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Green Up Your Thanksgiving Feast

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November 14, 2012

With Thanksgiving fast approaching many of us are preparing our Thanksgiving meal plans. Whether you’re in charge of an entire meal, a side dish, or the turkey, here are some ways to help ensure your Thanksgiving feast is Mother Nature friendly too.

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is a Thanksgiving staple. You could go to the store and purchase cranberry sauce in a can, but that is not the most environmentally friendly choice. Instead, opt to make your own. No metal waste or refined sugars and taste that can’t be beat.

Cranberries are incredibly healthy, but they are not naturally sweet. Therefore, canned cranberry sauce contains a lot of sugar. In fact, did you know, 100 grams of fresh cranberries contain only 46 calories, while 100 grams of cranberry sauce has 151 calories. The extra 100 calories adds up to about 6 teaspoons of sugar. Instead of all the super refined sugars, make your own sauce. Here is my absolute favorite homemade cranberry sauce recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1 pack of fresh cranberries
  • 1 cup organic orange juice
  • 1 cup organic cane sugar

Directions:

Cooking is simple. Place all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Cook until sauce begins to thicken. Place in a dish and refrigerate until ready to serve. This only takes about 5 minutes to cook and is a super simple recipe. I make mine early in the morning the day of Thanksgiving to give it all day to cool in the fridge.

The Turkey

Instead of opting for the supermarket special, if you can afford it – seek out an organic or free range turkey. A free range or organic turkey is going to offer you the most environmentally friendly turkey possible and it also tastes so much better. You won’t receive the hormone boost that’s in most turkeys and the turkeys have naturally larger thighs as they are running free and working those muscles.

Pumpkin Pie

It may be tempting to reach for the can of pre-made pumpkin pie mix, but did you know you can make pumpkin pie out of fresh pumpkin? This is perfect if you still have some uncut Halloween pumpkins or fall pumpkin décor. Reuse those decorations for a tasty pumpkin pie.

This recipe from All Recipes is a favorite. I only recommend that you ensure you are using an organic veggie oil and sugar in the recipe. I promise when you tell people you made the dessert from scratch they will be very impressed, plus you can’t beat the taste of an authentic pumpkin pie.

Choose Organic, Less Packaging, and Local

Whatever you are making this Thanksgiving try to purchase as much of the produce and dairy organic or local. This will ensure you are getting the most environmentally friendly product. Also avoid the extra packaging. Produce that can be purchased loose as opposed to bagged, will help cut down on waste.

What ways do you plan to green up your Thanksgiving feast?

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