As turkey recipes abound, I’m just like everyone else. I only cook a turkey once a year, so I watch all the cooking shows, and read the latest news on turkey cooking. When Michael Symon draped his turkey in a cheesecloth on the Chew a few years ago, and said “this bird will not need basting,” I knew I was in.

I didn’t use his Greek flavor profile, choosing my own, so feel free to adjust the recipe according to your favorite seasonings.  I used oranges, thyme, sage, rosemary and shallots to season the bird and I made my own turkey stock.

What Kind of Cheesecloth.

You can get your cheesecloth here. It’s cooking grade and comes to your door from Amazon.

The seasonings and spices are not as important as the technique. I think you could use chicken stock, salt and pepper and still come out a winner. But, I know you’ll fuss with your favorite herbs just like I do.

To Brine or Not to Brine Your Cheesecloth Roasted Turkey

I’m in good company with all the major chefs like Bobby Flay and Micheal Symon who don’t brine their turkey. Bobby Flay says that brining is for folks who overcook their turkey. A fresh turkey should not need brining.

However, there is something called a dry brine, which is the secret to my roast chicken. You simply salt the turkey the day before, wrap in plastic, not unlike the way I roast a chicken.

What kind of turkey should you use to make turkey roasted with cheesecloth technique?

I think this is of paramount importance if you want a good tasting, healthy turkey.

I always buy a fresh turkey from a reliable source. I don’t think you need to spend $100 on a turkey, but I don’t recommend looking for a bargain. Do your homework. Dismiss hormone laden turkeys that don’t ever cook, and buy the best turkey you can find within reason. Having said that, even the $100 turkey can be a disaster if it’s cooked to death.

This is a tested recipe using a turkey which was humanely raised and vegetarian fed, free of antibiotics and growth hormones. It was absolutely perfect. Get my turkey gravy recipe here.

Temperature and Roasting Times for Roast Turkey

Turkey that is fresh, defrosting takes approximately 13 minutes per pound. Many ovens comes with a probe, which will release once the turkey (at the thigh) reaches the temperature you set, which should be 165° F. If you don’t have a built-in probe, use an instant read meat thermometer. Measure at the thigh, away from the bone. You may also want to check the temperature of your oven with this oven thermostat.

Tell me, do you watch cooking shows and use the recipes for your Thanksgiving dinner?

My Best Thanksgiving Recipes from Spinach Tiger

Click here or on this picture for over 60 of my tested Thanksgiving Recipes. I have made most of these recipes several times, and they are winners!

• Corn Bread Dressing
• Sage Sausage Apple Stuffing
• Stove Top Candied Sweet Potatoes
• Pennsylvania Dutch Corn Pudding
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts
• No Lump Mashed Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes Biscuits
• Pear Cranberry Sauce
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Tart
• Gluten Free Sweet Potato Biscuits
• Gluten Free (keto friendly) Sweet Potato Bread

Check out the Thanksgiving Food Pinterest Board for some great recipes by top bloggers. 

If you’re looking for sides and desserts, I have you covered in my Holiday Recipes Category. Don’t forget to check out my Turkey Leftovers post below. For fun, I’ll be cooking/baking lots of dishes on instagram stories, so please follow me there.

What to do with Turkey Leftovers

Leftovers

We Have You Covered for Healthy Thanksgiving

If you want a Keto Friendly, Gluten Free Thanksgiving go here.

No matter what your needs are for Thanksgiving, we can help you make it delicious and we are grateful you are here. If you’re a Nashville local needing keto or diabetic friendly bakes, I have a keto bakery and we are taking orders for the holidays now. 

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No Baste Holiday Turkey, Roasted with Cheesecloth Technique

Cheesecloth no baste turkey adapted from Michael Symon, turkey stock adapted from Guy Fieri. Perfectly moist, golden brown turkey with no opening oven to baste.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 3 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours

Servings 10

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 12-15 pound turkey adjust amount of turkey stock for larger turkey
• salt
• 2 oranges quartered
• 4 large shallots peeled
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 sprig rosemary
• bunch of fresh sage leaves
• 2 celery sticks cut into thirds
• cheesecloth large enough for triple layer over turkey
• Turkey stock Recipe follows (can use a chicken stock, chicken broth)
• TURKEY STOCK INGREDIENTS
• 1 turkey neck
• 1 chicken back or chicken necks can use turkey wings
• 2 tablespoons grapeseed or canola oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 onions quartered
• 2 carrots chopped in thirds
• 3 stalks celery chopped in thirds
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon pepper
• 6 fresh sage leaves

