Whew! What a week we’ve had. It all led up to yesterday. I practiced many Thanksgiving real food dishes to share in the Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides. Also, I finished making up chai tea gift mixes for the Handmade Gift Carnival at The Nourishing Gourmet. Today, I feel a wee bit tired of posting and writing and cooking and creating. So all I’m going to write today is this catch up and recap post. If you missed anything, here’s your chance to catch up!

1. Check out the Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides! Wow! As of late last night, a total of 17 recipes had been submitted. I’ll keep adding more if you have them. What’s exciting to me is that between all of us, we’ve got Thanksgiving covered! How exciting is that?

If you haven’t seen the Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides since yesterday morning, take another peek ~ you’ll like what you see! Even my daughter Haniya shared a recipe for healthy stuffing. When you visit the bloggers’ recipes, be sure to comment and let them know what you think of their recipes and ideas. I know they’ll appreciate it!

I want to apologize to everyone who saw the Gallery via RSS email or feed reader – I think the photos looked a jumbled mess; I don’t know how to get around that. The RSS function strips all my image formatting. So… click on over here to see it for real.

2. I put up and updated some yummy recipes this week, just in time to help you with your Thanksgiving menu (be sure to check out the Thanksgiving Sides Gallery for more…)

• Basic Vanilla Frosting (Coconut Cream)
• Basic Eggnog
• Chai Tea (and the Chai Tea Gift Mixes!)
• Pumpkin Pie – GF, DF, EF (Updated!)
• Sweet Potato Casserole – GF, DF, EF (Updated!)
• How to Cook a Perfectly Moist Turkey, Every Time (Updated!)

3. Grab a Thanksgiving Menu Planner for limited diets from Sarah @ Heart of Cooking. Tamara was our winner in the giveaway of the Planner, but Sarah’s price on the planner is so reasonable ($4.95) that anyone who purchases it will be a winner, too! You may also want to read my interview with Sarah, if you haven’t already. I enjoyed learning more about Sarah’s life, background, and passions.

4. Did you miss the Real Food Quote Monday? We talked about sourdough history and wilderness survival. You’re welcome to add your thoughts or a quote of your own.

5. Coming up on Monday, December 14, I’ll be hosting a Gallery of Christmas Cookies. Start thinking now about what real food Christmas cookies you’d like to share. You can submit up to two recipes. If you can share a picture, even better. See the Thanksgiving Side Dish Gallery or the Soup Gallery for an idea of what one of my Gallery posts looks like. Then imagine your recipe and your picture in it!

I hope I didn’t miss anything… See you on Monday for a new Real Food Quote Monday! Have a blessed weekend!

Finally! I’ve been looking forward to this day for awhile! We’ve got some great dishes lined up to inspire you for a healthier, more nourishing Thanksgiving. I’d love to hear if you’re able to try any of these dishes – and what your family members thought. Thanks to everyone who submitted dishes for this Gallery – and for those of you who are going to add your links today. I’ll continue building the photo gallery of recipes throughout the day, as recipes are submitted. So be sure to check back to see what’s new! (See below the photo gallery for instructions on submitting your recipe.)

If you’re looking for a never-fail method for cooking turkey, be sure to visit Perfectly Moist Turkey, Every Time.

Look below the Gallery for an announcement!

Click on an image or the soup’s name to be taken to that blogger’s (or commenter’s) recipe.

I’m hosting another Gallery of… in December and guess what it’s going to be? Hmm… this is a hard one! Think Christmas and food! How about real food cookies? So get your real food cookie recipes ready! Details will be forthcoming…

Do you have a real food Thanksgiving side dish recipe to share? If you’re a blogger, leave a link to the recipe’s blog post in the comments – and make sure your blog post links back to this post. Then I’ll add your recipe to the gallery. I’ll use a stockphoto if you don’t have a photo. If you’re not a blogger, but have a recipe to share, feel free to post the recipe in the comments – and I’ll link to it from the Gallery, too!

