Thanksgiving

Our very first gluten-free and dairy-free Thanksgiving was a success! It was the first time we stayed home and didn't travel to my Mama Mae's house for Thanksgiving...our first attempt at baking a whole turkey and preparing a full Thanksgiving menu. The Lord blessed mom and I with energy and wonderful, fresh, organic ingredients to prepare the meal. We had so much fun planning, shopping and preparing for the day...it was as much fun as sitting down to eat.

We watched the food network and searched online blogs for inspiration and information on preparing the turkey, which was organic. I completely forgot to take a picture of the turkey once it came out of the oven! We were ready to dig in!



Mom made cornbread for my nephew. At four years old, he was so excited to have mama, dada, Layla, Mimi, Daddy Jack and Aunt Brooke all sit around the table for a special meal. Cornbread is one of his favorite things to eat!


I found a super simple recipe for homemade cranberry sauce. Mom bought a canned sauce for back up (just in case), but we were pleasantly surprised at how delicious the homemade sauce turned out to be! We will never need to buy canned again! The sauce consisted of fresh cranberries, fresh squeezed orange juice and raw honey.


We don't generally care for a traditional sweet potato casserole, it is just too sugary for our taste preferences. We do however enjoy cinnamon sweet potatoes! I added a little coconut oil and salt to lend a buttery flavor as well. Mmm, so delicious!


A new side for us this year was mashed fauxtatoes...yes, fauxtatoes. We steamed cauliflower then tossed it into the blender with a little olive oil and salt. I think mom and I were the most impressed with this dish, it can replace mashed potatoes on my plate any day!


Cole and Chloe were super excited to hangout in the kitchen and be taste-testers!



One of our favorite dishes, sauteed kale with toasted pepitas, was a must have!



We made two dressings: one was a traditional cornbread dressing topped with chicken. It came out of the oven and went straight onto the table, so I forgot to get a quick picture of it. The other was a lighter, quinoa-based dressing with carrots, celery, mushrooms, cranberries, walnuts and herbs. Both paired nicely with the turkey and other trimmings!



We felt blessed and were thankful for all the Lord has provided.



I felt blessed and was thankful that this was my plate.


After lunch we moved on to desserts! The pumpkin chocolate chip bars were made with almond meal and maple syrup, so no flour or sugar. The "cheesecake" was made with an almond and walnut crust, a cashew-based filling and topped with mixed berries. There was no dairy or refined sugar in this dessert. We were all pleasantly surprised at the rich, delicious flavor and texture of the cheesecake!



The Lord has blessed my family beyond measure. While we enjoyed the food of the day, we also enjoyed true fellowship with one another, a time to sit, relax and enjoy each other's company. I've been focusing on thankfulness this month, and reflecting on God's grace and mercy and goodness. He is my healer, redeemer and provider of all. I am thankful that I can trust Him and know Him. He holds my hopes and fears and He leads me into the fullness of His love and peace.

Elimination Diet: Days 39 & 40

Wow, 40 days of cleansing the body of toxins, resetting taste preferences, making healthy choices...it has been a fun and educational journey! What has this experience taught me?

Lesson 1: Developing healthier choices and disciplines in my life has helped to renew my focus on Jesus as first and foremost my Lord, but also as my healer, redeemer, protector, and guide for life. With the food changes, I was seeing marked improvements physically in my digestion and in the clarity that was returning to my face that over the last year had been attacked with acne, as well as mentally in clarity of thought. But, it has been in the last couple of weeks, where I have returned to my first love, Jesus, and began again to set my clock to rise early and seek His face, to seek His plans for each day and spend true quality time in His word. I had drifted to a place of merely reading devotionals that others had written or scanning a brief passage of scripture and was not diving deep into His word regularly enough with ample time set aside to wait to hear from Him as well. I believe the greatest improvements have come during these last few weeks as I have sought Him more fully.

Lesson 2: Sugars and grains offer little to no benefit in the daily diet. Refined sugar actually takes healthy cells and turns them into cancerous cells. And we eat this every day! It sneaks into our diets in packaged, processed foods. Wow, I want to be an informed consumer, I want to eat foods as close to their natural state as possible and avoid the white stuff...sugar, flour, white rice, etc.

