Holiday Recipes for Special Diets
Tasty Food for Everyone, Even Those With Allergies
So many people have food allergies these days. Often people on special diets, like gluten-free, are left in the cold when it comes to many favorite holiday treats.
Try these yummy holiday goodies and deprivation will be a thing of the past.
Easy Rum Cake For Allergies
This variation of the tried-and-true rum cake will get raves from everyone and help keep people on special diets safe. This version is even easier to make than the standard recipe! This recipe is gluten-free and can be easily adapted for other special diets like dairy-free, nut-free and egg-free (see variations below).
Cake
- 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1 package Namaste Brand Vanilla Cake mix
- 2 cups vanilla pudding (already made; try Cozy Shack brand)
- ½ cup dark rum
- 4 eggs
Glaze
- 1 stick of butter
- ¼ cup of water
- 1 cup of sugar
- ½ cup dark rum
Cake Instructions:
- Preheat the over to 325 degrees.
- Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts in the bottom of the pan, set aside.
- In a mixing bowl combine cake mix, vanilla pudding, rum and eggs.
- Beat for a minute or two until the ingredients are well combined.
- Pour mixture into Bundt pan.
- Bake in a 325-degree oven for one hour and ten minutes. Use a toothpick to check if it is done.
Glaze Instructions:
- Over medium heat, melt butter in a saucepan.
- Stir in water and sugar.
- Allow the mixture to bubble softly for five minutes, being careful not to burn it, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and pour in the rum. (The rum may steam, so be careful.)
Variations:
- To make this cake dairy-free, switch the butter to margarine and use vanilla soy pudding or vanilla rice pudding.
- For egg-free, omit the eggs and use your favorite egg substitute.
- Nuts can be replaced with a crunchy cereal of choice, like Nutty Rice or Nutty Flax (both nut-free and gluten-free cereal).
Tip: Do not use instant pudding. It is not gluten-free.
Sweet Potato Crisp
This recipe is higher in fiber than the standard recipe, and no one will notice anything missing. This recipe is gluten-free, and nut-free. Can also be made dairy-free, and egg-free (see variations below).
- 2 c. cooked mashed sweet potatoes
- 2 eggs
- ½ stick butter, melted
- 1/2 c. milk
- 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 36 Health Valley rice bran crackers
- 6 Tablespoons butter
- 6 Tablespoons sugar
- Extra cinnamon if desired.
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, combine mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, ½ stick of butter, milk, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Crush the rice bran crackers using a food processor or blender.
- In a bowl, mix crushed rice bran crackers, the remaining butter, sugar and cinnamon (if desired).
- Spread sweet potato mixture in the bottom of a greased 9" x 13" casserole pan.
- Sprinkle the rice bran cracker mix over the top of the sweet potatoes.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until topping is browned.
Variations
- For a fantastic apple crisp, omit the sweet potato mixture and add thinly sliced apples tossed with cinnamon. Bake as directed above.
- Dairy can be easily omitted by using margarine for the butter and soy or rice milk for the milk.
- One cup of pecans with a tablespoon or two of brown rice flour can be used in place of the rice bran crackers.
- Eggs can be omitted by adding an egg substitute or just leaving them out, but it will change the texture of the sweet potatoes a little.