Using small treasures from thrift stores as containers, ribbons, whole spices, and loose tea, my children and I created Chai Tea gift mixes for our Christmas gifts. Last week my friend Cheryl inspired me to start making Chai tea, and that’s when I figured out what we’d give as gifts this year. Praise the Lord for friends and their ideas!

Besides gathering the loose tea and spices (which I ordered from Mountain Rose Herbs), I needed containers. My kids and I hit a few thrift stores looking for them. It was really fun to shop with them and see what containers caught their eye. They quickly learned that I was not looking for any typical Christmas cutesy containers. In fact, I think we picked only one “Christmas” container – it was a square glass votive holder with an embossed Christmas tree on each side.  Other than that we picked eclectic tins, boxes, small tea cups, and votive holders. I paid $1.75 for one of them – because it was an antique tea cup from England, but most of them were around 50 cents each. Anyway, that was fun. There are many options for containers for these gift mixes; don’t be afraid to think out of the box!

I’ll list the ingredients and their amounts – enough to make one batch of Chai Tea. You’ll have to double it, triple it, quadruple it, etc. depending on the size of your container. Most of my containers required triple or quadruple batches to fill them up. A triple batch makes a little over 1/2 cup of mix; a quadruple batch makes about 3/4 cup of mix. I advise that you create the gift mixes one at a time to ensure that each gift gets its true share of all the whole spices. Also note that the liquids (water, milk and honey), vanilla, fresh ginger, and nutmeg have been omitted from this gift mix; the recipient will add those when s/he is making the tea.

Please choose organic spices and tea. This is a great task to share with children – they love to count and measure out all the ingredients. Over. And over. And over. What’s tedious to us is fun for them!

• 2 tablespoons loose black tea (Assam Breakfast, Ceylon, or English Breakfast)
• 6 cardamom pods
• 6 peppercorns (white or black or combination)
• 12 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds (can substitute fennel)
• 1 rounded teaspoon cinnamon bark (or 1 cinnamon stick)

Crush the cardamom pods and peppercorns. Then mix all the spices and tea leaves together and place in a plastic bag. Place that in the gift container and twist-tie it closed. Roll the twist-tie up on itself. Cover the twist-tie with a ribbon. Tie it with a bow or square knot (right over left, left over right…).

Print or hand-write a label (see below). Hole punch the corner. Use thread or a tiny ribbon to attach it to the bag of Chai Tea mix. Deliver!

Another gift mix to create is to make this Homemade Herb Seasoning Salt and put it in a salt shaker with a ribbon around it. Do you have any handmade gift plans this year? What have you made in the past? Please share!

I’m sharing this in the special Handmade Gift Carnival @ The Nourishing Gourmet – visit to see more handmade gift ideas!

Today, I’m hosting the Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides, where I and gnowfglins readers share real food Thanksgiving side dishes. If you want to add a real food Thanksgiving side dish, let me know in the comments of the Gallery post. But no matter what, be sure to hop over there to see what else has been submitted!

Homemade chai tea… friends served it to us once and ever since, I’ve wanted to make it myself. Then my friend Cheryl mentioned last week that she’d been making it in the evenings. That was enough inspiration to get me going. I looked around the internet last week and collected recipes that I thought looked traditional in their use of whole spices and quality black tea. I asked on Facebook and twitter for ideas and friends (like Shila) shared their favorite recipes.

I don’t claim to be an expert on chai – well, only on enjoying it! What I did to make this recipe was take what I thought was best about each recipe and put it together. That translates as: using almost every spice I saw mentioned, besides the “usual” cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. I ordered all my whole spices and black tea from Mountain Rose Herbs. The order arrived in record time and every item is wonderful – high quality, organic, and fragrant.

My friend Cheryl uses Assam Breakfast tea as the black tea base. I made some Chai with that, but I also tried a few batches with Ceylon. They’re both wonderfully tasty!

Makes 6 1-cup servings

Please choose organic ingredients. Also, see how I created Chai Tea Gift Mixes for Christmas!

