Our grain-free Thanksgiving meal

Contrary to "popular" belief, it IS possible to have a VERY enjoyable holiday meal without involving grain foods. Here's our menu:

Turkey roasted with Custer's Turkey Rub (found in November 2009 post)
Sweet potato casserole made with maple syrup for sweetener and chopped pecans for topping
Green bean casserole (our one concession to eating grain-free)
Sausage and apple stuffing (no bread)
Fresh cranberry orange relish
French cranberry apple pie with grain-free crust
Grain-free carrot cake

from cavemanstrong.com

Sausage and Apple Stuffing (the favorite dish at our table this year!)

Ingredients
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• 10 slices bacon (6 oz), diced
• 2 pounds pork sausage meat
• 2 large onions, chopped (2 c)
• 8 oz. medium mushrooms, sliced (2 c)
• 3 medium ribs of celery, chopped (1 c)
• 1 tsp. dried sage leaves, crumbled
• 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 pound tart apples, cored and cut into 1/2″ pieces (3 c)
• 1 cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

Cook bacon until it just begins to brown, Crumble sausage meat in same pan
and cook till done. Add onions, mushrooms and celery cooking until onions
and mushrooms are wilted. Stir in sage, thyme, salt and pepper, then the
apples. Remove from heat, add parsley.

From simplyrecipes.com:

Cranberry Orange Relish

Ingredients

• 2 cups washed raw cranberries
• 2 skinned and cored tart apples
• 1 large, whole (peel ON) seedless orange, cut into sections
• 1 to 2 cups granulated sugar (depending on how sweet you would like your relish to be)

Method

1 Set up the grinder with a medium-sized blade on the edge of a table with a large roasting pan or bowl to catch the mix as it grinds. These old fashioned grinders tend to leak some of the juice down the grinder base, so you may want to set up an additional pan on the floor under the grinder to catch the drips. If you don't have an old-fashioned grinder you can use a grinder attachment on a KitchenAid mixer, you can chop by hand (though that will take a lot of work), or you can chop in a food processor (be very careful not to over-pulse, or you'll end up with mush).

Grain-free French cranberry apple pie

Ingredients:

For Crust-

• 1 cup almond flour
• 3 TBSP of coconut oil plus some to grease pie pan
• 1 egg
• Cinnamon powder (1/4-1/2 tsp or to taste)

For Filling-

• 4 cups sliced peeled apples
• 2 cups fresh cranberries
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup slightly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping -

• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup slightly packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 dash nutmeg
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 °. Grease pie pan with coconut oil and mix crust ingredients by hand in a medium sized bowl. Press crust into bottom and sides of pie pan and put in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

Mix filling ingredients and spread in pie crust. Mix topping ingredients and spread evenly over filling.

Increase oven temp to 375°. Bake pie for 45 to 55 minutes, until filling bubbles and top is brown.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake

• 3 cups blanched almond flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 5 eggs
• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup melted butter or coconut oil or your favorite cooking oil
• 3 cups carrots, grated
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup walnuts

1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg
2. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, honey and butter or oil
3. Stir carrots, raisins and walnuts into wet ingredients
4. Stir wet ingredients into dry
5. Place batter into 2 well greased, round 9 Inch cake pans
6. Bake at 325° for 35 minutes
7. Cool to room temperature and spread with frosting.
8. Serve

De-skunking recipe

Stupid husky. Got it right in the face.

I found this online, and it did the job of getting rid of that sickening smell in just one application. Pretty inexpensive, too.

Removing Skunk Smell From A Dog

Here's what I used:

• 3/4 cup baby shampoo
• 1/2 box baking soda
• 1 cup hydrogen peroxide
• 4 cups water

Mix together in a medium/large mixing bowl (mixture sort of foams up). Sponge on the entire dog (avoid getting in eyes, and mouth and nose) and work in well. Wait 20 minutes before rinsing. It really works. The above amount is enough for a small dog (12" at the shoulder). After this experience, I'm making sure I have an emergency kit on hand.

I loved this mixture, not only because it didn't leave my dog pink like tomato juice does, but because it did the job the first time AND the ingredients were things I already had on hand...no need to buy anything special.

Now to get the smell out of my bathroom...