TRADITION!
As I get ready to have a Thanksgiving feast at our home, I’m a little troubled. I have so many questions and I’m not sure I’ve come up with the answers that make me happy.
This is my first low-carb Thanksgiving! If it were just Terry and me, I’d be fine, but I wonder if I should impose our new lifestyle on our family, especially when I’ll be messing with TRADITION?
How will they like mashed cauliflower and gravy as opposed to mashed potatoes and gravy? Should I make both? I’ve got a wonderful new cookbook Marla gave me entitled Paleo Comfort Food and there’s a recipe for bread using almond flour (which we love) and I could make dressing out of it, BUT what if it isn’t as good as what we are all traditionally used to? And how dare I break tradition? Is it too late for me to start a new tradition? What if all the new dishes I make flop and no one will ever want to come back for Thanksgiving? Am I willing to risk that?
Dare to mess with "tradition"!
Well, now that my troubles are on the table, I’ll address each one. How will “they” like mashed cauliflower? I don’t know because I’ve never mashed or tasted it mashed. I heartily believe in the cardinal rule (does “cardinal come from the bird or the high up guy in the Catholic Church?) to never try a new recipe on company. Since I won’t have time to try mashing cauliflower, I will serve my standard and very tasty mashed potatoes even though they’re loaded with carbs (I’ll just have a taste and it will be very nice) and I’ll make gravy as usual too (with cornstarch because Terry is gluten intolerant and that’s how I’ve made it for 23 years).
I think I will bake the almond flour bread and make stuffing from that loaf, but I’m going to server sour dough rolls (my new doctor told me, “If you’re going to eat bread on special occasions eat sour dough”) and butter. I’ll also serve a fruit salad (which will be the first fruit I’ve had in six months except for a bowl of blueberries this summer) and figure it’ll be one of those once-in-a-while treats.
Now, how dare I break tradition and is it too late to start a new tradition? Oh, big deal on breaking a tradition, they all had to start sometime and is it too late to start a new tradition? NO!
I’m going to make Leanne’s pumpkin cheese cake and let the rest of the family bring traditional pumpkin pie if they want that. I intend to make hors d’oeuvres that are low carb and will knock their Thanksgiving socks off. I’ve been playing with making pizza crust with parmesan cheese and it is so good. I also mixed ¾ cup of parmesan cheese and ¼ cup almond flour together and fried it in a stoneware skillet until the circle was brown on both sides and then I cut it into pie triangles making, great crispy chips ( 0 carbs) that will take the place of potato chips! My theory with low-carb entertaining is “fill ‘em with fat right off the bat.” Once they have a little fat in their systems, all cravings for carbs go away like magic.
So I will be breaking tradition and I’m really not worried the family won’t come back next year, because after all, we all love each other and we’re thankful to spend time together during this wonderful time of year. Happy Thanksgiving!