Incorporating Cultured Foods into Your Holiday Dishes

Incorporating cultured and fermented foods into your favorite holiday dishes is easy. With a few small adjustments and substitutions, your family can enjoy a more nutrient dense meal complete with a probiotic boost.

Appetizers

Dips. Make over your favorite dip recipe by substituting yogurt, kefir, or naturally cultured sour cream for mayonnaise. Or try these delicious alternatives: Turkish Kefir Dip, Kefir Ranch Dip, Kefir Artichoke Dip, Sundried Tomato, Basil, Hazelnut Dip, Blue Cheese and Walnut Kefir Dip. Don't have kefir on hand? Just substitute yogurt or sour cream for kefir in these dip recipes.

Soft Cheese. Soft cheeses are perfect for dipping vegetables or spreading on crackers. Fromage Blanc and Chevre are both incredibly easy to make--even for beginning cheese makers.

Crackers. Looking for a good substitute to traditional crackers? Try making Sourdough Crackers.

Deviled Eggs. A small adjustment to your deviled eggs recipe can add a quick probiotic boost. Use Lacto-fermented Mayonnaise and Naturally Cultured Pickle Relish in place of their conventional counterparts.

Vegetable Platter. Try adding Cultured Carrot Sticks, Fermented Green Beans, Natural Pickles, and Home-cured Olives to your vegetable platter. All of these options offer delicious flavor to a standard appetizer.

Fruit. Cut fruit into bite-size pieces and top with a generous dollop of kefir cheese and a few chocolate curls. Decorative and delicious!

Side Dishes

Salads. Try using raw cultured vegetables such as sauerkraut or shredded carrots as a side dish or toss a small amount of the cultured veggies into a green salad for extra flavor pop.  No time to make your own cultured veggies?  We carry a full line of naturally cultured raw organic vegetables ready-to-eat shipped straight to your door.

Top the standard green salad with a probiotic salad dressing.  There are lots of options including Creamy Ranch-style Kefir Dressing, Lemon Herb Kefir Dressing, Tarragon Kefir Dressing, Kefir Rice Wine Vinaigrette with Fennel, Spiced Kombucha Vinaigrette, Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing, Green Goddess-style Kefir Dressing, Creamy Kefir Black Peppercorn Dressing, Kombucha and Honey Vinaigrette, Tomato Salad Dressing, Citrus Vinaigrette, and Parmesan Salad Dressing.

Potatoes. Planning to make mashed potatoes? Use cultured butter and kefir, yogurt, or naturally cultured sour cream in place of milk. If yams are more popular in your home, Fermented Yams also make a wonderful holiday side dish.

Cranberries. Using water kefir to make cranberry sauce is a great way to add a probiotic element. Alternatively, this Fermented Cranberry Relish recipe makes a great condiment.

Bread. There are no shortage of fantastic bread options for your holiday meal. Buttermilk Biscuits, Sourdough Biscuits, Corn Muffins or bread made with Sprouted Corn Flour, or even just a beautiful loaf of light and fluffy Sourdough Bread.

Butter. Be sure to have plenty of Cultured Butter on hand for the bread, vegetables, corn and potatoes! Never has a cultured food been more delicious.

Beverages. Sparkling punch can easily be replaced with Water Kefir. Try making it with pure juice instead of sugar water. Limit the fermentation period to 24 hours for a still-sweet-yet-cultured beverage adults and children alike will enjoy. If you're planning to make egg nog, try making it with kefir.

Desserts

Pies. Finish up with a delicious cultured dessert or two!  Planning a pie?  Try a Sourdough Pie Crust!  A great way make a light and tender pie crust while breaking down the flour to be more easily digestible.

Cookies. Did you know you can make cookies with sourdough starter too?  Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies and Soft Sourdough Cookies are both easy and delicious.

Cakes. Try a festive Sourdough Spice Cake complete with Coconut Cream Frosting or a Chocolate Torte with Yogurt Cheese.

Custard. Pumpkin Custard with a delicious Pumpkin Kefir Topping is an amazing dessert.

Related Articles & Recipes:

• Learn to Make Kefir
• How to Make Sourdough Bread (VIDEO)
• How to Make Labneh (Yogurt Cheese)

Related Products: