I could join them!

Linda

Joyful said...

Thank you Linda! When I was working we always celebrated Thanksgiving a day early to allow me to rest or travel back to home. Now I am retired I can cook on Thanksgiving Day ;-) I wish you could join your relatives too and I'm happy to hear they still celebrate on "Canadian time" :-)

Angelika Poe said...

Good morning, Penny, my night is over and I sleep well. Today we only have rain and it's cold. There are 9 ° and no more sun.

I am pleased with our correspondence and wish you a beautiful Thanksgiving Day, cordial greetings Geli

Joyful said...

Guten morgen, Geli. I am glad you had a good sleep. I am pleased with our correspondence also. I will go to sleep soon and hope you can keep warm.

Kilauea Poetry said...

Happy Thanksgiving! I didn't realize it was this early..wow these recipes sound delicious! Can't wait to see what you made. My husband would enjoy the moussse!
Well we didn't make the Costco run yet but I had a big bag of carrots in the fridge still (just saved them from getting mildewed. Anyway, I made carrot cake
(ha ha)..but, I plan to juice the rest in the morning thanks to your inspiration! Wishing you a wonderful day and thanks for the recipes too-

Sr Crystal Mary Lindsey said...

Happy Thankgiving. I see you will have a wonderful feast of healthy goodies. Thanks so good. God bless you with much love and happiness.
Crystal Mary

Sr Crystal Mary Lindsey said...

Thats so good... xxx

Joyful said...

Regina, I love carrot cake. I hope you will post a photo or two and the recipe ;-) I'm glad you have more carrots left over for juicing.

Joyful said...

Crystal Mary, thanks for dropping by. As you can see I'm trying hard to keep the food healthy. God bless!

Carole M. said...

...my some really tasty recipes here. Tks for visiting my blog too.

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