1St Holiday Season After Dx - How Did You Feel/do/cope?

[IrishHeart]

A few thoughts:

 

(1) I always use lard for pie crust. I'm old school.   before DX and still. Nothing like it. IMHO

 

(2) The UDIs baguettes will never be the baguettes I used to make, but they are not THAT bad. Just don't cook them too long, that's all.

I had one today and it was still squishy inside.

 

(3) the pumpkin cheesecake pie recipe was really good. Not one person at my friend's house for dinner knew it was "G F", they just scarfed it down, had a piece of the chocolate cake too and asked us when we are opening our restaurant.

Oh,  I added 1/4 cup  crushed pecans to the crust recipe. Total yumsters!

 

(4) the crock pot stuffing---was a huge hit. Again, no one even knew it was G F until after dinner when the convo rolled around to "hey, why do people go G F anyway?" and my pal said "Well, she has celiac, I'll let her tell you............"

I was brief. Honest!  really. I was. 

[Adalaide]

  On 12/4/2013 at 9:03 PM, IrishHeart said:

(4) the crock pot stuffing---was a huge hit. Again, no one even knew it was G F until after dinner when the convo rolled around to "hey, why do people go G F anyway?" and my pal said "Well, she has celiac, I'll let her tell you............"

I was brief. Honest!  really. I was. 

 

I'm quite sure the comas were all food comas.

[IrishHeart]

  On 12/4/2013 at 9:09 PM, Adalaide said:

I'm quite sure the comas were all food comas.

 

well, yeah.....tryptophan and sparkling wine....I had a lulled audience already  .

[WestCoastGirl]

When I bring my own food to gatherings, I always think of it as a kindness to the hosts, not as a slap in the face. I mean, asking them to buy a new dedicated pan and utensils and then buy separate gluten-free items, to be cut and prepared on a new dedicated cutting board with dishwasher-scoured (or new) cutting and stirring implements, plus - if it's a baked item - probably very expensive gluten-free ingredients, is a little over-the-top. This person is already busy, and already probably spending a pretty penny on this party.

 

I would be WAY more embarrassed to ask them to do all that, than I would be presenting a nice dish at the party: "I brought this! I'm gluten-free so can you put it over here away from the other food for now and let me have the first slice? But after that it's all yours, I hope you love it, my kids tested it and loved it!"

[cap6]

I like your way of looking at it!  A kind way of turning the table so to speak

[notme]

  On 12/5/2013 at 9:15 PM, cap6 said:

I like your way of looking at it!  A kind way of turning the table so to speak

me, too  

 

hi cap6 <we are silly-yak birthday twins, into our 4th year) 

 

this thread slapped me back to reality - a club i belong to is having a Christmas party on monday - at a place that caters but is also very popular for their wedding cakes.  i called there and they said "can you eat a salad?"  i said with no croutons, yes.  then, silence.  that is the only thing that he was offering me!  i said what about the rest of the meal?  hahahahaaaa i thought he hung up, you could hear crickets chirping lololz   we finished the conversation on him saying he would call me in the morning with the complete menu.  i hung up the phone, turned around and my husband is standing there, giving me the dirtiest look.  i picked up the phone and called the guy back, nevermind, i'm eating at home.   in a BAKERY - seriously, how DUMB do i have to be............

 

i just wishhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............................  sigh...........................  when i get to heaven, there is going to be a gluten-free pastry table as long as infinity   

[Patti J]

  On 11/23/2013 at 6:53 PM, IrishHeart said:

All right, everyone.....I may have written that Newbie 101 thread and I stand by all the info in it, but I never wrote a single sentence proclaiming: you can't eat at someone's house.

Because I do not believe that.

 

This is how you survive Thanksgiving at someone's house:

 

(1)My friend is making an unstuffed turkey in a silver foil pan I gave her ($2.50)with a new baster. ($1.29)

I insist on new basters because I was "glutened by baster" my first THX (long story about two turkeys--1 stuffed, 1 not and a sister who thought it was ok to baste them both with 1 baster)

and I have "issues" with those damn things.