Lesson 3: Foods that do not digest well for me are: nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, potatoes (except sweet potatoes), eggplant), dairy, and corn. I will avoid dairy and not knowingly consume it. Tomatoes, peppers and corn will make rare, cameo appearances in my diet. I can tolerate them in small doses, so an occassional Mexican-inspired meal will definitely be on the menu!

Lesson 4: Making changes takes discipline, determination, support and time. I am so blessed to have my mom. I am thankful to her for taking this journey with me and for being so committed to shopping for healthy foods, spending countless hours washing kale and collard greens, and preparing delicious, nutritious meals for our family. She has blessed me tremendously!

There are numerous other things I have learned about health and nutrition that I will continue to apply to life. I hope to continue the refining process and growing in knowledge and truth.

Elimination Diet: Days 35-38

This early Fall time of year has been great for going through the elimination diet. We have been so blessed with fresh, organic greens, apples, pears, squash, sweet potatoes and just so much more that has nourished our bodies during this time. We are truly feeling healthy, strong and fortified as the weather is beginning to cool down and the cold and flu season is upon us.

In this final week of what became a 40 day plan, we had salmon two ways. On day 35 we prepared a citrus-garlic salmon with a side of spaghetti squash, broccoli and mushrooms. We were excited to try the salmon a new way and it was a really great meal!

For dessert that night, I made a raw apple pie. It was inspired by the raw apple pie we had at R. Thomas Deluxe Grill in Atlanta back in early September. Wow! This was so delicious! It was really easy to prepare with dates for sweetness, a little hint of cinnamon and Granny Smith apples for a little bit of tartness. I topped it with home made cashew cream...what a great dessert with organic, wholesome ingredients!




For dinner on Day 36 we baked basil balsalmic salmon. Oh my goodness, this was fabulous! We have had salmon several different ways over the last couple of weeks, and they have all been so good! To keep the meal light, we had a big salad.


For Day 37, we had a special dessert after dinner. Perhaps a little too much desserting this week, but at least they both consisted of fruit and nuts and had no refined sugar or flour. I made a pear tart with fresh raspberries. It was really yummy, but I'm ready for something warm now that the weather is chilling out!


Day 38 started off great with honey-sweetened cinnamon apples and raisins over quinoa with a side of sauteed collard greens. Seeing this picture makes me want to have this meal all over again!


We are in the phase of adding/testing corn. We had corn for dinner on day 37 as well, but I completely forgot to take a picture. On this particular night, we tried corn meal on okra, probably not the most healthy way to add in corn, but it tasted so good and we are in the south!



We tried to counterbalance the okra with a mixture of fresh veggies: spaghetti squash, onions, carrots, zuchini, and mushrooms.



We plan to have corn one more time on day 39. I think we will keep it simple on day 40 and following that day, we will begin to add in chocolate, yeast and gluten-free flours. All in moderation of course! Mom and I both feel that this has been a good time of cleansing our systems and resetting our taste preferences. Things like green smoothies, fresh fruits and veggies and even lentils and kraut have become foods we crave. Detoxing the body is a great thing to do...we are so bombarded with toxic pollution in the air we breath, the water we drink, and the personal care products we use (of which we have done a major overhaul in our own lives). It is good to make lasting lifestyle changes that will protect us from some of these things.

Elimination Diet: Days 32-34

I fear I've not given enough glory to God for His leading in this process of eliminating foods that are not healthful and that were stealing abundancy of life. This has been a real learning process of studying not just the nutritional quality of food, but turning to God's word to see what He says about how we should eat and live. Before beginning this process, the Lord illuminated this word to me:

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

I believe the Bible has answers for all our need...even the foods that we eat. The Lord clearly told Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:29-31: And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

And to the Israelites in Leviticus chapter 11, God clearly states the animals, birds, fish and yes, even insects that are clean to eat. He also clearly states those that are unclean. For a lack of knowledge, I have tasted and eaten some of the unclean foods. As I have come into a greater awareness of God's word regarding this area of my life, I know it is for my protection. I believe the Old Testament is for direction, guidance and protection, just as much as the New Testament. As a total foodie, I was deceived into eating things that were not beneficial, especially refined sugars, flours, and thinking that I could eat enough healthy foods to "combat" the unhealthy foods. Really, that is like saying I can continue in "pet sins" as long as I do enough good deeds...it will all even out. It just doesn't work that way. When we come to Christ, He wants all of us. I want to give Him all of me...my time, talents, heart, mind, body and soul. I want to glorify Him, I want His thoughts to be my thoughts and His ways my ways...even down to the food I eat.

