I’d planned to spend this past week trying out some new Paleo dinner recipes and working on my holiday baking recipes for the blog. Sunday night we went out to celebrate my partner’s birthday, with plans to celebrate this weekend with his family in Sonoma County.

But we awoke Monday morning to the news that numerous wildfires had broken out in Napa and Sonoma counties. Several family members evacuated overnight due to imminent fire danger in Santa Rosa. As the days passed this week, we’ve had a handful of friends find out they’d lost their homes. Others, including our family members, are waiting to find out if they have a home to go to, as the fires rage on.

Eating on a special diet is always difficult, but in an emergency situation like the one residents of Napa and Sonoma Counties are experiencing, it’s nearly impossible. With that in mind, if you are able to donate gluten-free or low-FODMAP non-perishable foods to help with Northern California fire relief, here are some places you can do that:

• Food pantries of Napa County
• The Redwood Empire Food Bank
• Food pantries of Sonoma County
• Food pantries of Yuba County
• California Association of Food Banks

Many people I know have ordered donation items through Amazon and had those items delivered directly to the food banks. Note that all of these groups need food that’s pre-packaged and non-perishable. The Redwood Empire Food Bank also notes it’s helpful for the donated foods to be easy to open and ready to eat as many shelters do not have kitchens for heating and preparing food.

For more ways to help, check out this Santa Rosa Press Democrat article on how to help.

FODMAP Friday Recipes

Last but not least, here are a few low-FODMAP recipes that caught my eye this week:

• Rare Roast Beef Tomato Rocket and Brown Rice Salad from the Healthy Food Guide
• Fast and Healthy Stir-fried Vegetables from Monash University
• Vegan Almond Butter Shortbread Cookies from Blissful Basil
• Fall weather means soups, but it can be hard to find ones made without onions. Luckily there’s this Low FODMAP Parsnip and Sweet Potato Soup recipe from All About the Balance.
• 6 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies from The Pulse
• All the Fall flavors and none of the FODMAPS in this Pumpkin Spice Chia Pudding from Lauren Renlund, MPH, RD
• Another gorgeous gluten-free cake from Becky Excel of Gluten Free Cuppa Teal: Gluten Free Chocolate Lava Cakes