It is the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States! That usually means travel, family time and lots of food. And if you can rouse yourself from the couch, a lot of bargain hunting on Black Friday!! Usually. However, this year things are looking a bit different. Much smaller gatherings and a lot of internet shopping have left us with just one thing to do – indulge in culinary delights!

Since this was our first year doing the Thanksgiving meal on a low sodium diet, it was time to get creative! In our house, everybody cooks and we came up with a menu that was mostly low-sodium. The thing that I learned with this meal is to pick and choose where to add/avoid salt. The only dishes with salt were the starter (from the puff pastry shells), the stuffing (from the low sodium broth, the stuffing mix and the cheese) and a very low amount from the salt sprinkled on the chicken. The desserts were as intended – both the galette and the pie had some sodium but in the entirety, I would definitely categorize this as a low sodium meal.

The Starter

The Sides

The Brussel sprouts, delicata squash and cauliflower were roasted with just olive oil, freshly ground black pepper and Mrs. Dash Salt-Free Original Seasoning Blend, letting the taste of the vegetables shine through! Baby potatoes were roasted with garlic powder, ancho chili powder, paprika, coriander, cumin and freshly ground black pepper to get maximum flavor sans salt. The roasted parsnips with a mustard and maple glaze from Delia Smith is a perennial favorite. So easy and yet delicious!

The Main

Since my family does not care for turkey at all, we decided on a spicy roast chicken instead. The Chile-and-Citrus-Rubbed Chicken roasted over potatoes, carrots and celery was moist, flavorful and since I just sprinkled a pinch of kosher salt over the top of the chicken, had almost no salt at all!

Southwest stuffing is a spicy low-sodium take on the traditional, made by my husband who likes to spice up everything! This vegetarian version uses sautéed red onions, garlic, colorful bell peppers, poblano pepper, corn with low sodium chicken broth and store bought gluten-free stuffing mix. Yes, I had fully intended to use my homemade gluten free bread toasted in the oven for the stuffing but unfortunately forgot it in the oven for too long and had to resort to plan B! The stuffing was topped with jalapeño flavored aged gouda and cilantro and baked in the oven till the cheese melted.

The simplest cranberry sauce you can make – cook down fresh cranberries with grated ginger, chopped orange and sugar. Also makes a great addition to a cheese tray if you manage to have any leftovers. Yum!

The Desserts

On to the best part – desserts! We had a gorgeous homemade Brown Butter Sage Caramel Apple Galette made by my daughter. And a pumpkin pie from Costco – an annual request by my other daughter!

The rest of this weekend will be all about leftovers!!