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.