In my weekly Bible study, the memory verse for the week is: The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

Jesus came that we may have life abundantly, here, now...I hope to honor Him by choosing to fuel my body with nourishing meals so that I can do the work He has prepared for me to do.

Having said all of that...we have had some truly fabulous meals over the last few days. Our day 32 breakfast consisted of quinoa with roasted butternut squash, apple, raisins, and maple syrup with broccoli sprouts on the side. It was a great fall meal. We are so thankful for the bounty of fresh, organic fruits and veggies we've found at the local co-op!


We added dairy in the form of plain yogurt with fresh pomegranate. Oh my, the yogurt had just the right amount of tartness to pair so nicely with the sweet, juicy flavor of the pomegranate seeds. It takes a little effort to get those seeds out of the pomegranate, but it is so worth it!


We've not eaten any meat other than fish since about February or March of this year, so day 34 was a big day...we added in chicken. It was organic of course! We made a chicken and vegetable stew. Wow, it was delicious! We used the chicken to make homemade stock and had onion, carrots, celery, zuchini, and sweet peas in the mix. It was like a chicken pot pie without the crust.


Next time we plan to bake a loaf of fresh bread to go with it, but since we've not added in flour or yeast at this time, we just had a big bowl of stew. This will be a great meal to have as the weather cools down too!

Elimination Diet: Day 31

We are so blessed with a bounty of truly nutritious foods. The Lord has provided just the right organic fruits and veggies every time we shop for groceries so that we can make wonderfully healthy meals.

Today began with a warming breakfast of scrambled eggs, sauteed collard greens with toasted pine nuts and an orange.


Lunch was a big salad with lentils and kraut. I never thought I would crave lentils and kraut, but I really do! I was very much looking forward to this lunch!

Dinner was a big salad inspired by the cornucopia salad at Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah, Georgia. We changed a few of the ingredients based on what we had. Our salad included romaine, carrots, celery, beets, broccoli sprouts, banana, raisins, and walnuts. It was a great way to end the day!


Mom and I are both feeling so good and just all around energized. We've each had a few moments of just wanting a little chocolate or feeling discouraged by other circumstances that made us just want to quit and start eating whatever we wanted whenever we wanted, but we have stood firm and are very thankful to be going through this detoxing and healing process while learning to make healthy choices for foods that will truly nourish our bodies.

Elimination Diet: Days 27-30

It has been an incredibly busy week, but we have eaten some of the finest meals!

Day 27 we added in sesame seeds with dinner. We had lentil burgers with a side of sauteed carrots and cabbage with toasted sesame seeds. It was a warm, delicious meal and the sesame seeds added just a little texture to the veggies.


Day 28 we added in peanuts in the form of peanut butter. For our dessert that night we dipped a sliced banana in unsalted, roasted peanut butter. It was a great treat!

Day 29 we had salmon burgers with sweet potato fries. Yum!

Day 30 we made a quick lunch of quinoa with sweet potatoes, avocado, and adzuki beans seasoned with Herbamare.


Our dinner that night was salmon burgers (again, they are just so good! We made extras to keep in the freezer until later!) with baked sweet potato and a big salad. Oh, and for a special treat I made almond truffles! They were just as good this time as they were before!


During the week, we had baked salmon with thyme and lemon, sweet potatoes that were baked whole, baked as fries, sauteed with other veggies, green smoothies, quinoa with various fruits, it's been a good week for breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners.

When we began the elimination diet, we expected it to take about 28 days. We've lingered over some of the additions, had only a slight setback and now, with day 30 behind us, are forging ahead with a 40 day plan. We will continue the next 10 days with no flour, sugar, chocolate or coffee, however, we will add in dairy and corn. After 40 days (and the addition of chocolate!) we will try yeast and homemade gluten free bread. I believe we've kicked some unhealthy habits and are on to a healthy way of eating and living. We are feeling wonderful! Clear-headed, good digestion, thoroughly enjoying every meal and really tasting the foods the Lord has provided for good health! He has given such vast abundancy and I am so grateful!

Elimination Diet: Days 24, 25 & 26

It was a fabulous weekend, super busy, but super fabulous as well! On Friday morning, day 24, we wanted a little special treat so we baked walnuts with maple syrup, a dash of olive oil and cinnamon. They were so delicious...think we ate a few too many, but we were active the rest of the day!