• 2 rounded tablespoons black tea (such as Assam Breakfast, Ceylon, or English Breakfast)*
• 2 cups clean water
• 4 cups raw whole milk
• 6 cardamom pods
• 6 peppercorns (I used 3 white and 3 black)
• 12 whole cloves
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds (can substitute fennel)
• 1 rounded teaspoon cinnamon bark (or 1 cinnamon stick)
• 1″ piece of vanilla bean, sliced open
• 1/2″ to 3/4″ chunk of ginger, peeled and cut into smaller pieces
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup raw honey (I use 1/3 cup)
• dash of nutmeg (optional)

If you desire it, decaffeinate the black tea leaves.* Set aside.

Combine water and milk in saucepan and bring to a simmer slowly over medium-low heat.

Meanwhile, combine cardamom, peppercorns, cloves, anise seeds, and cinnamon bark in mortar and pestle and crush until peppercorns are cracked and cardamom pods are opened to reveal the seeds.

Add tea leaves, crushed spices, ginger, and vanilla bean to the pot. (It doesn’t have to be simmering when you add these.)

Maintain a simmer for 5 minutes, or longer, to your desired strength. Add honey and stir well. Take off the heat.

Strain tea into each tea cup, then sprinkle with nutmeg (if desired). The tea you leave in the pot (covered) will continue to strengthen and develop flavor.

*You may be concerned, as I am, about children drinking this tea due to the caffeine. Well, I have the answer! It is really easy to decaffeinate your own tea leaves. I found this information in the Fall 2009 issue of the Weston A Price Foundation’s quarterly journal, Wise Traditions. John Moody shared how to accomplish this in an article about continuous brew Kombucha. You simply steep your tea leaves in water just off the boil for three minutes. Then discard the water and use the tea leaves in your tea. At this point, they’ll be 40% to 70% less caffeinated but still flavorful.

See how I created Chai Tea Gift Mixes for Christmas! Also, tomorrow I’m hosting the Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides, where I and gnowfglins readers share real food Thanksgiving side dishes. Please consider sharing in it – otherwise, look forward to being inspired!

I’m happy to announce that Tamara is the winner of the Thanksgiving Menu Planner for limited diets from Heart of Cooking! Congrats, Tamara!

I’ll be giving your email address to Sarah from Heart of Cooking, so she can get in touch with you about delivering the menu planner to you.

Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway. Thank you to Sarah, who granted me a lovely interview, and who packed such heart and effort into this planner, along with incredible recipes (of course).

If you didn’t win, I’m sorry. I do wish everyone could. However, Sarah’s menu planners for limited diets are reasonably priced and I know you’d be very happy if you decide to purchase one.

And on another note, I want to say, wow! What a crazy, busy week this is turning out to be. Due to hosting this giveaway, and preparing and hosting the Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides on Thursday, I have somewhere between 2 to 4 posts lined up every day. Normally, I’d want to spread them out, but I can’t – they have to go up this week! Next week, I’ll be back to posting once a day. But, while this lasts, enjoy!

Welcome to the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival! The theme of this blog carnival is to share, through words and pictures, what’s twisting in our kitchens during the past week – with real foods, of course. At a minimum our foods should be real and whole, and optionally be naturally-raised, organic, local and/or seasonal. I cannot wait to see what’s been twisting in your kitchens!

How to Participate

1. Publish a Tuesday Twister post on your blog. Include a link to this post: http://gnowfglins.com/2009/11/17/tuesday-twister-blog-carnival-2009-11-17/
2. Come back here and add your name and the URL of your blog post in the MckLinky list (at end of this post).
3. Next to your name, you have the option of putting a brief description in parentheses, such as: Wardeh @ GNOWFGLINS (Vanilla Frosting – Sweet Potatoes – Pumpkin Pie – Eggnog – Cranberry Relish)
4. Leave a comment on this post. This is optional, but important. Sometimes links get lost, or I need to email you about something.
5. Check out the other posts linked in the MckLinky list – let’s encourage and enjoy each other’s twister posts!

See here for answers to many questions and ideas for the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival. If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to share what’s twisting in your kitchen in the comments below.

