Lighter Holiday Cranberry Sauce, paleo, GF + 5 Paleo Thanksgiving Side Dish Ideas

We can’t believe Thanksgiving is around the corner! We feel like we have so much to do and not enough time to do it. We still have to shop for Christmas presents, figure out holiday plans… basically it’s a a never-ending list. Despite it all, we do have to admit that we love the craziness that entails the holiday season. Our favorite part, to us, is family time AND, of course, the food!

Thanksgiving always takes the cake in the food department. It is a beautiful feast– full of fantastic home cooking, which tends to be very time consuming.

We have found that the key to tackling Thanksgiving is making some things in advance, like this Lighter Holiday Cranberry Sauce, for example.

This Lighter Holiday Cranberry Sauce is simple to prepare in advance.

It only takes an hour to make, is made of a handful of ingredients, and has no sugar or preservatives.

Major win. It also realllllly reminds us of Thanksgiving, which we love.

Thanksgiving at our home has always been a little different.

Since our mother isn’t American we never had the typical Thanksgiving sides or desserts.

We often had chicken instead of turkey (which we do have to say, we actually liked! haha).

And we NEVER had the canned cranberry sauce (as much as we do love it, sorry mom!).

One thing we did have was home made cranberry sauce.

Our mom always gets compliments on her home made cranberry sauce. It tastes soooo good on meat, potatoes, dessert..you name it!

We decided to tweak her recipe to make a Paleo version.

Her sauce is made with kumquats, which we wanted to do, but we couldn’t find them in the stores here.

So we decided to make ours with a mixture of lemon, lime, and orange zest instead.

And the flavor turned out really well! We love the cinnamon tartness of this sauce.

We also love the thicker consistency. Yum!

What’s great about this recipe is that it is easily adaptable to your tastes.

If you want this sauce to be sweeter, just add honey! If you want more citrus flavor, add more zest.

No matter what, no Thanksgiving table is complete without some home made cranberry sauce. 🙂

Keep scrolling down for 5 Paleo Thanksgiving side ideas! 🙂

This Lighter Holiday Cranberry Sauce is such a great side, but us paleo folks need more options! We decided to provide our favorite 5 Paleo/Clean/ Non-processed Thanksgiving Sides to help provide inspiration for your Thanksgiving table.

• 1) Carrot Grapefruit Salad– this refreshing salad is made of ONLY carrots and grapefruit. It is a light, tasty, and unique way to have a salad full of fruits and veggies at the table.

• 2) Cooked Pears– your house will smell like cinnamon heaven while cooking these satisfying pears. And our favorite part is that they melt in your mouth while being a great lighter dessert option. They also taste wonderful when paired with turkey.

• 3) Crispy Maple Bacon Brussels Sprouts– these will add a WOW factor to your table. They are addictingly satisfying and can pretty much make anyone become a brussels sprouts lover. 🙂

• 4) Perfectly Grilled Lemon Asparagus– broiling asparagus with some olive oil and lemon turns them into a satisfying treat. This lighter recipe offer a healthier way to eat asparagus during the holidays.

• 5) Cauliflower and Bacon Au Gratin (paleo, GF)– nothing says Thanksgiving like veggies covered in a creamy sauce, especially when it is a pumpkin cream sauce. Cauliflower au gratin is a truly decadent Paleo side dish for Thanksgiving.

Hope these ideas help! 🙂 we'd love to hear your favorite Thanksgiving sides.