My family came into town for Christmas, so we had an almost 100% paleo dinner. I made all the sides with the help of my sister, while the guys kept the kids busy at the Magic House for a few hours on Christmas Eve. My mom brought a tenderloin for the main dish. Be jealous. It was all so good!
Cranberry-Mango Relish
I began with the recipe from Paleo Comfort foods for Tart Cranapple sauce. Not a wildly different recipe than any other for this type of holiday dish, other than the use of white sugar. I was too busy to be zesting oranges and lemons (that just isn't a realistic recipe ingredient for a woman with two kids under 5, although it is delicious when done). I also wasn't willing to use up my apples for this recipe. I don't know about you, but I buy apples for eating raw, not cooking. They are too expensive for me to mush up. I did happen to have a bag of frozen mango in the freezer from Trader Joes that i had forgot about (pre-holiday organizing paid off). Cranberries + mango + cinnamon = awesome combination.
So here we go:
2 bags fresh cranberries
1/2 bag of frozen chopped mango
1 1/2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup honey
2 cinnamon sticks
Put all ingredients in a saucepan. Stir while bringing to a boil. Reduce to simmer till sauce thickens to your liking. I think it took about a half hour. Remove cinnamon sticks. Store in the fridge and serve.
Brussel Sprouts Slaw
This is straight out of the Paleo Comfort foods cookbook. I really hate to share someone else's recipe if they don't already freely have it published on a blog or something. If I alter it a bunch that is a different story, but we made this one as is. Buy the book, it is that good. As a teaser, this is an awesome combination of bacon, sauteed brussel sprouts in bacon grease and a little dijon, amongst other things. It turned out so good!
Butternut Squash Soup
This is the recipe from Balanced Bites. We pretty much followed it to a "T". This is the 2nd or 3rd time I have made butternut squash soup, and this was my favorite recipe so far. I think it was the addition of the orange juice at the end. Everyone really like it. I am actually going to eat the leftovers for lunch right about now.
Crab Dip
This is the recipe from Nom Nom Paleo. Served it with tortilla chips.
Prime Rib (ala Mom)
It comes in really handy sometimes to have a mom who caters. She picked up a tenderloin from work and brought with her. My sister trimmed the huge tenderloin, seasoned it with salt/pepper/garlic/etc...We baked it in the oven at really high heat (450 degrees) for about 15 minutes, then turned it down to 325 degrees for another 20, or until it looked like we wanted it to. Then sliced it. You should use a thermometer, but I couldn't find mine and my mom makes these at work all the time, so we just went off looks. Some people like rare, some like the end pieces that are more done. Just depends. This is only 1/2 of the tenderloin. The rest we ate the next day in ridiculously good fajitas. :)
Disappointments:
My monkey bread from Paleo Parents did not turn out as planned, because I was out of arrowroot starch and had to make a less than desired substitution. (Poor planning). The result was still a pretty great cinnamon coffee cake type creation, but not so pretty on the plate. Maybe next year.
Did not get close to making The Close Make the Girl's Paleo Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake. Time management issues. ;)
Forgot to take a picture of my breakfast casserole.
General idea: eggs + bacon + sweet potatoe = GOOD. Everytime.
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