Susie's Famous Pumpkin Roll - Paleofied!

I can hardly believe I have successfully transformed this delicious treat into a paleofied masterpiece!  For my friends who have come to love the traditional pumpkin roll my husband and I have been making for 20 years, here is a much healthier version.  This one is grain free and gluten free and can be made dairy free or coconut free.

Photo: Carly Johnson

Directions for bread:

Start with the Best Pumpkin Bread EVER from an earlier post.  Do everything the same until you get to putting it in the pan.

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Use coconut oil and grease and wax paper line a rimmed cookie sheet.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan.  Smooth out batter to ensure it is evenly distributed.
4. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes.
6. Invert pan onto a thin dish towel, remove pan and wax paper.  Allow to cool for 10 more minutes.
7. From 10-inch side, roll cake up in the towel.  Set aside.
8. Prepare filling.

Filling ingredients:

• 1-8oz package organic cream cheese or diary free option: 2 cans of full fat coconut milk, chilled in the fridge over night.
• 4T softened butter
• 1/4 cup real maple syrup or raw honey
• 1t vanilla extract
• 1T cinnamon

Directions for roll:

1. Beat together all the ingredients for the filling.  If using coconut milk, only use the cream that is sitting at the top of the can by pouring out the milk.  If the coconut milk is a little thin, add up to a tablespoon of arrowroot powder to thicken.
2. Unroll the bread and spread the filling evenly, covering all of the bread.
3. Roll up bread without the towel and wrap in plastic wrap.  Your bread may crack in a few places, but that is ok.  Just roll it up nice and tight.
4. Chill for at least one hour before slicing and ENJOY!

Thanksgiving 2013 Menu

This year our Thanksgiving will be a much needed low-key, super mellow family day.  And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17 HCSB

Our menu:

Alton's Roast Turkey 

see recipe below

Stuffing Stuffed Acorn Squash

Traditional Cranberry Sauce

Roasted Root Vegetable Salad

 Bacon Garlic Green Beans

Mom's Pumpkin Pie

Apple Crumble

Good Eats Roast Turkey with minor modifications:

Photo: Food Network

Ingredients:

• 1 14-16 lb frozen organic, free range turkey

For the brine:

•  1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1 gallon bone broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
• 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
• 1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 sage leaves
• melted butter

Directions - 2 to 3 days before roasting:

1. Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38˚F.
2. Combine the bone broth, salt, coconut sugar, allspice berries, and ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat.  Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil.  Remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.
3. The night before combine the brine, water, and ice in a 5-gallon bucket.  Place the thawed turkey (innards removed) breast side down in brine.  If necessary. weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in a cool area for 8 - 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Directions - day of:

1. Preheat oven to 500˚F.  Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water.  Discard the brine.
2. Place the bird on a roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.  Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage.  Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with melted butter.
4. Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500˚F for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and cover breasts with a double layer of foil.  Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350˚F.  Set the thermometer alarm to 161˚F.  A 14-16 lb bird should require a total of 2- 2/12 hours of roasting.  
5. Let turkey rest, loosely covered with foil for 15 minutes before carving.

Apple Crumble

To round out our Thanksgiving feast here is Cooper's favorite: apple crumble.  

Photo: Our Paleo Life

Ingredients for pie crust:

• 3/4 cup raw walnut halves or pecans
• 1/2 cup pitted, medjool dates
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Grind nuts in a food processor until finely ground and almost starting to turn into butter, or just starting to clump together.
2. Add dates, butter, and salt to the food processor, pulse until combined.
3. Press into a 9” pie plate.
4. Set aside.

 For the pie filling:

• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 4 apples, peeled, cored, cubed
• 1/4 cup apple cider 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan and add apples.  Cook for 8-10 minutes or until just starting to soften.
3. Add remaining ingredients, except arrowroot starch, and mix to combine.
4. Remove from heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer ingredients to prepared pie dish.
5. To the remaining liquid add arrowroot starch and whisk over low heat for about a minute until mixture is thickened.  Pour over apples.
6. Bake for 10 min.

For the streusel topping:

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• a pinch of cardamom
• a pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons raw honey

Directions:

1. Pulse all ingredients, except honey, together in a food processor until coarse crumbles.
2. Add honey and mix with hands to form a sticky, crumbly mixture.
3. Remove pie from oven and top with struesel.
4. Return to oven for 5 more minutes.
5. Remove and allow to cool for a few minutes.  It is best served warm.

Mom's Pumpkin Pie

When I asked my kids what their favorite Thanksgiving dish is, they both decided on dessert. So, today's Thanksgiving recipe is Carly's favorite. Seriously, what Thanksgiving meal is complete without pumpkin pie? Look for Cooper's favorite, apple pie, next.

