Paleo-Vegan Thanksgiving, take 2

If you’ve been following our blog for a while, you know that we like to host holiday meals. Not only is it easier to not have to lug the kids around town on a holiday, but it ensures we can eat the food! Only complication is, and you already know this if you’ve been reading our blog for a while, my brother is a vegan. Don’t worry, I won the war and my ex-vegetarian mother is now primal ♥

Out of respect for him and because we want to treat him the same way we appreciate being treated, we attempt to make as many dishes as we can be vegan. Since we’re dairy-free, that’s not really an issue – it’s the strict use of coconut oil and lack of eggs that ends up being our challenge. Although we’re now used to being egg-free with me eating on the autoimmune paleo protocol, taking away Matt’s lard provoked an early 21st century pop culture reference, “What am I supposed to do without my lard?!”

Never fear, Pinterest is here!

I’ve been stockpiling recipes on our Holiday Menu board and finally have our menu figured out!

Appetizers

Main Course

  • Bacon Wrapped Turkey, ala The Bacon Chicken – since my mom’s got a bacon obsession right now (I told you, we flipped her to the Primal side!)
  • Balanced Bites Thanksgiving Stuffing Meatballs – I’ve heard great things about this Practical Paleo recipe and haven’t made it yet, seems a befitting time!
  • Balanced Bites Simple Cranberry Sauce – also from Practical Paleo, a must have. Vegan
  • Primal Palate Garlic and Herb Cauliflower Pureewe have our own method for cauliflower puree in ELaD, but love Bill & Hayley’s herb mix for this elegant meal. Vegan with coconut oil
  • The First Mess Sweet Potato Biscuits – an adaptation from Roost, looks great as one of those rare vegan paleo baked goods! Vegan
  • Roasted Brussel Sprouts (our recipe is in Eat Like a Dinosaur) Vegan with coconut oil
  • A Green Salad (brought by my wonderful mother-in-law) Vegan
  • A Tofurkey (brought by my mother) I can’t think of a less-Paleo and more processed food. But, tradition in my family is that each attendee gets to request one dish and this was his. I’ve been assured it will be contained in a food dish that’s not ours and subsequently happily eaten (after all, he can’t eat our bacon covered bird) and taken home by the Vegan

Dessert

All photos are from the recipe authors, so click photos to be taken to their sites for the recipe!

Sadly, two of the uncles have moved to California so it’s a smaller feast than we’re used to. But we’re thankful to have those who can join us do so, and are looking forward to this yummy feast! If you want more ideas, check out our Thanksgiving Menu and Recap post from last year!

And last but not least, for those turkey leftovers, we highly suggest you make our Turkey Thai Basil for lunch the next day.

For the inevitable questions, you probably notice this meal is not autoimmune-friendly. That’s because it’s one meal, and doing paleo & vegan is hard enough without AIPaleo thrown in. I could avoid a few things and still eat AIPaleo if I wanted to. But, nuts bother me less than egg whites, so I made the painful choice to not serve Bill’s Chiffon Pumpkin Pie (one of my all time favorite recipes) so that I could limit my exposure to non-AIPaleo-friendly foods. I hope you figure out how to make the holiday work for you, too!

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