The Thankful Salad

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  I am still beaming from mine.  All of my out of town family have gone back to their homes.  My house is now officially WAY TOO QUIET!

It’s a funny thing with me… I need a lot of quiet “me” time, yet I love cooking and feeding my family.  Nothing pleases me more than to have everyone come to my home and share a meal together.  One would think I would welcome the peace and quiet, but I wouldn’t mind a few more days of this wonderful weekend that I experienced.

Why was this Thanksgiving weekend so special?

1.  My niece had her baby naming.
2.  My grandmother got to meet her great grand daughter. Seeing 4 generations in one room was so special.
3.  My, mom, dad, aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandmother came into town.
4.  All the food that was made by myself, my mom and my sister was very well received.
5. Sunday brunch consisted of multiple sides of our family, some of which haven’t sat down for a meal together in over 7 years.  It was beautiful, sincere and just lovely.  I didn’t want it to end!
6. I have been feeling like crap for a few months now and Sunday was the first day that I felt really good.  I just felt LOVE.

So what did we have for Thanksgiving?  Everything was Paleo including desserts.

• Squash soup with apples made my sister.  It was amazing.
• Smoked turkey (my parents brought from South Carolina)
• Tuna/Yucca/Parsnip croquettes
• Cauliflower/Pumpkin/green curry cakes with a persimmon drizzle
• Tahini Green bean casserole
• Roasted brussel sprouts (made by my mom)
• White yam and celery root mash (made by my mom)
• Thanksgiving Salad which I will post the recipe for below.
• Apple Pear Kugel (which was served Sunday)
  • Desserts: My mom made chocolate cherry biscotti, chocolate chip cookies and peppermint patties.
  • I made 2 pumpkin pies, chocolate marble pie and “oreo cookies.”

 

The Thankful Salad Ingredients:

• 1 large golden beet peeled and shaved with a mandolin
• 1 bulb of fennel rinsed and shaved with a mandolin
• 1 gala apple washed and shaved with a mandolin
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2-3 tbsp of avocado oil
• 2-3 tbsp of coconut aminos.
• salt and pepper is optional
• 1 large purple carrot ribboned with a peeler
• 1 yellow carrot ribboned wiht a peeler
• 1 cucumber cut in cubes
• 1 ripe avocado cubed
• 1/4-1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1-2 scallions chopped very finely
• mixed greens. (enough to fill the salad bowl)

Ingredients for the Mouth Watering Marinade:

• 1/4 cup of pitted dates. (I used organic deglet noor)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil.
• 1 cup water.
• 1/2 squeezed small lemon
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp of ground ginger.
• 1 tsp ground turmeric.
• 1 tsp cumin.

 

Directions:

• Saute the beets, apple, fennel, garlic, avocado oil in about 3-4 tbsp of the mouth watering marinade.  Cook until starts to brown.  (medium to high heat)
•  The rest of the vegetables can be tossed into your salad.  If you want to add additional veggies, DO IT!
• I let my sauteed veggies cool so as not to wilt the greens.  Once completely cooled, you can gently toss and mix evenly into your salad.
• Pour your dressing over your salad. (NOT THE ENTIRE AMOUNT)

The remainder of your dressing can be used as additional dressing if you need or as a marinade for some other proteins.

I think I had this over a left over tuna croquette. =)