Thanksgiving day is a day of thanks. It is when friends and family come together over the big dining room table to share a feast of epic proportion. It is difficult not to over-indulge during Thanksgiving because there is so much food. People gain the most weight over the holidays. Well, it does not have to be that way, if you make some of your items using healthier tactics. This post is going to give you recipes to help with this goal. These recipes will include all natural ingredients.

Apple-Shallot Roasted Turkey

Ingredients:

1 10- to 12-pound turkey (you can go a step further with an organic turkey if you like)
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, plus 3 sprigs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage, plus 3 sprigs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, plus 3 sprigs
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds shallots, peeled and halved lengthwise, divided
1 tart green apple, quartered
3 cups water, plus more as needed

Once you have all your ingredients together, you are ready to get started. Place oven rack on the lower third so you will have room for your turkey. Preheat oven to 475. Prepare turkey for the removal giblet stock. You should remove giblet and neck from the turkey cavity. Place turkey breast side up in a large roasting pan. Pat dry using paper towel.

Combine your oil parsley, sage, thyme, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Using your hands, rub the herb mixture all over the turkey, covering the entire turkey. Place your herb sprigs, the 6 shallot leaves, and apple in the cavity. Tuck wings under the turkey and tie the legs together. Then add the 3 cups of water to the pan.

Place in oven and roast for 45 minutes or until the outer skin is a golden brown. Pull turkey from oven and insert your thermometer into the deep part of the thigh. Cover the breast with a double layer of foil. Take what’s left of your shallots and scatter them around the pan, next to the turkey. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees and stick the turkey back in. It’s done when your thermometer reaches 165 degrees. It should take 1-1 ¾ hours or possibly longer, depending on the size of the turkey. If the pan dries out during the baking process, tilt the turkey, letting juice from the cavity run out. Add an additional cup of water.

When done, move the turkey to a serving dish. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Carve and enjoy!

Nutritional facts: 155 calories per serving, 5 grams fat, 63 grams cholesterol, 25 grams of protein, 115 mg of sodium, 258 mg of potassium

Pear Prosciutto Hazelnut Stuffing

Ingredients:
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced, cut into ribbons
2 cups onion, chopped
2 cups diced fennel bulb
1/4 cup minced shallot
2 teaspoons minced fresh sage
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
8 cups stale baguette, preferably multi-grain (not sourdough), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 Bosc pears, ripe but firm, chopped
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth (organic or all natural brand preferred)
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use cooking spray to coat a 9×13 inch baking dish.

Using medium heat take a non-stick pan and 1 teaspoon of oil, heat it up. Throw in the prosciutto, cook while stirring until crispy for 5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel.

Clean pan and heat remaining oil on medium high heat. Now throw in onion, fennel, and shallot. Cook, stirring until softening and starting to brown. This takes about 6-8 minutes. Then add in your sage, thyme, and rosemary, stirring for 1 minute longer.

Now get a large bowl and put everything in it. Gently stir in your bread, pears, parsley, hazelnut, and prosciutto. Add your broth and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Add your stuffing into the prepared baking dish and cover with foil to bake until the top is crisp. Bake for 40 minutes, remove foil and bake 25-30 minutes more.

Nutritional Facts: 176 calories, 5 grams of fat, 8 grams of cholesterol

Double Nut and Date Tassies

Ingredients:

Crust

1/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Pinch of salt

Filling

4 ounces pitted dried dates (about 3/4 cup)
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons reduced-fat cream cheese
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting or whipped cream for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using cooking spray, coat 24 mini muffin cups.

Get crust ready. To make the crust pulse flour, brown sugar, walnuts, cornstarch, 2 tablespoons butter and salt in a food processor. Split the crust up among the mini cups, roughly 1 ¼ teaspoon per cup. Press it evenly to the bottom of each cup.

