Finding Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Allergy-Friendly, Low-Glycemic, Low-Carb, or Low-Fat Thanksgiving Recipes!

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by Kalyn Denny

Can you believe Thanksgiving is only a week away? At this time of year, magazines and traditional food sites pull out all the stops with delicious-looking foods. That can be fine if you have a crowd who can (and will) eat anything, but when you're trying to make a Thanksgiving dinner to accommodate a special diet, food blogs can be a great place to look. I'm here to help you find amazing vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, allergy-friendly, low-glycemic, low-carb, and low-fat Thanksgiving recipes.

Instead of individual recipes, this year I decided to focus on recipe round-ups or bloggers where I could find a recipe archives section or site search results for good Thanksgiving recipes focused on a certain diet. I actually started out thinking these kinds of things may be tricky to find, and by the end I simply told myself, "Stop!" There should be enough ideas here to give you plenty to shop for this weekend, so get clicking!

Vegetarian or Vegan Recipes for Thanksgiving
~Susan from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen has some good Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes, like her husband's favorite Roasted Pumpkin and Vegetables (pictured above).
~At 101 Cookbooks, Heidi has put together a collection of Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes and a collection of Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes.
~It's usually a given that cupcakes are vegetarian, and there's a collection of Thanksgiving Cupcakes at The Cupcake Project.
~Serious Eats has menu suggestions for a Vegan Thanksgiving.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free or Allergy-Friendly Recipes for Thanksgiving
~You'll find a great 2008 Round-Up of gluten-free Thanksgiving ideas at Karina's Kitchen. Karina's recipes will also be dairy-free and generally allergy friendly. That post also has lots of tips for surviving Thanksgiving if you're sharing dinner with people who think food = love and don't understand how serious food allergies can be, plus links for other places to find gluten-free Thanksgiving recipes.
~There's a whole category of Gluten-Free Thanksgiving recipes and recipe round-ups at Gluten-Free Bay.
~Go Dairy Free has Tips and Recipes for a Dairy-Free, Vegan, and/or Gluten-Free Thanksgiving.
~The Allergic Kid has a Round-Up of Allergy-Friendly Thanksgiving Recipes submitted by other bloggers.
~A Gluten-Free Guide has a collection of Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes.
~Ginger Lemon Girl has An Easy Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Menu with Recipes.

Low-Glycemic, Low-Carb, or Diabetes Friendly Thanksgiving Recipes
~At Kalyn's Kitchen, I've been collecting an assortment of Low-Glycemic Holiday Recipes for Thanksgiving 2008, with links to low-glycemic Thanksgiving recipes from Thanksgiving 2007 and Thanksgiving 2006.
~You can find plenty of Low Carb Vegetable Recipes that would work for Thanksgiving at A Veggie Venture.
~There's a wonderful section of Low Carb Recipes at Simply Recipes, where I spotted lots of ideas for dishes that would be good for Thanksgiving (including the Green Beans with Shallots and Pancetta pictured above.)

Low Calorie or Low-Fat Thanksgiving Recipes
~There are ideas for surviving Thanksgiving while trying to lose weight in the Thanksgiving category at This Mama Cooks on a Diet.
~For people who are seriously dieting at Thanksgiving (if you can't talk them out of it!) you could find something very low calorie in the Vegetable Recipes with Weight Watchers Points at A Veggie Venture.

General Information about Thanksgiving on a Special Diet
~At Dinner Tonight, the blog at Martha Stewart.com, there's a good post about Transforming Thanksgiving Recipes for Special Diets.

Finally, check the post from a few weeks ago when we asked BlogHer cooks for their best Thanksgiving recipe, because you'll find some great recipes for special diets there. Also back in 2006 I talked about Thanksgiving Recipes for Every Diet, where you'll find lots of individual recipe links for various eating plans. And of course, if you're cooking Thanksgiving with a special diet in mind and have a good recipe idea to share, please leave the link or your recipe in the comments.

Kalyn Denny writes about food and at BlogHer.com and shares her passion for cooking at Kalyn's Kitchen. This year Kalyn's favorite new South Beach Diet Friendly Thanksgiving recipe is Low-Sugar Pumpkin and Apple Crumble with Cranberries.

Submitted by Kalyn Denny (view blog

) on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 6:45pm

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Wow-

What a fabulous collection of resources for those of us living gluten-free, vegan, low carb, etc. I've added this link to my Thanksgiving recipes links. Thanks, Kalyn!

k a r i n a

Karina's Kitchen: Recipes from a gluten-free goddess

Karina Allrich- Contemporary Abstracts

Submitted by Karina Allrich on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 09:54

Thank you Too!

It makes me happy that people all over the web will be able to find some great recipes that work for their way of eating due to all of us linking to each other.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 10:19

Gluten-free and allergy-free should not be
lumped together

First, immediate death can occur if you mistakenly feed an allergen to someone. Lumping it with gluten-free tends to lessen that awareness as gluten-free is "safer" to make a mistake with than allergen-free.

This is a major pet-peeve with me because of the problems that have occurred since the introduction of the "Top 8 Allergens" which has done nothing but give companies an excuse to ignore other allergens. Allergy is an extremely individual disease. Just because some recipe is called allergen-free does not mean it is safe for your friend with allergies.

Each person dealing with allergies will have a unique set of allergens they are avoiding. Most of them will not be in the Top 8 - but they will have a Top 8 allergen or two as well.

My advice as an allergy sufferer? If your friend says: "You can't cook for me," believe him or her and let it go. Unless you really, really want to send him or her to the ER and risk losing them forever.

MLO / Melissa

Submitted by MLOKnitting on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 14:42

You are mistaking my Intent

I'm only lumping them together for the purpose of categorizing the results I found. What I'm providing here are links to places where people with various types of food allergies have shared recipes. I never claimed the recipes are "allergan-free" and neither did any blogger (at least not that I remember.)

Obviously each blogger or person seeking recipes avoiding certain foods has has their own set of sensitivities to plan around. Each individual needs to read the recipes and then decide which is safe for their particular type of allergy. These recipes are just meant as a possible resource where there may be more chance of finding a recipe that will work.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 17:28

Thanks a Bunch!

I am emailing this post off to my vegetarian relatives who are looking to have blast on Thanksgiving :)

Submitted by snigdhasen on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 18:51

You're welcome

I saw some great vegetarian recipes!

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 20:02

Thank You!

Thanksgiving can be the most difficult time of year for those of us with food allergies or intolerances. It is particularly difficult if you are visiting relatives that you don't see very often or who don't understand or take your food allergies seriously. I've actually had a relative who was cooking on Thanksgiving say to me, "Don't you think you're taking this a little too far? It's not going to kill you!" I was so mad and hurt I was fighting back tears and speechless for the entire meal. It is a wonderful thing when a host is respectful of special dietary needs, because I think it is rare that people even think about it (at least where I come from). So thank you for providing this resource for people who are preparing a meal either for themselves or for guests with special dietary requests. Here is my gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free pumpkin pie recipe. Happy holidays!

Angie

www.angiesrecipes.com

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Sugar-Free

Submitted by Angies Recipes on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 17:24