Navigating Thanksgiving

Bypassing the Hidden Allergens
turkey

During this time of year , many who have allergen restrictions find themselves a bit nervous about the foods they will be able to prepare. Actually, many of the recipes used for Thanksgiving are easily converted to be safe. It is simply a decision to find substitutions. To ease concern about preparing your holiday meal, think of it as a larger version of a regular dinner — salad or soup, a protein, a vegetable, and possibly a starch – and take them one at a time.
Dairy and gluten are two of the most common ingredients found in holiday meals. A common place where dairy and gluten are is in salad dressing.  Gluten is often used as a thickener in bottled dressings. Fabulous dressings can be made by using the oils from walnuts, avocados, or olives and a combination of lemon or lime juice and different spices. The oils will provide a lot of essential fats as well as a healthy base for a dressing. Making your own salad dressing also helps you avoid the preservatives commonly found in bottled dressings.

Many soups made from winter squash also call for dairy to make them creamy.  A substitute of soup stock (as in the roasted fennel soup below) can provide additional nutrients of the minerals and proteins and will help avoid a common allergen, dairy.

Butter is another dairy commonly used in preparing the turkey and mashed or sweet potato recipes.  Those with dairy allergies should replace butter with ghee, which is clarified butter and has the milk solids removed. 

To make gluten-free stuffing, use prepared rice bread crumbs or one of the many delicious gluten-free bread mixes on the market, like Breads from Anna.  Her herb bread mix is enhanced with rosemary and sage. Drying these breads to make your own bread cubes can provide the base of a great flavored stuffing.  The stuffing recipe below is moist and delicious!

For those Italian readers, it may be traditional for you to make a pasta dish to complement the holiday meal. Tinkayda has a wonderful selection of rice pasta choices.  For those who live in the bay area, Mariposa Bakery in Oakland has fabulous butternut squash ravioli.  Rice flour can easily replace wheat flour for homemade pasta recipes.

Rice flour can also substitue for wheat flour to thicken gravies.

Use rich, nutritious, and colorful foods of the season and make a few simple substitutions with other healthy choices, and enjoy finding new ways to make allergen free meals part of your Holiday tradition.

Happy holidays!

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