First Thanksgiving

     Ethan and I prepped to make a big, traditional (but low carb) thanksgiving meal at home. A couple of days before, Elecktra extended the invite from Peter's family to go and have dinner with them. We haven't seen them in awhile, they are very nearly family, and it was nice to get invited to dinner. So we put a portion of our thanksgiving meal plans on hold and went to eat with their family. I had a drink with Elecktra, she also loves the Apothic Red, which is my favorite wine.

     Alex, Travis's para, sent me a text asking me to wish Travis a Happy Thanksgiving. So we took this selfie to send back to her. And honestly, I forgot to take any other photos. Visiting and eating were more important. 

     Travs absolutely loves cranberry sauce but all of the commercially prepared ones have sugar in them. And a lot of it. So I made cranberry sauce, for the very first time ever, so Travis could have some. We brought a bunch to dinner and a few other people tried it as well, and liked it. It seemed to have sort of frozen and/or crystalized in the fridge. Some parts seem almost candied! It's not bad, even though I am not a fan of cranberry sauce. Recipe: https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/4-ingredient-sugar-free-low-carb-cranberry-sauce-paleo-gluten-free/

     Since I had 2 cauliflower based side dishes planned, we decided to bring the mac and cheese. It seemed like it would travel better than mashed cauliflower. I added the garlic crumb topping (which is just plain pork rinds crushed and a bit of garlic powder thrown in). The entire pan of this disappeared fairly quickly. It was a big hit. Recipe: https://ourcountertop.com/2018/10/05/cauliflower-mac-and-cheese/

      These dinner rolls are made with fathead dough, so are basically cheese with a few extra things put in. They do have a pretty good bread-like texture. And they are definitely tasty! I used baking soda, though the recipe said you can use baking powder. I should try that out and see if it works and better or differently. These are not super soft, most keto bread is not, but if I made them larger they might work well for meatball grinders, which is still on my cooking list. I have not found the perfect rolls for that project yet. These might work. recipe: https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/low-carb-rolls-keto/

     I made two pies for thanksgiving, but I figured something that would travel a bit better was a good idea. So I made these super easy chocolate chip muffins, made them mini, and added some really excellent peanut butter buttercream frosting. I have had the mini cupcake pans since my birthday back in March and have never gotten a chance to use them. I think I may have actually gotten the cookbook with the recipe for my birthday as well. I don't share recipes out of books because it feels wrong to me, but this one is on her website so here you go, recipe for muffis: https://www.thehungryelephant.ca/2018/01/06/keto-chocolate-chip-muffins/ recipe for frosting: https://www.sugarfreemom.com/recipes/sugar-free-peanut-butter-buttercream-frosting/ These pair really well together and the mini size makes them very easy for people to try them out. These were also a big hit. The tricky part is the cooking time. Regular size, these seem to take a bit longer than traditional cupcakes, cutting down the baking time for mini was sort of guesswork and trial and error. About 22 minutes seemed to be what they needed. 

     So today will be second Thanksgiving. We have a bunch more stuff planned, including trying out some pies I have never made before. Hopefully everything comes together smoothly. I'll share some more recipes and commentary on the new recipes soon. Tomorrow or Monday most likely.