What the Heck am I Going to Serve?!

dinewithivana
Dec 6, 2022
8 min read

Updated: Dec 11, 2022

Thanksgiving Round Up.

Thanksgiving is by far the best holiday (you won't convince me otherwise). If you haven't started planning your holiday menu and preparing your shopping lists -- then we are very different people.

I might be giving-off psychopath vibes over here but I think some of you might understand where I'm coming from. Out of the dozen people that come to my Thanksgiving, there's a long list of contraband foods due to a growing array of food allergies and intolerances.

If this sounds eerily familiar, it's because food allergies are unfortunately on the rise. A 2021 study published jointly by the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and Food Allergy Canada has reported that about 3.1 million Canadians have at least one food allergy and 7 million have a food intolerance.

This is all to say that getting ready for holidays, which are often centred around the ritual of food, and with it, the comfort and connection it brings, has become more stressful. And it has many of us wondering, “What the heck am I going to serve?!”

Below, are a few “Hail Marys” I thought might help to create an allergen friendly menu that still manages to capture the warmth of Thanksgiving. Creating yummy, allergin-free side dishes like salads isn't too hard. The real trick is creating delicious safe and healthy stuffings, pies and breads that have you reaching for more. But not to worry, I gotch you!

On Instagram, I took a poll to see what the top five recipes followers were interested in, in creating alternative recipes for.

Pumpkin Pie (surprisingly my least favourite but was the top answer)
Apple Pie
Pie Crust
Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce

I know it’s not a complete Thanksgiving dinner but if you have at least these five and a turkey in the oven, most people will be thrilled (and hopefully impressed)!

On the topic of Thanksgiving, I just want to end on a note of gratitude. This is one of my favourite holidays because everyone in my family goes around the table and says what we are thankful for. I am not going to bore you with my list but I do want to say that I am so grateful for everyone who has supported me this far and continuously supports me on my journey. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Now back to the reason you are all here, the recipes.

Herb-ilicious Stuffing

Paleo, Grain-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-Free, Legume-Free, Soy-Free, keto-friendly

INGREDIENTS:

about 1¼ pounds day old bread*
I used Paleo Palate Focaccia bread and dried it out. Since this bread already has herbs added to it. I didn't add rosemary or thyme to my stuffing. Any bread will work just make sure it is older.
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup lard (olive oil, ghee or butter)
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
Salt & pepper
2 cups celery, thinly chopped
1 cup dry white wine (can substitute for bone broth)
1 ½ cups broth (beef, chicken, or vegetable works)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
¼ cup finely chopped sage
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh thyme

INSTRUCTIONS:

Set your oven to 375° degrees.
Using a knife or your hands, tear/cut bread into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, combine olive oil and lard. Once the lard has melted, add the garlic and onions. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Add celery, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until bright green and tender, about 4 to 6 minutes.
Add white wine, and cook until reduced by about half, 3 to 4 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together broth and eggs. Place bread in another large bowl and pour egg mixture over it and carefully toss. Let the mixture sit a minute or two and give another toss. Repeat twice until all the liquid has absorbed and evenly distributed to each and every piece of bread. Be careful not to crush the bread.
Add the onion and celery mixture, parsley, sage, thyme, and rosemary. Stir to coat so that everything is evenly distributed, again try not to crush the bread.
Transfer mixture to a 11 x 7 baking dish. Any baking dish will work for the stuffing just make sure that it is not pack too tightly.
Cover with foil and bake until the stuffing is sizzling at the edges and completely cooked through, 40 to 45 minutes.
Increase the temperature of the oven to 425 degrees and remove the foil. Bake stuffing until crispy and golden brown on top, about 30 to 40 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes.

Notes:

*If you’re short on time, you can toast your bread in a 300 degree oven, tossing every 8 minutes, until dried out (but not browned) on the outside.

** The bread can be torn apart the night before you are ready to make the stuffing.

***If you want to prepare the stuffing ahead of time, don’t continue with the second baking step. Once ready to serve, preheat the oven to 425 and bake stuffing until crispy and golden brown on top, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Cranberry Sauce

Paleo, Grain-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-Free, Legume-Free, Soy-Free, AIP-friendly, vegan

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. fresh cranberries (you can also use frozen but I prefer using fresh ones)
3/4 cup coconut sugar (or maple sugar)
1 tablespoon loosely packed orange zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup water
sprinkle of salt
1 stick of cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS:

Place cranberries in a medium saucepan with all of the other ingredients over medium heat.
Stir and cook, bringing the cranberry mixture to a boil. about 5 to 8 minutes, then lower the heat to a simmer and allow it to cook 5 to 10 more minutes, stirring and scraping the sides occasionally to prevent the sugar from burning. You want most of the cranberries to have burst and the sauce to thicken. Note the sauce will thicken a bit while cooling.
Once the sauce is thickened, remove from the heat. Allow the sauce to cool for about 15 minutes. Once it's no longer too hot to handle, transfer to a container or dish, cover, and refrigerate if desired until cooled to your preference, then serve.
The cranberry sauce can be reheated as you like. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.