Friday and Saturday morning we attended a church conference and were so blessed by the music and speakers. It was a joy to worship, hear testimonies of God's power and grace and grow in the Lord!

The cooler weather has sparked a craving for warm foods, especially in the mornings! On Saturday morning we had an orange with scrambled eggs and sauteed kale. Oh my, this was so delicious and warming!


Being out of the house all morning, we were quite hungry for lunch. We reheated leftover onions and cauliflower and made a salad with romaine, celery, carrots, banana and raisins. It was similar to a salad we had at Paula Deen's restaurant, Lady & Sons in Savannah, Georgia earlier this year. The carrot, raisin and banana combination is really good!


Sunday we had quinoa with strawberries for breakfast, then an apple before heading out the door to church. For lunch we had lentils with sauerkraut, sweet potatoes and a big salad. We had cinnamon apples just before I headed out the door to the Brad Paisley concert. It was a great weekend of entertainment and a great time with friends!

So, we've added in oranges and eggs and are still feeling great! Loving the additions actually!

Elimination Diet: Day 23

Wow, we ate like queens today! Breakfast began with broccoli sprouts, quinoa, pineapple, banana, raisins and a few brazil nuts. It was different, but a really wonderful combination!


For lunch we had leftover quinoa salmon burgers, a quick carrot and cabbage salad with a side of sweet potatoes. It was a good mix of raw and cooked foods, which is really good for digestion. The salmon burgers were just as good leftover as the were the first time we had them!


Dinner was a baked salmon with Herbamare, thyme and lemon with two sides: onions and cauliflower and a raw kale salad. This was a fabulous meal! A truly great way to end the day!


Our energy levels are really good and we are still feeling great with the weekly additions of bananas, pineapple and salmon. It feels good to have a little fish back on the menu! I am truly amazed that neither of us have had any sort of withdrawals or strong cravings for chocolate, refined sugar, flour/baked goods or coffee. God is good to give us strength to make healthy choices!

Elimination Diet: Day 22

We didn't have much time for food preparation today because we went to visit my grandmother. Last night we prepared a big salad to take with us and in the morning we sauteed onions, brussel sprouts, carrots and mushrooms, seasoned it with Herbamare and tossed in some quinoa. It was really delicious! My grandmother cooked collard greens and okra so we had a great lunch!


We had leftover salad and quinoa for a quick dinner before heading off to church. Our dessert for the night was a sliced banana dipped in almond butter. It was so satisfying! What a great, healthy treat!

Bananas have been the newly reintroduced food for the last couple of days. We are so thankful to have added them back in and are still feeling great! No more digestive issues at this point!

Elimination Diet: Day 21, An All American Meal...Sort of

We had a great day! Breakfast consisted of broccoli sprouts, quinoa, and cinnamon apples, pears and raisins and brazil nuts. After breakfast we went for a 2.5 mile walk/run and then did strength and stretch training. We sipped on smoothies as we prepared for a busy day of errands, so we made a quick lunch by heating up leftover quinoa and cabbage soup.


We were hungry for a snack while out and about, so we had Lara Bar. The cashew cookie variety has only two ingredients: dates and cashews. Eating that feels like a real treat, it truly does taste like a cookie!

Dinner was an "all American treat"! We made salmon-quinoa burgers topped with broccoli sprouts, sweet potato fries baked in the oven and a side of sauteed swiss chard and spinach. It was wonderfully delicious! We will be making this meal again!


Dessert was a yummy banana almond coconut milkshake! What a great day!

Elimination Diet: Day 20

New things are not always good things! For lunch today we tried nori rolls. We rolled brown rice, carrots and spinach in them. They smelled so fishy! We have read a lot about nori and other sea vegetables, so we thought we'd give this a try. We really didn't like it! I know they weren't rolled very tight either, but hey, I'm not a sushi pro and I don't think I'm going to be getting much practice at it!


We followed the nori rolls with a green salad and a little bit of leftover cinnamon butternut squash. That saved the meal! Our afternoon snack was an apple with raw almond butter. It was so delicious!



Dinner was a quick fix quinoa and cabbage soup and we had a late snack of raisins and brazil nuts. Yum! We are feeling really good! We've been walking/jogging and doing some strength and stretching exercises. Aside from the nori, we really feel that food has never tasted so good!

