I tried to make the Christmas dinner menu as keto friendly as possible. But I know my family. Some things just weren’t going to go over well. Like homemade cranberry sauce. They just want the canned stuff.
I had actually done a trial run of a sugar-free cranberry sauce recipe the week before. I really liked it, but the carb count was still too high, plus I didn’t think anyone else would bother with it.
Here’s the final menu:
- turkey
- ham
- candied yams
- baked macaroni & cheese
- cornbread dressing
- deviled eggs
- collared greens w/ pico de gallo
- creamed spinach
- salad
- gravy, rolls
- sweet potato pies
- lemon pound cake
- assorted cookies
- pop, iced tea
It may not sound very keto-friendly, but there was more than enough on the menu for me to remain relatively low carb. I allowed myself a tablespoon of mac & cheese (although the next day I ate almost a full serving). I skipped the sweet potatoes since I was allowing myself a slice of pie. I also had a tablespoon of dressing with gravy, and a roll.
Otherwise, my plate was loaded with turkey, ham, deviled eggs, collared greens and creamed spinach. Now that’s actually pretty keto!
I passed on the other desserts and I drank iced tea sweetened with Splenda.
Leading up to Christmas, I split the cooking into three days. I had thawed and started dry brining the turkey already. Here’s the breakdown of what I prepared and when:
Monday (12/23) – two sweet potato pies, boiled eggs for deviled eggs, pico de gallo, cornbread for the dressing.
Tuesday (12/24) – turkey, greens, yams, ham, boiled livers & gizzards for dressing, salad & salad dressing (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt), iced tea, deviled eggs. I rarely eat breakfast anymore, and I almost never have breakfast food at any other time during the day. But I ate my favorite paleo waffles. Too many carbs, I know. But at least I had my favorite no-calorie pancake syrup with the waffles! I sampled so much food while I was cooking that I wasn’t that hungry.
Christmas Day (12/25) – dressing, gravy and rolls (neither homemade), cranberry sauce (canned), corn (steamable), added the cilantro seasoning, salt & lime juice to the pico de gallo.
Alas, things got rough the day after Christmas. I had eaten too much (go figure) and I experienced some serious stomach issues. So I ate a roll. It had been left out on the counter overnight and was as hard as a rock. But I ate it as-is and it worked. I wound up eating toast with tea to further settle things. Later, I was able to eat a full meal – complete with mac & cheese and a chocolate chip cookie. I pretty much had to write the day off as a diet loss, but that bread sure helped my stomach woes.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any Christmas dinner photos.
December 22-28, 2019: Daily Meal Diet Diary
| Date | What I Ate | Photo |
| 12/22 | A little broth in afternoon but otherwise OMAD – ribeye steak, roasted radishes, salad with ranch dressing |  |
| 12/23 | OMAD – pork loin, salad with ranch dressing, mason jar ice cream |  |
| 12/24 | Paleo pecan waffles, bacon, mason jar ice cream |  |
| 12/25 | Christmas Dinner Feast: Turkey, ham, deviled eggs, collared greens, creamed spinach, sweet potato pie, 1 T. mac & cheese, 1 T. cornbread dressing, 1 roll, gravy, iced tea |
 |
| 12/26 | 1 leftover roll, 2 slices of toast with tea (stomach problems), espresso shot
Turkey, mac & cheese, salad, greens w/ pico de gallo, creamed spinach, 1 small chocolate chip cookie, iced tea |
 |
| 12/27 | Chili, broth, greens w/ pico de gallo, cashews, ice cream w/ walnuts and coconut, iced tea |  |
| 12/28 | Chili, salad |  |
