So, it is getting closer and closer to Thanksgiving. Which for most means a week at home with a large meal around a family table. For a couple of my friends, however, it means a long week of late hours at work and tons of homework without being able to go home.
I have been invited to quite a few “friendsgivings” since I won’t be able to go home as well. Different people in my friend groups are both vegetarian and non vegetarian, so it got me to thinking what foods I was going to have at these gatherings.
I looked up on Pinterest some different recipes that are both healthy and low cost to give your friendsgivings some delicious options. The first article that I found useful is called “25 of the Best Paleo Thanksgiving Recipes.”
I have been hearing about the paleo diet quite a bit over the past couple years and according to paleocomfortfoods.com, the definition (to them) means eating real foods that are natural and healthy. These foods consist of lean meats, seafood, vegetables and fruit for carbs, and fats such as avocados. This means basically anything you could catch or grow.
In this article, two recipes stood out to me that look delicious for both my vegetarian/gluten free friends and my non vegetarian friends are Spicy Lime Sweet Potato Mash and Grain Free Dinner Rolls. Both recipes are both easy to make and only require a few ingredients. The ingredients that are common household items are salt, butter, eggs, and olive oil. The ingredients that are recipe specific are:
sweet potatoes (you can get at Walmart for between $.30-$.50 depending on how many you get)
lime or lime zest (less than $1)
tapioca (8oz is $3.12)
cilantro (around $3)
king arthur brand of gluten free flour ($6.14)
The biggest issue that comes with people who are vegetarian versus those who are non vegetarian is most obviously, meat. So, for my friends who are both, at my friendsgiving I would have a meat option and a non meat option. For a meat option, I would chose a recipe called Easy Crock-Pot Turkey and for the meatless option I would chose a recipe called Easy Brown Rice Risotto with Fresh Mushrooms and Oregano. Once again a lot of ingredients for these recipes can be household ingredients that you have every day, but the ingredients that are recipe specific are:
turkey ($18 at HyVee for a medium size bird)
yellow onions (chopped at Walmart for around $5)
minced garlic ($2.98)
vegetable broth ($2.88)
brown rice ($3.48)
baby portobello mushrooms (frozen for around $3)
oregano leaves ($2.48)
The best part of these recipes is that you can split up the cost with your friends! The prices match the quality of the food and the leftovers will be just as good as the meal!
Health on a Budget 