MNN - Mother Nature Network

Thanksgiving is rapidly coming upon us. We will be sharing our Thanksgiving meal with others and we are all looking forward to yummy food, good fellowship, and remembering and being thankful for all of our blessings. Since I have a gluten and dairy-free daughter, Thanksgiving can be a little more complicated for us (but still really delicious!). Recreating favorite dishes to be gluten- and dairy-free (plus using healthy ingredients) is a fun process for me. I have always loved many of my family’s traditional Thanksgiving dishes, and I enjoy our dairy- and gluten-free versions just as much!

 

I thought I’d share some of my favorite recipes below. I love for you to share your nourishing recipes too!

 

Please note: if you are a true celiac or need to strictly avoid all gluten in even trace forms, make sure you follow proper protocol, like using gluten-free vanilla extract, avoiding turkey that could contain gluten, and avoiding cross contamination when baking or cooking. For more information, this interview I did last year may be helpful.

 

Also on MNN: Thanksgiving dinner on a budget, 5 amazingly tasty vegetarian Thanksgiving options, 4 alternative Thanksgiving celebrations

 

1. Slow Simmered Green Beans: This recipe is from my great grandpa – back in the day when they believed in long cooking vegetables. These fall-apart-soft green beans are flavored beautifully with bacon, carrots, celery and potatoes. I also give super simple instructions for mashed potatoes on this page.

 

2. Creamy Cranberry Salad: This is the dish I looked forward to the most each Thanksgiving growing up. This salad isn’t served as a garnish, but rather as a sweet side dish. Fresh cranberries and apples, canned pineapple, unrefined sweeteners, and either fluffy coconut cream or whipping cream is mixed together for a decadent delicious side. This recipe is a favorite.

 

3. To go with the turkey, I adore this simple Spiced Cranberry Orange Sauce. You can make it up to a week ahead too.

 

4. Pumpkin Pie: Though, then again, pumpkin pie was always a favorite too. This is a delicious, sweet recipe that has gotten good reviews since I posted it many years ago. The last comment left on this post this week is from Mary: “Just thought that I would let everyone know that this is the best pumpkin pie recipe that I have tried dairy free. My son has a very sensitive dairy allergy. He can’t have milk, yogurt, cheese or anything that contains the milk proteins, casein or whey. We were a bit skeptical but we found this recipe tastes the same or better than a traditional pumpkin pie recipe. Thank you so much for this recipe. It gives our home another Thanksgiving dessert that we can all eat.”  We rather like this recipe too.

 

5. Speaking of pumpkin, you can easily make your own puree from a whole pumpkin in a slow cooker! You can also make some more untraditional treats, such as Pumpkin Bars, or coconut milk Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream, or Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie Latté’, or Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes (with chocolate frosting!

 

6. Jennifer shared her version of Sweet Potato Casserole, garnished with a sweet streusel and pineapple last year. It looks delicious. (Use coconut oil instead of butter for dairy-free version).

 

7. For a non-traditional stuffing, why not try this flavorful Stovetop Quinoa and Mushroom recipe? Once again, this recipe does contain butter, but you can easily substitute a mild olive oil for it!

 

Finally, make your own turkey gravy by thickening it with a wide variety of gluten-free flours, such as sweet rice flour, arrowroot, organic cornstarch, or even use a finely ground almond flour!

 

My mouth is watering in expectation.

 

Dairy- and gluten-free readers, I love to hear your tips and recipes!