Dec 21 2006
An egg, soy, nut and gluten free Christmas feast
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Planning the Christmas feast has been challenging this year. I was going to make a beef tenderloin, but when I noticed the sad looking cuts at the store were $9.99 per pound, I opted for lamb. I’ll be 
making the Grouse Mountain Grill Salt-Crusted Leg of Lamb with Mint-Garlic Relish that was featured in The Denver Post last Easter. I’ve made it before and it’s delicious. And at $3.99 a pound, a bargain.
I’ll be serving the lamb with roasted brussel sprouts, the Jolly Green Giant’s peas with butter sauce (it’s a favorite of my husband’s), and mash potatoes with garlic.
Dessert planning has also been a challenge. First, Nana is visiting, and she has a gluten allergy. Then Lucie has her egg/soy/nut allergies. Combining them all is just impossible and I really don’t want to make two desserts, not knowing if any of the people with no allergies will eat them. So I started searching and came upon all kinds of recipes for baked apples at AllRecipes.com. I especially liked this one since it reminds me of a dish we had at a friend’s house for Thanksgiving.
Baked Apples with Sweet Potato Stuffing
Submitted by: Beverly
Yields: 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 6 baking apples - peeled and cored
- 1/2 cup cinnamon red hot candies (yes, really!)
- 1 cup water
- 1 (29 ounce) can sweet potatoes, drained
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans (I’ll skip these since Lucie can’t have tree nuts)
- 6 large marshmallows
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a large pot over medium heat, combine the candies and water. Stir until candies are dissolved.
- Add the apples and baste frequently until apples begin to soften. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Mix together the sweet potatoes, brown sugar, pineapple and pecans.
- Stuff the cooled apples with the sweet potato mixture. Mound any remaining mixture on top of apples.
- Place in 4 quart casserole dish and bake for 20 minutes; place a marshmallow on each apple, return to oven and cook until marshmallows are golden brown.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2005 Allrecipes.com. Picture courtesy of Diana’s Desserts - check out her recipe for Baked Apples Marsala.
And finally, another Christmas story I’d like to recommend, Yoon and the Christmas Mitten about a young Korean girl recently arrived in America. As Yoon’s first Christmas approaches, her teacher lends her a book about Santa Claus. Yoon can’t wait to show it to her parents. To her disappointment her mother responds, “We are not a Christmas family.”
As Christmas Eve approaches, Yoon learns more and more about this exciting holiday. But no matter how hard she tries to convince her parents to celebrate Christmas, they always say no. A determined Yoon soon realizes that she must use her own “Shining Wisdom” to persuade her parents that they can indeed be a Christmas family. For ages four to eight.
Technorati tags: children’s books, Christmas, recipes, food