Now on to the filling. Using a small sauce pan combine dates, brown sugar, water and 1 ½ teaspoons of butter. Bring to a boil over a medium heat until all liquid is gone. Let it cool for a few minutes. Then take the mixture and put it in a blender. Process it until it turns into a paste. Then add cream cheese and paste, and process some more. Put it into a medium bowl. Stir in the peanuts. Divide the date-nut filling among muffin cups, at least 1 teaspoon in each. Press the filling down and smoothe.

Bake until crust is golden brown and the filling is lightly cooked, 15-17 minutes. Let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer the tassies to a wire rack to continue cooling. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar or serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Recipes c/o: Eating Well
Image c/o: Wikimedia Commons

Everyone is used to the usual green bean casserole or stuffing that is served as a Thanksgiving side dish, but how about something new? Squash Casserole can be made organically and is not only good for you but it’s about as tasty as it gets – even if you don’t think that you like squash. Best of all, it’s easy to make and goes a long way.

What you need:

• 4 cups sliced yellow squash
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (if preferred)
• 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers crushed (for an organic cracker look for Lake July Organic Crackers)
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 3/4 cup milk (organic milk always tastes better)
• 1/4 cup butter
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil squash until tender, then drain. This only takes a few minutes and you can check the tenderness with a fork. If the squash is soft and cuts in two easily, then it is ready.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine squash, crushed crackers and cheddar cheese. Mix well.
4. Add in your butter and stir.  The butter will melt by itself once you add it to the warm squash.
5. Add in the rest of the wet ingredients and mix until your squash is fully coated.
6. At this point you can add your onions and seasoning and have a bite to see if it is seasoned well. Since the squash has already cooked, you can taste it easily.
7. Pour into a glass baking dish and cook for about 10 minutes to heat everything up and brown the top.
8. Let cool and serve.

From start to finish, you can mix up this yummy side dish in about 20 minutes. It goes great with a Thanksgiving meal, but you can serve it year viagra as it goes excellently with pork and beef.

Photo courtesy of: eHow

Poppy seeds come from the dry pods of the poppy plant, scientific name Papaver Somniferum.

Poppy seeds have a nutty flavor to them. They are highly nutritious and carry many health benefits. The health and nutritional benefits are as follows.

• Source of lots of B-Complex such as such as thiamin, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, riboflavin, niacin, and folic acid. These are great metabolism boosters.
• Antioxidant
• The outer shell of the poppy seed is high in dietary fiber.
• Poppy seeds are loaded with a multitude of minerals such as iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, and magnesium, to name a few.
• Lowers cholesterol.
• It is also said the oil from the poppy seed is good for treating breast cancer.

These are just a few benefits of eating poppy seeds. Now that leads us to the second part of this post: How are poppy seeds used in cooking? Poppy seeds are very popular in many cultures around the world. Most like to roast the poppy seeds. You just add them to a skillet and cook over medium heat. It releases a nutty aroma into the air. Poppy seeds are very popular in breads such as rolls, bagels, cakes, muffins, and a number of pastries. They can also be added to vegetable dishes, fish, and noodles. They give additional flavor. Who knew these little seeds were capable of so much?

Source: Herbal Home Remedy
Image c/o: Wikimedia Commons

To maintain mouth-watering flavor, cookies aren’t meant to be healthy in any way. However, there are certain techniques that provide room for healthier ingredients. Today, a healthy cookie recipe has been discovered. It is considered a natural supplement because it is sweetened with honey.

For the dry ingredients, you’ll need one cup of whole wheat flour, one and a half cup of rolled oats and a half teaspoon each of baking soda, baking powder and salt. You can add 1-3 tablespoons of cinnamon, a half teaspoon of nutmeg and a half cup of raisins and walnuts if you like. The wet ingredients are a half cup of honey and oil/applesauce, a tablespoon of molasses, one beaten egg with a tablespoon of water and a teaspoon of vanilla.