Kitchen Tools Needed

• Organic Unbleached Cheesecloth order here
• Turkey Roasting Pan order here
• Turkey boat order here
• Turkey Platter order here
• Carving Knife order here
• Turkey Lifter order here

Instructions

• Clean turkey, removing everything inside. Check all cavities to remove included gizzards, liver, turkey neck, etc.
• Salt turkey generously, wrap in plastic, refrigerate overnight.
• When ready to roast, Wash salt off. Pat Dry. Allow to sit at room temperature 1 hour.
• Use warm/cool stock. Heat up first if taking out of refrigerator. Allow to cool.
• Preheat oven to 425.
• Pat inside of turkey dry. Season with salt and pepper.
• Stuff turkey with celery, oranges and sage, thyme, shallots, rosemary.
• If desired, place a few sage leaves in between breast flesh and breast skin.
• Place turkey in roasting pan, over a rack.
• Cover entire turkey with cheesecloth. Pour all of the turkey stock over the cheesecloth.
• Roast for 45 minutes at 425 degrees F..
• Lower to 350 degrees, and roast until the internal temperature of the thigh reaches a minimum 165.
• Allow to rest 30 minutes before carving.
• TURKEY STOCK INSTRUCTIONS
• Roast turkey and chicken parts in oven for 45 minutes at 350.
• Add chopped vegetables. Turn meat over and place over vegetables.
• Continue to roast for 35 minutes.
• Add turkey and vegetables and all pan drippings into 4 quarts of boiling water. Bring to simmer, and simmer for 2 hours on low heat.
• Cool. Skim fat. Use immediately or make day before, refrigerate.

The post No Baste Holiday Turkey, Cheesecloth Technique, with Video appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

What if you can have a Keto Thanksgiving Feast and stay on your keto diet or just simply enjoy eating lots of food without repercussions?

This might sound crazy but cutting out the bloated feeling and the effects of over-eating is wonderful. I have already dreaded thanksgiving for most of my life because it’s never been the food that makes me feel good, as its  the dinner of hundreds of carbs at once.

Can you go ahead and have a cheat meal on keto? I’ll tell you what I do. I think about the Monday after Thanksgiving, and how that weekend makes us feel and then I rewrite the traditions in such a way no one notices.

I make most of the starchy things keto-friendly, grain free, sugar free. We will probably still eat more than we should, but here’s the thing, friends. We won’t be spiking blood sugar, getting sucked back into food addictions and feeling bad from food. We WILL be eating a most delicious keto Thanksgiving dinner, including my favorite stuffing and Doug’s favorite sweet potato biscuits.

Even if we over-indulge, the food is still nutritious and won’t take us into the holiday plus 8 pounds dilemma. It will be easier to ease back into Monday morning, because there will still be six “holiday eating” weeks left, and I want to start 2020 feeling great!

If you still look forward to stepping off the keto train for the weekend, step off with fresh fruits and starchier vegetables you’ve been avoiding and eat the carbs that still love you back. It will be an easier reset for you the following week.

Starters for a Keto Thanksgiving

Sausage balls are a Southern tradition, new to me, and very easily made grain free. Serve with ultra thin slices of apples.

Sausage Balls, grain free recipe here. 

Italian Sausage Balls with Almond Flour – a unique take on the southern sausage ball.

Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs recipe here.

These pimento cheese deviled eggs are 100% keto, and have a little kick to them.

The Turkey is the Star of a Keto Thanksgiving

My Legendary Roasted Turkey with Cheesecloth

Every year I think I’m going to try a different method, but I chicken out because this is so moist and delicious using the cheesecloth. It’s EASY and there’s a Video.

Sides for a Delicious Keto Thanksgiving

Kale Salad –  This is more of a paleo choice with figs and butternut squash, but it’s one of the ways to stretch the diet and eat some healthy fruits you might be missing. This is the way to celebrate with food!

Potluck Kale Salad with Sweet Potatoes  

The nice thing about this salad is that it’s made ahead and I promise you not one bite will be left. It’s my most popular potluck dish ever!Shuck the candied sweets for a salad with apples, pecans, and a few roasted diced sweet potatoes. This is not the food that made anyone fat ever! Replace Maple syrup in vinaigrette with this maple extract.

There is no way I’m not having cranberry sauce. Made with Swerve (the better choice in sweetners), it’s sugar free.

Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce

I’ve served this as mashed potatoes in the past and no one knew the difference! It’s that good! We always make regular mashed as an alternative for guests. The no-lump real potato recipe is here.

Mashed Cauliflower

We love the roasted turnips. You will too.

Roasted Turnips

You can roast, saute or eat raw, but this quick five minute flash would be a great appetizer.

