That has to be one of the best episodes of Friends, am I right?

My family celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving a week early this year, much to the delight of my turkey loving self. One of the great things about celebrating with my family is that we are all focusing on living healthy, balanced lifestyles, which makes family dinners fun, easy and no one is needing maternity pants.

I want to eliminate your excuses for hopping off the healthy bandwagon around holidays, so here’s the run down of what we ate and a few other recipes that I would like to try next year or some that I think sound delicious. I can’t do the grocery shopping or cooking for you, but these clickable links should save you some time.

As I have explained in previous posts, when it comes to holidays or special occasions, I don’t eat strictly Whole30 or Paleo. Read here about how I found that balance. Basically, pass the pumpkin pie and whipped cream please!

Appetizers:

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus Bundles

Bacon Wrapped Date Salad

Pumpkin Soup with Apple and Spices

Main:

Turkey

Stuffing

Sides:

Maple Bacon Pecan Roasted Butternut Squash (My favourite!)

Garlic Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes

Braised Root Veggies 

Roasted Cranberry Walnut Brussel Sprouts

Cranberry Sauce

We also had some very definite non-paleo perogies, because we’re Ukrainian, and because they’re delicious. There are some things you just don’t mess with. Amen.

Dessert:

We enjoyed a fresh baked pumpkin pie from a local farm, but when I searched online, tons of recipes for healthy pumpkin pie came up. Next year I would like to try something like this one.

Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope you enjoy some time giving thanks with loved ones!