Restorative Traditions: paleo and non-inflammatory recipes to honor life’s seasons, celebrations, and holidays, Hardcover Edition

Few things have the power to anchor our hearts and bring us together like gathering around the table to share a meal. Food has the power to not only nourish and sustain us, but also unite us to honor life’s rhythms. From Sunday dinners and birthdays, to holidays and ordinary weeknights, I believe there is power in marking the passing of time with traditions and togetherness. Traditions are essential to a thriving family life; they’re how we develop a sense of unity and belonging. Traditions also preserve and strengthen our heritage.

Restorative Traditions is both a gentle guide to creating intentional gatherings as well as a compilation of the many recipes I have developed over the past decade to meet our family’s health and nutrition needs. When I was still a new mother, my family and I found ourselves facing many health challenges that called for non-inflammatory and deeply nourishing foods. We were walking through a minefield of issues, including leaky gut, Lyme disease, mold illness, neurological concerns, skin irritations, and various autoimmune conditions, While eliminating many common food triggers was important for my family’s health, eating this way also required a shift away from the familiar recipes that were essential to the traditions I grew up with. Not wanting my children to miss out on special foods that were a part of my childhood memories and celebrations, I recreated them to fit our dietary needs. As a mother, cook, and a naturopathic doctor, it has been a significant goal of mine to create meaningful and memorable meals that restore health, not hinder it. It took many years for our family to collectively find healing and remission of autoimmune disease. Food was a significant piece of our healing. Food is medicine, after all.

Comprised within the pages of Restorative Traditions is a year’s worth of health-promoting seasonal and holiday recipes as well as other celebratory foods including:

• New Years Eve & New Years Day

• Valentine’s Day

• Spring Recipes

• A Tea Party

• Easter

• Anniversary

• Summer Recipes

• Fourth of July

• Summer Cookout

• Cultured Food & Lactofermentation

• Autumn Recipes

• Thanksgiving

• Christmas

• Winter Recipes

• Bread

• Cake & Celebratory Desserts

• Seasonal Basics & Pantry Staples
  

Over the course of our lifetimes, we will share thousands of meals. It is in our hands to ensure they are health-promoting and memorable. My hope is that these reimagined recipes will serve to unite your family, friends, and loved ones as you savor life’s holidays, celebrations, and rhythms. I cannot wait for you to join us in celebrating life through Restorative Traditions!

425 pages