Photo: The Paleo Mom

 Ingredients for pie crust:

·      ¾ cup raw walnut halves or pecans

·      ½ cup pitted, medjool dates

·      2T melted butter

·      pinch of salt

Directions:

1.    Grind nuts in a food processor until finely ground and almost starting to turn into butter, or just starting to clump together.

2.    Add dates, butter, and salt to the food processor, pulse until combined.

3.    Press into a 9” pie plate or an 8” deep dish pie plate will work, too.

4.    Set aside

Ingredients for pumpkin custard:

·      ¼ cup raw cashews

·      ¾ cup raw walnut halves

·      3 eggs + 1 egg yolk

·      ¼ cup maple syrup

·      15oz canned organic pumpkin puree

·      2 tsp cinnamon

·      ½ tsp ginger

·      ½ tsp nutmeg

·      pinch of cloves

·      pinch of cardamom

·      pinch of salt

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 350˚F.

2.    Place nuts in food processor and pulse until finely ground. 

3.    Add eggs and syrup and blend for 2-3 min, until completely smooth.

4.    Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until combined.

5.    Pour into prepared pie shell.  Spread the top out evenly with a spatula.

6.    Bake for 40 minutes.  Allow pie to cool completely before serving.

Bacon Garlic Green Beans

Photo: Galonamission

Easy and super yummy.  This will round out our Thanksgiving dinner nicely and won't take up any precious oven space.

Ingredients:

2 lbs organic green beans, ends trimmed
1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
3-5 garlic cloves, chopped or 1T garlic powder
2T butter
Salt to taste

Directions:

• In a large pot boil water and add salt. 
• Add green beans to salted boiling water and parboil for about 5 minutes or until softened but still crunchy. 
• Drain green beans.
• Melt butter in a skillet and add garlic.
• Add green beans and toss to evenly coat.
• Add salt to taste.
• Top with bacon and serve.

Roasted Root Vegetable Salad

Thanks to PreppyPaleo for the inspiration for this delicious side dish.  We have officially added this accompaniment to our Thanksgiving lineup.  My husband loved it so much he had it again for lunch the next day.

Photo: Preppy Paleo

Dressing:

1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbs. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. raw honey
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Salad:

6 cups mixed greens
4 cups chopped root vegetables - beet, parsnip, sweet potato, carrot
2 tablespoons unsweetened apple cider
1 tablespoon melted butter

salt to taste

4 slices of bacon
1/2 cup chopped raw almonds

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425˚F.
• Toss root vegetables with cider and butter. Season with salt and bake for 20 minutes or until just starting to brown.
• While vegetables are roasting combine all dressing ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.
• Cook bacon until crispy and crumble.
• Toss mixed greens with dressing, top with root vegetables, bacon, and almonds.

Bacon Butternut Squash Soufflé

Thanks to PaleOMG for the inspiration for this one.  This would be a nice addition to your side dishes but also a great post-Thanksgiving creation using leftover mashed yams or sweet potatoes.

Photo: PaleOMG

Ingredients:

• 2 cups butternut squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, or yam, pureed
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 heaping tablespoon arrowroot starch
• 4 slices of bacon, diced
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 shallot, sliced
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh sage, chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste
• butter
  

Directions:

1.    Preheat oven to 400˚F.

2.    Cook bacon until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate with a paper towel.

3.    Add puree, 1T bacon fat, and egg yolks to the food processor. Puree until smooth, pour into a large bowl.

4.    Heat 1T bacon fat in a skillet over medium heat and add garlic and shallots.

5.    Cook until shallots are tender and translucent.

6.    Add shallots, bacon, arrowroot starch, herbs, salt and pepper to the bowl of puree and mix well.

7.    In a separate large bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. With a spatula, fold egg whites into your squash bowl until no white streaks remain.

8.    Grease a glass baking dish with butter and pour in mixture. 

9.  Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Fall Soup

Do you serve Thanksgiving dinner in courses?  Do you include a soup?  We don't usually but I thought I'd throw this recipe out there.  It's super easy and super yummy.  I was inspired by my friend Kindra's latest creation.  Please check it out at Bon Appetit Paleo along with the rest of her delicious posts.

Photo: The Gracious Pantry

Into a crockpot I threw:

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks (I cheated and bought it already cut up. Some days are like that.)
3 - 4 small, organic carrots
1/2 onion, cut into chunks
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup water
1 can coconut milk
1" ginger, peeled, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
sea salt
1T cumin

Cover and set on low for about 10 hours.  When ready to eat, remove the bay leaf and use an immersion blender to blend ingredients.  Add more coconut milk, if needed, to get the consistency you desire.  No immersion blender?  Blend in batches with your blender or food processor.