Five Minute Flash Fried Brussels Sprouts

What’s a table without squash at Thanksgiving? While 1/4 cup is about 4 net carbs, remember this is nutritious food. If you plan on eating extra carbs this weekend, make it carbs that give you nutrition, not food addiction.

Roasted Acorn Squash

This green bean casserole is 5 stars in my book. It’s fresh. It’s umami. It’s low carb. It’s divine and you can put away that nasty carb laden yuck green bean casserole of the past!

Low Carb Green Beans Casserole with Bacon and and Brussels

Here’s an easier green bean dish that may tickle your fancy.

Fresh Green Beans Almondine

How to Cook Brussels Sprouts Ten Ways

Biscuits and Stuffing Recipes for a Delicious Keto Thanksgiving

My husband loves sweet potato biscuits and the day I came up with a grain free option (with video), he asked me to marry him again. I like to use these also to make a quick stuffing that due to the sweetness can remind you of corn bread stuffing.

Grain Free Sweet Potato Biscuits

Everyone has the one thing they HAVE TO HAVE at Thanksgiving. For me, it’s stuffing and was I ever thrilled when my idea worked. I use my grain free biscuits. I’m right smack in the middle of a new recipe test to try and make this even easier for you, so stay tuned and subscribe here to get that. Also, watch my instagram stories where all the kitchen testing is displayed.

Grain Free Sausage Stuffing

Keto Friendly Desserts for A Delicious Keto Thanksgiving

Of course, there will be desserts. Of course, we will tap into all the Fall flavors such as pumpkin, apple, pecans, etc.

These keto maple pecan cheesecake bars are beyond words in how good they are. It’s hard to eat one bite of this one.

Keto Maple Pecan Cheesecake Bars 

There’s pumpkin pie and there pumpkin cheesecake. We all run to the pumpkin pie cheesecake that tastes like a sugar free grain free version of the Cheesecake factory pumpkin. Serve with my stabilized whipped cream and have a happy day.

Keto Pumpkin Pie

Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake

If you don’t want to mess with any crust, these pumpkin pie jars are the easiest thing to make and amazing.

Keto Crustless Pumpkin Jars with Pecan Streusel Topping

For my bakers who have to turn that oven on a few days ahead of Thanksgiving, you will charm your guests with an upside down apple cake. This could also double as breakfast cake at the holidays.

Keto Apple Crumb Cake

There are times I have to have cake (haha). I do this cake in mini version for my keto home bakery and people love it so much. I have to use a glaze for the bakery, but you can really go all out and make pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting.

Keto Pumpkin Spice Cake with Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting

These are the mini cakes I was talking about. You can use this recipe for cupcakes.

Keto Pumpkin Mini Cakes (or Cupcakes) with Maple Glaze

I’m in love with almond tarts and there are many version of this here at Spinach Tiger. This is my apple sugar free, low-carb version.

Apple Almond Tart

Pecan Tassies – This is my favorite holiday cookie and this low-carb version is just as good as the ones from childhood.

Chocolate Lovers

You should always have at least one chocolate dessert at Thanksgiving. Here are twenty keto chocolate dessert recipes in one place.

Keto Thanksgiving Leftover Recipe

I’m almost more excited for the weekend after Thanksgiving to make this hash.

Turkey Stuffing Hash 

What do we do with all this left over turkey. I never throw out food. I am extravagant at the grocery store and extremely frugal with those purchases

Here is one way to repurpose the turkey easily.

Turkey Cauliflower Fried Rice

By this point, you might be over comfort food. Save some turkey and make this the following week. Just change the chicken our for the turkey. Don’t forget to save some gravy.

Grain Free Chicken and Biscuits Pot Pie (Use your turkey for this recipe)

I do hope you get into the kitchen this Thanksgiving and show your friends and family there is a way to enjoy this outstanding American tradition with joyful food!

The kitchen is a busy place and you should have only the kitchen equipment you absolutely need.

The post Most Delicious Keto Thanksgiving (Gluten free, Paleo) appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

You can use turkey, stuffing, left over corn pudding, a little bit of mashed potatoes and some brussels sprouts. Eat this with cranberry sauce. It’s so good.

The cutest ever turkey cookie cutter will bring a smile to everyone’s face.

We know this wonderful cheesecloth roasted turkey is carved and mostly gobbled, but you still have leftovers.

We have a tradition that goes back before I was born. Every Thanksgiving we make Baked  Pennsylvania Dutch Corn Pudding, which is an Amish tradition that influenced much of Pennsylvania. I cream my own corn in a Vitamix, but you can use creamed corn mixed with regular corn. I add buttermilk (you can use milk) and eggs to bake this iconic dish.

