Holiday Menus

Our family was very successful this Christmas at cooking healthy, delicious allergy-friendly food, which all of our family and guests enjoyed, too. Some of the things we enjoy, such as homemade bread, are not allergy friendly but we simply don't give it to Chloe.

She is starting to look at food that others are eating and ask, "is that safe for me?" But that's for another post.

Here are the holiday menus:

1. Christmas Dinner
Relish plates, one completely allergy-friendly with pickles, summer sausage, and olives, the other non-allergy friendly with cheese and crackers which we kept away from Chloe
Roast turkey--place chunks of onion and carrot inside, truss, drizzle with olive oil and herbs
Crock pot ham--place ham in crock pot, sprinkle with brown sugar, push button
Peas with pearl onions--saute onions in olive oil, add peas and sea salt
Glazed carrots --braise carrots, drizzle with maple syrup and heat on low heat until liquid is gone and carrots are coated with sweetness
Roasted fingerling potatoes with olive oil, garlic and sea salt
Non-allergy-friendly homemade bread which we didn't give to Chloe

2. Christmas cookies
Rice krispy treats made with whey-free margarine, with cinnamon candies mixed in and green sugar sprinkled on top
Allergy-friendly oatmeal jammer cookies with strawberry jam
Allergy-friendly chocolate cupcakes with candy canes on top
Non-allergy-friendly oatmeal chocolate chip cookies which we kept separate to avoid cross contamination

3. Big family breakfast once Oma and Opa arrived
Bacon
Cuties
Scrambled eggs which we didn't give to Chloe
Allergy-friendly oat-buckwheat-blue corn pancakes with syrup, applesauce and stewed blueberries for topping (I made a double recipe for eight people and there were only seven pancakes left)

4. Huge family dinner with two sets of grandparents and two extra teenage boys (twelve people in all)
Baked potatoes
Chili--meat, beans, tomatoes, and spices
Leftover diced Christmas ham
Grated cheeses which we didn't give to Chloe
Frozen sliced peppers
Homemade black beans
Roasted assorted squashes with roasted red onions
Allergy-friendly homemade chocolate caramel corn for dessert

5. Post-Christmas turkey soup dinner
Turkey soup made with turkey broth, meat and rice (my husband and our exchange student prefer soup without veggies)
Assorted veggies on the side to put in soup
Cheese toasts on homemade bread which we didn't give to Chloe
Locally made warm corn tortillas with honey

6. And finally, the Great Pizza Compromise
Before we had Chloe, Daniel and I made homemade pizza all the time. Once Chloe got old enough to eat regular food, we simply stopped making homemade pizza in favor of menus that were safe for everyone. I tried allergy-friendly pizza crust once but it was awful, and what good is pizza if it's not really pizza? Our months without homemade pizza seemed a little less colorful. Now that we have reached the compromise, I feel a sense of relief that for now, we have a solution that pleases everyone.

So the Great Pizza Compromise is, we make homemade pizza as usual (bread machine crust, a little garlic and herbs, some seasoned sausage and gourmet pepperoni, good mozzarella), but we save some tomato sauce, pepperoni and sausage and make Chloe a bowl of rice noodles with pizza toppings (minus cheese of course). We call it Pizza Noodles, which Chloe eats with gusto while we devour the pizza.

What are your favorite allergy-friendly holiday menus?