It’s been quite a while since I have written a post! I usually try to post at least once a week but we’ve had some unusual circumstances around here recently which have made it more difficult. For one thing, I started a new job and getting into the swing of that plus home and family obligations have taken up most of my time. But the main reason I have not posted recently is because we live right smack in the middle of the area affected by Superstorm Sandy! Fortunately for us, our house was not damaged in the storm and we didn’t have any major trees come down. But we were without power for almost ten days and that made life a tad difficult. In the midst of all the chaos I did take a few photos with my iPhone of some of the damage to our neighborhood. Check out some of the trees and telephone poles that were snapped in half from the power of the wind.
Huge numbers of extremely large trees came down all over the place crashing into homes, knocking down power lines and blocking roads. Our boys’ schools were closed for a solid two weeks and there are still folks around us without power over three weeks later!
My employer opened their offices to employee families for a few days. G’s office in Manhattan was closed for several days due to flooding and power outages and New Jersey Transit was also not running. (In fact, our usual train line is still not back in service.) G and the boys came to the office with me a couple of days for showers and to have a place to work remotely and stay warm. Nathaniel made the most of his time by reading and reading and reading. We can’t get this boy to stop reading!
During the power outage we did pretty well with food. We had a couple of coolers and a propane grill that we used for some basic cooking. In advance of the coming storm, before we lost our electricity, I made a loaf of Paleo Banana Cardamom Bread and it definitely came in handy. We served it along with some scrambled eggs (on the grill) and fresh strawberries (while they lasted).
We were able to boil water on the grill for coffee and coffee has never tasted SO good! It was a lot like camping except with a nicer tent (aka our house).
We had stocked up on some “apocalypse” foods prior to the storm. It turned into a couple of meals of tuna salad with olives and pickles.
As food in the freezer began to thaw, we made a tomato and olive sauce and served it over grilled salmon. For at least a few meals we were eating pretty well and we didn’t really stray from our usual paleo diet.
Just as we got our power back we had a Nor’easter snow storm which knocked out our power yet again! By that time our refrigerator had been cleaned out of all food and we were geting pretty frustrated. But once the power came back and the gas stations were starting to come back online we felt as though we needed to turn our attention to the harder hit parts of our state. We made our way down to Union Beach, NJ for a Saturday where we helped out by delivering food and supplies and helping to organize things for the local people who had lost all of their belongings in the storm.
It was a great experience for Ben and Nathaniel to learn the importance of helping others. At worst we were inconvenienced by the storm. But other people lost their homes and some even lost loved ones. Helping others taught us all a lesson on putting things into perspective and counting our blessings.
If you would like to donate to help people impacted by Hurricane Sandy I suggest you consider the following organization:
Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort, Inc
We have personally worked with this organization and can vouch for them in terms of the aid that goes directly to people in need.
Paleo Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
Now that things are getting back to normal around here I hope to be able to continue posting recipes on a more regular basis. Given that Thanksgiving is upon us I decided to try a paleo stuffing recipe. Last year I made a Gluten-Free Cornbread Dressing. It’s the one recipe on this site that contains corn. It’s a great recipe but this year I wanted to make a truly paleo stuffing. It’s a little odd not to have bread in a stuffing. But this concoction provides all the flavor of a traditional stuffing or dressing recipe without the grains or the carbs.
Paleo Stuffing
PrintSuperstorm Sandy and a Paleo Stuffing Recipe
Gluten-free thanksgiving stuffing.
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
- Category: side, main
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork sausage
- 1 medium/large onion, diced
- 2 cups diced celery
- 10 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cups wax turnip (or sweet potato or Granny Smith apples), diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 1 tablespoon rubbed sage (or to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt (or more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (or more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
- 2 eggs (optional), beaten
Instructions
- Remove the casing from the pork sausage and brown the sausage it in a large pan. Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside.
- Saute the onions, mushrooms, turnip and celery in the pan with the sausage drippings, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove the dried bits. At the fresh and dried sage, salt, pepper and celery seed and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until the turnips are tender and much of the liquid has evaporated.
- Pour the stuffing mixture into a baking dish pour the beaten eggs on top and mix lightly.
- Cook for about 15-20 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.
Ingredients
- 1 pound pork sausage
- 1 medium/large onion, diced
- 2 cups diced celery
- 10 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cups wax turnip (or sweet potato or Granny Smith apples), diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 1 tablespoon rubbed sage (or to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt (or more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (or more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
- 2 eggs (optional), beaten
Instructions
- Remove the casing from the pork sausage and brown the sausage it in a large pan. Remove the sausage from the pan and set aside.
- Saute the onions, mushrooms, turnip and celery in the pan with the sausage drippings, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove the dried bits. At the fresh and dried sage, salt, pepper and celery seed and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until the turnips are tender and much of the liquid has evaporated.
- Pour the stuffing mixture into a baking dish pour the beaten eggs on top and mix lightly.
- Cook for about 15-20 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.
Serves 6-8
Personally, I think it tastes great without adding the eggs and the extra cooking time. That step made the stuffing stick together a little more and it dried it out and crisped it up a bit too. It’s really up to you if you want to take that extra step.
Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and for those of you outside the U.S. I still think you should try this recipe as a great paleo side dish. The night I first made it we actually ate the paleo stuffing for dinner as a one-dish meal.
If you are looking for a Thanksgiving dessert recipe you might want to consider this Paleo Pecan Pie/Tart recipe.
Thanks for stopping by!
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Nice job! The recipes look fabulous!
Thanks for the compliment, Aileen!
Great post Lea! So glad you, your family and home are safe (prayed for you). Terrific that you turned it into an opportunity for the boys to help others. Recipe looks great, similar to one Mike’s Dad makes at Christmas.
Thanks Nancy. I appreciate your prayers!
I have a Paleo stuffing for you: ground beef mixed with some black and gold raisins and walnuts. You have to cook the meat before stuffing it in the turkey. It really does taste great.
Sounds good to me, Sophia! That would be a great option for folks who don’t eat pork like many of my Jewish friends.
Just made this stuffing and love it. So tasty! Thank you and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks. And Happy Thanksgiving to you as well!
Just made this for Christmas dinner. So nice to have a Paleo option, and the kids love it. We happen to have just toasted some brined walnuts as well, so chopped up a half cup or so of those and threw them in just before baking. Nummy. 🙂
I don’t think I’ve ever had brined walnuts – they sound wonderful!
Five years (and a variety of ways of eating among us) later, and this is still our go-to stuffing recipe. My MIL, who eats SAD, even asks to have some of it over traditional stuffing at holiday dinners. Thanks for a great recipe!