GF/DF/EF Stuffing

For Christmas Eve we visited friends for dinner. This is usually a major production for me since I often have to cart over an entire cooked meal for us whenever we go out. A number of our friends are excellent cooks and foodies, but terribly attached to certain types of dishes and traditions in a fairly rigid way. I've never quite understood that. Food for me, even before my allergies were discovered, was a bit of an adventure. I often ate the same things, but that was simply because I didn't have time to learn any other way, or when I was a vegetarian, because I thought I was supposed to. I usually preferred something new and exciting, preferably something that was something entirely new and not a "substitute" food.

Anyway, I've never gotten into the "traditional" stuff that goes with celebratory meals (read: super-sweet candied sweet potatoes with stuffing and a big, often overcooked tryptophan-laden bird with sticky, glutenous gravy - no fermented foods and nothing to relieve the heaviness but a bit of raw green salad with bottled dressing,) although I understand that for many folks it is important.

Our hosts decided to go with the old standbys, but bless her heart - she used ghee in the sweet potatoes so that Little Moo could eat them. She made the turkey herself and it was delicious. I think she gave up entirely on making a stuffing that her husband might like and went and found some at Whole Foods, then I suggested that perhaps I could take all of Little Moo's leftover rice bread-ends and make a stuffing for her and anyone else who wanted it. It was a huge winner. Little Moo had two big helpings, and it went great with an amazingly flavored turkey. Here's the recipe, based on the basic Joy of Cooking for a stuffing made separately from a roast:

Rice Bread Stuffing

4 cups lightly toasted or otherwise hard rice bread, cut into small pieces

about 1/4 lb giblets, cooked overnight in chicken soup

1 onion

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1/4 cup rendered duck fat

1 cup chicken broth

additional fat for top - can be ghee if tolerated

Finely chop separately: giblets, onion, celery, parsley and mushrooms.

Saute onion for 2o minutes or so in duck fat. This is a good time to chop everything else to make the time go by. Add giblets first, then everything else to the pan and saute another 10 minutes or so.

Pour the bread pieces/crumbs into a 9x12" pan. Pour the sauteed mixture over it. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Add more fat if necessary and the cup of broth and mix it in. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Remove foil. If the bread was cut into pieces, you might want to stir and mash it up a bit more if you like a finer grain stuffing. Dot the top with more fat and brown for up to 10 minutes.

What I discovered: when in doubt, add more fat and more broth. :)

My people liked it so much that they had it for Christmas Day breakfast!

I keep forgetting: Cranberry Relish (Raw, cultured)

This was the highlight of our Thanksgiving table for me, mainly because it was on my mind for weeks and when I finally put it together, it was incredibly slapdash. Speaking of which, I'd better type fast before I forget what went into this thing. (Wow...so slapdashy that I never even took a photo...you'll just have to take my word for it.) It was super-good! Sweet and tart, with a bit of autumn spice and a nice kick. It also had an almost carbonated fizz to it...kind of like the best punch. (No alcohol, of course! Just kefir-y goodness.) It was also sort of like charoset, and, actually, could be modified for Passover, come to think of it.

Raw Cranberry Relish

1 box (pint) raw fresh cranberries

1 pear, peeled, cored

1 sweet apple, peeled, cored (please note that I wound up adding a bit more fruit midway, so you might need to add as you go for taste)

1/2 cup raisins (to taste)

Blend the above together in a blender or food processor until fruit mixes, but stays a bit crunchy and slightly defined. I looked for the cranberries to start looking moist and as if it was starting to sink into the sweeter fruit.

Add to taste:

about 2 tsp lemon juice (this was the point that I had to sweeten it a bit with more fruit)

Add and blend:

2 crushed cloves

1 large pinch cinnamon

Add and blend slightly:

1/4-1/2 cup crispy pecans (you can also crumble or chop the nuts and hand-mix)

Carefully blend or hand mix into the fruit:

1/4 cup coconut milk kefir (or any non-dairy kefir, actually)

Pour the mixture into a canning jar and loosely fasten the lid. Put up for about 3 days. I thought it was done when it tasted slightly fizzy.

Super-yum. We just finished it tonight.

Persimmon Paradise Ice Cream (non-dairy!)

This is a coconut milk-based ice cream, made without eggs or dairy that's sort of a dress rehearsal for Thanksgiving. I couldn't believe just how good it was right out of the ice cream maker - we'll see what it's like set and frozen tomorrow. Little Moo licked the spoon for about 10 minutes when we scooped it out to put away. It's got lots of nice fall flavors and is a pretty orangey-tan color. It would be nice topped with seasonal fruits - more persimmons, 2 colors of sliced grapes, a slice of pear or apple, maybe. Nuts would be tasty and pretty, too.

The problem I was trying to solve was that grainy watery texture that coconut milk ice cream often has. The key to the texture and richness was adding raw virgin coconut oil to the mixture as well as coconut milk kefir and regular coconut milk. The oil, which is solid below about 76 degrees F, keeps it creamy. It would also be good with just kefir, I'd think. Tangier. For a milder version, maybe just the milk.

Persimmon Paradise Ice Cream

2 fuyu persimmons, quartered and peeled (hachiya would also be fine)

1 can coconut milk, preferably organic, definitely full-fat

2 heaping ts raw, unrefined coconut oil

2 ts non-alcohol vanilla extract

2 pinches ground nutmeg

about 1/8 ts ground cinnamon

about 1/3 c dark raisins

1 cup coconut milk kefir

optional: 3 drops liquid stevia if it's not sweet enough

Put everything in a blender. Blend well. Pour into ice cream maker. Process according to the instructions for your particular churn. Scoop...enjoy! Store leftovers in the freezer for later (if there's anything left!).