Christmas Feast

I've started this post a few times.  If I start on the true meaning of Christmas it will end in a mini-rant that really doesn't fit the picture.  So, I decided to just add this right off the bat-- what I'm about to talk about really isn't about Christmas.

Anyone who knows me knows that I've become health conscious in the past two years.  The food in this house has made a huge transformation.  We are primarily an organic family now.  My philosophy is to make the best choice available.  If the only food I have available to eat is a candy bar, I'm going to eat it if I'm hungry.  But if that candy bar is sitting next to an apple, I'm choosing the apple.  When I grocery shop, I chose the best available in everything-- organic unbleached flour instead of plain white, fresh instead of canned, etc.

So, for our Christmas dinner, even though there were only two of us, I decided to do the full on Turkey dinner- Parrish style.

Of course we had the turkey, all-natural.  Organic Wild Rice Stuffing with Portobello mushrooms, green peppers and celery.  Butternut Squash saved from the Ewert's (Thanks, Gail!).  Hot buns.  Organic green bean casserole, with the exception of the French's Fried Onions.  Homemade gravy.  Cooked spinach.  Fresh pomegranate arils (pomegranate is my winter addiction, I love them!).  And fresh brewed blueberry iced tea.  Not pictured is the rhubarb custard pie I made for Jim.

Everything on the table is either healthy or the healthy version of the dish.  My rice stuffing is half the calories of regular bread stuffing, as well as gluten-free.  I know that we could do without the green bean casserole, but it's a traditional dish that just has to be on the table sometimes.

Hope you had a great Christmas with your families.  The next few days will undoubtedly be about food.  As you can see, we had a lot of it and there was only two of us.  So, we have a lot of leftovers.  Turkey Chilli anyone?