Michelle Schoffro Cook, DNM, DAC, CNC, CITP

Festive Foods for Healthy Holidays

Every year, my husband and I negotiate the date when we'll start stringing lights and putting up the Christmas tree. You see--I love the holiday season. So does he. But I have all the patience of a five-year-old waiting for Santa when it comes to the holidays. We agreed to the last weekend in November, which takes all my strength just to wait that long. In the meantime, I start filling the house with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger essential oils. I haul out my collection of holiday tunes and get down to some serious baking.

Having grown up in Italian neighbourhood in Hamilton and sharing many meals with Italian friends, I picked up a few Italian habits: singing, opera, and slow food. And what better time to belt out some holiday opera songs along with Pavarotti, while making holiday foods? Of course, I sport the appropriate attire for the season as well-any clothes dusted with plentiful amounts of flour.

It is possible to enjoy the holiday season, complete with baked goods and decadent treats without damaging your waistline or healthy eating habits. Plus, there is probably no better time to eat healthily-you'll need all the energy you can get to ward off seasonal bugs and keep going through all the family get-togethers, parties, and celebrations. Here are some festive foods I came up with so I can have my goodies during the holidays and keep my health too. Whether you're celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Quanza, Ramadan, the Winter Solstice, or another beautiful sacred tradition, happy holidays!

Holiday Salad with Maple-Walnut Dressing
This is my all-time favourite salad. It's so good you'll probably forget how good it is for you.


Holiday Salad
1 bag of mesclun (spring mix) lettuce

handful of raw walnuts
(found in the refrigerator section of the health food store.

Always use raw, refrigerated walnuts to keep the omega-3 fatty acids intact

handful of raw pumpkin seeds
(also found in the refrigerator section of your local health food store)

1 avocado

handful of dried organic cranberries
(be sure to use organic dried cranberries found in health food stores since non-organic ones typically contain sulphites.)

Maple-Walnut Dressing
2/3 cup walnut oil (found in most health food stores)
1/3 cup organic balsamic vinegar
1-2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup
Whisk the above dressing ingredients together. Toss desired amount of dressing with mesclun lettuce in a large bowl. Arrange in serving bowls and top with walnut pieces, pumpkin seeds, slices of avocado and dried cranberries. Michelle's

Chai Concentrate
Chai is a blend of tea and spices originating in India. This chai concentrate is naturally sugar-free and caffeine free. It makes a wonderful, soothing, festive tea for blustery winter days.
1 bag of rooibos tea
2 star anise
½ inch slice fresh gingerroot
2 inch cinnamon stick
24 cardamom pods
20 cloves
12 whole black peppercorns
25 drops of stevia
1 Litre of pure water
Mix all ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil. Turn heat down and let simmer for about an hour. Strain spices and teabag pouring liquid chai concentrate into a glass jar when cooled. Use in a 1:1 ratio of chai concentrate to soymilk, almond milk or rice milk and heat to desired temperature. Sprinkle cinnamon and/or nutmeg on top. Serve.Quick

Cranberry Multigrain Bread
1 cup whole spelt or whole wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup multigrain cereal
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1-1/4 cup soymilk, rice milk or almond milk
¼ cup honey
¼ cup canola oil (cold-pressed organic preferably)
½ cup dried organic cranberries (be sure to use organic dried cranberries found in health food stores since non-organic ones typically contain sulphites.)
Mix dry ingredients (excluding dried cranberries) together in a food processor or mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk liquid ingredients together. Slowly pour into dry ingredients. Mix. Add dried cranberries and mix briefly. Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes.

Jewelled Moroccan Stew
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh ginger chopped
1 teaspoon ground tumeric
2 teaspoons ground cumin
½ teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes
3 medium tomatoes diced
1 13-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ cup golden raisins
1 cup water
½ medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
1 red pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the spices and cook for one minute. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes (with lid on). Serve on its own or with rice, quinoa, millet or couscous.

