What’s the best part about being on doctor’s orders during Thanksgiving? Not having to cook OR clean! Most of the boys pitched in a little here and there with various dishes that we took to my mom’s house, which is always fun because they feel like they’ve really helped to cook. I even puttered around the kitchen for a few minutes until I got tired of being on my feet and had to sit down for a bit, but mostly I stayed out of the hustle & bustle and enjoyed being on mandatory rest.

 

My folks and the guys had a fairly traditional menu of green bean casserole, pumpkin/zucchini dressing, turkey that my stepdad fixed on the grill (Yum!), fresh cranberry sauce, mashed sweet potatoes and a choice between pumpkin or blackberry pie.

 

I really didn’t have any problems de-carbing my dinner portion. I took my grilled turkey with a side of hydrocodone, LOL! Seriously, though, we reserved some of the blanched green beans and tossed them with roasted pine nuts & bacon – yum! – and I didn’t feel deprived from the dressing at all. To top it off, I had some surprisingly low-carb walnut sandies for dessert. I never liked how sandies got powdered sugar all over me, anyway, so I didn’t miss having them dusted. They were lightly sweet and perfect with a scoop of low-sugar vanilla ice cream. 🙂

 

I also made a small batch of mock cornbread dressing (since I figured I would be the only one eating it) using texturized vegetable protein (TVP), and I was pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. My usual cornbread dressing is made with chicken broth and includes chopped celery, onion and hard-boiled eggs, along with shredded chicken. Besides the obvious substitution for cornbread with the TVP, I also used onion powder instead of chopped onions to save on carbs. The poultry seasoning, sage and salt & pepper gave it just the right seasoning that I was aiming for, so all in all, my tastebuds were happy with the result.