Holiday meals are meant for celebration, which can often result in us overindulging a little too much!
Many traditional dishes are infamous for leaving us feeling bloated, fatigued, and inflamed. Why not let your body feel festive and amazing throughout the season? Choosing savory (yet healthy) dishes can counter-act these symptoms and let you enjoy all the holiday flavors you love!
Our Functional Medicine and Clinical Nutrition team shares some of their favorite dishes. Keep reading for our seasonal favorites!
Perfectly Paleo Green Bean Casserole
Our Registered Dietician Nutritionist, Sue Smith, loves this Paleo Green Bean Casserole. This healthier alternative uses cashews as the base for the sauce, instead of using canned cream of mushroom soup. Not to mention, it is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, and delicious! Get the full recipe here.
Dr. Parisa Samsami, DC’s Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower chopped into florets
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 carrot peeled and diced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- For garnish: chopped parsley
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 F
- Toss cauliflower florets with 1 tbsp. olive oil , salt and pepper to taste. Spread the cauliflower in a single layer on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 mins then add minced garlic and bake for another 10 mins
- Heat remaining olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. add onions and cook until translucent ( a few mins )
- Add carrots and celery, paprika and salt and cook 3-4 mins
- Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil
- Add roasted cauliflower, nutritional yeast and garlic to the pot, bring to a boil. reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and puree until smooth using a blender
Dr. Gelband’s Raw Pumpkin Pie Pudding
Ingredients
- 2 cups diced pie pumpkins (small pumpkins are best)
- 3/4 cup dates, pits removed
- 5 tablespoons coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon sinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
Instructions
In a food processor, combine pumpkin, milk, spices, and vanilla. Blend throughly. Add the dates and continue to blend until smooth. Add coconut oil last, once the mixture is warm from blending. Put into small serving bowls and chill for about 6 hours. (More time allows the flavors to meld.) For those not completing purification, this pudding can be put into a nut crust to make an excellent pumpkin pie dessert. Top with cashew butter for added yum! Serves 2-4.
Samara Shein RD’s Healthy Crumble Hack
For a dessert alternative to a pie (less crust, refined sugar and flour, etc,), Samara likes to bring/serve a fruit crumble! Here is a gluten free recipe from Minimalist Baker that can be modified. Some swaps she often makes during the holidays are:
- Seasonal fruit: apples + cinnamon and vanilla for filling OR frozen berries with lemon juice
- Coconut sugar or maple syrup instead of brown sugar
- Fat: grass-fed butter or olive oil
Dr. Lexi Mikrut’s Cranberry Brussels Sprouts
Dr. Mikrut follows this recipe from Homemaking, but makes a few of her own modifications. Her modifications to the recipe include: Skip the cheese and barley. Instead of their cooking directions, cook the Brussels sprouts alone in olive oil for 10 minutes and then added fresh cranberries and cooked for an additional 10 minutes. I added the balsamic and maple syrup in the last minute of cooking then took it off the heat to add the pecans.
Dr. Joe Glowiak, DC’s favorite Harvest Chicken Stew
Dr. Glowiak loves this delicious and healthy recipe that can be made in a slow cooker! The cooked apricots are his favorite part!
Dr. Nicole Maholy, DC’s favorite Pumpkin Bars
We love this recipe from Detoxinista because it is so easy to make and they are naturally gluten-free.
For the complete Holiday Recipe book from our Functional Medicine team, Click here!
About Functional Medicine
Our Functional Medicine & Clinical Nutrition team addresses the underlying cause of disease. Examining dietary, lifestyle, genetic, and environmental factors, we are able to uncover and effectively treat the root cause of health concerns. Informed by thorough clinical and diagnostic testing, we create individualized plans to help your patients achieve optimal health through focused one-on-one sessions. Click the button below to schedule an appointment.