Pie Crust

Paleo, Grain-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-Free, Legume-Free, Soy-Free

makes enough dough for a top and a bottom crust or two bottom crusts

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 1/2 cups tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup palm shortening, cold (or butter)
1 egg, cold
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 - 2 tablespoons cold filtered water

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a bowl of a food processor, pulse the almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder and salt.
Cut the palm shortening into small cubes. Add it around the bowl of the food processor and pulse until the flour resembles coarse sand, about 5 - 8 pulses
Add in the egg, apple cider vinegar, and water. Pulse until combined and forms a ball. If it's crumbly, add an extra tablespoon of ice-cold water. It's perfect when it forms a ball in the food processor.
Form dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap then place in refrigerator for one hour.
Take the dough out of the fridge and divide it by half. Place one half in between two pieces of parchment paper. Roll the dough into a circle shape that is a little bigger than your pie tin. Carefully place into your greased pie pan. Prick all over with a fork and place in the fridge while you wait for your oven to heat up or until your fillings are ready.
Depending on the pie you are making you might have to pre-bake the crust for 10 minutes at 325 degree.

Pumpkin Pie

Paleo, Grain-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-Free, Legume-Free, Soy-Free

Makes one pie

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups pumpkin puree (make sure it has no other ingredients than pumpkin)
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup coconut milk, room temperature
1/2 cup maple syrup, room temperature
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 batch of pie dough (recipe above)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Before making the filling, pre-bake your pie crust at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
To make filling, you can either use a food processor or whisk. Add all the ingredients into a food processor and combine until the mixture is smooth.
Pour the filing into the prepared pie shell. Using a pie shield or tin foil, cover the rim of the pie crust. Bake the pumpkin pie at 325 degrees for about 35 to 45 minutes. You want the pie to have a slight jiggle right in the centre. Make sure to leave the pie crust shield on during the whole baking time.
Take the pie out of the oven and let cool completely.
With the left over dough, cut out decoration for the top of the pie. We use leaf cutters and baked them at 325 degrees until golden brown. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes depending how thick you make the decoration.

Cobbler Topping Pie

Paleo, Grain-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-Free, Legume-Free, Soy-Free, AIP-friendly

Makes enough topping for one pie

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup shredded coconut
¼ cup tigernut pieces*
⅓ cup tigernut flour
¼ cup tapioca starch
1 tablespoon coconut flour
¼ - 1/2 teaspoon salt**
¼ cup coconut oil, softened (substitute palm shortening or butter)
¼ cup maple syrup

Notes:

*If you are not AIP you can substitute with walnuts or almond slices. If you are AIP and can't find tigernut pieces, more shredded coconut can be used.

**I like this topping to be sweet and salty so I add ½ teaspoon of salt. Add ¼ teaspoon and then taste it before adding more salt.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Sift together tigernut flour, tapioca starch, and coconut flour.
Next add the shredded coconut, tigernut pieces, salt, coconut oil and maple syrup. Using your hands or a spatula, combine all the ingredients together.
This topping can be added on top of any filling. When you are ready to use the topping. Take a bit of the mixture and flatten it with your hands. Then place it on top of your pie, covering the filling. Keep going until you use all of the topping mixture.
This topping takes about 30 minutes to cook in the oven at 350 degrees. If you are topping a pie that needs to bake longer than 30 minutes, cook the filling over the stove top to get fruit softened and then bake everything in the oven at the same time.
This topping goes well with any fruit pie: peach, strawberry rhubarb, apple, blueberry, etc.

Apple Cobbler

Paleo, Grain-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Refined Sugar-Free, Legume-Free, Soy-Free, AIP-friendly

Makes one pie

INGREDIENTS:

3 to 4 apples, chopped into small cubes*
¼ cup + 2 tablespoon coconut sugar
2 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons arrowroot
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg (omit for AIP)
1 batch of Cobbler topping (see recipe above)

Notes:

*My apples were very big so I only needed 3. You want the apples to fill your pie dish.

**I like this topping to be sweet and salty so I add ½ teaspoon of salt. Add ¼ teaspoon and then taste it before adding more salt.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, add the chopped apples, coconut sugar, honey, lemon juice, arrowroot, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg (if using).
Toss with your hands or spatula and make sure all the apple pieces are covered and all the ingredients are evenly distrubuted.
Add to your pie dish. Follow the instructions above to make the cobbler topping for your apple filling.
Once the topping is covering your filling, place your pie dish in the oven and bake for 30 - 40 minutes. You want the top to be golden brown and the apples to be soft. To check the apples, get a sharp knife or tooth pick and poke it through the top of the pie to check how done the apples are. If the topping is browning too quickly before your apples are cooked, cover with foil and finish baking until the apples are the right consistency.
Take out of the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Enjoy!