A Creative Spin on Holiday Recipes That Can Also Improve Digestion

Filling your Thanksgiving menu with fermented foods unlocks delicious flavor combinations and unleashes feel-good flora in your gut. Such a strategy may be especially helpful for those concerned that holiday meals could bring on uncomfortable or embarrassing digestive woes like gas and bloating. Fermenting—often associated with a traditional process that lengthens the shelf life of food—adds probiotics, or live microorganisms, to food that eventually finds its way into our bodies.

Probiotics assist us digestively with a number of other benefits, like improved immunity, gut microbial diversity, and nutrient absorption, to name a few. Yogurt’s familiarity makes adding fermented food to a family meal plan an easy option, according to Dr. David S.



Ludwig, a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. She’s proven that just about any dish can incorporate a cultured food. This improves the likelihood that more people can find fermented food pleasing to their palates.

In addition to bringing interesting and sometimes unexpected flavors to the table, Schwenk’s recipes also make for a great conversation starter. “When I make these foods in my dinners, it really makes my guests wonder and appreciate what’s going on in these foods,” she told The Epoch Times. “I explain to them what they do, and they like the taste of them.

” Using yogurt mixed with cinnamon, spices, and toasted pecans as a topping for roasted squash Sourdough bread, which can also be used in traditional stuffing Whipped topping made from milk kefir to go with any dessert Fermented garlic and honey added to roasted vegetables Turkey brined in apple cider vinegar Ginger kefir soda She touts probiotic foods with and in between our meals to help absorb more nutrients, balance appetite, boost immunity, and maintain energy levels. Research backs it up. Turning milk into yogurt through fermentation improves the amount of calcium and potassium in the food, and how readily we can absorb them, the authors wrote.

The study noted that other probiotics found in common fermented foods help synthesize vitamins B2 and B12. B vitamins help with red blood cell production and the conversion of food into energy. Fermented foods can help the body process certain foods that are hard to digest—including gluten and FODMAPS, which stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols.

FODMAPS are carbohydrates that people can sometimes become intolerant of. Doctors often recommend low-FODMAP diets to root out problematic foods for patients with irritable bowel syndrome and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). The low-FODMAP is a highly restrictive diet that should be followed under the supervision of a health care professional.

IBS symptoms include constipation, diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and bloating. SIBO can cause abdominal fullness, stomach pain or cramps, bloating, diarrhea, and gas. Ludwig noted that it’s best to introduce probiotic food to children when they are young and can acquire a taste for them.

However, you’re never too old to start. They’re beneficial for adults, too, and help replace microbes as they die. There are no special instructions for how to incorporate fermented foods into your diet.

Schwenk eats them with a meal but also enjoys them any time of day. 1. Apple Cider Vinegar Brined Turkey 1 gallon water, or as needed, divided 2 cups apple cider vinegar, with the mother 1 cup Kosher salt 3 tablespoons peppercorns 2 oranges, quartered 4 whole bay leaves 10–12 pound turkey Celtic sea salt Freshly ground pepper 1 bunch fresh or dried thyme 1 lemon, halved 1 whole onion, peeled and quartered 4 tablespoons butter Combine 4 cups water, kosher salt, oranges, and peppercorns together in a large stockpot.

Bring to a boil. Cook and stir brine until the salt is just dissolved. Remove from heat, and let cool.

Once cooled, add the rest of the water and apple cider vinegar. To use the brine, rinse your turkey inside and out. Submerge it into the cooled brine, then add water until the turkey is completely covered and all cavities are filled.

Stir around the edges to mix the water with the brine. Refrigerate for a minimum of 12 hours, then remove the turkey from the pot and pat dry with paper towels. Discard the brine and cook the turkey as desired.

Place the turkey in a large roasting pan. Salt and pepper the inside of the turkey cavity. Mix the butter and thyme together with a spoon.

Stuff the cavity with the lemon and onion. Loosen the skin: Starting at the neck, gently pull the skin away from the meat, being careful not to tear it. This creates pockets for the butter to spread into.

Use your hands to massage half of the softened butter and thyme mixture under the breast of the skin. Brush the outside of the turkey with the rest of the butter mixture and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the turkey.

Roast the turkey for 2 1⁄2 to 3 hours, basting from time to time with pan juices or until the juices run clear when you cut between the leg and the thigh. A cooked turkey is considered done when it reaches a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Remove the turkey to a cutting board and cover with foil.

Let it rest for 20 minutes. Slice the turkey and serve hot. 2.

Einkorn Sourdough Stuffing Ingredients 1⁄2 cup butter 2 cups celery, chopped 11⁄2 cups onion, chopped 8 cups einkorn sourdough bread, day old, diced into 1/2 inch cubes 1⁄4 cup fresh sage, chopped finely 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped finely 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped finely 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped finely, stems discarded 2 eggs, beaten 21⁄2 cups chicken bone broth 1 teaspoon coarse Celtic sea salt 1 teaspoon black pepper, ground Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat.

Add the leeks, onions, and celery and cook until the onions are softened and the leeks start to become soft, about 7 minutes. In a large bowl, mix together bread, onions, celery, and fresh herbs. Add half of the chicken broth to the mixture and stir until combined.

In a small bowl, beat together the eggs and the rest of the chicken broth. Add into the mixture a pinch of salt and pepper, and stir until completely combined. Pour the stuffing into the prepared baking dish.

Add a little more chicken broth, about 1/4 cup, to keep it moist. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for another 5 minutes until top is slightly browned at the edges.

Let cool for 5–10 minutes before serving..