Primal Thanksgiving With The Help From A Friend

Since I began my new Primal life I have been one of it's biggest cheerleaders.
Obnoxiously so.
If you happened to ask about my weight loss or ask why I was not eating the bun...God help you.
I am more than happy to tell you about my journey, the reasons you should not be eating that processed goo, and the newest scientific facts I had just read about grains and fasting.
Just try and stop me!!
You have to know my friends were my first victims to attack with my new found knowledge...enthusiastically so.
To my great surprise most of our friends and family have come on board and given it a try.
All of them to great success.
Our good friends Matt and Sheila were some of the first people I told all my new found information to. I knew Sheila would be interested but never thought that Matt would listen or even give it a second look.
Matt did not like anything green, and was not interested in veggies at all.
What he did like was the fact that he could eat bacon, steak, sausage, and butter.
As he and his wife explored their eating possibilities within the Primal sphere they taught my husband and I a few things.
Matt and Sheila found Luigi's, which sells grassfed beef and free range Amish chicken, and they have the most amazing buffalo chicken flavored sausage that we all love.
The best thing that Matt has given to us is his recipe for Brussel Sprouts, which is a green veggie, if you remember!
I was shocked to come home from Hawaii to my husband raving about this fabulous dish that Matt had made for him while I was gone.
My mom is even a huge fan of this dish which is why it will be one of the sides we share at our Primal Thanksgiving this year.
I wanted to give the recipe to anyone who was looking for a flavorful and filling Primal side dish to serve at their holiday table.

I chop the brussel sprouts apart and any other veggies we like to throw in. Today it was carrot shreds, peppers, broccoli , snow peas, and as always some great sausage.

I add a flavored olive oil or coconut oil to the pan first and then add in the sprouts as they take the longest to cook.

After 5 minutes I add the all the veggies but the carrots and peppers. I then pour on the balsamic vinegar. We also add in the chopped garlic and a handful of spices at this time.

After 3 more minutes in goes the sausage. It is precooked and goes in to get heated through.

The carrots and peppers are added last as my husband likes a bit of a crisp to those two veggies when it's all done.

Primal Brussel Sprouts and Sausage

Here is the finished dish, plated and ready to enjoy!

Primal Meaty Brussel Sprouts:

1 cup of brussel sprouts cleaned and halved
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup of mixed veggies (broccoli, snow peas, and others)
1/4 cup of sliced peppers
1/4 cup of flavored olive oil or coconut oil (we used a basil olive oil)
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1-2 tablespoons of chopped garlic (ours came from a jar)
2 large precooked sausage links (your choice of flavor)
spices (choose your favorites, we added Italian types of spices)

• Heat your pan over a medium high heat and add your flavored oil
• Next add in the brussel sprouts and cook for 5 minutes stirring continuously
• Add in the mixed veggies, the balsamic, garlic, and spices and cook for 3 minutes
• The sausage goes in next and gets stirred for 2 minutes
• Now add in the veggies you like crisp and saute for a few minutes until they are done to your taste

That's it! Ten minutes on the stove and you have an amazingly flavorful main or side dish.

Thank you again Matt.
He has made us proud by meeting his goal weight and losing over 30 pounds!
At the last band concert Matt played the entire night without a shirt and looked smoking hot!!

Matt as Jimmy Page at our Halloween gig...sexy!

I hope you give the Primal life a try and enjoy looking and feeling better like we all do.
Have a wonderful holiday.

Getting Ready for Primal Thanksgiving With Primal Apple Crisp

It's Thanksgiving this week and I have spent some time getting the place all dolled up for the big day. Our son will be home from college and I wanted the house to look especially pretty and warm to welcome him back. Here are a few pictures to show you what it looks like here this year.

The buffet will be filled with Primal yummies on Thursday

I spent too much time on Pinterest trying to figure out how to update the look of our bookcases for fall

I have Pinterest to thank for the ideas on putting together the Thanksgiving mantle

It is also our first Primal Thanksgiving, so I have had to remove some old carb filled recipes and replace them with our new favorites.
I am exchanging the flour made Parker House Rolls for Herb and Cheddar Coconut Flour Biscuits.
We are giving up the white mashed potatoes for just having sweet potato casserole (who needs two kinds of potatoes in one meal anyway?)
My mom is making the pumpkin and pecan pies with crusts made with almond meal and coconut flour.
I tried out a new recipe this weekend to see if it might be good to have on the big day.
Primal Apple Crisp was amazing! Warm and filled with fall spices, it is gluten free and will be perfect to serve on Thursday along with the pies.

I cut four very large honey crisp apples up into small pieces and sauteed them in butter and a bit of raw sugar.

I added in some lemon juice and a load of cinnamon.

I then mixed the almond flour, coconut flour, spices, salt, brown sugar, and soft butter together in a separate bowl to make a crumb.

I placed the warm apples in a coconut oil rubbed baking dish.

I covered the apples with all of the crumb mix and baked for 35 minutes until warm and bubbly.

I served ours in a pretty martini glass.
It was a wonderful treat! We don't eat much sugar now days and this was almost too sweet to me, but my husband thought it was perfect!

Primal Apple Crisp:

4 large apples cut into pieces
1.5 sticks of butter (grassfed is best)
1/4 cup raw sugar (I use raw organic fair trade)
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
3 tablespoons of cinnamon
(I also used cake spice, apple pie spice, and pumpkin pie spices in mine)
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour

• Cut the apples into the shape and size you enjoy
• simmer the apples on the stove top in 1/2 stick of butter, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon,and the raw sugar until they loose their crispness
• In a separate bowl mix the almond and coconut flours with the brown sugar, 1 stick of softened butter, salt, and any extra spices you enjoy
• In a baking dish rub generously with coconut oil to coat and add the apples, cover evenly with the crumb mixture
• Bake uncovered in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes until bubbly and warm

I hope you try this apple dish and enjoy your Holiday with the ones you love!