Green Bean Casserole

Green bean casserole is a holiday tradition. When we went paleo, it fell off the list for a couple of reasons. It wasn’t the main attraction on our table growing up, nor was Heather jumping to figure out how to recreate it without all of the pre-made, preservative-laden ingredients (I’m looking at you condensed soup). This year, however, I wanted to make it happen. Using a homemade cream soup as a base, we crafted a paleo green bean casserole.

One thing to note is that we made our cream of celery soup with homemade pork stock—it was what we had in the refrigerator. Its savory, gelatinous consistency took everything to a new level. If you are looking for a go-to resource for making stock at home, this guide from Real Everything is the answer.

The one thing we didn’t add to the mix was the French’s Crispy Fried Onions. These aren’t a must-have for us, but if you’d really like to give them a try, we made fried onions for our Western Meatloaf. An extra step, but if you’ve got to have them, go for it! Just add them to the top of the casserole for the final 10 minutes of baking.

Dairy-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake

One of our dirty, little secrets is that we have always had a weakness for cheesecake. There’s something about it that helps us celebrate or cope with stressful situations. Despite our love, it does not love us back; congestion and an overall feeling of lethargy are common side-effects. This Thanksgiving, we decided to give this staple a shot with Kite Hill Cream Cheese. This stuff is awesome and it allowed us to celebrate with a great dessert to finish up a great meal.

This is definitely a special occasion treat, but it was too good not to share. With more holiday celebrations to come this month, we hope you’ll give this a try.

Finally, it’s worth noting that Heather didn’t add a lot of sweetener to the batter of this cheesecake. The cheesecake was perfectly savory with a hint of sweetness. If you prefer a slightly sweeter dessert, you could easily serve it with a sweet whipped cream of coconut milk (or real heavy cream, if you can tolerate it) or a light drizzle of maple syrup.

Easy Pesto Egg Bake

If you’re like us, you’ll have a full house this Thanksgiving for the holidays. This means you need more food for each meal of the day—breakfast, lunch, dinner (and snacks). Most days I don’t eat breakfast, so Heather makes something for herself. With at least two more people in the house, we love having options for bigger and easier breakfast meals.

This pesto egg bake is one of the easiest things we’ve ever put together, and it’s awesomely tasty. Regardless of whether you use a pre-made pesto, or make one of your own (we have a few!), you’ll be ready to go in no time.

Lamb Jalfrezi

Jalfrezi is an Indian dish that can range from mildly spicy to eye-watering. After not being able to tolerate spicy foods growing up, I trained myself to eat very spicy foods. That said, this recipe has nice heat without causing tears or needing a tissue. If lamb isn’t available, substituting some chuck roast would also work well.

We used our handy tagine for this recipe, but it will cook just as well in a crock pot. Enjoy with cauliflower rice, a cool cucumber salad, or on its own!

“Nashville” Hot Garlic Chicken

Near our house, en route to the local metro station, is a Kentucky Fried Chicken. While I love their commercials, and their coleslaw, it’s been a very long time since I’ve eaten at one. I also don’t appreciate all the chicken bones littered on the streets in the immediate area (admittedly not their fault). Walking by the restaurant lately, I’ve seen advertisements for Nashville Hot Chicken. I love chicken, and I love hot things—this was a no-brainer to try.

Our recipe is not an exact replica, and we’ve never tasted KFC’s, but we guarantee it’s finger lickin’ good. Fun fact: when KFC first expanded to Asia, one of the translations of their slogan didn’t go quite as planned. As it turned out, the translation was the equivalent of, “so good you’ll eat your fingers off.” Not exactly an appetizing proposition. Don’t worry, you’ll have a full stomach and all of your fingers after this meal. We served it with cauli-mash from Real Life Paleo and it hit the spot.