Roasted Garlic and Parsnip Mash

I really enjoyed this possible Thanksgiving side dish.  Turns out, though, my daughter doesn't like parsnips - too much like cooked carrots.  Just found out she doesn't like sweet potatoes, either.  Yikes!

So we won't be enjoying this dish for Thanksgiving, but you might.

Photo: Paleoaholic

Ingredients:

3 big parsnips, peeled, and cut into chunks
2 Tbsp olive oil or other fat suitable for high temperatures
1/4+ cup homemade bone broth or raw milk
2 whole garlic bulbs
sea salt to taste

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400˚F
• Place parsnips in a baking dish and drizzle with oil.  Sprinkle with salt.
• Cut tops off of garlic bulbs to expose cloves.  Place on a square of foil, drizzle with oil, and fold up sides of foil to create a pouch.
• Roast parsnips and garlic until soft, about 40 minutes.
• Place parsnips in food processor and add liquid.  
• Squeeze garlic cloves out of bulb and add to food processor.  
• Blend ingredients together until they are the consistency you desire.  Add more liquid and salt to taste.

Green Bean Casserole With Crispy Shallots

We usually pass up green bean casserole due to it's unhealthy ingredients.  This year it sounds good so I'm hunting for the perfect recipe.  Here's my version of The Urban Poser's recipe.

 

The Urban Poser

Ingredients:

1½ cups of Creamy Cashew Gravy*

1 lb haricots verts

2 large shallots

¼ cup coconut oil or ghee

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400˚F
• Blanch the green beans in boiling, salted water for about 2 min. Drain. If you are not going to bake green beans immediately, you will need to shock them in a bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking.
•  In a large bowl, combine the green beans and gravy. Transfer to a casserole dish and bake at 400˚F for about 20 min or until the gravy begins to bubble.
•  Meanwhile prepare crispy shallots.  Peel and slice the shallots into thin rings.
•  Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium/low heat until oil bubbles slightly. Reduce the heat to low, add the shallots and cook for 5 - 6 min or until they reach a golden brown color. Stir occasionally to ensure even browning.
•  Using a slotted spoon, remove shallots from the oil, drain well and let cool on paper towels until ready to use.
•  Remove green beans from oven, top with crispy shallots, and serve.

*Creamy Cashew Gravy

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews

1 cup homemade bone broth + ¼ cup

1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee

½ onion, chopped

3 large garlic cloves, chopped

½ tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried thyme

sea salt to taste

Directions:

• Soak the cashews for 4 hours then rinse and drain. Transfer to food processor 
• Sauté the onions and garlic in 2 tablespoons oil over medium heat, cook until caramelized.  
• Add onion & garlic to food processor with the cashews. Set the pan aside.
• Add 1 cup of broth to the food processor and blend until smooth.
• Pour the cashew mixture into the onions & garlic pan. Add the thyme and whisk the cashew mixture over a medium heat for a few minutes or until it thickens and darkens up a little bit.  Whisk constantly so that it doesn't burn.
• Whisk in the ¼ cup broth, lemon juice, and salt.  Stirring constantly, allow it thicken for a few minutes. 
  

Best Pumpkin Bread EVER

I was looking for a baked good to take to my bible study.  I came across this recipe and I'm so glad I tried it. Thanks to Against All Grain for this gluten-free, grains-free, dairy-free, coconut-free AND amazing treat!  

I made two.  One for the family and one for bible study.  My family (including my very picky-when-it-comes-to-food husband) loved it so much it was difficult to keep them from eating the whole thing.  I managed to save some and turn it into pumpkin bread french toast the next morning.  Delicious!  As I labeled my treat for bible study I secretly hoped the ladies would see it's gluten-free, grain-free, etc., be too afraid to try it, and I'd get to take some home.  No such luck. 

Photo: Against All Grain

Here's my version:

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

¾ cup almond butter

½ cup grade B maple syrup

½ cup pumpkin puree

3 tablespoons softened unsalted butter

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup arrowroot powder

1½ tablespoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1½  teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon lemon zest

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350˚F.
• Lightly grease an 8.5×4.5 loaf pan then place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the pan.
• In a high-speed blender or food processor combine the eggs, almond butter, maple syrup, pumpkin, butter, lemon juice, and vanilla. Puree for 30 seconds until smooth and creamy.
• Add the arrowroot, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest, ginger, and sea salt. Blend again for 30 seconds until well combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 40 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Remove the loaf from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool completely before eating, about 2 hours. Store tightly wrapped in the refrigerator.

For pumpkin bread french toast the next day:

• Whisk together one egg, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 2 tablespoons of raw milk (optional).
• Melt 1 tablespoon of butter over a medium-high heat.
• Slice 1/2 a loaf of pumpkin bread and dip each slice in the egg mixture. 
• Cook on each side for about 2 minutes.  
• Top with grade B maple syrup.