Girl-Friendly Thanksgiving Recipes from Gender Dreaming!!

[atomic sagebrush]

Before we get to the recipes, first a word from our "sponsor!"

If you haven't done so already, I'd like to urge everyone to buy a Dream Membership to Gender Dreaming. It's $12 for a full YEAR, a dollar a month, (not $12 a month like some people have thought.) This money goes to support the site, helps keep atomic unemployed so she can help swayers as a full time job, and keep things up and running for everyone. The site owner has a lot of expenses affiliated with keeping the site functional, and I for one really appreciate having a site that WORKS.

Basically, it's not really about what you "get", it's about supporting the site. But here's what you get anyway. Dream Members have access to private forums so you can post about personal issues privately. Trolls and spammers will be banned IMMEDIATELY rather than allowed to run amok, which happens on some sites. We have a few paid-for studies that you can check out (including the Dutch study and the Oxford study) and hopefully more of these to come in the future. The complete French Gender Diet and the complete IG FAQ for the benefit of IG-style swayers, because no one can get onto IG any more (and if they don't like it, they can fix their site LOL).

And if in the future you do decide to go HT, there are extensive private forums for HT and also perks involved with some doctors offering discounts to Dream Members.

Finally, I am now focusing primarily on the Dream Members section (sorry, I just can't keep up and would rather do a few things well than everything badly) so if you post there, you will get an answer from me personally.

I will always post basic swaying information to be free for everyone, but I am currently working on 3 cookbooks, the Low Everything Diet for pink, the High Everything Diet for blue, and an In-Betweener Diet for pink swayers who don't need to/want to cut back too much, and blue swayers who are vegetarian. These will be 200-300 pages long with hundreds of recipes, and are designed to be healthy, delicious, gourmet diets that you can stay on indefinitely, rather than exercises in slow torture that will endanger your health. Dream Members have access to my complete diets and I will post the recipes in the DM section as I go the cookbooks are completed.

Anyway, on to the recipes!!!

[atomic sagebrush]

IT's turkey time again! If you're frantically trying to figure out what you can eat while still remaining thankful for foods other than Craisins and tahini, here are some recipes for you. You can serve these dishes to 20 hypercritical and unbelievably nosey relatives alongside a turkey proudly and no one will notice if you don't have any meat on your plate.

Not everything is strictly allowed on the IG or French Diets, but these are all LE Diet approved!!! Nutritional data is included for the ones I had the nutritional data for.

(You'll also need rolls, turkey, gravy, stuffing, and pie for your dinner to be "complete", but again, no one will notice if you take a pass on these things, your plate will still be overflowing! BTW, this is a lot of food anyway so make your in-laws provide the rest of the feast so you don't even have to be tempted by the smell of roasting turkey!)

--Spinach Dip

If you love the Knorr’s Spinach Dip, this is a much lower sodium option.

1 10 ounce box frozen chopped spinach
4 minced green onions (you can use more if you like!)
2 cans of water chestnuts, drained and chopped
1 T Lemon Juice
1 ½ cup sour cream or yogurt
2 T minced fresh parsley
1 T dry mint (fresh is better, but it’s hard to find!)

Thaw spinach, drain in a colander, and mix with the other ingredients. Serve with Hint of Salt Wheat Thins, H of S Triscuit, H of S Ritz, and/or Pinch of Salt Lay's Chips.

--Slow-Cooker Spiced Cider (from Betty Crocker)

The nice thing about this is you can make it in the morning and just let it percolate till guests arrive and it makes your house smell fantastic.

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons whole allspice
4 sticks cinnamon (3 inch)
1 bottle (48 oz) apple cider (6 cups)
1 bottle (48 oz) cranberry juice cocktail (6 cups)

In 4- to 5-quart slow cooker, mix all ingredients. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours. Before serving, remove allspice and cinnamon. To make things easier, you can tie the spices in a coffee filter for easy removal.

