Thanksgiving is next week! Can you believe it? I don’t know where October went! And this year I’m hosting both Thanksgiving (with my in-laws) and Christmas (with my parents), so I’m going to be busy cooking up a ton of gluten free holiday recipes! But its ok, because I enjoy hosting and I love cooking. Plus, when I do the hosting, other people don’t have to worry about how to cook around my food allergies, which relieves some stress for all of us. 🙂 Another way I like to lessen the stress that accompanies the busy-ness of the season, is to plan way ahead. I also start cooking days before the big events, as well. So since I’ve made my plan, I thought I would share it with you. Maybe something here will help you with your own holiday meal plan. And if my tastes don’t match yours, scroll down to see what some of our other Chefs are serving at their holiday tables. What are you serving for the holidays? Or is there a particular dish you need help with? Leave a comment below and let us know. Otherwise, I hope your holidays are filled with joy and warmth. And no tummy aches.
Heather
* Please note: this is an updated version of last year’s plan. Just a few modifications, since at lot of this is traditional. That’s the way the old folks like it 😉
THE PLAN
Tuesday before Thanksgiving Go shopping and make cranberry sauce, pick up a couple of (plain) rotisserie chickens and veggies from Whole Foods.
Wednesday before Thanksgiving Make pies and ice cream. Eat out. We’ll probably go to True Food Kitchen.
Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is all about tradition at my house. We generally serve the same thing year after year. Its fine with me, because it all tastes great, and its the only time we do it, so I don’t get tired of it! I’m making a celeriac-mash this year, to keep the carb load low. If your family insists on potatoes, you could just add the celeriac to the potatoes mash. You do have to mash celeriac in a food processor though to get the right consistency. Each of these dishes are so simple to make and several can be made in advance, which takes a lot of stress out of the day.
- Perfect Roast Turkey
- Celeriac-Fennel-Parsnip Mash
- Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon (Except I’m replacing the sprouts with green beans this year, since Sprouts are FODMAPs)
- Fresh Cranberry Orange Relish. (Although, I prefer the fruit-juice sweetened version (below), because of FODMAPs I actually have to use sugar instead of fruit juice. The rest of the fam will be fine with it. :)).
- Simple, Delicious, Gluten-Free Gravy This recipe has a Tablespoon of rice flour. I may try to make this with potato starch this year, though. Did you know potato starch is considered a prebiotic? If you’re looking for a grain-free sauce, see my mustard sauce below.
- Gluten-Free or Paleo Stuffing (Dressing)
- Basic Roasted Butternut Squash
- Jeanette’s Vegan pumpkin pie with almond flour crust
- Betty Crocker’s pecan pie with almond flour crust and maple syrup instead of corn syrup.
- Leo’s Paleo Vanilla Ice Cream
Sunday after Thanksgiving I’m hosting again, but have been told not to go to too much trouble. So I chose something easy, but still elegant enough for guests and a Sunday meal.
- Carl’s Pot Roast with root veggies
- Potato gallette (just swapping out potatoes for the turnips in this recipe, since my Danish in-laws like their potatoes ;-))
- Salad with pomegranite, pistachio and shaved Manchego (a sheep’s milk cheese).
- Cheese & Salami plate (with goat’s and/or sheep’s cheeses for me)
- Blue corn chips, crudite & guacamole
- Tequila and Adobo cured Salmon (Texan Gravlax) – make 4 or 5 days ahead of time
- Curried chicken salad in endive “boats”
- Mini-grilled PB&J’s (or nutbutter/sunbutter & J’s if need be) – for the kiddos (ok, adults, too if you want!)
- Fruit plate
- Gretchen’s Classic Sugar Cookies (gluten-free, not grain-free) – make a few days ahead of time
- Hans’ Glögg (Scandinavian mulled wine) – make a day or two ahead of time
Several days before Christmas Eve Make cookies…
1 day before Christmas Eve Make Sweet & Sour Cabbage, Tapioca & Raspberry pudding
Christmas Eve
- Danish Pork Loin Roast with “Crackling” (Flæskesteg)
- Green Beans Almondine
- Alain’s Oven-Roasted Rosemary New Potatoes
- Danish Sweet and Sour Cabbage (Rødkål) – Make one or two days before
- Layers of Tapioca and Raspberry pudding (Rødgrød Med Fløde), whipped cream (optional).
Christmas Day Danish Smørrebrød: This is often a joint effort between several members of the family. The best part is that a lot of the cold cuts can be bought. The only dishes that I will probably make are the Liver Pâté and the Cured Salmon. But we haven’t worked out the details yet of who’s doing what. Sometimes we also do breaded fish filets (fiskefilet) and sometimes I like to make a Remoulade to go with it.
- Cold cuts (store bought)
- Pickled Herring (store bought)
- Elana’s Paleo Bread
- Grass-Fed Butter (store bought)
- Mormor’s Danish Meatballs (frikadeller)
- Liver Pâté (liverpostej)
- Tequila and Adobo cured Salmon (or leftovers that were frozen from the holiday party)
New’s Year’s Eve It will just be the four of us (two adults and two kids) so I wanted something easy.
- Ham. I bought one already cooked and we’re just gonna stick it in the oven to reheat! Ham is considered good luck for the new year. I’ll add some pineapple rings for fun.
- White beans with Herbes de Provence. Not paleo, but they are tasty, and beans, being shaped like coins, promise prosperity for the new year. For some reason, these legumes don’t seem to bother me, when I eat them very rarely.
- Collard greens sauteed with onions and garlic in bacon fat. Green, being the color of money, also promises prosperity for the new year.
New Year’s Day Brunch
- Salmon Eggs Benedict (using leftover cured Salmon from Christmas – its freezes well!)
- Homemade “Orangina” (just orange juice and soda water. No high fructose corn syrup needed!)
Need more inspiration? While I wish I could serve everything posted on Stuffed Pepper at my holiday table, there wouldn’t be enough time to enjoy it all! But here are more holiday-themed recipes that you might want to try. I will be putting a couple of them on my table next year:
- Crudite with Karen’s smoked fish dip
- Cocktail meatballs
- Waldorf slaw in endive “cups”
- Karen’s Festive Spiced Paleo Yule Log
- Fruit-juice & maple syrup sweetened cranberry sauce (sugar free)
- Gretchen’s Baked Mini-Pumpkins
- Karen’s Grain-free Mince Pies With a Twist
- Tina’s Paleo Gluten-Free Spiced Butter
- Cara’s Pear Ginger Thumbprints with Caramel Drizzle
- EA’s Spicy Cranberry Butternut Squash Chutney
- Lisa’s Butternut squash with duck fat, garlic and rosemary
- Slow-roasted pork shoulder with mustard sauce
- Roasted parsnips, celery & carrots
- Beet & fennel salad with fried capers
- Beth’s Vegan Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream
For Leftovers
- Cara’s Cider Braised Turkey & Squash Tacos (or taco bowls)
- Laura’s Turkey Stock
- Jimmy’s Turkey Salad Filled Lettuce Cups
- Winnie’s Chicken or Turkey Pho