Add the Tuesday Twister Image to Your Blog

If you wish to add the Tuesday Twister graphic to your blog post (optional), here’s how.

1. Right click on the Tuesday Twister graphic, and choose “Save As” or “Save Image As.”
2. Save it to your computer in the desired folder.
3. Use your blog program to upload it and insert it into your post.
4. (Optional) Link the image to this post: http://gnowfglins.com/2009/11/17/tuesday-twister-blog-carnival-2009-11-17/

Alternately, you may include the following image code in your post, which will not only pull the graphic from this website, but also link back to this post:

<a href=”http://gnowfglins.com/2009/11/17/tuesday-twister-blog-carnival-2009-11-17/“><img title=”tuesdaytwister” src=”http://gnowfglins.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/tuesdaytwister.JPG” alt=”tuesdaytwister” width=”200” height=”200” />

That’s it! Share your links below. Thanks, everyone!

There are a million and one recipes on the internet for eggnog, so believe me when I say that I’m under no illusions that what I share here is going to revolutionize the eggnog industry. It has, however, revolutionized my family! After one little taste, they are hooked.

I let the kids taste the leftovers in the Vita-Mix while I was taking pictures, but they had to wait for the rest. I know they’re going to ask for this every day. I suppose that will be possible when we have our own chickens and therefore, more eggs to go round.

(Speaking of pictures, Haniya helped me taking them – and the one that made it to this post is hers. I’m so thankful for her eye!)

I first got the idea to make eggnog from Annette at Sustainable Eats, who said to follow the Nourishing Traditions recipe for vanilla ice cream, but omit the arrowroot. Then I looked on the internet for raw eggnog recipes. Except for the recipes that call for beating egg whites and incorporating their fluff (too much trouble and raw egg whites are not good for you), or the recipes that call for liquor, I think most recipes are variations on a theme. Meaning: flexible to your tastes! Here’s what I put in our first eggnog, which I chilled until it was time to drink it alongside pumpkin pie.

See all Basic Recipes.

• 4 cups raw, whole milk (or combination of raw milk and raw cream to yield a thicker, creamier eggnog)
• 8 egg pastured egg yolks (must be pastured from someone whose growing methods are known to you and trustworthy, otherwise don’t make this recipe)
• 1/4 cup raw honey (mild-flavored, such as Spring Nectar) – or other desired sweetener such as maple syrup or Rapadura
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• dash of nutmeg for each glass

Blend milk, eggs, honey and vanilla in blender until smooth. Let the foam settle or not, depending on your preference. Chill or not, depending on your preference. Sprinkle nutmeg atop each glass. Enjoy!

The Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides is coming up this Thursday, the 19th of November. The contributions are coming in ~ do you have a real food Thanksgiving Side Dish to contribute? Please do!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, this week hosted by Cheeseslave.

My Tuesday Twister posts are my weekly round-up of what’s going on in my kitchen and our lives, as it pertains to real food. So here we go ~ I’ll catch you up on what’s twisting in my kitchen this week!

To participate in the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival, visit this post. See you there!

• More Frosting ~ Using the chocolate coconut frosting recipe and the AMAZING Artisana Coconut Butter, I played around with vanilla versions. I omitted the chocolate and upped the raw milk to increase the fluidity. This was because I wanted to use the frosting as a dip for dried figs, which the family really liked. Another night, I drizzled the frosting over pumpkin pie. The first two pictures show the difference in color because of using different sweeteners – the whiter frosting uses a light-colored mild-flavored raw honey (Spring Nectar), while the yellower frosting uses maple syrup for sweetening. Haniya actually made the maple syrup sweetened frosting.
• Sweet Potato Casserole ~ I practiced this just so I could revise my old recipe with a better picture (though this one’s not that great) to share it in the Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides. My family loves this sweet potato dish! We eat it for dessert.
• Pumpkin Pie ~ Another food item I practiced so I could get a picture. This is a dairy-free, egg-free, and gluten-free pumpkin pie, which we continue to enjoy even though we no longer have the food allergies.
• Eggnog ~ I was inspired by Annette at Sustainable Eats to make eggnog. The kids are in love. Jeff liked it pretty well, but he’d like me to use some cream for the whole milk. Overall, the eggnog is killer!
• Cranberry Relish ~ This is my mom’s recipe, which she’s going to share it in the Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides coming up on Thursday. The relish is made from chopping up cranberries, apples and oranges and sweetening to taste. We’ve been eating it as is, but also as fruit stirred into kefir.

