More Thanksgiving Ideas!

Here are some more ideas for cutting the carb count of your Thanksgiving dinner -- which, I might add, just might make for a somewhat livelier Thanksgiving evening. Forget "It's the tryptophan in the turkey that makes you sleepy." It's far more likely to be wonky blood sugar from that massive carb overload.

* Faux-Po instead of mashed potatoes. Steam cauliflower and chunks of potato together till tender. Drain and puree together, adding the usual butter, salt, pepper, etc. You could do good ol' Fauxtatoes -- pureed cauliflower, the low carb standby, but the cauliflower/potato mixture is remarkably convincing, especially under gravy, and likely to be more acceptable to the family. I use a potato about the size of my fist to a half a large head of cauliflower.

* Green beans almandine instead of the ubiquitous green-bean-mushroom-soup-canned-onions casserole. Steam green beans -- I like to use frozen French cut beans -- until just tender. In the meanwhile, saute sliced or slivered almonds in plenty of butter till golden. Drain the beans, stir in the almonds and butter, and serve. I've been known to eat a whole bag of frozen beans cooked this way, for a light meal. Way yummy. (Why not the casserole? Other than "Dana doesn't like it?" Because canned cream of mushroom soup is loaded with cornstarch, and the canned onion rings have batter on them. And are nasty. Wait, that's back to "Dana doesn't like it," isn't it?)

* Sweet potatoes are high carb all on their own (although considerably more nutritious than regular potatoes.) Add a bunch of Karo syrup and marshmallows, and they're worse than a candy bar. Try serving your sweet potatoes simple baked, with a pat of butter. Really delicious. If you want something more company-festive, consider layering slice sweet potatoes with thin-sliced oranges and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a glass baking dish. Squeeze an orange over the top, dot with butter, and bake. Not low carb, but lower carb, more nutritious, delicious, and new and interesting! My sister has a great, simple way of preparing sweet potatoes. She cuts them lengthwise in wedges, and tosses them with a little oil, a teaspoon of curry powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and a pinch of cayenne for each pound of sweet potatoes. Then she spreads them in a shallow baking pan -- a jelly roll pan would be ideal -- and roasts them at 450, flipping once, till they're crusty and golden. Again, not low carb, but a whole lot less carby than candied sweets with marshmallows -- and fantastically delicious.

* Around here, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without rutabaga, also known as yellow turnip or swede. I didn't appreciate these as a kid, but now I adore them. They have a bittersweet flavor that I find much more interesting than the more familiar white turnips. My mom simply boiled them till they were soft, then drained and mashed them with salt, pepper, and butter, and they're very nice this way. (Even nicer the next day, made into patties -- which admittedly fall apart pretty easily -- and pan-fried in butter till brown. Mmmmm.) 1/2 cup mashed rutabaga has 10 grams of carbohydrate with 2 grams of fiber, for a usable carb count of 8 grams.

* Speaking of all those vegetables: Save all your vegetable-cooking water to add to the gravy. We've always added green bean water, potato water, rutabaga water to the gravy, along with the broth from the simmered giblets. Makes for a very flavorful gravy, and saves all those water soluble nutrients, too. You're thickening the gravy with guar or xanthan instead of flour or cornstarch, right?

* So far as I can tell, the three most popular Thanksgiving desserts are pumpkin pie (the hands-down winner,) apple pie, and sweet potato pie. Of these three, the one that de-carbs most successfully is pumpkin pie. Sweet potatoes, as mentioned, are darned carb-y to begin with. Apple pie depends heavily on sugar to create that familiar syrupy juice; Splenda simply won't give the right texture. But pumpkin is reasonably low carb to begin with -- 10 grams in 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, with 3 grams of fiber. Better yet, pumpkin pie, being a form of a custard pie, derives its texture from the pumpkin, the eggs, and the cream in it, not from the sugar. Splenda-sweetened pumpkin pie is wonderful.

Here, from 500 Low-Carb Recipes, is the pie I've been serving for Thanksgiving ever since I learned how to cook low carb:

Pumpkin Pie With Pecan Praline Crust
I’m very proud of this recipe. Serve it at Thanksgiving Dinner, and no one will guess it’s made without sugar.

Crust:
Preheat oven to 350
2 cups shelled raw pecans
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ½ tablespoons Splenda
1 ½ teaspoons blackstrap molasses or dark molasses
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons water

Put pecans and salt in processor in a food processor, with the S-blade in place. Pulse until pecans are chopped to a medium consistency. Add Splenda, molasses, and butter; pulse again until well blended. Add water, pulse again, until well combined. You'll have a soft, sticky mass. Spray a 10" pie plate with non-stick spray, or butter it well, turn the pecan mixture into it, and press firmly into place, all over bottom, and up the sides by in inch and a half or so. Try to get it an even thickness, with no holes. You may want to run a finger or a knife around the top edge, to get an even line, just to make it look nice. Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes. Cool.

Pumpkin Pie Filling
Preheat oven to 425
15 ounce can pumpkin
1 ½ cups heavy cream
3 eggs
3/4 cup Splenda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Simply put all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together well. Pour into pre-baked and cooled Pecan Praline pie shell. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350, bake for an additional 45 minutes. Cool. Serve with whipped cream. 8 servings, each with 14 grams of carbohydrate, 4 grams of which are fiber, for a usable carb count of 11 grams. 6 grams of protein. A slice of Mrs. Smith's frozen pumpkin pie has 37 grams of usable carb, or well over three times as much.