If you have never read 10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston at least three times a day for the past 15 days, then you do not have an appreciation for how it can get stuck in your head. Cute book, especially the first year we owned it. Any way…I digress. As usual. So, Thanksgiving. Next to the Super Bowl, the greatest food holiday of the year. At our house it is often overlooked by family drama about the upcoming holiday season and the daily rush, rush.

This year we are making it a point to set Thanksgiving as a precursor to what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. Every night a dinner, we go around the table recalling something we are thankful for that day. We’ve brainstormed ideas of acts of kindness or service we can work on in December, and talked about our many blessings. To me, it has been the perfect set up for a holiday spent enjoying our family, counting our blessings, and being thoughtful.

A time of year when we entertain more, see extended family more often, and fill our calendars to the brim, thoughtfulness seems to be an oxymoron. We are snippy with salespeople, rude to other drivers, and brash with our kids – all so we can spend more quality time together with family we rarely see and make it to parties with co-workers and acquaintances.

Often an unnecessary stress is accommodating dietary needs of our friends, family members, and acquaintances we are not accustomed to cooking for. It doesn’t have to be stressful, and you can come out smelling like a rose if you do your research. Who wouldn’t notice the thoughtful guest or hostess that has menu options for everyone…diabetic, food allergic, vegetarian, whole food minded, paleolithic…the list goes on. The Internet is a wealth of information, some times overwhelming. I have collected some ideas that I hope will help get your inner chef going. Plus, most people I know that do have dietary needs are tickled pink if they even have one option to nosh on and are normally more than happy to bring a dish that fits within their parameters.

grilled salmon with sausage stuffed acorn squash

I cruised my favorite culinary websites and scanned some of my go-to blogs. Most websites these days have recipe searches for allergy and other dietary restrictions. For any holiday or event, I make a list of traditional foods my family enjoys and then apply a little creativity. You can break from tradition all together and make fish or tex-mex or just rework your tried & true. Today, you get the Thanksgiving Feast, the Remix (Come on, you can’t do a turkey dance these days without a remix).

The Pantry: Be careful. When cooking for people with food allergies or special dietary restrictions, allergens lurk in many of the condiments, vinegars, and sauces we cook with. Stick to simple spices (sold in the bulk aisle of grocery stores like Central Market or Whole Foods much cheaper than in the little jars on the shelf – I also love our local store Pendery’s), salt, fresh cracked pepper, olive oil. Check labels for gluten-free, certified organic, etc. If you don’t have time to make things like stock or tomato sauce from scratch, read the can carefully. Where is the product made? What are the ingredients? Does it have an allergen warning on it due to the plant where it was processed? Sometimes it is best to just buy fresh. I like organic free range low sodium stock, the bulk section of my grocery store, olive oil, kosher salt, and fresh cracked pepper. You would be surprised how much frozen food and juice is a mixture of food from four or five different countries. I buy Texan. Then I buy USA.

Turkey: This one is the easiest, so I will skip recipe links for this category. If you buy free range, organic, fresh meat, most of the time you will pay slightly more for much higher quality. The benefit is you are getting meat minus all of the antibiotics, fillers, juices, and what-not other producers pump poultry full of. Most of these fillers can aggravate food allergies. The star of the show should be the bird, so save some cash somewhere else.

For a home cook, I have made a lot of turkey. One year in college, 18 to be exact, and those we’re even for me. You don’t have to do a lot to it. I’m not tackling the brine vs. no brine debate. I prefer mine with light smoke and heavy cracked pepper – that’s it. Or if you are a die hard roaster – stuff that sucker with citrus, slide some chopped herbs under the skin, salt & pepper, and call him done.

For gravy, try alternate thickening agents like arrowroot instead of flour, or a reduction versus traditional gravy. Be careful to research the starch you decide to substitute though because they all work a little differently.

Dressing & Side Dish Options:
I’m a dressing girl. If you take enough ServSafe classes, you just don’t stuff whole poultry. There are tons of recipes for dressing alternatives like wild rice dishes and this year’s favorite grain trend – Quinoa!

Mashed potatoes with stock substituted for dairy

Mashed potato & parsnip purée – great flavor, slight sweetness – great with added roasted garlic

Puréed turnips – you make them very much the same as you would mashed potatoes. Dice them, add to pot, fill with water, salt the water, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Let them go 15 minutes or until tender. Drain them and lay on a towel to dry out & cool slightly. Wring in towel over sink to give you a more potato like texture. Put them in the food processor and process with salt, pepper, a little finishing oil, garlic, herbs, whatever!

Roasted or baked sweet potatoes

Roasted broccoli with grapes – Man would make a face, but its a riff on broccoli salad and it’s yummy. Take fresh broccoli & grapes on foil lined sheet pan drizzle olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast 400 degrees about 20 min. Go all out and add some crispy bacon ribbons and shards of parmesan if you really want all the broccoli salad elements.

William Sonoma’s Braised Brussels Sprouts with bacon & thyme -a holiday staple around here

Sautéed green beans with crisped prosciutto (or ham) and caramelized onions

Roasted fall veggies – just pick your favorites and add olive oil, salt & pepper. 400 degrees, 30 minutes to an hour; done.

Roasted acorn or butternut squash – such a pretty presentation. You could even stuff it with a dressing alternative.

Try some soup and explore new salads!

Can’t forget the Cranberries:

Roasted Pears & Cranberries – Cube one to three pears (depending in dinner party size) with one to three bags fresh cranberries, drizzle on some honey & orange zest. Roast until golden.

Cranberry Conserve – except I don’t add the nuts

Ree’s Quick Cranberry Sauce

Desserts & Baked Goods:
This one could be the hardest or the easiest depending on how you look at it. Here are some things you can try. First, the optimist upgrades the quality of the product you are baking with….especially chocolate and cocoa (which are filled with fillers). Then they seek out tested recipes from cookbooks or blogs that know baking & gluten free baking as their specialty. The pessimist would say baked goods rely so heavily on scientific elements – crumb, mouthfeel, appearance… it’s hard to get good results. Not an avid baker? Use Urbanspoon to review bakeries in your area that can handle some of the more complicated and time consuming dishes like baked goods and breads. Know of a restaurant or food truck that is vegan, gluten-free, Paleo, etc.? They might let you order some of their yummies for the holiday. Especially if you ask nicely and offer a tip.

Check out my Pinterest board! I have pinned fall holiday decorations, entertaining ideas, art/craft projects and recipes galore!

Helpful websites to grab recipes from:
Many of these are Paleo websites because that way of eating eliminates many inflammatory and allergen foods.
FitSugar had some really tempting dressing spins
Paleo Mom – she’s just cool & her site is a great resource
Autoimmune-Paleo Blog
Balancing Health & Happiness – Kristin is a Paleo health and wellness coach – check out the blog tab for recipes
Kalyn’s Kitchen – focuses on low-glycemic eating, but has Paleo, gluten free & other types of recipes
Skinny Taste
Chocolate Covered Katie
Gluten Free Girl
Gluten Free Goddess

Against All Grain
Paleo Parents
Taylor Made it Paleo
PaleOMG

A special thanks to all of my friends who gave suggestions on resources they use on a regular basis or have dietary restrictions and have shared their knowledge, tips, and tricks with me over the years!