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What's for Thanksgiving Dinner?

written by

Sue King

posted on

October 11, 2019

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a couple days away. Canadian Thanksgiving that is! 

It is our custom to come together with family at this time of year to express our thankfulness for the abundance of our blessings. Some years it can be hard to see those blessings, but they are always there if we would just take the time to look for them. We may not be rich financially or materially, but we are rich in relationships with our family. We have always had enough food on our table and clothes on our backs. A warm, dry place to live. A country where we are relatively free to live a quiet and peaceful life. Healthy bodies to pursue activities that make our heart sing.



In our area the produce of our gardens are all gathered in and stored for winter use. The winter feed for the animals is ready. Sometimes, but not usually all the firewood is stockpiled for the upcoming cold months. There is wool and fabric aplenty to keep my hands busy on those cold winter evenings.

Quite often I have a hard time deciding what we will serve for Thanksgiving. Do you have a hard time deciding what to serve for your celebration meal? Are you short on time and energy, but still want a memorable dinner that everyone will love? 

As a busy farm wife and mom my meals have to be simple, but healthy. When it comes to holiday meals simplicity still reigns. But, I do want them to be more special than our everyday meals. And, above all else they have to taste good. 

At our house we are kind of non-traditional when it comes to what we are going to serve.   One year everyone was tired from a busy fall season so we lit a bonfire and had a wiener roast complete with smores.  

The one predictable element of our meal will be that the food is raised on our farm. If it is the traditional turkey it will be one of our pasture raised birds. Ham will be from our forest raised pork. And the veggies will be from our garden. 

This year Thanksgiving dinner will be roast leg of lamb accompanied by hasselback potatoes and roasted root veggies. 

I like to keep meals simple by preparing as many items in advance as possible. Thanksgiving dinner is no different. 

I will prepare the seasonings for the leg of lamb the day before. On celebration day my thawed meat will be scored in a crosshatch pattern then the seasoning mixture will be rubbed all over the leg of lamb, letting it sit at room temperature soaking up all the delicious flavours of the garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, thyme, coriander, sea salt and black pepper before roasting.  

By bringing it up to room temperature before roasting it cooks faster and more evenly. 

Next, I place the leg of lamb on a rack in my roasting pan, adding a little water to the pan. I place the hasselback potatoes around the roast. Then cover loosely with foil and pop it into the oven allowing it to roast to perfection. 

The recipe for this amazing Roasted Leg of Lamb is here.

As you can see it is so simple, yet will make an impression on your holiday guests. 

To purchase our locally-raised, grass-fed leg of lamb for your holiday feast come visit us at the Grande Prairie Farmers Market.

Are you looking for more lamb recipes? When you subscribe to our blog you will receive a free recipe booklet “The Busy Cooks Guide to Preparing Amazing Lamb” along with interesting articles and news from the farm.


More from the blog

Are you Absolutely Satisfied with Store-Bought Pork?

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY PORK DISHES ALWAYS HAVE SO MANY SWEET SAUCES ON THEM? For many years this question never crossed my mind. Until we started raising and eating our own pasture-raised pork. But what lead us to start raising pigs?  Neither Larry nor I had much experience with pigs growing up. We started our married life buying all our pork in the grocery store, but then switched to sourcing it from a neighboring conventional pork producer. We were not aware that most of the pork that is available in the grocery stores comes from pigs that have never seen the light of day. They spend their whole life crowded into huge hog barns. They are fed an industry standard diet of grain with no green, living food at all. They are crowded into small spaces with many other pigs where their natural ability to move is restricted. Much to our surprise and horror, we discovered that the neighbor we were purchasing our pork from was raising them no differently than what we could get in the store. At that time, little did we know that eventually Larry would face a digestive issue from this type of pork. After certain meals he would feel sick to the stomach and end up with diarrhea. It got so bad before we clued into the cause. When we quit eating pork these issues went away. Now we had a dilemma. We really like pork but couldn’t eat it anymore. Being the DIY homesteaders we were back in those days we decided to buy a couple little pigs and raise them ourselves. We knew that we didn’t want to raise them in a barn. So outside they went. These were the happiest pigs I ever saw. They were free to roam around their pasture, rooting in the soil and wallowing in the mud while searching for whatever they thought was tasty to eat. We fed them grains from a neighbor, kitchen scraps and milk from our milk cow. When they were big enough to harvest, we sent them to the processor, not knowing if we would even be able to eat this pork. Much to our delight Larry had no adverse reaction to the meat. It was delicious! The meat was firm, not mushy like barn raised pork. It also had a richness to it that we had never experienced before.  No more bland and flavorless conventional pork for us.  No sauces required! We thought that we couldn’t be the only people who had experienced something similar and wished for a pleasurable eating experience. This success started us on a new farming adventure, raising pastured pork for sale. Encouraged by the success we had with our first pigs we decided to purchase our breeding herd. We have tried many breeds of pigs over the years and have settled on the Berkshire breed. They are a heritage pig that matures slower thus producing an excellent quality meat and the best lard fat that I think you can get. I have heard it said that Berkshire pork is the gold standard of pork among chefs. Besides that, they are very personable and entertaining to have around!  And mischievous. I truly believe from our personal experience that all animals that we raise for food need to be able to live in conditions that are natural for them and have the ability to express their God-given characteristics. When we domesticated animals, we became responsible to steward them well. We strive to do just this with all our animals. One of my favorite cuts of pork is the Boston Butt Roast.  It is juicy, tender, melt-in-your mouth meat. This is the cut that pulled-pork is made from. It is an economical cut that we also use to make ground pork and our special gluten-free, nitrate-free sausages. When you purchase our pasture-raised pork you will experience what real pork should taste like. We offer a variety of options when it comes to purchasing our pasture-raised pork.   Individual cuts to suit your needs. Pork Chops, Traditional salt-cured and smoked ham and bacon, Whole Tenderloin, Boston Butt Roasts, Ground Pork, Breakfast Sausages (Nitrate-free, Sugar-free and Filler-free). Coming soon!  Our "1/4 Pork Bundle."  Our newest addition to our pastured-pork line-up.  This bundle is perfect for a smaller family or if you have limited freezer space.  It will consist of a variety of the individual cuts, including Pork Chops, Pork Sirloin Steak, Ham Steak, Bacon, Ground Pork and Sausage. And, last but not least if you want to customize the cuts you receive, we have whole hogs available.   You can find all of these options in our online store. Do you want to try my simple Boston Butt Roast recipe? It’s so simple. I place the roast on a rack in my cast-iron dutch-oven. Add a little water. Sprinkle chopped onions on top (I used my home-grown dehydrated onions) salt and pepper. Roast until the internal temperature reaches 160F. I slice it and serve with apple sauce, oven roasted potatoes and a veggie.  You can purchase our pasture-raised pork from our online store or from us at the Grande Prairie Farmers Market on Fridays or Saturdays.