The Key to pulling this together is use to your left over stuffing. Luckily I have six recipes for that.

This is the best way to fuel up for Black Friday or just sit on the couch and order from Amazon. I have my own store divided into categories of all my favorite purchases that I love and use here. (Amazon is an affilate and I earn a small commission. Prices are not affected).

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It’s all mixed in the baking dish until it feels right, (very thickened cream corn) and baked until it looks done. This leftover corn pudding made this turkey, mashed potato pie taste amazing. This is truly a down home, American comfort food, that promises to conjure up good memories of home.

Since your leftovers are not my leftovers,you will have to just trust yourself on a winning combination, but I can share with you some basic tips and mistakes to avoid.

• Keep some of the celery and onions that you chop for dressing. (or use fresh, but be sure to saute them before adding them to the pie. You may not need if you have lots of stuffing.
• Keep some (not a lot) of gravy.
• Use your side dish for leftovers, except green beans casserole.
• Only use pastry crust for the top. You can purchase puff pastry.
• Mashed potatoes are a must and will hold everything together.
• Add fresh herbs, such as parsley, thyme and sage.
• You can use some stuffing or dressing at the bottom of the pie. Pre-bake at bottom rack for ten minutes. Then add mixture and proceed with recipe.

I make my turkey pie cut-outs while I’m baking pies and freeze these for Black Friday.

Happy Shopping Everyone. Have a Great Weekend and welcome to the Holiday Season.

Please connect with me on Instagram to get all the stories in advance. I also have ALL my recipes on one Pinterest Board. Find the Spinach Tiger Recipe Pin Board here.

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Turkey Pie Reinvented

A creative way to use Thanksgiving leftovers in one pie.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 large onion minced
• 2-4 stalks of celery diced with leaves (you can leave out, if you have in stuffing).
• 2 cups turkey cubed
• 2 cups mashed potatoes or any amount
• 1-2 cups corn pudding or 1 can creamed corn
• handful of parsley chopped
• 1/2 cup turkey gravy optional

Pie Doug for Cut Outs

• salt and pepper
• Pie Dough recipe below
• cranberry relish
• 6 tablespoons butter

Pie Dough (or store bought dough or puff pastry)

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 stick ice cold butter cubed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2-4 tablespoons ice cold water
• 2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

• Saute onion in butter for three minutes. Add celery. When both are softened (about 5 to 8 minutes, add turkey, corn, mashed potatoes, parsley and gravy. Cook until warmed through.
• Spread into a pie plate. Smooth the top. Cut pastry into turkey shapes or any other shape with cookie cutter. Leaves, Christmas Trees, etc. are good ideas. Brush pastry with egg wash or cream.
• Bake at 350 for one hour, or until pastry is golden brown.
• Serve hot with cranberry relish on the side.

Pie Dough for Cut Outs

• Mix salt and flour together. Freeze for a few minutes.
• Cut butter into small pieces. Freeze for a few minutes, as butter softens immediately upon cutting. If using food processor, put flour mixture in bowl.
• Lay small pieces of butter evenly over flour and mix for 20 seconds at a time, stopping as soon as dough is shaggy.
• Stream in cold water one tablespoon at a time. ( If using kitchen aid type mixer, use paddle attachment on low setting for one minute max. Stream in cold water on sides of bowl. Mix on low, just until incorporated.)
• Form into disc , wrap in plastic at least one hour.
• Roll out and cut pastry shapes.
• Put cut outs on pie.
• Brush cut outs with milk.
• Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes or until golden and crisp.

The post Thanksgiving Leftovers: Turkey Pie Reinvented appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Mix up your stuffing with some turkey, some greens like arugula and fry in butter. Serve with cranberry sauce. How good does that sound?

It starts with this stuffinig, made from my very popular grain free biscuits, which lay the ground work for the stuffing and many future recipes.

Make the Keto Stuffing Hash

This stuffing recipe has sausage in it, and I also added in some chopped turkey. Next went a whole bunch of arugula, but you could add any green you like.  I also fried some sage leaves in butter to up the flavor a bit. You can skip that part, but do use a good Irish butter. Cranberry sauce goes so well with this.

Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce

Of course, adding eggs is a great idea. I have the perfect recipe for oven-fried sunny side up eggs with a video (for the eggs). Or make these perfect poached eggs. 

Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes: Starters

• Prosciutto Fruit Cups
• Roasted Rosemary Walnuts
• Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs
• Pears & Roquefort
• Grain Free Sausage Balls

Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes: Soups

• Roasted Pumpkin Soup
• Spicy Roasted Apple Maple Soup
• Butternut Squash Soup

Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes: The Turkey, Cranberry Sauce

Use Cheesecloth. Yes, make this stock, and pour it all a cheesecloth wrapped turkey. No Basting, and I made you a video to show you how easy it is.