So, that’s it for me ~ what’s twisting in your kitchen? To participate in the Tuesday Twister Blog Carnival, visit this post. See you there!

The Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides is coming up this Thursday, the 19th of November. The contributions are coming in ~ do you have a real food Thanksgiving Side Dish to contribute? Please do!

Using the amazing Artisana Coconut Butter, here’s a variation of the basic chocolate frosting (coconut cream).

Like the chocolate version, this frosting holds up at room temperature, and yet is semi-soft when right out of the refrigerator. It is the perfect balance of creamy, smooth, spreadable, and semi-stiff. I don’t expect I’ll ever make another type of frosting.

The recipe, as stated, will generously frost one 8-inch square cake or brownies. It will adequately frost two 8-inch square desserts.

This frosting makes an awesome sweet dip for your favorite fresh or dried fruits! We enjoyed this one evening for dessert, dipping dried figs into it.

Use your desired liquid natural sweetener. Pictured top left, maple syrup as the sweetener, lending a yellower color to the frosting. Pictured at top right: sweetening with raw honey (the mild-flavored and light-colored Spring Nectar variety). Adjust the amount of sweetener to your desired sweetness. However, as it acts as a liquid, lessening it will affect the consistency, making the frosting more stiff. Also, the milk may be lessened, increased, or omitted, as you desire for consistency. Enjoy!

See all Basic Recipes.

Yield: about 1/2 cup

• 1/2 cup Artisana Coconut Butter – or other raw coconut butter/cream
• 1/4 cup maple syrup, grade B, or 2 to 3 tablespoons mild-flavored/light-colored raw honey (such as Spring Nectar)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 to 4 tablespoons raw milk, to thin to desired consistency

Blend all ingredients in food processor or Vita-Mix until smooth, adding the milk one tablespoon at a time. Let the food processor run long enough to gently warm and smooth the frosting (one to two minutes in a cooler room temperature when the coconut butter will be quite hard; less in warmer room temperatures). Spread on cooled cake. (Optionally, let the frosting cool a bit, too. But it shouldn’t be hot anyway, it should just be mildly warm at the point where it gets smooth.) If too firm when chilled, allow to warm up in a water bath until spreadable.

Variation: Basic Chocolate Frosting ~ Coconut Cream.

The Gallery of Thanksgiving Sides is coming up this Thursday, the 19th of November. The contributions are coming in ~ do you have a real food Thanksgiving Side Dish to contribute? Please do!

Through the blessing of the internet, I’ve met many inspiring and sincere friends. Sarah Schatz, from Heart of Cooking, is one of those! She’s a sweetheart who loves to share her passion for God, creativity and wholesome food. Through her website, Heart of Cooking, she offers nourishing menu planners for those who are on limited diets. I’ve seen Sarah’s sample menu planner (available for free, by request on her website). And after I submitted two recipes for it, Sarah gave me a complimentary copy of her brand new Thanksgiving Limited Diet Menu Planner.

Her menu planners are fantastic. They feature creative and delicious entree and side dish options using whole foods, Nourishing-Traditions style food preparations, and allergen-free ingredients. I would recommend her planners to anyone. Even though I’ve received complimentary menu planners from Sarah, my comments come from my heart. I would not be so excited about her planners if I didn’t think they were worthy.

Sarah just released the Thanksgiving Limited Diet Menu Planner. I’m excited to share with you that Sarah is allowing me to host a giveaway of this menu planner! I’ll explain more about that after I share our interview. You’ll see my questions for Sarah as the bold titles, and her answers following each question in italic text. But first, let me tell you why I wanted to interview Sarah.