Elimination Diet: Day 19, Sampling Nature's Bun

Today was an exciting day because we tried something very different! One thing that has been really fun about this whole experience is trying different foods and getting so much variety in veggies. For lunch, we had a mixture of brown rice, black beans, sweet potato and avocado rolled up in nature's bun, a collard green wrap. We blanched the collard leaves in boiling water for about a minute to make them pliable. It was so delicious! We will definitely have these again and soon!


The black beans were our reintroduced food for the day and they seemed to be fine. We also had them on a salad for dinner. We finished off the almond truffles too! They are one of my new favorite desserts!

Elimination Diet: Day 18, A Real Treat!

Praise the Lord for all things sweet and delicious! We had almond truffles today and they were fabulous! After the usual breakfast, I made almond truffles for later in the day. Of course, mom and I had to try one immediately. We were thrilled with how yummy they were, but we restrained ourselves and placed the rest of them in the fridge until later.

Lunch was leftover lentils with kraut and a big salad. We sipped on green smoothies throughout the afternoon. Dinner was collard greens with toasted pepitas (so delicious!) and cinnamon butternut squash. We ended the day with 2 more almond truffles. My dad really enjoyed the truffles too! Success! A delicious, nutritious dessert with no refined sugar!

Elimination Diet: Day 17, Feeling Great!

We had the usual breakfast and for a mid-morning snack had a few cashews. They were so delicious, slightly sweet and crunchy! Lunch consisted of a quick sauté of onion, spinach, cranberries and spaghetti squash seasoned with Herbamare. By mid-day I was feeling really great! We had green smoothies to carry us through until dinner. For dinner we had lentil burgers with parsnip fries. We’d never tried parsnips before. They look like white carrots, but we peeled and chopped them, tossed them with a little extra virgin olive oil and seasoned with Herbamare and a little extra garlic then baked them in the oven. They were pretty good, but we think we’ll stick to sweet potato fries in the future! It was really good to try something new, you never know when you’ll discover something you truly enjoy!

Elimination Diet: Day 16

The day began with a hopeful breakfast…the usual with the addition of walnuts. It tasted so wonderful! By mid-morning we had green smoothies to sip on throughout the day. I was still feeling a little sluggish, so we skipped nuts for the remainder of the day. Lunch consisted of a big salad with leftover veggies from the night before. It was very delicious and nourishing.


We had a busy afternoon of running errands, so dinner was another big salad with cinnamon sweet potatoes. A great way to end the day!


I plan to play it by ear for the next couple of days depending on how my digestion is going. I’m praying for no symptoms to return…I do love to eat nuts!

Elimination Diet: Day 15

Breakfast began with broccoli sprouts, quinoa, pears, raspberries and pecans. I truly love the taste and texture of pecans, but have noticed that my nose gets a little runny when I eat them. Also, I have had a weightiness in my tummy all day. We sipped on a green smoothie and then for lunch we sautéed onions, celery, spinach, fresh cranberries and pecans with quinoa seasoned with thyme, basil and cilantro. It made a beautiful color palette!


Dinner consisted of sautéed red onion, broccoli, spaghetti squash and sweet potatoes seasoned with Herbamare.


For dessert we had cinnamon apples and raisins. Because of the heaviness in my tummy, I passed on having pecans a third time. It could still be lingering effects of the tomatoes from Sunday and Monday. I'm not sure, but I’m hopeful to add walnuts for breakfast…we’ll see how I’m feeling at that time!

Elimination Diet: Day 14 Adding Tree Nuts

After a miserable afternoon and evening of getting over the tomato incident, we woke up feeling mostly better and decided to proceed with the next trial: tree nuts. We began the morning with broccoli sprouts, quinoa, pears, raspberries and pecans. Yum!


We had a busy morning away from home, so before leaving the house we had a snack of raisins and pecans. A late lunch consisted of leftover collard greens, toasted pine nuts and cinnamon butternut squash…I so enjoy this meal! We sipped on a green smoothie throughout the afternoon. Dinner was a big salad with a side of lentils and sauerkraut.


We had a third serving of pecans with dessert…cinnamon apples and pecans. It was so very delicious!


We are thankful to have added pecans back into the mix and hope for no setbacks with them because we just enjoy them so much!