• No Baste Holiday Roast Turkey with Cheesecloth with Video Here 
• Turkey Legs
• Turkey Stock, Turkey Gravy
• Blackberry Cranberry Sauce
• Pear Cranberry Sauce

Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes: Breads/Stuffings

• Corn Bread Pecan Dressing 
• Gluten Free Thanksgiving Stuffing
•  Sausage Apple Stuffing
• Grain Free Keto Stuffing You Won’t Believe

• Southern Fluffy Biscuits 
• Sweet Potato Biscuits with Video Here
• Gluten Free Sweet Potato Biscuits
• Sage Cornmeal Biscuits with Video Here
• Homemade Pimento Cheese Corn Bread 

• Pumpkin Bread

Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes – Thanksgiving Vegetable Recipes

• Brussels Sprouts with Almonds, Dried Cherries, Blood Orange Olive Oil Vinaigrette 

• Festive Roasted Acorn Squash
• Butternut Squash with Brussels Sprouts and Special Ingredient 
• Retro Rose Sweet Potatoes

• Mashed Cauliflower
• Green Beans Almondine with Almond Butter Sauce
• Roasted Turnips
• Garlic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Parmesan
• Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Figs

Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes: Salads

• Raw Cauliflower Salad with Golden Raisins, Pistachios with Video Here
• Apple and Shaved Brussels Sprouts with Corn Bread Croutons, Pancetta
• Kale Salad with Pumpkin Seeds, Cranberries, Sweet Potatoes, Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
• Winter Salad with Kale, Pomegranate  with Walnut Vinaigrette 
• Golden Beet Carpaccio with Orange Vinaigrette

Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes: Comfort Food Sides

• Sweet Potato Grits
• Sweet Potato Risotto
• Autumn Risotto with Butternut Squash
• No Lump Mashed Potatoes

• Macaroni and Cheese
• Pennsylvania Dutch Baked Corn

Thanksgiving Desserts

• Pear Buttermilk Pie
• Sweet Potato Pie

• Sweet Potato Apple Pie (Sugar Free Option)
• Pear Buttermilk Pie
• Caramelized Apple Tart
• Pumpkin Hand Pie (Gluten Free)
•  Zuni Cafe Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
• Maple Cupcakes with Maple Frosting, Candied Bacon

• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Tart (egg free)

Pumpkin Cheesecake (sugar free, low carb version)

• Tangerine Sorbet

• Autumn Apple Pie

• Gluten Free Apple Pan Dowdy (there’s a video)
• Gluten Free Pie Dough
• Gluten Free Pumpkin Scones with Maple Glaze
• Gluten Free Sweet Potato Bread
• Grain Free Low Carb Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Grain Free Low Carb Keto Pumpkin Pie
• Grain Free Low Carb Pumpkin Cake with Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting
• Grain Free Apple Upside Down Cake

• Pumpkin Soufflé
• Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
• Whiskey Bourbon Pecan Tart (Gluten Free)
• Grain Free Maple Pecan Bars (sugar free, gluten free, keto)

Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes: Gluten Free Biscuits

• Gluten Free Biscuits (there a video)
• Gluten Free Sweet Potato Biscuits

Gluten Free Cornbread Stuffing Made from Gluten Free Sage Cornmeal Muffins

Grain Free Stuffing You Can’t Believe

Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes: Left Overs

• Mini Turkey Pie with Sage Pie 
• Easy Mini-Turkey Pies with Sage Pie Crust
• Cauliflower Turkey Fried Rice
• Left Over Thanksgiving Pie

Grain Free Stuffing Hash

Shop my Amazon picks. (I earn a small commission as an affiliate).

Wishing you the best and most peaceful Thanksgiving weekend. Do you have a special recipe you will be making?

The post 50 Gourmet Thanksgiving Recipes, from Soup to Nuts appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

There are often two worrisome camps of keto dieters.

One pushes aside the diet and says just this one day. The problem with that is the carbs and sugar are so addicting, especially to those who have had a lifetime of overeating, that this one day can take you down.

Let me help you with that temptation, as we enjoy the weekend with amazing keto dinners, and a success.

Another thinks it’s impossible to control eating at parties and holiday dinners. Let me help you with that fear.

The Weight gain Typically starts at Thanksgiving and goes all the way to the New Year.

The calories consumed by the average person on a typical Thanksgiving day range from 3,000 to 4,500 calories. After about 2,000 calories the joy of eating is certainly lost and Black Friday often starts it all over again with leftovers. Christmas only gets more intense with treats in every office and cookies everywhere.

