The Paleo Christmas Feast

Three days until the big day!

Yesterday I addressed what to do if you’ve cut it just a little too close and missed out on ordering a turkey you wanted.  Fortunately, there’s much more flexibility with your veggie side dishes.    (Incidentally, I’m only referring to them as sides since for this meal in particular, the bird, or whichever protein you’re choosing really is the pièce de résistance .)

In other words, no one is really going to know that you were originally planning on serving garlicky-shallot infused sprouts but changed your mind at the last minute and served roasted carrots and onions.  Not quite so easy if you simply didn’t have a turkey or goose on the table!

Be creative with choosing substitutes if you find that your market doesn’t have exactly what you wanted in terms of veggies.

• Looking for kale? Easy to swap out for chard, mustard greens or spinach if you can’t find my personal all time favorite veggie!
• No broccoli to be found? Sub in another crucifer- how about some cauliflower?
• Out of mache lettuce?  Baby arugula makes a nice, albeit slightly more bitter alternative.

Think of the themes and flavors you’d lke to focus on to keep the meal up to par with the season, like sage, rosemary, parsley, thyme and come up with something new and special all your own!