Thanksgiving Dinner is many peoples’ favorite meal of the entire year.
Just imagine the succulent roast turkey, the harvest of vegetables like green beans with slivered almonds, broccoli crowns, Brussels sprouts, a harvest of salad ingredients, and the AVALANCHE of carbohydrate foods!
Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, homemade gravy, and desserts like pumpkin pie, pecan pie, apple pie…even homemade breads and rolls make up the majority of dishes on the Thanksgiving table. A traditional Thanksgiving meal is highest in carbohydrate.
The fatigue after Thanksgiving dinner has long been blamed on the turkey. You’ve probably heard that the tryptophan in turkey causes the post Thanksgiving Dinner nap.
Guess what? The fatigue after Thanksgiving is a “carbohydrate coma”.
When someone mentions their tryptophan crash, you can mention that tryptophan is an amino acid found in eggs, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, cheese, legumes like lentils and kidney beans, soybeans, oat bran, nuts and seeds. With this knowledge, we should be “post- Thanksgiving exhausted” after most meals every day of the week!
With that said….let’s work on decreasing the unnecessary carbohydrate blast at holiday meals. Today, I’d like to show you how to make NEUTRAL Stuffing or Dressing. Enjoy a heaping portion. This stuffing recipe will NOT crank up your blood glucose and impact your insulin levels. It’s delicious, too!
HOW MANY POUNDS OF TURKEY DO I NEED?
The Golden Turkey Rule from http://www.kitchn.com
When it comes to feeding a crowd, having too much food is always better than having too little. With the goal of having plenty of turkey for Thanksgiving dinner with enough for leftovers for next day meals and doggie bags, remember this simple rule and you’ll never question how much turkey to buy again.
The rule of thumb for buying turkey: 1 pound per person
This is a brilliantly simple rule to follow anytime you’re cooking meat on the bone, but this is especially perfect for the holidays when you want to send guests home with an extra plate!
If you really, really like leftovers and are perfectly content to eat turkey sandwiches until your head falls off, then a pound-and-a-half per person will do the trick. My family falls into this category!!!
Maybe this rule leads you to buying two turkeys instead of one giant one, or maybe you’ve been buying too big a bird this whole time. No longer, folks — this is your answer! Just remember “a pound per person” and you’ll be set come the big day, and all the turkey sandwiches that follow.
WHERE DO I FIND NEUTRAL STUFFING BREAD?
Choose your “NEUTRAL BREAD” for your Thanksgiving Stuffing from the fantastic selection at http://www.GreatLowCarb.com.
Truly neutral bread made with the finest ingredients delivered to your door!
Choose from plain, sourdough, pumpernickel, pumpkin spice, rye, sesame, and “everything”bread (like an “everything bagel).
Speaking of bagels….www.GreatLowCarb.com also offers delicious neutral bagels, pizza crust, soft pretzels, low carb baked products, rolls, buns, breadcrumbs…even pasta!
For this stuffing recipe to be NEUTRAL on The Metabolism Miracle Program, you can use any variety of bread from http://www.GreatLowCarb.com. The bread will be delivered to your door. Many bread varieties are available from The Great Low Carb Bread Company.
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RECIPE FOR MM’s NEUTRAL HOLIDAY STUFFING:
INGREDIENTS
1 loaf cubed and dried* bread (any variety sliced bread from http://www.GreatLowCarb.com is neutral (dried)*
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 1/2 cups butter
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1 1/2 cups chicken stock (low sodium, if desired)
2 large eggs (beaten)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a frying pan over low/medium heat, saute the onion and celery, shredded carrots, mushrooms, and garlic in butter for 10-12 minutes, or until the onion and vegetables are tender.
2. Place the dried www.GreatLowCarb.com bread cubes* in a large bowl.
3. Pour the butter and sauteed vegetable mix over the breadcrumbs and stir well.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. (I sometimes “stir” gently with my plastic- gloved hands)
5. Spray a 2-quart casserole dish with cooking spray.
6. Put the stuffing in the prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
If you like to stuff the turkey, loosely spoon stuffing in turkey cavity immediately before turkey goes into oven. You will need to change your turkey’s cooking time for stuffed turkey. Remove stuffing 10 minutes after turkey is removed from oven….Do not leave excess stuffing in the turkey. Some people stuff the turkey and make the excess stuffing in a separate baking dish and prepare as above.
Always store leftover stuffing in its own dish in the refrigerator!
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HOW TO DRY WWW.GREATLOWCARB.COM BREAD FOR DRIED BREAD CUBES:
Method 1: Two days before preparing the stuffing, cut bread into 1″ cubes and allow them to dry in a big bowl for about 48 hours. Stir the
bread cubes once or twice a day so they dry out evenly. They shouldn’t be “crispy”, but slightly dry
Method 2: If you don’t have the time to dry- out the fresh bread cubes ahead of time, bake them in the oven @ 300 degrees for 30-45minutes, stirring every once in awhile to get them “dry.”
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Looking for other low carb Holiday Recipes that fit seamlessly into The Metabolism Miracle Program, get a copy of The Metabolism Miracle Holiday Book from Amazon.com. It’s an e-book and can be read on your laptop, IPad, e-book reader, Kindle, or IPhone! Recipes are from website members at http://www.Miracle-Ville.com. If you belong to the ‘Ville….this recipe collection is free of charge as part of our support group. If you are not a member but want lifetime Holiday Recipes that will always fit your MM lifestyle, take a peak into the book by clicking on “Preview” above.
The Metabolism Miracle 