A few years ago my lanky Teenage Boy begged for meat to have a place at our table. He, like his dad, is very active athletically on top of being a growing boy. Many strapping young men can be just fine with tofu but he was not. We live in Iowa where I knew I could locate plenty of healthy meat choices and I think now that is probably true of anywhere in the U.S. Wherever you live someone is choosing to farm in a more respectful, humane manner, it just takes some research. I found our sources through friends and our local farmer's market so it was easy to chose the life of a locavore or perhaps even a flexitarian as we transitioned from vegetarian to carnivores. We eat mostly meat free meals but we balance with a little farm fresh meat. This Thanksgiving we had such a simple meal it was exquisite.
One of the easy choices was to stay home and relax instead of traveling to relatives. After driving the 10 hours to Oberlin two weekends ago we knew we needed a break. I'd questioned the three family members that would be sitting at our table if they were interested in turkey as I needed to place an order with my farmer, Tim Daley of Daley's Shamrock Acres. My peeps opted out of the turkey choosing instead to go with a more reasonable chicken for the holiday.
We went for a nice hike through our nature reserve and then headed home for dinner.
Here are the links to the recipes I followed to create our meal.
We finished off the cranberry tart earlier this evening and we were pretty sad to see it go. I'm happy because a pie has finally been created that all four of us enjoyed! The pecan pie on the hand is just for husband and I to enjoy together and it was better than I could have done on my own. Truly one of the best pecan pies I've tasted. It brought back the flavor of my grandmother's pecan pie.
I love how as we go through this journey we gather new traditions to add to the favorite old ones. I know that cranberry tart will become one of our new menu additions and that we will probably never go back to a tofu thanksgiving now that we have such a wide range of local options. And what of your holiday traditions? What came with you from your parent's home and what have you created on your own as a family?
6 comments:
Lovely post. We too mostly eat local -- as much as we can in terms of budget and eating a variety of foods.
A chicken is a great way to go. We always have turkey because my husband adores the leftovers. I buy ours from a friend who raises them.
What a beautiful post, it sounds like your Thanksgiving is what it was intended to be- a real family holiday, sharing good food.
Sounds like a delicious meal-pecans are expensive-depending on the recipe I will substitute walnuts-a friend does almonds given their price. I do like their taste.
Happy Thanksgiving! Sounds like a really nice one.
A dear old friend has an organic farm in upstate VT where we visited and took home one of her chickens. Since this year it was just my husband and myself it was a perfect choice...brined, stuffed and grilled to perfection. I work at a Whole Foods, so of course our organic and locally grown choices are quite fantastic. And their pecan pies are quite delicious as well. My favorite dish was a new recipe; green beans with a lovely meyer lemon vinegrette topped with parmesan breadcrumbs made from onion focaccia bread. Not that the good food made up for the two empty seats where our daughters usually sit, but still a peaceful day at home which is always nice.
Sounds like a wonderful meal for your family. I'm glad you had a lovely Thanksgiving. :)
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