Gobble Gobble!

It is almost Thanksgiving, and those of you just starting keto are probably wondering what the heck you are going to do come Turkey Day.

Some of you will say, to hell with it and fall off the fat wagon, which I might add is a valid choice considering all of the yummy food that will be available.  Some of you however might be in panic mode as you do not want to derail your progress thus far.

Well I have some very yummy alternatives that you can include with the rest of the Thanksgiving fare that will help you enjoy the day without feeling awful.  Obviously you don’t need to do anything different for the Turkey as it doesn’t contain carbs unless you are making it glazed, but why…why would you ever do that?  It is all the fun side dishes that will make you feel like you are missing out unless you can keto them up so you too can enjoy.

Mashed Cauliflower – This one is easy and there are many recipes on the internet, but my preference is to simmer the cauliflower in a good chicken or turkey stock that will add yummy flavor to this mashed potato alternative.  All you will need is your choice of broth, one cauliflower head or a bag or two of fresh cauliflower florets, butter, salt, pepper and chives to garnish. This is really easy to make in advance and reheat gently in the oven on Turkey day.  You can also dress it up with garlic, wasabi, Parmesan cheese or whatever you would like with your mashed notatoes.

1. Chop up cauliflower head into even florets and place them in a pot.  Cover them with the stock/broth and season with salt.
2. Set the stove to medium heat and put a cover on the pot making sure that you check it periodically to see that it doesn’t boil over.
3. Once the cauliflower is fork tender remove from heat and drain.
4. Place the cooked cauliflower in the blender with some butter (2-3 tablespoons) and salt and pepper and puree until it is creamy smooth.
5. Once you have it blended and have the correct seasoning, garnish with chopped chives.

Creamed pearl onions – This is one of my go to Thanksgiving recipes whether I am on keto or not.  Make sure to have frozen pearl onions, butter, cream and salt and pepper.

1. Melt a tablespoon of butter over low to medium heat in a pan and place frozen or thawed pearl onions in a single layer.
2. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper.
3. Slowly caramelize the onions while stirring periodically. This will take a different amount of time based on whether the onions were frozen or thawed.
4. Once the onions are a lovely shade of caramel brown reduce the heat to very low and add 1/2 cup of cream and stir until it simmers slightly.
5. Turn off the stove and season again to taste.

No sugar cranberry sauce – Cranberry sauce is the easiest to make as it only requires cranberries, your keto sweetener of choice and water to make.  I find that getting the cranberry sauce out of the can could actually take you longer than cooking your own due to the vacuum seal on those things.  I use powdered erythritol like swerve to sweeten my homemade sauce.

1. Put one 12 ounce bag of fresh cranberries in a pot and add between 3/4 cup to 1 cup of water.  It won’t cover the cranberries completely.  Make sure to rinse the cranberries first to make sure no little icky stems accidentally mar your cranberry perfection.
2. Heat on medium heat until the cranberries pop and thicken up to the desired consistency.  This should take around 10 minutes.  Remove from heat
3. Stir in 3/4 cup to 1 cup of your powdered swerve or other natural keto sweetener to taste.  I will warn you that different sweeteners have more or less sweet to them, and if you try putting the same amount of Monk Fruit Extract as I have listed for swerve, well……I want to hear how badly it goes in the comments.  Here is a sweetener conversion chart and you will see why you can’t just throw in the same amount of each alternative.  And yes, I did make this mistake once with Monk Fruit extract. I didn’t realize my taste buds could taste something that powerful as the sweetness literally went to 11.

Keto Turkey Gravy – There are quite a few options to thicken gravy instead of using wheat or rice flours.  The ones that are often used for gravies are Xanthan, Guar and Locust Bean gums.  The key with thickening using these are using small amounts.  I can attest to using too much Xanthan gum in a recipe once and if you don’t want it to turn out like snot, less is more.  You can also use cream or cream cheese to thicken your turkey gravy if you do not want to use a thickening agent like those listed above.  Also taking more time to reduce your turkey drippings/broth will also help with the thickness and flavor.

Keto Bark – No oven required.  I purchased this Keto Bark pictured below and it is quite simply Inconceivable!  Yes, I know what that word means! People who have tried it can’t tell the difference between regular dark chocolate sweetened with sugar and this yummy treat that is sweetened with Monk Fruit Extract.  It is simply beyond belief that this chocolate has 2 grams net carbs per ounce and can taste so good.  If people around you are constantly noshing on lots of sweets and treats you can stay strong with these glorious chocolate bars.

Keto Pumpkin Pudding – For those that have to have their pumpkin at Thanksgiving here is a great keto option.  I have not yet tried this recipe but I plan to make it this Thanksgiving.

So no matter what route you choose this Thanksgiving, please know that infrequently indulging in a few extra carbs, is not the end of the world.  There are plenty of online resources that discuss a cyclical keto diet and even though they are tailored more toward athletes that are working out fairly heavily, I know that anyone really committed to changing their health with keto will bounce back to strict keto come Black Friday.