Combine all dry and wet ingredients separately. Then combine altogether with some flour when the mixture is a bit wet. Use egg white to make everything stick together. Let it cool for about 20 minutes and preheat the oven not higher than 335 degrees. Baking time lasts about 15-20 minutes. Brew some tea or coffee while letting the cookies cool. Grab a book and enjoy.

Source: wholegraingourmet.com

Image c/o lunchboxbunch.com

Apple cider is more than just a beverage. It is a versatile ingredient used to enhance the flavour of many dishes. When cooking, substitute the water ingredient in your recipe with the equivalent amount of apple cider.

Uses for Apple Cider

There are many delicious and simple uses for this sweet beverage. Add it to meat dishes such as poultry for a tangy, sweet flavour. It can also be used in desserts and breads. Apple cider works especially well for broccoli, brussels, spinach or beans. Apple cider is also a great substitute for water in your morning breakfast. Try it with hot cereal such as oatmeal.

For a quick marinade, mix chilli powder, salt, honey and apple cider together for a zesty chicken dish. It is also ideal for a quick and healthy salad dressing. Simply combine a little apple cider with some minced garlic and blue cheese. Apple cider is a great replacement for alcohol. Use apple cider in place of wine, sherry, rum or beer ingredients.

There is something about apple cider and thoughts of autumn that go hand-in-hand. For those wishing to enjoy a great apple cider drink to warm up on a cool day, try this amazing apple cider recipe.

Mulled Cider

Ingredients:
4 cups (2 quarts) of water
1 cup of packed brown sugar
8 cloves (whole)
2 cinnamon sticks
¾ of a cup of lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Before serving, remove the spices (cinnamon sticks and cloves). For extra flavour, add a few slices of apple when serving.

Photo courtesy of Apple Cider Vinegar Weight Loss

So when you think seaweed, what comes to mind? Most likely it’s the blue and brown algae that you find in the ocean. But seaweed in food? Until I did research, I never thought about seaweed in food. Nor had I thought about any of the healthy benefits seaweed could add to our diet. This post is going to go through some common uses of seaweed, and the health benefits of using seaweed.

Now one of the most common places you will find seaweed is in sushi. It is practically an essential. You will find it at any place that serves authentic sushi. Seaweed is also a great additive for soups. It is delicious if you soak it for a while and throw it in a salad. You should know that soaking is a must because it typically comes packaged and dry. These are just a few ways seaweed is used in cooking and preparing dishes.

Seaweed not only makes a great addition to some dishes, it is healthy for the body as well. It is one of the healthiest things in the world. Below I have a compiled a list of the health benefits of seaweed.

• Seaweed has more vitamin C than one orange.
• It has many components of antibiotics.
• Seaweed contains a good amount of fiber.
• Seaweed is good for high blood pressure because it is high in magnesium.
• Seaweed contains all 56 minerals the body uses to survive, nothing else offers all 56.
• It has a healthy amount of antioxidants.
• Seaweed is also great for detoxification.

Seaweed has so many positives health benefits, I could probably keep going. It is amazing it is not used more. The main places you find seaweed in the US are seafood or sushi restaurants. It could not hurt to make this a common household item. The benefits of using it are phenomenal. The video above gives even more evidence of seaweed’s goodness!

Source: Ehow

If you’re up for a little food pizzazz, using chilli peppers is a common way to achieve a spicy outcome in any dish. Chilli peppers have been around for thousands of years and remain a staple spice in many cultural cuisines.

There are literally hundreds of different types of chilli peppers. Whether used fresh or dried, they are a wonder and inexpensive way to add flavor and co lour to any dish. These small bundles of heat are available throughout the year and are a quick way to add interest to your dish. The hot chilli pepper is a staple found in Indian, Thai and Mexican foods.

Their names will vary according to the region they are used or are grown, however a few of the more common varieties of chilli peppers can be found here. Most people who cook are familiar with the Jalapeno pepper. These dark green peppers are wide, approximately 2 to 3 inches in length and can range from hot to very hot.