I’m here to help with that.

I want you to know a few things about holiday keto recipes that I recommend.

• I love food, good tasting food and I enjoy the holidays.
• I’m a pretty good cook, so you can trust my recipes.
• If there’s something old school you HAVE to have, have some of it, but surround yourself with sugar free desserts, and grain free breads.
• It’s better to stick with whole foods that don’t take you down, so enjoy some of the vegetables and fruits you may not normally, such as apples and carrots.
• If you must overeat a bit, eat low glycemic foods that don’t spike blood sugar, making it much easier to get back to your plan.

Holiday Keto Recipes

For the Morning, try a Grain Free Pumpkin Dutch Baby.  

It’s lower carb and sugar free.

Keto Holiday Starters

Pimento Cheese Deviled Eggs

Sausage Balls made with Almond Flour

No Baste Roast Turkey with Cheesecloth

Turkey leftovers could include turkey lettuce wraps, turkey stir fries and turkey fried caulfilower rice.

Red Meat is filling and these recipes will not leave you feeling deprived. 

Beef Tenderloin Roast

Prime Rib with Au Jus

Cauliflower Mash (with olive oil or butter)

Instead of Sweet Potatoes, Try Roasted Sugar Pumpkin (very low carb). This also makes a great party appetizer.

Baked Cauliflower Au Gratin instead of Scalloped Potatoes

Five Minute Flash Fried Brussels Sprouts

Parmesan Garlic Brussels Sprouts

Low Carb Green Beans Casserole with Brussels Sprouts, Bacon

Winter Kale Salad –

Hello filling fiber and don’t forget the pomegranates.

Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

I know some of you can’t imagine the holidays without biscuits or bread of some kind. Not only are these delicious with a tad of sweetness, you can crumble these and make something similar to a corn bread dressing.

Grain Free Sweet Potato Biscuits

Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce

This stuffing really is as good as it looks.

Grain Free Stuffing

Desserts To Get Through the Holidays on a Keto Diet

Keto Christmas Cookies

Pecan Tassies 

Ricotta Cookies

Lemon Basil Shortbread Cookies

Keto Holiday Cheesecakes

Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake (Cheesecake Factory Inspired)

Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Maple Pecan Cheesecake Bars

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Keto Red Velvet Cupcakes

Left Over Keto Holiday Recipes

Use this chicken salad recipe with left-over Turkey.

Make brunch with left over stuffing hash.  Recipe here. 

Tips for Staying Keto During the Holidays with Keto Snacks

Always have food on hand that you like to stave off cravings. These are some of the things we like.

Macadamia Nuts (The holidays is the time to splurge). I like these one-ounce snack packs.

Whisps: Cheddar Cheese Crisps

Salted Chocolate Macadamia Nut Butters

Beef Jerky (sugar free)

Pork Rinds in Himalayan Sea Salt

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fat Bombs (Recipe)

Hard Boiled Eggs (Recipe)

Celery with Cream Cheese or Nut Butter

Salami

Avocados

The post Surviving Holidays on a Keto Diet and Loving It appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Just in case you’re like me, moving away from the sweet flavors and the heavy carbs, turkey cauliflower fried rice is for you.

Before I get to that I want to thank you. Over 23,000 of you visited my recipe for Cheesecloth Wrapped Roast Turkey, and 3600 of you watched the video. That’s just amazing and I hope you enjoyed it.

The other night we made a typical Italian dish, rice with peas, except I used cauliflower and it was just as comforting.

Today, of course, I have lots of turkey left over and I still had some of that cauliflower rice.

Thus, paleo turkey cauliflower fried rice was born. I’m giving you the recipe just as if you would have to start from scratch. I don’t do paleo 100% of the time, but it’s where I turn in between parties, dinners, etc, and I have way to many things coming up this month. I’m not as strict as some as I do eat dairy, but I try hard to stick to grain free eating several days a week.

Cauliflower is great around the holiday times because it fills you up, yet is healthy, and a good food to help you stay fit throughout the holidays. A few months back, I went on a roll with cauliflower, making paleo, vegan mashed cauliflower, and cauliflower parmesan.Cauliflower today. Cookies tomorrow. You know how that goes.

This was a fun lunch, and just enough to give me fuel for navigating the mall. Yes I do get out there; it’s tradition to start our Christmas season, even though I’m one of those who does most of my shopping last minute.

How about you?  Are you pushing and shoving the crowds shopping or shopping on-line?

Let’s connect and Stay in touch. Please subscribe, as Spinach Tiger will be bringing you lots of Christmas joy in the way of food. Of course, you can find me in all the usual social media places, including the new Periscope where I cook in real time, live.