I’ve corresponded with Sarah many times via twitter, email, or in comments at her blog or mine. She’s a regular participant in the Tuesday Twister. I love the fact that she’s doing what she loves – caring for her family, cooking delicious and healthy food, and founding a business that fills a real need. I browsed her website and looked at what she’s doing (providing limited diet menu planners and local personal chef service). I wanted to know more about what she does and offers. So I asked Sarah if I could interview her and she said yes. Here are the questions I asked her (bold titles) and the inspiring answers she gave (italic text).

1. Who is Sarah Schatz? What’s your story? How did you get started with allergen-free, healthy cooking?

I am a passionate person who loves God, creativity, dancing, art, children, traveling, learning, growing and making beautiful and wholesome food. My life has usually been about living against the norm, where I took risks and followed my heart. It has also been about searching for and discovering happiness and peace within my heart.

In a nutshell, I’ve had digestive, skin and other health problems since childhood. I’ve been overweight a few times and I’ve also dealt with depression and emotional ups and downs most of my life. When I was eighteen, I was diagnosed with food allergies, but during the next several years, I went back and forth between following my diet and eating foods that I was allergic to.

At the same time, I’ve always had a passion for cooking and making art (soulseedart.com is my website). I first learned to cook from my mom who made lots of food by hand including pasta and candies. Because of my food allergies, I learned to cook with limited ingredients. In 2005, I took a job as the head cook of a spiritual retreat center where many people came with food restrictions. After a short while, people started requesting for me to cook for them. I found out about being a personal chef and a few months later launched Sarah’s Heart of Cooking.

It wasn’t until my son was born in 2007 that I started getting serious about my own food allergies. This was mostly due to my son’s colic and my discovery that my depression was linked to the food I ate. From there I realized how much people need help with menu planning for limited diets. I also wanted to start working from home. So, working with Dawud Miracle, I updated my website and re-launched it the day after Election Day, 2008, to include menu planners for people with limited diets.

2. What types of menu planners do you have available? How does a subscription work?

Right now, the following menu planners are available for a meat and seafood diet. These menu planners also have some vegetarian entrees.

• Wheat-free and Gluten-free Menu Planner
• Gluten-free and Casein-free Menu Planner
• Dairy-free Menu Planner
• Wheat/Gluten-free, Dairy-free and Soy-free Menu Planner
• Nightshade, Wheat/Gluten-free, Dairy-free and Soy-Free Menu Planner

I also have the following menu planner for people who follow a seafood and vegetarian diet:

• Nightshade-free, Wheat/Gluten-free, Dairy-free and Soy-free for the Seafood Vegetarian

When people sign up for a menu planner, they immediately receive their first menu planner in their email as a PDF document. For the next three weeks, they will receive a menu planner on the same day they subscribed, totaling four menu planners.

Right now I have a month’s worth of recipes for each diet but I hope to have additional months for purchase as I continue to work on the menu planners.

3. What is your most popular menu planner?

So far, the Gluten-Free Menu Planner is in the lead, with the Gluten and Dairy Free Menu Planner at a close second. The Gluten, Dairy and Soy Free Menu Planner is also very popular. The least popular so far is the Seafood/Vegetarian Menu Planner.

4. You work for local clients, too. What do you do for them? What does a typical work day look like for you?

Yes, I’ve been a personal chef since 2006 when I started my business. There are many personal chefs but few who specialize in limited diets and whole foods like I do. Many of my clients have food allergies or food restrictions due to health problems. I also have many clients who simply want to eat healthy food and limit their intake of refined flours and sugars.

Prior to the cook day, I create a menu based on my client’s diet, likes and dislikes. They okay it or ask me to change a thing or two.

Then the day of the cook day, I first go to the grocery store where I buy everything fresh. I then drive to the client’s home, cook all the meals and then package them in specific portion sizes to the client’s wishes. Depending upon the size of the family, some items will be frozen so that they stay fresh for longer.

