Food is one of the main focuses of Christmas which often leaves food allergy sufferers feeling left out or even resentful. All those traditional Christmas recipes are not designed for individuals, like me, with food allergies. Family members may compound the problem by expecting their favorites to be served without modifications.

My solution is to prepare as many safe versions of holiday foods as possible. At the same time, I will appease the non-food allergy sufferers by preparing a few of their favorites the traditional way. I usually pick dessert and make two types of pumpkin pie, one for me and one for them.

The traditional mashed potatoes is one dish I’ve always chosen to avoid messing with but this year, I’m going to be bold and prepare a version that is safe for me. I am using rutabagas and cauliflower since I cannot eat potatoes. I also will need to leave out the dairy as this is another issue for me. Do you think this will fly?

Actually, I did a trial run of this mock mashed potatoes side dish several days ago, and my family loved it. This dish will surprise you because it tastes delicious without butter. Here’s the recipe I followed.

Mock mashed potatoes

Ingredients:
•1 head of cauliflower, washed, trimmed and chopped into pieces.
•3-4 medium rutabagas, washed, peeled and cut into one-inch pieces.
•Chicken broth
•Plain, unsweetened almond milk or other alternative dairy beverage
•Salt and pepper

Directions:
•Bring water to a boil in two large saucepans. You will need to cook the two veggies separately since the rutabagas will take longer to cook.
•Add a sprinkle of salt to each pot.
•Put the rutabagas in one pot and the cauliflower in the other.
•Cook until each is fork tender.
•Drain both cauliflower and rutabagas.
•Combine the two veggies in a large pot.
•Add a bit of chicken broth, milk of your choice, salt and pepper.
•Start the mashing process with a potato masher.
•Add more liquids if needed.
•Finish whipping with a hand mixer.
•Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.