--Caramelized Leek Soup

2 lbs leeks (use white and pale parts only, freeze the rest to make broth sometime)
2 T unsalted butter
1 1/4 t. sugar
1/4 cup white wine (use REG white wine and not "cooking" wine because cooking wines have sodium)
3 1/2 cups broth (if you can, use homemade vegetable broth made with no sodium. Otherwise, use low-sodium chicken broth because the low-sodium vegetarian broths, and even the full sodium vegetarian broths, are YUK!!)

Halve leeks the long way and then cut into bite size half-circles. Wash them WELL. Cook in a heavy pan with butter over med-low heat until some begin to turn golden, about 40 minutes. Stir in sugar and cook another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking and burning. Stir in wine to deglaze pan and cook another 10 minutes, until liquid evaporates. Add 1/2 cup broth and cook an additional 10 minutes until that liquid has evaporated.

Add the rest of the broth and bring soup just to a boil and serve.

--Gorgonzola and Pear Salad

3 large pears
1/3 c granulated sugar
1/3 c water
½ t fresh tarragon, minced
2 T cider vinegar
1 ½ T lemon juice
4 oz. Gorgonzola or blue cheese
Generous amount of iceberg lettuce

Peel, core, chop one of the pears and cook it in 1/3 cup water, along with the sugar and tarragon, until the pear is soft, adding more water if the water boils away. Remove from heat and cool in the fridge, then puree in a blender or food processor with vinegar and lemon juice. If needed, you can add more sugar to taste. Immediately before serving, core and thinly slice the other two pears. Arrange atop desired amount of lettuce, with 2-3 T Gorgonzola. You can have as much as you like of the lettuce and pear, but stick to the 2-3 T Gorgonzola!!

(Cal 184, Fat 6 g, Protein 5 g, 240 mg sodium)

--Sweet Potato Casserole with Meringue Topping

3 1/2 lb. sweet potatoes or yams
1/3 c honey
1 egg, beaten (OR you can use both yolks from the meringue eggs to save effort...unnecessary egg yolks are not usu. allowed but heck, this is Thanksgiving!!)
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg

(for meringue)
an additional 2 egg whites
1/4 t. cream of tartar
1/4 c. superfine sugar

Coat 8x8 pan with a SMALL amount of cooking spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 350. Peel, chop and boil sweet potatoes until fork tender, about 15 minutes. Drain WELL and cool slightly. Combine cooked potatoes with honey, egg/yolks, cinnamon, nutmeg and mash with handheld mixer until (whether you leave them a little chunky or make them supersmooth is up to you. Put mixture into prepared 8x8 pan and bake for 30 min. until potatoes are set.

In the meantime, with a clean egg beater attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Begin adding the 1/4 c sugar, a little at a time, until it's all added and stiff, glossy peaks form in the egg white (this takes about 4-minutes). Remove potatoes from oven and while still hot, swirl meringue over the top of the potatoes, covering them completely. Return dish to oven and bake an additional 10-12 minutes, until meringue is set and browned just on the peaks.

--Girl-friendly Mashed Potatoes

Potatoes are allowed on the LE Diet as long as you're within your caloric budget, and in small amounts on the FGD, but if you're an IG Dieter and avoiding them, you'll want to pass on this recipe.

1 1/4 lb potatoes of your choice (yellow-fleshed potatoes will look more buttery)
1/2 c nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 c skim milk
1 1/2 T unsalted butter
Black pepper and Chives to taste

Bake potatoes in the oven or microwave and cool to the touch. If you like, you can remove the skins (and some of the nutrients) and mash or you can mash them in their skins to add extra flavor. Combine with other ingredients and put into microwave-safe serving dish...you will need to reheat before serving.

--Corn on the Cob

Add 2 T sugar to the biggest pot you have and fill 2/3 deep with water. Put in however many cleaned and desilked corn cobs you'll need and bring to a boil. Serve with butter and salt for others and you just don't need to add them! The sugar in the water is girl-friendly and it makes the corn so sweet you can enjoy it without the added butter and salt.

(60 cals, not enough fat/protein/sodium to count, 150 mg potassium)

--Hazelnut and Lemon Green Beans

The hazelnuts are a cheat, but on such a small portion, they will not amount to anything. (note - lemon is allowed on LE and FGD but NOT on IG Diet.)