There is also the common Anaheim pepper that are also wide, light green in color and are generally quit mild, providing a slight amount of heat. Serrano peppers are very popular and easily found year round. They are quite small and will be red or green in color. Don’t let their size fool you. These little peppers are very hot. The Poblano pepper is also another favorite for cooking. They are large when compared to other chilli peppers and provide a range of heat from mild to very hot. You won’t know how hot your peppers are until you get them home!

Photo by “>What’s Cooking America

Lavender Blossoms

We all know lavender is used in many fragrances and cosmetics, but how is it used in foods? This post is going to give you some great tips on how to use lavender. I will also add a recipe using lavender. Let’s get started with the tips:

• When you are cooking use half of the lavender you have at the start. You can always add more if you want.
• If you add too much lavender in a dish it could make your dish taste like a bottle of perfume. It will be very bitter and ultimately not edible.
• Add lavender to salads. It gives it a unique extra color.
• It can also be used in champagne and cakes as added flavor and additional color.

These are a few tips for using lavender in your dishes. Now I am going to give a nice, special recipe.

Grilled Pork Chops with Lavender

Ingredients:

• 4 pork chops or rib chops
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon of culinary lavender
• 2 teaspoon minced thymes leaves
• 1 teaspoon minced rosemary leaves
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Prepping:

Using a small bowl mix all the above ingredients, then rub the mix all over the pork chops. Then you should put your chops on a pan and cover with plastic wrap for one to two hours.

Get your grill preheated afterwards add chops. Cover grill with lid and cook for 5 minutes. Then open lid and flip pork chops and grill for another 5 minutes. Please keep in mind thickness of meat so timing may vary.

Now you have a yummy treat!

Source: Whats Cooking In America
Photo: Whats Cooking In America

Rose water!

Let’s start with a definition of rose water. Rose water, also known as rose syrup, is made by distilling water and rose petals together. Rose water can be found in many fragrances we wear, and cosmetics we use. Another place rose water is utilized is in cooking. I bet you did not know that. It does not have quite the prominent culinary use here in the USA as it does in other countries. Rose water is very popular in Middle Eastern countries.

Rose water has been around for quite a long time. It is used in food for flavoring. It gives food – and drinks as well – a rosy taste and smell. It was used in the USA for the longest time during the Victorian era for cake icing, before the vanilla flavor became more popular. It is very widely used in Lebanese and Indian dishes, particularly desserts. It is very popular in a an Indian drink known as the lassi. It’s a type of yogurt drink. It is also said to be a great additive to cocktails. I have heard of it being used in margaritas and other fruity cocktails.

It is not a well-known additive among average people but chefs and 5 star kitchens all over the world use it in various gourmet dishes to add that distinctive taste. You know the taste – where you ask “what is that? What is that? I know it but I cannot place it”. It could very well be a hint of rose water!

Source: Wikipedia
Photo: Wikipedia

Carrageenan

Carrageenan is basically an extraction of seaweed – seaweed that is commonly found in the Atlantic Ocean near Britain, Continental Europe, and North America. Carrageenan is known as a gum. I do not mean the gum you chew, either. It is what holds certain processed foods together. It’s similar to cornstarch and gelatin. I am now going to account some of the various used for carrageenan:

• Thickening agent
• Emulsify: It keeps things together, i.e. stops them from separating.
• Texture: It can make certain foods thicker or chewier.
• Crystal stabilization: It keeps sugar and ice in their natural forms and keeps them from crystallizing.

Carrageenan can be found in many edibles around the house. You can find it in ice cream, milk, fruit gushers, pancake syrup, pet food, cream cheese, whipped topping, salad dressing, and even meats. Carrageenan has been named in the medical field as a component to helping with HIV, HSV, HPV, and even the common cold. It is even found in sexual lubricants.

So as you can see carrageenan has a multitude of uses with food and also within the health industry. It is not a miraculous wonder drug, but a simple gum that holds things together either in our food or certain medications.

Source:Wikipedia
Photo: How Stuff Works