Elevate your Thanksgiving spread with four healthy recipes that use real, whole-food recipes created by yours truly, a holistic nutritionist helping busy people implement healthy habits – like eating real food! No preservatives, no chemicals—just Southern-style dressing, corn casserole, protein-packed pumpkin bars, and garlic herb pork tenderloin, all crafted from scratch. Discover a healthier approach to holiday feasting, blending tradition with mindful ingredients. Let’s make this Thanksgiving a celebration of wholesome, delicious choices that nourish both body and soul.

Garlic + Herb Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

– 2 pork tenderloins, about 1 pound each
– Chopped mix of fresh herbs like rosemary, thyme, and oregano
– 4 tbsp of real butter
– 4 cloves minced garlic
– Salt & Pepper

Recipe:

▶️ Either the night before or the morning of the day you intend to cook the tenderloins, cover them in a few tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and the juice from half a lemon and let them sit in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

▶️ Let tenderloins sit on your counter for 20-30 minutes.

▶️ Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

▶️ Heat pan on med-high heat. Once hot, add tenderloins and sear until browned on both/sides.

▶️ Place foil in a baking dish and set tenderloins on foil. Fold up the edges to create a boat. Add pads of butter, salt & pepper, chopped herbs and any other seasonings you’d like.

▶️ Bake for 30-45 minutes until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.

▶️ Once cooked, seal foil and let tenderloins sit in foil for 5 minutes. Remove from foil, slice, and enjoy! Be sure and spoon the butter-herb mix from the foil on top of your sliced tenderloins. 😋

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Corn Casserole

Ingredients:

– 3-4 ears fresh corn, shucked with kernels sliced off
– 1 onion, diced
– 1 tbsp arrowroot powder
– 1 cup whole milk
– 2 spoonfuls cottage cheese
– 1/2 cup chicken bone broth
– 4-6 pieces cooked bacon, chopped
– 3 cloves minced garlic
– 1/2 cup cornmeal
– 1/2 cup cassava flour
– 1 tbsp baking powder
– One 5.3 oz container plain yogurt
– 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
– Chopped green onion for garnish
– Salt & pepper to taste
– Butter or oil for sauteing
– Greased casserole dish (~ 11×13, no need to be exact), use a napkin to spread olive oil or butter on the dish.

Recipe:

▶️ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

▶️ Add a couple of tablespoons of butter or oil to a pot on medium heat. Once heated, add half of the chopped onion and all of the corn and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add arrowroot powder and mix well. Start adding a little bit of milk at a time, stirring in between, and let the mixture thicken. Add cottage cheese and bone broth. Let this mixture simmer and thicken up, turn the heat to med-low or low, and keep checking on it and giving it a good stir every once in awhile.

▶️ While it simmers, cook your bacon in a skillet. When bacon is cooked, remove it from the skillet and add the rest of your onion and garlic to the hot grease and saute for a minute or two.

▶️ Add cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt to a bowl.

▶️ In another bowl mix the yogurt, the onion/garlic/grease mix, one egg, chopped bacon, parmesan cheese and corn mix. Mix well and add dry ingredients. Pour into a greased casserole dish and bake for 30-35 minutes until cooked through.

▶️ Garnish with chopped green onions and enjoy!

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Dressing

Ingredients:

– One 8×8 batch of prepared unsweetened cornbread – I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Yellow Cornmeal and followed the recipe on the back of the package, but cut it in half and left out honey/sugar/sweetener of any kind. You don’t want sweet cornbread in your dressing.
– 1 large onion, diced
– 1 bunch celery, chopped
– Handful of Mary’s Gone Crackers, Herb Blend
– 2.5 slices of Ezekiel Bread, toasted
– Either use grease/broth from your turkey once it’s cooked, or chicken bone broth, about 1 – 1 1/2 cups total
– 1 bunch fresh sage, chopped
– Salt & Pepper to taste
– Greased casserole dish (~ 9×9 without turkey, ~11×13 with turkey), use a napkin to spread olive oil or butter on the dish.

Recipe:

▶️ Cook cornbread and let cool.

▶️ Toast a few slices of Ezekiel bread and let cool.

▶️ Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

▶️ In a large bowl start crumbling up cornbread. I used about 3/4 of the prepared batch. Then, tear the toast into smaller pieces and add it to the crumbled cornbread. I used about 2.5 pieces. Crumble about 8-10 crackers and add. Add half of the chopped onion, salt, quite a bit of pepper, chopped fresh sage and mix well.

▶️ While the bread mix sits, heat a couple of spoonfuls of butter in a saute pan over med-low heat. Add chopped celery and cook for a few minutes, until soft. Add celery to bread mix and combine.

▶️ Add broth or grease to your bowl and stir. You want the mix to be almost soggy, but not quite. You can use the grease from your turkey or bone broth (or any broth or grease for that matter).

▶️ If you’re adding turkey to your dressing, add some slices to the bottom of your greased casserole dish and pour dressing on top. If you’re not using turkey, skip this step and just add the broth + bread mix to your dish. Bake until browned, about 30-35 minutes. Keep your eyes on it, you don’t want it to dry out.

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Pumpkin Protein Bars

Ingredients:

– 1 cup Siggi’s Vanilla non-dairy yogurt
– 1 can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just pumpkin)
– 2 eggs
– 2 egg whites, whipped
– 1 1/2 cups cassava flour
– 1 cup vanilla protein powder (I used Paleo Pro brand)
– 2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
– Frosting: 3/4 cup coconut butter, 2 tbsp maple syrup, 2 tbsp flavored nut butter

▶️ Add 2 eggs, pumpkin, and yogurt to a bowl & mix

▶️ Add flour, protein powder, spices & mix

▶️ Whip 2 egg whites in a separate bowl with mixer until bubbles form, add to mixture

▶️ Pour into greased 8×8 baking dish & bake at 350 degrees for 25-ish mins

▶️ Let cool

▶️ Make frosting by warming the coconut butter, nut butter, and syrup in a sauce pan

▶️ Once it’s melted (don’t overcook, it doesn’t take long) pour over the pumpkin bread and let it cool

Enjoy!