Thanksgiving is upon us! I literally can’t believe it’s here already — seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the start of the year; how is it almost over already?! This Thanksgiving is extra special to me because – while it’s our third Thanksgiving celebrating together – it’s my fiance and I’s first Thanksgiving as an engaged couple living together in our new condo (2017 update: We’re now MARRIED, so it’s our first Thanksgiving as a married couple :)). We also threw an AIP Friendsgiving for our local autoimmune support group here in Kansas City a few weeks ago and that was a huge success, so we definitely have a high bar to meet for our little dinner together.
To prepare for the big day, I wanted to share what’s on our Thanksgiving menu, and as a BONUS – share my recipe for an amazing AIP turkey brine! I’ve used this brine recipe for three years now and it produces the most moist and delicate turkey ever — I’d definitely recommend it and that’s not just me being biased! Others can attest to its greatness. 🙂
Now onto the menu…
Mitch + Britt’s AIP-Friendly Thanksgiving Menu
Appetizers
- Veggie Tray
- Paleo Spinach Artichoke Dip (via Paleo Leap)
- Plantain Chips
Turkey
Brined (see below for recipe) + served with fresh orange-cranberry relish*
*Cranberry relish recipe is basically just 16oz fresh cranberries, 2 oranges, 1 apple, and some cinnamon and ground ginger blended together in a food processor – simple yet delicious!)
Sides
- Mashed White Sweet Potatoes (We do our own rendition of this, but if you’re looking for an actual recipe i’d recommend using the “Silk Potato Puree” recipe from the Healing Kitchen cookbook)
- Savory Pumpkin Stuffing (via Whole Life Full Soul)
- Roasted Root Veggies (via Mickey over at Autoimmune Paleo)
- Braised Rainbow Chard (we LOVE the recipe found in the Autoimmune Wellness Handbook)
Dessert
- Sweet Potato Pie Cheesecake (via Alaena Haber’s guest blog post at Autoimmune Paleo – we served this at our Friendsgiving and people were falling over themselves for it!)
- AIP Maple Glazed Snickerdoodles (via The Curious Coconut – Britt’s favorite cookie!)
Honorable Mention: This will be my first year NOT making this amazing dessert from Empowered Sustenance, but I still had to give it a shout-out because it’s been so good to me over the years. It’s a crustless, AIP-friendly pumpkin panna cotta. This actually seems to be an updated recipe because it has a nice tigernut crumble added to it, but I’ve been making this panna cotta recipe since 2013 and it’s so amazing.
Beverages
- Various herbal teas (I like to use this vanilla rooibos tea [or something similar] and blend together with coconut milk to make a tea latte!)
- La Croix
- Aaaaand the one big “splurge” that we allow ourselves each year is So Delicious Coconut Milk Egg Nog. It’s not AIP-friendly but I gotta be honest – it’s worth every dang sip. I’ve tried to make my own in the past but it’s just…not the same and I’m a HUGE egg nog fan so I need my egg nog! #treatyoself. 😉
And below is the brine recipe, as promised. We hope you have a great Thanksgiving and wonderful start to your holiday season! Happy Eating.
- ⅔ cup fine sea salt
- 2 cups broth
- 1 gallon purified water
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon dried rosemary
- 1 tablespoon dried sage
- 5 bay leaves
- Orange peel from 1 orange (optional, but adds a nice subtle flavor)
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Combine all ingredients in a large stockpot
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Bring mixture to a boil and stir so that sugar and salt dissolve
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As soon as it starts to boil, turn off the heat and remove from heat
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Allow brine to cool COMPLETELY before pouring over the turkey (you can put it in the fridge to help it cool down faster)
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Once it’s cooled and ready to use, add turkey to brining bag
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Pour brine over turkey (inside bag, of course)
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Seal bag and refrigerate for 12-16 hours
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Once you’re ready to roast your turkey, you’ll want to discard your brine. Also remember to rinse your turkey under cold water just to get any excess salt off the outside of it
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Pat your turkey dry with paper towels
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Rub your turkey down with cooking fat (I use palm shortening or coconut oil)
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At this point...you can season the outside of your turkey with some LIGHT seasonings - most of the seasoning is sort of captured through the brining process, but sometimes I’ll add a little bit of dried herbs to the outside
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Stuff your turkey w/ veggies if you usually do that
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Roast according to your normal roasting method!
Good for about an 8-13 lb turkey.
Love that you are AIP in Kansas City!! We need to start a group here! Thanks for the recipes!
Hi Dana – always nice to meet a fellow Kansas Citian! We actually do have a group, which I started a few years back! Find us on Facebook – we’d love to have you. 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/groups/885618094826487/
Hi, I’m new to the AIP as my 16 year old daughter was just told last week by doctor Rowe a neurologist in Kansas that she needed to start following this. But the paperwork he gave us said no sugar of ANY type and it listed coconut sugar as one she could not have and then it said honey and maple syrup but sparingly so is coconut sugar something she can have on an AIP diet? I thought AIP diet would be so simple since it’s so straightforward if you can’t grow it or raise it but it’s turning out to be a lot harder to do than I thought and she’s getting very frustrated and we’re only on day 5 today
Hi Karla – well first of all, that’s really awesome that a doctor recommended AIP! I think you’ll find a lot of success with it once you get the hang of it. 🙂 As for the sugar thing…in short, yes, coconut sugar is considered AIP-friendly. That said, everyone takes a slightly unique path with their healing and the diet, so sometimes it may be necessary to eliminate sugar altogether for a bit, while others may not need that same regimen. For instance, when I first started AIP, my doctor actually had me eliminate all “fungi” (mushrooms) for a while – these are AIP, but due to my special circumstances I had to avoid them for a bit. There may be a very specific reason that your Dr. said to eliminate sugars so I can’t go against his recommendation, but I will say that in the case of this brine you may be OK because you’re not actually cooking with it, just sort of marinating with it. 🙂
PS – if you’re in KS, we have a Kansas City AIP support group! Feel free to join if you’re looking for some advice/help: https://www.facebook.com/groups/885618094826487/