Allergy Friendly Thanksgiving Meal
Thanksgiving is a holiday when you appreciate your blessings and eat good food. However, many children and adults have food allergies preventing them from enjoying the food everyone else is having. It doesn’t have to be this way! Kids with Food Allergies came up with a list of tips and substitutions.
Meats for the Meal
The first thing you can do when looking at meat for your meal is check the label. Many of the ingredients used to season uncooked meats contain allergens. You can also do a little research into the group that is regulating the meat to see specifically what allergens they include.
When looking for a turkey, you can try to find one that says it is Kosher, minimally processed, natural or fresh from a local source. These typically have the least amount of processing and added ingredients.
Meal Side Dishes
Two of the most common Thanksgiving side dishes are stuffing and mashed potatoes which often include milk, butter, flour, wheat and gluten. These contain common allergens, but luckily you can substitute them.
Common allergens in stuffing can be found in the milk, eggs, nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, wheat and gluten. To work around these, you can make your stuffing with gluten-free bread, chopped apples, dried cranberries, chicken broth, poultry spice, salt and an egg replacer powder. You can get creative with this too. Maybe include celery and onions instead of the apples and cranberries.
For the mashed potatoes, you can include butter that is milk-free and soy-free such as Earth Balance Soy-Free or Olivio Coconut Spread. You can also substitute the milk with a dairy free milk such as So Delicious coconut milk.
Dessert for After the Meal
Pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving staple. It is possible to make one without milk, eggs and wheat. The ingredients would include canned pumpkin, brown sugar, a milk alternative such as So Delicious coconut milk, cornstarch, allspice, salt, ground cloves, ginger powder and ground nutmeg.
Don’t forget to make the crust first! This can be free of milk by using one of the substitutions mentioned above. The butter can be replaced with a milk-free butter, shortening or coconut oil and the eggs can be replaced with sweetened soy milk, oil and agave nectar or even just water. Finally, if it needs to be gluten free you can use gluten free dough.
By following some of these holiday cooking tips, you can make a meal full of delicious, allergy friendly dishes for you and your family and friends to enjoy.
*Disclaimer: Any health and wellness content presented is for general informational purposes only. Such content is not intended to replace or serve as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.