1 pound fresh green beans, prepared (they now sell prepared fresh green beans in the produce section)
1 T and 1 t (total of 4 teaspoons or 1 1/3 tablespoon) chopped toasted hazelnuts
1 T freshly grated lemon zest
1 T and 1 t (see note above) fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 t canola oil
Black pepper to taste.

To toast hazelnuts, cook on high heat in a nonstick skillet for 1-3 minutes, shaking constantly, unitl they are lightly browned. Or buy toasted.

Cook beans in a pot of boiling water until done to your preference (anywhere from 5-20 minutes) and drain well. Return to pan if it's dry, if not use another bowl. Combine with other ingredients and put into pretty dish. Serve immediately.

--Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce

The original and never improved!!

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 12-ounce package Ocean Spray® Fresh or Frozen Cranberries

Combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil; add cranberries, return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 2 1/4 cups.

A 2 T serving = Calories 51, Fat 0g, Potassium 14mg, No protein or sodium!!

--Cranberry Blondies

3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 c packed light brown sugar
1 egg (must use yolk)
1 t vanilla
2 c flour
1 1/2 c white chocolate chips
1/2 c Craisins

Coat 8x8 pan with a small amount of cooking spray and preheat oven to 325 (you can make these ahead, so if you make these first thing in the morning, you can then turn the heat up to 350 and use the same pan to make your sweet potato casserole above...I only have one 8x8 pan and assuming everyone else is the same.)

With a handheld mixer, cream butter and sugar together and then add egg and vanilla. On low speed, gradually add flour, then fold in 1 c white choc. chips and the dried cranberries. Press into pan and bake at 325 for 40 mintues, until done. Cool completely.

When cookies are cool, microwave the remaining 1/2 c white choc chips until they are melted and put the melted choc into a Ziploc bag. Cut a tip off of one corner and drizzle melted chocolate over the top of the bar in a pretty design (you can also use a spoon to do this.)

Allow choc to harden and then cut into squares and remove from the pan. Makes 32 bars.

(143 cals, 7 g fat, 1 g pro, 0 sodium)

[dramabird]

Atomic, first off, you're awesome.

Second, do you have any sort of ETA on when you think you'll have the low-everything cookbook posted? (I'm doing the pre-sway vegetarian thing now, but plan on officially embarking upon the diet starting Dec. 26 -- so I'll be eager-n-greedy for any information I can get my hands on. Thank you for all your hard work!!)

Third, you're awesome. Did I mention that?

I'm proud to be a Dream Member!!

[amari]

I love this website! You are amazing! I am new here and just starting to get into your site. Thank you!

[atomic sagebrush]

drama, I will post everything I have for now. I wish there was an ETA, for awhile there I was going gangbusters and I have 100 pages done and thought it would surely be done before Christmas. Then we got a lot of new members and I had a couple busy weeks.

A couple of sections are virtually complete - the pasta section I already posted but salads are done and a couple others are close...

PS - thanks for your support!

[amari]

I will pay for this membership this evening, where do I do so? Thank you!

[Out of the Blue]

I will pay for this membership this evening, where do I do so? Thank you!

Hi, Amari! You can scroll up to the top of the page and you will find a pink box on the upper left side that says, "Become a Dream Member". Click on it and it will get you started. I joined a few months ago and I'm glad I did.

[Out of the Blue]

YAY, Atomic!!! I think you just saved Thanksgiving for most of us who celebrate that holiday!!! I can't wait to try those recipes!

BTW, that pic of your son is super cute!

[purplepoet20]

Ham, Matzaball Stuffing, Ham, Italian Green Beans, Ham, Sweet Potatoes, Ham, Cranberry Jello Mold, and yes Ham... All good for any sway... It makes you sane again! I only look forward to a few things a year. I do plan to loose a lot of weight before the Holidays, I will skip breakfast each day, but I will eat as much of my favorite foods as I can. Maybe it will raise my hormones just enough to conceive 12-15 days after Thanksgiving.

[angel-pink]

I THOUGHT IT WAS 12 A MONTH TO DOH GET PAID NEXT WEEK OHH DREAM MEMBER HERE I COME