Foodie Fridays: Thanksgiving Feast

From up on the hill, our rig is on the left next to the darker one.

We are camped at Anza-Borrego State Park near Borrego Springs with our Boondocker friends. Last year we had 90 degree weather for our Thanksgiving Potluck. This year it was more comfortable, but we had to move our potluck to Friday since Thursday had clouds and ferocious winds. Not something we want to contend with while eating outside in a large group. Today the weather was great and the meal was wonderful.

In order to do a potluck, I bring food that I can eat (and that I want to eat). Usually I'll just do a simple all-in-one dish and fill up on that. But today was special and I just wanted to make several different things and be able to share them.
I fixed:
⦁ Raw veggie tray with *cultured cream dip
⦁ green salad with honey-mustard dressing (on the side)
⦁ turkey thighs baked with turnips, carrots, onions and celery
⦁ turkey ham sliced and fried
⦁ *mashed cauliflower with flaxseed oil
⦁ *dried apple pie
⦁ *Avocado Grasshoppers
⦁ *Lemon/Orange Kombucha-Water kefir drink

It was yummy and I love all the left overs! I cooked the turkey thighs in my Sun Oven. Another reason to be thankful for a calm and sunny day! I placed the thighs on chopped carrots, turnips, celery and onions, topped it with rosemary, sage, basil, marjoram, salt and pepper. They cooked beautifully and were ready in plenty of time for the 2:00 meal. I got started around 9 am and they were done by 1:15 pm. I love using my Sun Oven here in the Southwest where I have plenty of sun and no electrical hookups. Cooking with a Sun Oven means planning ahead and taking advantage of the angle of the sun at different times of day. But well worth it to not heat up the rig or have to turn on the generator to run the convection oven. These could easily be cooked in a crock pot or Instant Pot.

*Recipes:

Cultured cream dip is very easy if you make your own milk kefir. Just put the grains into whipping cream for a day. When it's ready, take a 1/2 cup and mix in 2 tsp dried onion, 1/4 tsp dried dill weed, salt and pepper to taste. Stir and let sit for 30 min or more. Keeps well.

Mashed Cauliflower is perhaps the easiest. I took a head of cauliflower, cut it into chunks and steamed it. When it was soft, I used my Bamix stick blender to puree it, adding a bit of the cooking water as needed, then flaxseed oil, salt and pepper. I usually use butter, but I was making it so that someone sensitive to dairy could enjoy it.

Dried apple pie: Since we have an apple tree on our lot in Olympia, I was busy drying apple slices this Fall in order to have plenty for making pies this winter. Last year I made the pie with blueberries, but I wasn't happy with the color of it. The taste was great, but I decided to just do apple this time. I didn't account for having less fruit, so it was a bit flatter than I would have liked. I'm not happy with the crust/crumble recipe I used, so I won't share that.

For the apple filling:
2-1/2 cups of dried apple slices OR 3-1/2 cups if not using blueberries
2-1/4 c water OR 3 cups if not using blueberries
1 cup blueberries (frozen are fine) OR leave out increase apple amount
1 TBSP cinnamon
small squeeze of lemon juice
1-2 TBSP honey (not sure how much, just a big glob!),
2 droppers of English Toffee Stevia
1 tsp plain gelatin (optional)

Simmer apples in water for about 30 min or until apples begin to soften, then add the other ingredients. The gelatin is to make sure it isn't runny (optional depending on how much water gets absorbed by the apples) I drained some of the extra water into a small container and mixed up the gelatin thoroughly before adding it to the mix. When everything is blended and apples are fairly soft. Pour into a crust or a pie pan and top with a crumble or crisp topping and bake. I wish I had used my favorite crisp recipe today! I used a new recipe and it was not as good. I'll have to do that recipe another time. The link to where I found it is broken.

Avocado Grasshoppers

Avocado Grasshoppers This seems to be a favorite at potlucks. I try to keep it cold and only serve it at the end as it keeps well in the freezer, but doesn't do so well when it gets warm. There are a few changes I make to this recipe, but not many.  I double the chocolate layer on top, and I use stevia for at least half of the honey called for. So for 1/4 c of honey, I use 2 TBSP honey and add 2 - 3 droppers of liquid stevia, either plain or flavored. In the chocolate, I love to use English Toffee Stevia. It gives it a lovely flavor. CLICK HERE for the original recipe.

Lemon/Orange Kombucha-Kefir. The is a lovely probiotic rich drink. I do the kombucha as well as the water kefir in my motorhome. I love to mix them together since they really enhance each other. I mix roughly half kombucha and half water kefir, with just a bit of water to tone it down (optional), add a few slices of lemon and some orange flavored stevia and you have a refreshing and delicious drink.

I hope you enjoy these recipes. Let me know if you try any of them.