Thanksgiving Traeger Turkey

This is the bomb-diggity. Oh, sorry, so awesome I flashed back to the 80's. My husband smoked this puppy on our Traeger. This is the most beautiful turkey I have ever seen.

Rubbed down raw with olive oil, onion powder, granulated garlic & Penzy's Northwoods Fire seasoning. We always cook breast down so that all of the yummy juices run into the breast, not away from it.

Almost all of Penzey's seasonings are GF! You can order online at:

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/penzeysordering.html?id=LYF5VDFX

We are super lucky to have a Penzey's store locally at

11322 SE 82nd Ave
Happy Valley, OR

 

I am visual, so I love going in and looking at all of the spices.  There are SO many! Here is a link to see if you have a store nearby you. 

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/penzeysstores.html 

We put the turkey on the Traeger on smoke for 5 hours, then cranked it up to medium for just over 3 1/2 hours for a 20lb bird. Time really depends on your bird and how cold it is outside.  

Pretty much anything off a Traeger is delicious, but my husband out-did himself tonight! 

http://www.traegergrills.com/dealers 

Winner winner chicken dinner!

This was a fairly simple meal and my family loved it. I made rosemary chicken, mashed cauliflower and sautéed spinach. This is a naturally gluten free and low carb meal. 

First, I took boneless, skinless chicken breasts and put them in a gallon zip bag. I added enough olive oil to lightly coat them. Seal bag & mix around to get them all coated. 

Next, I took several sprigs of rosemary from our garden and used my kitchen scissors to snip leaves off into the bag. I used quite a bit of rosemary. Seal bag & rub the rosemary around on the chicken. After that, I took the chicken out & sprinkled both sides with GF lemon pepper seasoning. 

Tonight I used our much loved Traeger (smoker) to cook the chicken. I cooked it on high, about 15 minutes on each side. The chicken was very moist and flavorful. 

You could also grill it or bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes, depending on the thickness of your breasts. 

We also had mashed cauliflower. While the chicken was cooking I steamed some organic cauliflower. I used 2 small heads for 4 people. I steamed it till it was very soft. Some people boil their cauliflower before mashing it, however that can make you lose a lot of the valuable nutrients of cauliflower. 

Here is the deal about mashed cauliflower. It's cauliflower, not potatoes. So don't expect them to taste like potatoes. 

There are a lot of recipes out there for mashed cauliflower. For mine, I took the still hot cauliflower and used a hand masher to mash it up. I added salt pepper & granulated garlic to taste. While still hot, I added in about 4oz light cream cheese. I used a hand mixer to blend it. You could also use a food prossesor. 

I am thinking next time I will use garlic, Parmesan cheese & Italian seasoning. Yum!

My super quick and easy vegetable is sautéed spinach. Spinach cooks down a ton. I used two large bags of spinach

I heated up a tablespoon of coconut oil on med/high (7-8)  in a large skillet. I added two heaping tablespoons of jarred minced garlic. Then, add 1/2 of a bag of spinach. Stir often to wilt the spinach. Then that is cooked, continue to add 1/2 bag of spinach at a time, then cook down. I usually add a bit more coconut oil when I start adding the second bag of spinach. When I have cooked down all of the spinach, sprinkle a bit of lemon juice and stir in. All in all, it only takes about 6-7 minutes to cook down the spinach. 

Voila, tasty dinner and not a ton of effort! 

Gluten free-licious Mother's Day

I hope everyone had an awesome Mother's Day!! My family has a tradition of my husband & kids making me a big breakfast AND dinner. Love love love when people cook for me!!

I was in the living room while my husband, 13 yr old son & 21 year old son cooked me breakfast. My husband is an amazing cook & knows his way around a kitchen. However, like me, he is new at cooking gluten free. 

They decided to make me gluten free waffles from a Bob's Red Mill mix. Since they are gluten free, the consistency just isn't quite the same, so I was giggling while I listened to them trying to figure it out. They don't puff up as much as traditional waffles & took longer to cook. I am not sure how many they ended up throwing away before they got them right. Lol. However, once they figured it out, the waffles were quite delicious! Even my gluten loving family ate them and gave them 2 thumbs up. (well, so I guess that is 6 thumbs up)

For the waffles we had strawberries & whipped cream. On the side was bacon & eggs. I certainly don't eat like that every day, but it was yummy! 

For dinner, my husband seasoned (GF of course) a pork roast & smoked it on our Traeger. In case you don't know, a Traeger is a smoker and everything that touches it is delicious! 

He also made sautéed garlic green beans, pan fried baby red potatoes and fruit salad. 

I had lots of family time with my husband, 2 sons, daughter, daughter's bf & our German exchange student. Nothing makes me happier than bringing all my kids together at once. Not easy to do when they are adults!