Mixed Berry Pie
Crust
1 cup rolled oats
½ cup almonds
1 cup spelt, kamut or whole grain flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of Celtic sea salt (this is a better option than iodized or traditional sea salt since it contains dozens of minerals, not just sodium)
1/3 cup cold-pressed organic canola oil
¼ cup maple syrup.
In a food processor, grind oats, almonds, salt and cinnamon. Mix with the flour. Finally, add the oil and maple syrup and mix to form a soft dough. Press into an oiled and floured 10-inch pie plate and flute the edges if desired. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes or until golden-coloured. Allow to cool while preparing filling.
Filling
4 cups fresh or frozen mixed berries of your choice
¼ cup agar flakes (a form of tasteless seaweed that is packed with nutrients and serves as a thickener)
2 cups of unsweetened raspberry, strawberry, mixed berry or apple juice
1/3 cup arrowroot
¼ cup maple syrup
Mix agar flakes and juice together in a pot and bring to a rolling boil, uncovered for 2-3 minutes after it starts boiling. In a small bowl, whisk together the arrowroot and maple syrup. Add to the juice mixture and whisk constantly, until thickened. Mix berries into the mixture and pour immediately into the pie crust. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until set.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are so decadent that you won't know they are full of heart-healthy and thyroid-balancing coconut oil instead of the usual butter or hydrogenated fats like margarine. Forget what you've heard about coconut oil being unhealthy because it is high in saturated fat. There is not a single study that confirms this myth and countless studies show that this fat helps to reset the metabolic rate of the thyroid gland (resulting in weight loss for people who are overweight due to a sluggish thyroid), increases fat burning, reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, helps prevent viral, bacterial, and fungal infections, supports healthy immune system function, helps prevent osteoporosis, is excellent for diabetes, nourishes the skin, and much more. For more information about the health benefits, see The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil by Bruce Fife, ND by Piccadilly Books, Ltd.

2/3 cup coconut oil
¾ cup organic, raw sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2-1/4 cups whole kamut or spelt flour
1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking soda
½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt (not the same as sea salt. Celtic sea salt is loaded with many minerals)
2 cups organic chocolate chips (whichever kind you prefer)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips in a mixer or food processor until thoroughly blended. Add the chocolate chips and mix by hand. Place by large spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes depending on cookie size (until golden). NOTE: The cookies will spread out more than typical cookies because of the coconut oil so leave enough space on the cookie sheet to allow for adequate expansion.

Thumbprints
Full of fibre and minerals, these decadent cookies taste great and are nutritious too. If that weren't enough, they are simple to make too.

1 cup of almonds
1 cup rolled oats
1-1/4 cups of oat, kamut, spelt or rice flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup cold-pressed walnut oil
½ cup unsweetened raspberry or strawberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grind almonds and oats to a fine meal in a food processor. Add flour, cinnamon, maple syrup and oil. Mix in food processor until well combined. Oil a cookie sheet. Form dough into walnut-sized balls. Place on cookie sheet. Press an indentation in the centre of each ball with your thumb. Fill the indentation with jam. Continue until all dough has been used. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Makes approximately 24 cookies.


Dairy-Free Pumpkin Pie
Do you think you have to give up the rich, creamy taste of pumpkin pie if you have difficulty with the heavy cream it is typically made with? Not so with this delicious recipe. You'll have all the creamy taste without the digestive troubles.


Crust:
2-1/2 cups whole wheat (or another whole grain flour) flour
½ cup white unbleached flour
½ cup cold-pressed canola or walnut oil
¾ cup of icy cold water
pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together in a food processor until marbled-looking. Then, roll out into a thin layer and place in a pie plate. Using a fork, make small perforations in the bottom of the dough to allow air to escape while baking. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Filling:
2 cups cooked pumpkin
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup soy milk
½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 Tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot
½ block of firm tofu

Mix all filling ingredients together in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Pour into the piecrust and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let cool. Refrigerate.