Thanksgiving in May

Way back in December for some reason I decided to buy a turkey.  I've never cooked a turkey before.  Every Thanksgiving since I was born, someone else has cooked it and I have no complaints about that.  Something possessed me to finally try it.  But that poor turkey sat in my freezer for, oh, say 5 months (Mind you it was meant to be a Christmas or possibly a New Years turkey, then an Easter bird, but alas a May bird.  Who ever heard of a May bird?).  I know, I know.  I don't know what really made me take that 20-something pounds of poultry out to defrost, but I did.  And it took for-e-ver to defrost (I'm talking like after a week it was still frozen).  I'm sure it was my fridge settings or something.  It turned out really moist and the texture was awesome, but since I happened to be sick the day I decided to cook it (go figure), I didn't really spice it up the way I would have liked.  So I won't be posting THAT recipe, I'll just show a pretty picture of my pretty beautiful bird.

I wanted to kind of stay away from the traditional Thanksgiving feast that is accompanied by a turkey.  Seeing as my Marvel is allergic to most all of "traditional Thanksgiving" foods, that made my decision set in stone.  Instead of mashed potatoes smothered in butter and gravy made w/wheat flour, I mashed sweet potatoes, seasoned them with salt and that's about it.  I made a stock using the neck and giblets, then added a little salt and pepper to taste and some (I think) arrowroot starch to thicken it up (could have been Tapioca starch, can't remember).

Now here's to the good stuff.  I couldn't make traditional stuffing since Marvel can't eat it and stuffing made with gluten-free bread just doesn't taste the same.  Cornbread stuffing is good, but Marvel can't have corn either.  Hmmm.  I scoured Pinterest (since that's the only place where good ideas really exist, right?) and came across a Vegan, gluten-free recipe at The Wannabe Chef.  Looked good enough for me.  It was awesome!  Definitely the best quinoa I've had to date!  We'll definitely be recreating this for Thanksgiving this year!  The only change I made was I substituted the sugar for maple syrup.

• 2 cups quinoa, rinsed
• 4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp parsley
• 1/2 Tbsp rosemary
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (or cane sugar or any other kind of sugar-substitute)

Bring the quinoa and broth to a boil in a large pot.  Cover the pot and turn off the heat, letting the quinoa sit to absorb the water.

In a pan, saute the onion, celery, and carrots in 2 Tbsp oil until the onions are translucent and the carrots have cooked through.

When the quinoa is fully cooked, add in the sauteéd vegetables, maple syrup (or sugar), and herbs.  Mix those in while fluffing the quinoa.

Move to a serving bowl and serve warm.