A Hanukkah Round Up, Paleo Style!

This post was written by my assistant Tamar.

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Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah, come light the menorah
Let’s have a party, we’ll all dance the horah
Gather ’round the table, we’ll give you a treat
Dreydles to play with and latkes to eat.

This all sounds good to me! Well, as long as the treat is Paleo and the latkes are made with sweet potatoes and fried in a healthy fat. I was raised as a yellow challah, slimy gefilte fish, oily matzah ball eating Jewish girl! What’s that saying? The story of all Jewish holidays can be generally summarized as “They tried to kill us, we won, now lets eat!”. And boy do we like to eat!

I have many fond memories of celebrating various Jewish holidays with specific foods. In fact, to this day when I hear the beginning of Adon Olam I can practically taste the gefilte fish and horseradish. Shabbat Shalom indeed! Of course the best part of attending Shabbat services is the oneg that is served after the congregation President makes their announcements, am I right? At least that’s what my kids will say. Let’s not forget eating Haman’s hat (hamentashen) on Purim, dipping apples in honey for Rosh Hashanah, and enjoying Hillel’s sandwich on Passover. I could go on and on. But I’ll stop there because after all, this post is about Hanukkah! Or Channukah, depending on how you spell it.

So how does one reconcile the way they ate as a child with they way they eat as an adult? I’ve been involved in the Paleo world for a while now, and my parents still don’t quite understand what it is. What they do understand is that I usually bring my own food to events, and that I had meals made specially for me on a recent cruise. They’re supportive, because after all they want their little bubbaleh to be happy.

Let’s get this out of the way first: I don’t really cook. I mean, I do prepare food with heat, but it does not get much more complicated than that. Ground beef and carrots. Hard boiled eggs and squash. Eggs scrambled with spinach. Simple meals are my favorite!

But let’s just say I did cook. And let’s also say I wanted to prepare a fun, delicious, kid-friendly Hanukkah meal. What would I prepare for this meal? The following recipes look great to me!

Before we get to the food we should discuss the other items needed to complete any Hanukkah celebration: a menorah for adults (this one is pretty), a Hanukkah play set for the kids, gelt (check out these allergy friendly chocolate coins), and dreidels. I love that it’s actually part of the holiday to enjoy chocolate coins! In fact, I’d say it’s a mitzvah!

What’s Hannukah without latkes? These butternut squash latkes from Elana’s Pantry look great! (the photo shows sour cream as well, read Sarah’s thoughts on dairy here)

And of course applesauce for dipping! Against All Grain’s applesauce recipe uses a slow cooker, which is a great time saver. Especially after peeling all those apples!

Now we need to think about the protein section of the meal. I’m not going to get too adventurous here and include any offal. These chicken lettuce wraps from PaleOMG are so pretty!

And I think kids of all ages would enjoy these crispy chicken dippers (also from PaleOMG).

Okay, let’s talk dessert. We’ll have Paleo-friendly sufganiyot (doughnuts) of course! For the chocolate lovers, Sarah’s chocolate glazed chocolate doughnuts are a must.

And for those of you that don’t like chocolate (?!), Primal Palate has a recipe for these grain free dougnuts, and they also provide recipes for both chocolate and lemon glazes. Yum!

Chag Sameach Paleo friends! Leave a comment and let me know how you celebrate Hanukkah Paleo style!