Can You Recommend Any GAPS Diet Holiday Recipes That Are Actually Good? #AskWardee 049

Your family has food allergies or you’re on a special diet.

Potentially… the holidays could be quite stressful. That is, if you’re the cook and need to come up with a delicious meal that everyone can eat… that everyone will actually enjoy.

It’s a tall order!

Lisa D. is facing this right now and looking for solutions:

We have allergies and picky eaters and we’re on the GAPS diet. Can you recommend any GAPS diet holiday recipes that are actually good? I’m tired of flops and foods that turn out blah. I want my kiddos to enjoy their Thanksgiving and Christmas meals this year. Thanks so much!

Lisa, I don’t believe anyone with food allergies or who is on a special diet (like GAPS, Paleo, or Primal) has to be the least bit unsatisfied with a Thanksgiving or Christmas meal.

So I’m thrilled to share my best resources and tips with you.

I broadcast #AskWardee live each Wednesday at 10am Pacific (1pm Eastern) on Periscope and Facebook Live. Both the podcast and video replay of this week’s show are below. Enjoy!

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The Question: GAPS Diet Holiday Recipes, Please?

Lisa D. asks:

We have allergies and picky eaters and we’re on the GAPS diet. Can you recommend any GAPS diet holiday recipes that are actually good?

My Answer

Yes!

As I said before, I don’t believe anyone needs to feel deprived at a celebration meal.

Oh, and by the way, no, it’s not too early to start planning and practicing!

Right now, our family is both sugar-free and grain-free, so a few weeks ago we all sat down and planned the menu for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I’m already practicing new recipes. It’s fun and so rewarding to lay out a feast that everyone can eat… and enJOY.

So here are my best tips and resources for allergy-free or special diet holiday feasts your family will LOVE to eat.

1. Whole Foods Are Beautiful & Joyous

When you focus on whole foods, you reveal the true beauty and joy in God’s creation and His design for our nourishment… it might be simple yet it’s more than feast-worthy!

To illustrate this point, I want to share a quote with you.

Back in 2015, when my friend Megan Stevens’ eCookbook Eat Beautiful was released, she and I sat down for a video chat. (Here’s a link to the full video/transcript.)

And here’s the quote from our visit:

I guess the best place to start is a farmers market. Even the most gourmet cooks, who can eat anything they want, would go to the farmers market and find beauty and delight in what they can buy there. Or someone who’s on a tighter budget and loves to be outdoors in their garden, would find no more magic than in the garden than they can find anywhere else. A garden is abundant; it’s beautiful.

If you think about a vine-ripened tomato and you slice that on a plate and put fresh basil and drizzle extra virgin olive oil, you already have the most beautiful food in the whole world. All of those foods are GAPS-friendly.

Now granted, there are people who can’t have nightshades but there are variations on a tomato, obviously, so when you go to your garden or go to the farmers market there are so many foods that can delight any of us. We should all, I believe, be cultivating our family life to be going out into the garden or the farmers market to be picking peas right off the vine. I think many of us already do that. But I think in essence, that’s it.

The most beautiful foods are whole foods. You’re never going to open a package and say ‘Oh! This is really beautiful.’ You just aren’t.

The nice thing about whole foods is they will always satisfy you more than factory made foods and more than just straight sugar, too.

I was absolutely addicted to sugar. But the problem was it never satisfied me. One of the things I love about baking grain-free is I completely feel satisfied when I have a treat. Whether it be our paleo sandwiches, a muffin, or a scone; I’m eating it with bacon and maybe, you know, some lovely tea. But everything is homemade so when you’re sitting around the table everything is beautiful.

It feels like a feast. And you’re remarking with your other family members, ‘mmmm.’ Making sounds, you know, the whole time and looking at all the beauty on the table. I think that’s what we need to focus on. We’re not focusing on ‘Oh, we only get to have a, b, and c.’ Instead it’s, ‘Oh! Look at this bounty. Look at this beauty we’re all enjoying together.’ —Megan Stevens, author of Eat Beautiful

See what I mean?

Whole food are beautiful and joyous. And when our family is involved in the whole process — either growing it ourselves or selecting it at the market — there’s a whole lot more joy in fixing it, eating it, and tasting it than there is in opening a box.

We should cultivate these experiences in our families.

It’s a bit “out there”, but I think it’s important to recognize so that we can infuse our allergy-free or special diet Thanksgiving or Christmas menus with simple joy and true beautiful nourishment.

One way you can do that is by involving the family in the selecting, planning, shopping/sourcing, and even creating of the dishes.

Now, let’s get even more practical. Because you’re looking for tips and resources…

2. Follow Recipes From A Cook You “Get”

There is going to be a bit of trial and error with this. The idea here is to find someone who’s gone ahead of you and paved the way — and if you “get” them and things click, follow them.

