L here! Pretty much everything about this year is non-traditional, right?! For Thanksgiving this year, we are at the beach with RJ’s family, so I took the opportunity to celebrate with my mom earlier in November. My mom and I love to cook and RJ and I eat gluten free, dairy free so we took on the challenge of making comfort foods that we could eat. And of course, I also took the opportunity to make a tablescape for our meal!

I thought I’d share these recipes because most everyone knows someone with dietary restrictions or has dietary restrictions themselves. Personally, I’m living with a ton of dietary restrictions right now because I’m being treated for SIBO and a histamine intolerance at the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine (great blog post on SIBO here from Emily Nachazel and read this on histamine intolerance from my fav fashion blogger Kat Tanita). That requires me to be creative or eat very small quantities of foods that I can’t tolerate.
For this non-traditional and early Thanksgiving dinner, we made corned beef plus these dishes
//Vegan scalloped potatoes from Minimalist Baker

These were a huge hit with RJ and didn’t taste vegan at all! I added vegan cheddar cheese- I know, I know, this actually makes them potatoes al gratin but I didn’t care, just give me all the cheesy things!
//Garlic and Bacon Green Beans from Julia’s Album

Just because the scalloped potatoes were vegan doesn’t mean we skipped the bacon here! Don’t those green beans look divine? Green beans are one of the few vegetables that I can eat, so this recipe was perfect.
//Strawberry Pretzel Salad from Studioist
Anyone else make strawberry pretzel salad as a family tradition around the holidays? I thought all was lost when I started eating gluten free, dairy free but then I found this amazing recipe from Studioist. It did NOT disappoint! Side note here: I can’t say enough good things about Violife vegan alternatives to cheese. I’ve tried every vegan cream cheese I can get my hands on and their cream cheese tastes EXACTLY like regular cream cheese! Mind you, I am a former dairy-from-the-cow addict, so this is a big endorsement…
//Triple Berry Pie from One Lovely Life

So I will admit here that I used a pre-made gluten free crust from Fresh Thyme Market. But otherwise this recipe is perfect!
Let me know if you try any of these recipes and send me your best recipes for dietary restrictions. Happy Thanksgiving and let’s see the good in this year! -L