...Now for some food not on the Paleo diet

                          But I ate anyway before knowing that I probably shouldn't have!

Well, it was Thanksgiving so I made oyster stuffing with bread, celery, onions, mushrooms and oysters. I seasoned it with fresh thyme and sage, added two eggs, chicken broth and lots of melted butter. Very yummy but not on my diet. 

Now I would make stuffing with ground pork sausage, forego the bread, and add fresh thyme, sage, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, chopped celery, chopped onion, chopped apples, and chopped mushrooms. Cook the sausage first then add the vegetables. Whisk two eggs with some chicken or turkey stock, add a little olive oil, then mix with the sausage/vegetable mixture. Bake in the oven and enjoy! I guess I don't really need all that bread to enjoy stuffing.

Oh, these rolls were so good! I took the Pioneer Woman's tip and placed frozen dough balls (Rhodes) in a buttered Pyrex pie dish, waited patiently for them to rise, then brushed them all over with lots of melted butter, and sprinkled chopped fresh rosemary on top. I think they were the best dinner rolls we ever had--well, the family thought so, too. But, alas, these are definitely out for the Paleo diet! Hope you like them.

Here's another no-no for me. Sweet delicious cooked yams with lots of butter, brown sugar and marshmallows. I cooked gold, orange and white ones first in a pot of boiling water; then when they were almost done, I put them in a buttered dish and added the rest of the butter (about a stick) and lots of dark brown sugar--yum. Topped with marshmallows at the end, they were a real kid-pleaser. 

Next year, for me, I will probably just bake a whole sweet potato and maybe place just one little dollop of grass-fed butter (I know butter doesn't graze, ha, but this is really how it's labeled!) on top.

Oh this was a killer drink! The husband made it for us using Ina Garten's recipe found in her cookbook Foolproof. Here's the recipe:

4 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
4 oz. Cointreau liqueur
7 oz. cranberry juice cocktail
7 oz. good vodka, such as Grey Goose
Dash of raw egg white (optional)
Ice
In a pitcher, stir together the lemon juice, Cointreau, cranberry juice cocktail, vodka, and egg white. Fill a cocktail shaker half full with ice and pour enough of the drink mixture into the shaker to almost fill it. Shake the cocktail for a full 30 seconds and strain into martini glasses. Serve ice cold.

Since this delicious cocktail is made with vodka, hence grain, I cannot drink it. But ... I can still drink champagne and wine since they are made with grapes. Happy Happy!!