In the meantime, here are a few more ideas for Thanksgiving left overs and Happy shopping.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Mini-Turkey Pies

Turkey Pie Reinvented

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Paleo Turkey Cauliflower Fried Rice for Turkey Leftovers

Take turkey leftovers and go Paleo with Turkey Fried Rice using Cauliflower

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 head caulflower
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 tablespoons tamari sauce see note
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1 cup peas
• 2 carrots diced
• 8 ounces turkey diced
• 1 egg
• Sriracha Optional

Instructions

• Remove stems from cauliflower. Put into food processor and pulse until you have large rice sized pieces.
• Heat oil in pan, add onion, carrot, until softened.
• Push vegetables to side and scramble egg quickly into small pieces.
• Add cauliflower, turkey, and peas.
• Add in Tarmari Soy sauce. Mix well.

Notes

Tarari is a gluten free soy sauce

The post Paleo Turkey Cauliflower Fried Rice appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Thanksgiving leftovers. Everyone loves them, at least for a day, and the microwave has made the whole left over thing quite easy. But, I’m in the cooking mode during Thanksgiving week, and over the years, I’ve made a few interesting creations from the leftovers.

Most of the recipes here used ingredients from our Thanksgiving dinners over the years.  Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, candied sweet potatoes, Brussels Sprouts, green beans.

You can make this grain free if you are making my grain free dressing, by using the crust from the keto chicken pot pie.

This is a great breakfast, lunch or dinner. Left over Mashed Potato Cakes made with Brussels Sprouts topped with a very elegant ruffled egg or perfect poached egg. 

This recipe for Turkey Tarte Tatin was originally made with chicken, but you can use turkey.

Gnocchi made with brussels sprouts, fried sage. This is a great dish for anytime of the year, but it was created with brussels sprouts one black Friday a few years  back.

Take some turkey and and cranberry sauce and stuff it into these biscuits that only take 20 minutes to make start to finish.

Or make these Grain free 

This is my most creative use of thanksgiving leftovers. I just about used everything, stuffing, turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes and reinvented the turkey pie.

This was one way I decided to do a spin on green bean casserole. Try using your casserole left overs to do this.

Candied Sweet Potatoes make a great sweet potato pie or sweet potato biscuit.

I have lots of tangerines left over, and after all that pie, tangerine sorbet is so refreshing.

The Turkey Sandwich, the Thanksgiving Leftover Standby

I know the great turkey sandwich is missing, so I went to Pinterest and picked out a few favorites.

Get fancy with this gourmet turkey sandwich from the Gourmet Traveler.

Turkey and White Cheddar with Caramelized Onions and Grilled Grape Cheese from Foodie Crush.

Who doesn’t love old school Hot Turkey Sandwich, from Simply Recipes. I grew up in diners that served this all year.

You have to see this to believe this turkey sandwich from Spoon, Fork, Bacon.

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Don’t forget Turkey Soup

Make Bone Broth

If you’ve saved the bones of the turkey, put in crock pot with cold water for the next 48 hours. Add fresh herbs, salt, pepper. Strain through a mesh strainer.

Here are 8 soup recipes you can make.

You can replace chicken in this healthy Mexican Rice Soup. 

Fiesta Turkey Tortilla Soup

My Blessings Jar

I hope you all had a enjoyable Thanksgiving. I’m going to leave you with one of my favorite things to do on Black Friday, besides shop. Start a new blessings jar.

Please follow our Thanksgiving Pinterest Board, where I put together Thanksgiving Food Pins from the very best food bloggers, including lots of ideas for leftovers and Thanksgiving weekend eating.

The post Creative Ideas for Thanksgiving Leftovers and a Blessings Jar Tradition appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Roasted Turkey Legs is something new to me and one of many firsts this Holiday season.

For the first time in my life, we put the Christmas trees up eight days before Thanksgiving. It must be the cold spell that has taken the country. Last November, we put Christmas lights up wearing shorts, but I don’t think we’re going to see shorts anytime soon.

For the time ever, I made cornbread dressing. (And for the first time, I created a diabetic friendly category).

For the first time ever, I made turkey legs.

The beauty of life is that you never run out of firsts, if you are willing to try new things, and  step outside of tradition. For me, there is one more element, and that is YOU.

Yes, you. You can’t believe how many times I’m standing in Whole Foods and I’m thinking about you, my dear readers, and what I can bring to your table. I’ll glance over at the rows of produce, actually thinking if you would like a new kale salad or another Brussels sprouts recipe. I already have what I think is the PERFECT turkey recipe, but then I’ll think maybe you want something a little different.

These turkey drum sticks go into my man food category, which suits me just fine, and I hope you love them just as much as Mr. St did.

