Allergy Friendly Friday Hanukkah, Christmas, and Quanza 2011

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Allergy Friendly Friday

(TGIAFF)

Bring on the winter holidays!  My favorite.  And I’ll tell you why: the lights and the candles rock my world. When I was growing up, I used to just lie under the Christmas tree gazing up at the colored lights. We lived in the middle of the woods, and would go out, choose a tree, chop it down, and drag it home on a sled. No, I’m not Laura Ingalls Wilder. But we did have a Little House on the Prairie type childhood in many ways.  The trees we brought home weren’t “pretty” trees like the ones I buy today at the Christmas Tree lot, they were always irregular, and had a lot of space between the limbs, but that meant we could load them up with lots and lots of lights and decorations, and also, the cat could easily climb the tree, which resulted in a lot of broken glass ornaments. One year my cat ate the tinsel too, but I digress. I’ve always had a fondness for scrawny imperfect trees. I want to hug them. TMI?   Another fond memory about the lights: there were spaces between the boards in the walls of our house (which I will go into another time when there is more room to explain the weird house/barn I grew up in), so another thing I loved to do was lie in my parents bed and look at the beams of colored light that were streaming through the cracks in the walls. It was magical.  You could literally see the colored light beams shooting through the cracks and flying through the air.

And of course, the winter holidays are also about food.  Particularly baked goods, in my opinion.  I even like fruit cake. Yup, there, I said it.    What are your favorite Hanukkah, Christmas, and/or Quanza recipes?  Or memories?  Please share your December Holiday recipes below.  This linky event will go for TWO WEEKS. So post up to DECEMBER 23rd. Nogs, punch, cookies, cakes, soups, stuffings, casseroles, whatever you got, share it here. Even if it’s a Christmas Goose. Or I should say, particularly if it’s a Christmas Goose. We want to know what you’ll be cooking for your Allergy Friendly Hanukkah, Christmas, or Quanza.  (apparently Coconut Cream Cake is a Quanza dessert. I want that NOW!)

Some fabulous allergy-free and gluten-free highlights from the last week’s are:

Please add your allery-free and gluten-free Christmas, Hanukkah, and Quanza recipe links to Allergy-Friendly Friday. PLEASE remember you have to link back from your post, for me to feature your recipe. That means link WITH A HYPERLINK THAT LINKS BACK HERE. When you link back to this post,  you can share both your own and other’s fabulous allergy-friendly recipes. Am I repeating myself? 🙂 And remember, I specialize in creating gluten-free recipes that are free of the top 8 food allergens, but yours don’t have to be. They just have to be allergy-friendly in SOME way.

ALLERGY-FRIENDLY FRIDAY LINK GUIDELINES:  PLEASE READ!


  • Please add only ONE post per blog.
  • Please LINK back to this post so that your readers can find ALL the recipes linked to here. This is a sharing page.
  • Link to your individual recipe post, NOT your homepage.
  • Recipes DO NOT have to be completely allergen-free, just ALLERGY-FRIENDLY in some way.
  • When you link, let us know who you are. For example, I might add  old fashioned gingersnaps (cybele @cybelepascal.com)

Allergy Friendly Friday 12/2/11

16

Allergy Friendly Friday

(TGIAFF)

My Mother-in-Law died this week, after a 14 year battle against breast cancer. She was the strongest woman I have ever known, and one of most wonderful. She loved Fridays, and would be the first to say, “Thank God it’s Friday!” and pour out a round of vodka cranberries.  She also loved wine, and worked for many years as a wine importer, until the chemo killed her taste for it.  As I mentioned on my facebook page, my Mother-in-Law, Wendy also had a passion for time-saver gadgets, and was always showering me with them as gifts. She watched QVC for relaxation, and was the first one onto the Vidalia Chop Wizard craze, any kind of slice it and dice it tool, and don’t even get me started on the Snuggies!   So, as mentioned, I’m dedicating my next cookbook, “Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking” to my darling Mother-in-Law, Wendy, because without her and her time-saver gadgets, it never would have been possible.

