It’s holiday time.
And you know that with the holidays comes the thought of food, and food…. and more food. To a family with food issues, this can be an overwhelming time. It all starts at Halloween when I’m deciding what I want to let my kids trade their candy in for. I usually buy safe suckers and gummies, but I was so glad to participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project this year. That’s a whole other post I need to write, but I will say that this project eased the burden of focusing on food. Instead, my kids enjoyed tattoos, stickers, pencils, and a load of other trinkets–and they did enjoy a few food treats.
Once Halloween is over, the food theme continues into November. Instead of candy, now the focus is on baking! Oh that lovely baking. I have truly enjoyed testing several and developing some recipes the past ten years, and holiday recipes are my absolute favorite. Before last year, I would buy those big thick holiday recipe magazines that cost about $9.99 each. I’d buy up all the ones I could find and peruse them like I was getting paid for it. I’d fold down the corners of the pages that promised a delightful indulgence. And then I’d go to town in my kitchen any spare minute I found. But last year, we received Keira’s diagnosis just days before Thanksgiving. And I had to get real serious real quick! I did my best to recreate family favorites or even add new foods to our spread, but we have reshaped our focus yet again and are now trying to do more than simply eliminate dairy and gluten from our diet.
This will officially be our second holiday season since finding out Keira has celiac disease, but it’s also kind of a first because our eating habits have continued to evolve. Slowly over the last year, we have become more serious about healing inflammation. I have read a ton of research, listened to experts in webinars, and discussed personal stories of healing with people just like us and with our doctor, and as a family, we have edged our way into the Paleo world. Personally, I was really good about sticking to the strict diet when I first started–it lasted about six weeks before things got utterly crazy (school starting, activities commencing, and four birthday parties to throw) and I wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked to have been. But, for the most part, at home we eat a mostly Paleo diet. So this year for Thanksgiving, I have a bunch of new recipes I’m going to use. Several of them are ones I have tried, tested and ended up loving, and some will be 100% new to us. Let’s face it, I have recipes for pumpkin desserts and rolls that my whole family loves because we’ve been “testing” them a lot this fall! But we haven’t had a need for green bean casserole yet. Or stuffing. Or sweet potato casserole. So I’m currently hunting these down by browsing some of my favorite Paleo resources–mostly blogs from people out there doing what I’m trying to do. If you have any to share, feel free to comment.
So instead of continuing my rambling into December holidays, I’m going to share a couple of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes that we have tested time and time again. I hope these delectable dishes can help those of you out there looking for some holiday treats that won’t add to your inflammation issues.
Here is our newest favorite pumpkin dessert. I actually plan on taking this to the school Thanksgiving lunch next week to replace the pumpkin dessert we cannot eat. Kaelyn recently took a slice of this treat to school to replace the pumpkin pie her class was eating. She has begged me to make it again several times.
These wonderful little bread things are making their appearance on our table as rolls this year–though they really aren’t rolls, they are more like muffins. The actual recipe calls for you to pour the batter into round molds to make buns, but we don’t have those molds so we make mini-buns by pouring the batter into muffin cups. They make for tasty sandwiches, but my girls have asked that I serve these in place of rolls. Their wish is my command! A side note: I have to triple the recipe to make a dozen muffins. But honestly they are so easy to whip up in no time at all. I love easy and tasty recipes!
We will also have some mashed potatoes, but I don’t do much to those other than use an alternative milk in place of regular dairy milk. And we will obviously have a turkey–a wonderful, big turkey!
Now the time comes for me to find a cranberry relish, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole or some other sweet potato dish, and stuffing recipe. I have several pinned on Pinterest, but it is time to select the ones that look the tastiest.
What is making an appearance at your “safe” Thanksgiving table?
Keira's Celiac Center 