Healthy Edible Gifts for the Holidays

Delight everyone on your gift list with homemade sweet and savory treats that are both delicious and healthy. It's not too early to start thinking about holiday gift giving.

Love the holidays but not the gluttony of shopping,over-spending, over-eating and waste? You can avoid the malls by making mouth-watering consumables from simple, wholesome ingredients. Photo credit right unknown>>>

Great gift ideas for the holidays
Each year, I make a selection of offerings from my Favorite’s List (list below). This year, I’m publishing my list here, so you can start thinking about and planning what to make. The recipes can be found in both of my cookbooks, The Garden of Eating: A Produce-Dominated Diet & Cookbook and my dessert book, The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces. Some can be found on this blog using the category links on the left.

Photo credit right Julie Ann Elefante ©2008

These recipes are budget-friendly, allergy-friendly, and diet-friendly, so they can satisfy a wide range of tastes, preferences, and dietary needs.

No returns or exchanges!
Those who receive my gifts never ask how to return or exchange them. They don’t add to the landfills or complain about gaining unwanted weight. Many feel relieved not to receive another gadget, knick-knack, or gooey tray of fudge. They appreciate the healthfulness, uniqueness, and thought that went into the gift and many re-use the containers. Photo right Chef Rachel ©2009

What else can you do to be thrifty?
Save and re-use ribbons, gift bags, and wrapping paper. Create collage-cards from photographs, pictures clipped from magazines, and cards from previous holidays. You will you save paperr and have fun making custom cards. Best of all, everyone will appreciate the thought that went into their one-of-a-kind creations.

Planning tips
You can make some items weeks or months ahead. Fruit roll-ups, beef or bison jerky, and dried apple chips keep for more than a year at room temperature, longer in the freezer. Mixtures of whole spice seeds keep for months; freshly powdered spice rubs taste best made within two to four weeks gift giving. (They’ll stay fresh longer if vacuum sealed.)

You can prepare these perishable ahead: homemade cookies, breads, muffins, peanut sauce, applesauce, barbecue sauce, chutney, and nut butter-based dips ––if you properly pack and freeze them to retain freshness and flavor.

How to bag it
You can pack your treasures in half-pint, pint and quart canning jars, redecorated salad dressing bottles, plant-based cellulose bags with silver or gold twist ties, or gift boxes lined with foil and parchment paper. Use plastic bags for bread and anything else that must be kept airtight but won’t easily fit in jars. Make fun and pretty gift and instruction cards that include credit for the book and author whose recipe you use, then attach them with festive ribbons.

When you pack cookies or breads in zippered bags, separate each layer with pieces of unbleached parchment paper and place a piece of unbleached paper towel inside the top and bottom of the bag to absorb moisture. Insert the end of a straw two or three inches into the bag; zip the bag closed to meet the straw; exhale the air from your lungs, then inhale deeply through the straw to suck the air out of the bag. Pinch the straw shut, then pull it out and zip the bag closed to prevent freezer burn. Now you can stash it in the freezer.

Photo credit right Chef Rachel (me!) ©2008

No bag deal: Just jar it!
Stash perishable liquid items in wide-mouth canning jars even if you don’t can. Use a wide-mouth funnel to fill the jars. Do not fill  beyond the lip in the jar and leave 1 1/2-inchs of headroom for expansion in freezing. Allow warm items to cool slightly, uncovered, at room temp, then refrigerate. When food reaches refrigerator temperature, cover tightly (vacuum seal if desired), and freeze.

A Tilia Food Saver® with accessory attachments allow you to seal food in canning jars. It removes air from containers and seals in freshness, flavor, fragrances, and nutrients,  prevents freezer burn and keeps food fresh up to five times longer than conventional containers or plastic wrap. Look for them in my Amazon store or use the links above.

Photo credit right Chef Rachel (me!) ©2008

Decorate jars with ribbons and pretty fabric cut into circles with pinking shears (make the fabric cut outs 2-inches wider than  jar tops). Place pieces of fabric on top of vacuum sealed jars before screwing on the metal bands.