We all have tried recipes where we didn’t “get” the recipe creator, right? So don’t make their recipes. (Maybe you have to try a few to be sure.)

Make someone else’s — and always be looking for the cook you “get”. Meaning, you get the ingredients, you get the method, you get where they’re going, you get them as a person, and you get the result — it’s a beautiful process and delicious foods come out of it that your family loves. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. 🙂

This cook you “get” is someone you should follow. Continue to make more of their recipes as you’re learning the ropes and maybe even creating your own dishes along the way.

There are a few people who cook around food allergies and special diets whose recipes I “get”. I’m going to share them with you now. I hope they might be the ones you follow, too.

First is Megan Stevens, the author of Eat Beautiful. I talk about her a lot. Not only is she my dearest friend in the world, she is an amazing cook who has overcome serious illnesses and food allergies — experiencing true healing along the way. The best part is, her family has been on the healing diet journey, too, and they haven’t felt an ounce of deprivation. That’s a testimony in itself!

I suggest you get to know Megan in 3 ways:

• explore her recipes on my site (she is a regular writer)
• explore her site Eat Beautiful
• purchase her eCookbook — Eat Beautiful (It’s 50% off and comes with bonus videos!)

Second is Jaclyn Harwell, the author of the newly released eCookbook “Nourishing Holiday: Grain-Free, Gut-Healing Food For Every Celebration“. This eCookbook contains 50+ recipes suitable for GAPS, Paleo, or Primal diets and it’s currently 50% off through Monday, November 7.

Jaclyn and her family have been on healing diets for years. She got tired of cheating on the diet (at holidays and such) so she began creating nourishing recipes suitable for a gut-healing diet and which satisfied her 4 boys to boot!

How to get to know Jaclyn:

• explore the recipe she allowed me to share on Monday — GAPS Mincemeat Pie
• purchase her new eCookbook “Nourishing Holiday: Grain-Free, Gut-Healing Food For Every Celebration” — on sale through Monday, November 7 for 50% off

About the Mincemeat Pie… Mincemeat pies are little pies filled with “mincemeat” — a mixture of meat, dried fruit, spices, and some type of vinegar, wine, or (frequently) brandy. Nowadays, mincemeat pies are more fruit and spices than actual meat. This has led to their being more of a dessert than main dish. Traditionally, however, they came about as a way to preserve meat without salting or smoking. Jaclyn takes us back to the traditional mincemeat pie in this recipe — a nourishing, holiday main dish straight from her family’s table!

3. More Recipes

Lindsey, writer and content director here at Traditional Cooking School by GNOWFGLINS, put together a holiday meal plan for 5 special diets (including links to really good recipes) you should check out — Thanksgiving Meal Plans For 5 Special Diets.

Included you’ll find menu plans for Traditional Foods, Gluten-Free, GAPS, Paleo (Grain-Free/Dairy-Free), and AIP (auto-immune protocol). Check it out here!

Also, check out our GAPS recipes archive. I and our contributors have tried-and-true GAPS recipes we think you’ll love.

4. Learn To Substitute To Create Allergy-Free Holiday Recipes

This will take time, but learning to substitute can help you out when you remake recipes in the future.

Need to avoid dairy? Be sure to grab my guide on making homemade, dairy-free milks. It’s here and it’s free. You’ll need this to make your own dairy-free milks (save money and keep the ingredients whole) and to learn to sub for dairy in recipes.

Need to avoid eggs? Here’s our guide on baking without eggs, including 6 substitutions and how to use them.

Also, here’s a post from Melissa at Traditional Cooking School on how to make real food substitutions in your holiday recipes — Real Food Makeovers For Your Holiday Recipes. These are general guidelines that may or may not apply depending on your food allergies.

For More Information:

• Free Guide To Homemade Dairy-Free Milks
• My conversation with my friend Megan Stevens about her and her family’s gut-healing journey without deprivation
• Megan’s Recipes at Traditional Cooking School
• Megan’s site, Eat Beautiful
• Eat Beautiful: Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, & Loving It by Megan Stevens
• Nourishing Holiday: Grain-Free, Gut-Healing Food For Every Celebration by Jaclyn Harwell
• Mincemeat Pie {GAPS-Approved}
• Our GAPS recipes archive
• Thanksgiving Meal Plans For 5 Special Diets
• 7 Tips For Holiday Baking While Healing Your Gut
• Baking Without Eggs: 6 Substitutions And How To Use Them
• Real Food Makeovers For Your Holiday Recipes

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Are you searching for GAPS Diet holiday recipes? Do you need allergy-free holiday recipes for someone in your family or for yourself?