So tell me do you fight for the turkey drumstick at the table and have you ever made just turkey legs for fun?

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Herb Roasted Turkey Legs

Turkey Drum Sticks roasted with Italian flavors

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings 3

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 3 Turkey legs
• salt
• 6 tablespoons of freshly chopped herbs sage, parsley, rosemary, thyme
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons mustard
• 2 garlic cloves diced

Instructions

• Salt turkey legs and refrigerate anywhere from one to three days.
• Remove, rinse salt off. Pat dry.
• Combine herbs, mustard, olive oil, garlic.
• Using a knife, loosen the skin around the legs and stuff the herbs inside.
• Refrigerate for a few hours.
• Take out and allow to sit for 60 minutes before roasting.
• Roast at 350 45 minutes per side, until an internal temperature of 180 is reached.

Notes

If you have time, dry brine the turkey legs, by salting them for up to three days, covered loosely in refrigerator.

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Yesterday I roasted my famous mummy wrapped turkey, and it was every bit as good as I expected it to be. I made turkey stock and silky homemade gravy and was happy to have leftovers. One year I got really clever and made this.

Today, however,  I decided on a whim to make mini-turkey pot pies.  Hearty enough, yet small enough to be restrained and lovely. I whipped together a sage pie crust using my half of my basic recipe. A bite of this little pie with a bite of cranberry sauce and I was back in Thanksgiving heaven but on a much smaller scale. A reasonable and restrained scale that had a special feel good moment to it.

We have Thanksgiving at grandmother’s house (my husband’s mom). It’s all his side of the family, none of mine, and while it’s always fun, there is always a part of me that is missing. It’s not my kitchen. It’s has its own good time, but it also has its uneasiness. I’m not close to most of the people, and it only makes me miss the people I’m missing that much more.

Yesterday was my brother’s birthday. He is no longer around, but I couldn’t help but feel his presence and long to be sharing my Thanksgiving with him.

Today, when I rolled out the dough, and put these little pies together, I enjoyed the quiet moment by myself, my own kitchen, my home, my life and my memories.

I know Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day of gratitude, but it has also morphed into a national family day. People get together whether they want to or not and they connect at least this one day a year.

I was connected to my brother every day, not just for one day a year. When we were children, we were left alone a lot, which in the big picture was a good thing, because we grew up competent and confident.

Until I learned how to cook, we ate those little turkey pies that were purchased in the frozen section. It was our training for how to turn on the oven.

We both grew up to be fairly good cooks, enjoying cooking for fun, maybe therapy.  I’ve become so competent in the kitchen that I barely remember cutting the turkey, chopping the onion and celery and rolling out the dough. It just happened effortlessly because I was in my zone, doing what makes me happy and doing it just for myself, thinking how much my brother would have loved to pop over to eat one of these.

We would look at each other and know exactly which of the forty three addresses we lived at where we most ate those little turkey pies. I can tell you where the fridge was and how they looked in that freezer.

Tell me, are you one of those people that enjoys the holidays but thinks about those no longer around? Do certain foods drum up moments so vivid you know where you were standing when you ate one?

I had to show you the sides of these beautiful ramekins. I’ve been looking for over-sized ramekins for a while and found these at Marshall’s.

The Process

I chopped an onion, some celery and carrot and sautéed in a pan. In went the left over turkey, followed by gravy and some chopped sage.  I made a circle of pie crust, adding in some fresh sage to the flour and using a Williams Sonoma Decorative Cookie cutter. The turkey mixture went into extra large ramekins, crust was added and twenty minutes later, we had this lovely lunch.

Get the Pie Crust Recipe here.

My Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes Here 

Print

Easy Mini-Turkey Pot Pies with Sage Pie Crust from Thanksgiving Leftovers

Using Thanksgiving turkey leftovers I made mini turkey pot pies, with a sage crust.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1/2 recipe of pie crust add 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage to flour first
• 1 teaspoon oil or butter
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks chopped (microwaved for 3 minutes)
• 2 carrots cut into coins microwaved for 3 minutes
• 2 cups chopped turkey
• 2 cups turkey gravy
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 teaspoons freshly cut sage
• milk for brushing on pie crust

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Add butter or oil to small pan. Add onion, celery, carrots, and saute until all vegetables are softened.
• Add sage. Add turkey, gravy. Heat through.
• Cut pie crust into circles that fit your ramekins. Add in optional decorative pie crust additions if you choose to.
• You can always add in optional vegetables or more if you want to.
• Pour into ramekins. Top with pie crust. Brush with milk.
• Bake at 400 for twenty minutes or until crust is golden brown.

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