SPECIAL NOTE: Vacuum sealing does not replace refrigeration, freezing, or canning. Food can still spoil. Let your gift recipients know which gifts need to be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

Five tips to keep your food in ship shape

1. Tightly seal jars and containers. Vacuum seal if possible. Slip jars into zip-locking bags, leaving air in the bag for cushioning. Wrap each jar with bubble wrap.
2. Choose a sturdy box.  Cushion jars with wadded up newspaper, cornstarch or styrofoaf peanuts, popcorn, or more bubble wrap.
3. When shipping multiple items, place heavy stuff in the bottom of the box and allow plenty of space and cushioning between the objects.
4. To prevent shifting, shake the box down, then add more stuffing as needed.
5. To reduce shipping costs, ship refrigerated or frozen items in separate boxes from non-perishables.

How to ship perishables
Buy dry ice in supermarkets in 5-pound plastic bags. One bag will keep the contents of an 18-cube box (18x18x18) cold for 24 hours. Take it to your local UPS store with refrigerated or frozen food gifts and have them pack it properly and ship it next day air.

Photo credit right Chef Rachel (me!) ©2007

Labeling tips
Use waterproof markers and large, bold print for ship to and return address labels on the outside of your boxes. Secure labels with clear shipping tape. Label “PERISHABLE” and ship the fastest method possible.

Cookbooks make great gifts
If you’ve enjoyed my cookbooks, cooking classes, cooking demos, and blog post, consider buying copies of The Garden of Eating and The Ice Dream Cookbook to give to your health-conscious family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Incidentally, people who don’t have food allergies or intolerances have thoroughly enjoyed these cookbooks and the recipes made from them.

Healthy Edible Gift Ideas from The Garden of Eating
Spicy Peanut Sauce
Cashew-Dill or Cashew Macadamia Dill Dip
 Poppy Seed Pineapple Drizzle
Moroccan BBQ Spice Mix
Moroccan BBQ Sauce
Better Barbecue Sauce (doubles as red sauce for anything)
My Favorite Macaroons
Better Than Store-bought Apple Sauce
Fruit Roll Ups
Cranberry-Apple Compote
Dark Chocolate Dipped Date Nut Truffles
Apple-Apricot Compote
Homemade Beef & Bison Jerky
Dried Apple Chips

Healthy Edible Gift Ideas from The Ice Dream Cookbook
Sesame Seed & Pumpkin Seed Pralines
Cashew, Almond & Pecan Pralines
 Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Blondies
Gluten-Free Better Brownies
Dark Chocolate Dipped Date Nut Truffles
Better Than Store-bought Apple Sauce
Gluten-Free Banana Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Gluten-Free Chocolate Cookies
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Gluten-Free Gingerbread Cookies 
Gluten-Free Graham Crackers
Cranberry-Apple Compote
Apple-Apricot Compote
Karly’s Carob Sauce & Karly’s Chocolate Sauce

Comments

[Cathy Payne]

MMMmmm yummy! Great ideas, Rachel! I can't wait to talk with you more about your great cookbooks! Last year we made chocolate truffles from Julia Child's cookbook and homemade vanilla from fresh beans. These treats look so good! I like the personal touch.

[Laura]

Great post, again! We love to make our gifts and what better gift than healthy food? I am thinking spice blends to promote healing would be a great gift idea! For those close to "Ikea", they sell glass spice jars that are lovely for gift giving. Thanks Rachel!!! I am inspired :)

[Carrie@Organic and Thrifty]

Totally inspiring!!!

I made your pecan prailines the other day (I subbed heavy cream for coconut milk since we're okay with it) and they were a huge hit! My kids LOVE your fruit leather recipe as well! The macaroons and blondies are amazing too. I am so excited to bake healthy gift trays this year! In previous years, I just passed on holiday baking since I had no good alternatives!

Thanks, I tell everyone about your books!

[Chef Rachel]

Hi Carrie,

I'm so glad you've tried those recipes from my books and that you and your kids enjoyed them! I'm sure your holiday gifts will be appreciated and devoured!
I appreciate your support too!

Btw: I plan to make my books available as ebooks soon, so people who live far away and don't want to pay shipping can get them and others can offer them on their web sites and earn affiliate income.

Keep checking bacj for more ideas & recipes!

Rachel