Going Whole Hog (or Turkey)

Every family has holiday traditions, no matter which holidays you celebrate. For years, my family celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with a Butterball and New Year’s with a HoneyBaked Ham. It wasn’t until after my grandmother passed that my mom decided that a smoked turkey was much easier to heat up (and equally, if not more, delicious) and that she really hated honey glazed hams and would rather have a pork loin at New Year’s instead.

Maybe it’s time for you to take a look at your holiday traditions and upgrade the main course a bit as well. Here are some stellar options for your feast that bring things a little closer to home.

• For a delicious bird for Thanksgiving or Christmas, our local Whole Foods Markets have some good choices. All of their meat now has to comply with the Global Animal Partnerhip’s 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating (wholefoodsmarket.com/meat/welfare.php), so you can be sure that your turkeys lived a healthy, happy life. Order ahead for guaranteed availability at your local store.

• Love a good spiral-cut ham? Our local pork purveyor, Tender Belly, offers 100 percent Berkshire, naturally cured spiral-cut hams via their website, tenderbelly.com. (Plus, there was a coupon floating around on Facebook a while back for 15 percent off—worth tracking down if you’re thinking of buying!)

• It used to be that I would drive into Erie in the morning and wonder who was cooking the amazing-smelling bacon. Turns out it was Arapahoe Hog Roasters, and apart from offering whole local, free-range roasted hogs for your shindigs, they also sell smoked turkeys and hams for the holidays. Our publisher swears by them. Order at 303.673.9200.

• Cured in Boulder will again be offering porchettas from Il Mondo Vecchio in full and half sizes at $10/pound that will be paired with a special four-pack of wines. They’ll also have farm goodies from Oxford Gardens to round out your meal.

• My Mom’s Pies in Niwot (mmpies.com) is a one-stop shop for your sweet tooth. This family-owned business produces some of the best pies you’ll have. Just like mom baked…except these folks will make special order pies—from gluten or dairy free to sugar-cream pie.

• Fromage is always welcome at my house, especially during the holidays when mom serves her cheese ball. Elevate your dairy game with a visit to Longmont’s newest incarnation of Cheese Importers, where you’ll find local and imported options.

5 Websites to Get Recipes for the Holidays

1. Pinterest

My Pinterest board at pinterest.com/lacylu42/autumn-recipesseasonal-cooking—I’ve been collecting LOTS of good ones, including eggs, green chile and cheesy pastry crust (pictured above)!

2. The Door to Door Organics “Kitchen”

This site (at colorado.doortodoororganics.com) lets you search by ingredients and then shop for those ingredients on the same site.

3. The Savory Spice Shop (savoryspiceshop.com/recipes) has TONS of interesting and unusual recipes to get you out of your Thanksgiving rut.

4. Boulder Locavore

I highly recommend the Boulder Locavore blog (boulderlocavore.com) for recipes, especially if you’re gluten-free, as Toni gives gluten-free and gluten-full versions of most of her recipes.

5. Two Tarts

I also love the Two Tarts blog (two-tarts.com) by two ladies out of Longmont, who bring not only the food, but the drinks recipes to the table as well. Yum.