This week, if you have quick and easy recipes, please link to them. Or, feel free to start posting for the next round of holidays. Doesn’t it seem that there’s a new one round every corner?  And speaking of, thank you for the lovely Thanksgiving themed recipe links!   Some fabulous highlights from the past two weeks are:

Please add your links to Allergy-Friendly Friday. PLEASE remember you have to link back from your post, for me to feature your recipe. That means link WITH A HYPERLINK THAT LINKS BACK HERE. When you link back to this post,  you can share both your own and other’s fabulous allergy-friendly recipes. Am I repeating myself? 🙂 And remember, I specialize in creating gluten-free recipes that are free of the top 8 food allergens, but yours don’t have to be. They just have to be allergy-friendly in SOME way.

ALLERGY-FRIENDLY FRIDAY LINK GUIDELINES:  PLEASE READ!


  • Please add only ONE post per blog.
  • Please LINK back to this post so that your readers can find ALL the recipes linked to here. This is a sharing page.
  • Link to your individual recipe post, NOT your homepage.
  • Recipes DO NOT have to be completely allergen-free, just ALLERGY-FRIENDLY in some way.
  • When you link, let us know who you are. For example, I might add  old fashioned gingersnaps (cybele @cybelepascal.com)

 

Free From Food Festival

5

Dear Readers on the other side of the pond (England), I’m posting today about an exciting food festival going on in London this weekend, November 25th-27th. If any of you go to this fabulous festival, please let me know how it is. I really wish I could be there too! Here are the details. Please note that I am skipping Allergy Friendly Friday  this week, and extending last week’s which will now go through next Friday, so keep adding recipes if you like. They are all great for the winter holidays too.

FREE FROM FOOD FESTIVAL

Friday 25 – Sunday 27 November 2011

Southbank Centre Square, Southbank CentreBelvedere Road, SE1 8XX

FREE admission

FIRST EVER FOOD FESTIVAL DEDICATED TO ‘FREE FROM’ PRODUCTSLAUNCHES AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE

An exciting new food festival, focusing on “Free From” foods is launching on Friday 25th November for three days at Southbank Centre.The inaugural Free From Food Festival, taking place at Southbank Centre Square from Friday 25th – Sunday 27th November 2011, will bring together many “Free From” food specialists and the growing number of artisan producers who create a range of gluten, wheat, dairy, sugar and/or egg free goods.  The festival will be of interest to all food lovers, as well as those who are genuinely affected by the foods around them.  It will appeal not only to coeliacs, but to those with other food intolerances (dairy in particular) through to anyone curious about or wanting to make lifestyle changes to their diet.Demonstrations & Tastings: Check out what will be there!

The festival promises to have a variety of companies and individuals showcasing their unique, high quality products as well as a schedule of demonstrations, talks and tutored tastings, given by the exhibiting producers themselves, as well as visiting chefs and authorities from the “Free From” world.

Exhibitors will be on hand to educate, offer samples, sell and display their goods, thereby creating an environment where people can learn about, shop, eat and gain further confidence about “Free From” foods as alternative substitutes.

Organiser Caroline Aherne explains “I’m really pleased to be bringing together a diverse range of producers where visitors can learn about and try the artisan “free from” foods and drink on offer and meet many of the passionate people behind them.  There’s definitely an interest in alternative grains and dairy substitutes for mainstream products as well as people wanting knowledge about how to cook and use these.  The Free From Food Festival will set the scene for learning more as well as being able to get a wide range of products under one roof.”

As it’s close to Christmas, many producers will have gluten-free, wheat-free and dairy-free seasonal produce that visitors to the festival can purchase there or order for themselves, friends or family, thereby making Christmas and the holidays an occasion that everyone can enjoy.  Companies such as Wag Free will be selling their latest range of gluten free savoury and Christmas products, Inspiralled and Conscious Food will showcase their more healthy Christmas food gift options and Jaz and Jules will be showcasing their delicious Organic Hot Chocolate.

*The event takes place from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th November 2011, 11am-8pm daily (6pm on Sunday) at Southbank Centre Square, behind the Royal Festival Hall.  The venue is five minutes walk from Waterloo & Embankment tube states and various bus routes. Admission is free.  For more info, check out their Facebook Page here.