A typical meal plan is 4 entrees and 4 sides at 4 servings each. I also will bake one dessert or baked good during a cook day if a client would like this. Depending upon the meal plan, I am in the client’s home between 4 and 6 hours. (It used to take me a lot longer!)

5. What’s your best advice for someone who is just starting out with healthy, allergen-free cooking?

When someone first learns that they have to limit their diet, it can feel overwhelming, especially if it is more than one food that they have to eliminate.

My first advice is to take things slow and don’t expect yourself to change everything over immediately. Take one day at a time, finding replacements for things you used to eat but can no longer enjoy.

It can feel like a real bummer, but if you can, try to be in the mindset that you’re on an adventure. There are so many foods available to us that most people don’t know about. There are also many recipes that can make incredible foods with very limited ingredients.

I find that making a list of all the foods I CAN eat helps a tremendous amount. I have a master list that I’ve created over the years that I can fill out and see what is left after I take away the things that I can’t eat. This way, I focus on the positive and what I can create with these ingredients.

Lastly, but probably most important: think whole foods. Even though Coke and potato chips are gluten free, doesn’t mean they are good for you. The same thing goes for very refined gluten-free flours. Try to stick with whole and healthy foods such as vegetables, fruits, organic and grass-fed meat, whole grains and flours, unrefined sweeteners such as honey, nuts, seeds and other whole food ingredients.

6. Anything else you’d like to share about Heart of Cooking and your menu planning?

The only thing I would add is that I love what I do and am very grateful to have found work that I feel so passionate about. I ultimately feel like this is what I am supposed to be doing with my life.

I am also very passionate about giving people what they want and am very open to comments and ideas people have. Many of the menu planners I’ve created and planning to create are based on requests from people. So if you have a specific need, please don’t hesitate to ask!

You can find Sarah on the internet at Heart of Cooking, and Soul Seed Art. She just released her Thanksgiving Menu Planner and so it is time to talk about the giveaway…

Giveaway! Thanksgiving Menu Planner for Limited Diets

Sarah’s Thanksgiving Limited Diet Menu Planner is jam-packed with allergen-free menus! And to be honest, even those who don’t have allergies or limited diets would love many of the dishes (like a vanilla cream version of my chocolate coconut cream frosting)!

How to Enter the Giveaway

There are 9 possible entries – wow!

1. Take a peek at the Thanksgiving Limited Diet Menu Planner – then come back here and leave a comment telling us what you think about it and why you’d like to win it.
2. Twitter about this giveaway. Link to this post (http://bit.ly/1wDYor) and mention me @WardehHarmon so I can track it.
3. Follow Sarah on twitter: @heartofcooking. Follow me on twitter: @WardehHarmon.
4. Share a link to this giveaway post on Facebook. (http://gnowfglins.com/2009/11/16/giveaway-thanksgiving-menu-planner)
5. Follow me on Facebook: WardehHarmon.
6. Send an email to a friend about this giveaway. Give them the URL to this post. (http://gnowfglins.com/2009/11/16/giveaway-thanksgiving-menu-planner)
7. Subscribe to the FREE GNOWFGLINS Newsletter.
8. Subscribe to Sarah’s blog via email or blog reader.
9. Blog about this giveaway. Refer your readers to this post. (http://gnowfglins.com/2009/11/16/giveaway-thanksgiving-menu-planner)

As you complete each item, come back here and leave a comment letting me know. You can also leave one comment saying everything you did.

Who Will Win?

One blessed reader will win a FREE copy of Heart of Cooking’s Thanksgiving Menu Planner.

Giveaway Dates

Because Thanksgiving is just around the corner, this is going to be a fast giveaway. It begins now (Monday morning, the 16th) and ends at midnight PST on Tuesday (the 17th). I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday the 18th of November. Have fun!

Note: As an affilliate for Sarah’s Heart of Cooking Menu Planners, I will earn a commission should you choose to purchase any of her products. I only recommend products or services that I would personally purchase myself – so you can rest assured that I wholeheartedly believe in what I endorse. Thank you for reading my sincere disclaimer.