Holiday Eats

Did you have a good Thanksgiving?

As some of you know, I have a number of food restrictions I try to observe for health reasons. So that makes holidays a tad complicated. I shouldn't have the mashed potatoes, the gravy made with flour, stuffing with gluten in it, much stuffing at all, even if gluten free, the green bean casserole, the cheesy broccoli, the cranberry sauce that looks like the can even when you take it out of the can, the cheese, the delicious looking rolls, the pies... the pies.

I didn't do too well on some things, but I think I did okay overall. I did sneak two small small pieces of pie on different days, a bite of mashed potatoes (which, at only one, is really quite amazing), ate the dairy and had some gravy. But not too much of anything overall.

I think my body suffered more from the stress I seem to impose upon myself during these holiday marathons than from the food I ate. But she behaved herself well enough overall, and recovered pretty darn quickly, I think. Maybe I'm simply making justifications because I want to think I'm doing better.

However, I thought I would share the recipes that I did actually make that were actually safe for me, if anyone wants to try them.

Cranberries are my best friends these days. They help balance my pH, reportedly, helping create a more alkaline environment that is less friendly to overly plentiful little nasties in my body. So, cranberry sauce is always a winner in my book. It's super simple: take fresh or frozen cranberries with a little water and cook 'em down. You want to cook them until the berries split. You can add stevia or your sweetener of choice to the amount of sweetness you prefer. I also add some orange flavoring to it, as I think oranges and cranberries to well together. If you have oranges lying around, I'm sure you could add some zest to the pot. After you let it cool for a bit, it thickens on its own. I like to put it straight in a jar, so that it seals itself as it cools.

Buddy is far more picky with his food preferences than I am. And by that, I mean that he generally will eat all the foods that I cannot eat and would prefer not to eat most of the food I can eat. My grandmother likes to describe that as manool (I know I just spelled that wrong). So, I use the holidays to actually make foods he won't eat but that I want to try.

To my uncle's, I brought the Sauteed Kale with Tahini Sauce, as posted by Simply Recipes:

I'd post my batch, but it got eaten. Source: Simply Recipes

The kale is always a good choice, in my book, and the tahini is something I can eat that carries a strong flavor and can really make things nice and creamy. The addition of garlic, onion and lemon are also beneficial for my little internal microbial wars. And beneficial for my palate as far as I'm concerned. I also think that it says something when a family member who hates kale noted he really liked it and kept eating it after realizing what it was.

For my dessert option, I brought some pumpkin muffins based off of Elena's Pantry recipe for paleo pumpkin bread. I had to whip one out to save my grandmother from herself, as she doesn't tolerate gluten well and my sister brought bowls of beautiful potato rolls to the feast. This recipe makes a nice moist muffin that counterbalances some of the salty flavor I usually pick up from almond flour based goodies. I switched out the honey for some veggie glycerine and yacon syrup, and yes, I know that butter is neither paleo nor candida diet appropriate. But it looks damn good with a pumpkin muffin.

For my mom's gathering, I brought Roasted Carrots and Parsnips by foodfarmhealth:

Buddy and I got there late, when everyone else had already eaten. I thought it was quite tasty, though I had wished I had stuck with the amount of shallots Shanon recommended. I put the whole shallot in, and was definitely overwhelmed by it. No one else really ate much of it, since they had already eaten by the time I brought it, but my immediate family isn't known for their love of such dishes. Not enough cheese, I think.

I didn't make this for the holiday meals, but just tried this Pumpkin Latte from Whole Approach's forum. Tasty! (Though perhaps too sweet for me with the two T of yacon syrup. Which means it's probably sweet enough for everyone else's preferences.)