Anyway, no gluten involved in turkey. I still have NEVER seen a turkey with gluten in it, despite what some people have posted here in the past.

(2) She makes the roasted root veggies, but we slice and dice together while we chatter away drinking champagne.

We cut them on flexible cutting boards I bring her . they can be found in a variety of places, and they look like this:

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

(3) I make the gravy with some G F flour I bring using the pan drippings that have never been near any gluten..

(4) I bring G F stuffing made in a crockpot that everyone loves.  No gluten.

 

recipe here: Open Original Shared Link

 

(5) We make a cheese, pate and veggie platter with Crunchmaster crackers for appetizers. No gluten.

(6) we have a shrimp cocktail platter. No gluten.

(7) she makes her family recipe of cranberry-orange relish. No gluten involved. I have watched her make it a dozen times.

(8) She makes a green bean casserole the day before Thanksgiving. I can't eat it and I do not care anyway. Never liked it. Even if it is passed around the table,

it's not going to miraculously gluten me.

(9) I bring the desserts because I am the one who makes them the best 

 

Flourless chocolate cake with ganache

 

recipe here:

Open Original Shared Link

 

and 

Pumpkin cheesecake with pecan/gingersnap crust

 

recipe here

Open Original Shared Link

 

(10) select a nice wine for dinner and one for dessert.

 

This does not have to be the end of the world. It just takes common sense, planning and it requires some assistance and understanding from the hostess,. But unless you are going to be cooking (which I normally do), you need to do a bit of advanced prep, but you can dine at someone's home and be perfectly fine. I have done it many times.

 

I am very sensitive to trace gluten, but I can assure you, I will not be dining outside or in another room. I eat at the table with everyone else. There's no reason celiacs can't enjoy dinner with friends and family. It just takes a few steps of precaution and an understanding hostess. 

 

If you do not feel up to this task just yet, and that is understandable when you are newly diagnosed, then just bring your own dinner and go and enjoy your relatives. If they keep pestering you about why, just say this:

 

MY DOCTOR SAID I HAVE TO EAT THIS WAY RIGHT NOW SO I CAN GET WELL.

leave it at that. All older relatives will get "MY DOCTOR SAID"

 

Don't spend your time defending, explaining or being upset. Later, you can mail them all an explanation of celiac and what it takes

to be truly gluten-free and they can read it and learn about it and maybe talk with you about it..

 

Don't avoid seeing family members --they love you and you love them!-- and you can use their loving support right now.

 

Cheers, IH

 

PS>>and now, I am going to make this post its own thread so I do not have to write this mother of a post all over again. 

What great information. Thank you so much for this. 

[IrishHeart]

  On 10/7/2014 at 1:16 AM, Patti J said:

What great information. Thank you so much for this. 

 

 

You're welcome!

 

[icelandgirl]

This is an awesome plan Irish! I'm planning on copying it this Thanksgiving!

[IrishHeart]

  On 10/7/2014 at 10:32 PM, icelandgirl said:

This is an awesome plan Irish! I'm planning on copying it this Thanksgiving!

 

I should note that we also made whipped potatoes and they were fabulous with the gravy I made from her pan drippings and my G F flour. 

[Patti J]

  On 12/5/2013 at 9:52 PM, notme! said:

me, too

 

hi cap6 <we are silly-yak birthday twins, into our 4th year) 

 

this thread slapped me back to reality - a club i belong to is having a Christmas party on monday - at a place that caters but is also very popular for their wedding cakes.  i called there and they said "can you eat a salad?"  i said with no croutons, yes.  then, silence.  that is the only thing that he was offering me!  i said what about the rest of the meal?  hahahahaaaa i thought he hung up, you could hear crickets chirping lololz   we finished the conversation on him saying he would call me in the morning with the complete menu.  i hung up the phone, turned around and my husband is standing there, giving me the dirtiest look.  i picked up the phone and called the guy back, nevermind, i'm eating at home.   in a BAKERY - seriously, how DUMB do i have to be............

 

i just wishhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............................  sigh...........................  when i get to heaven, there is going to be a gluten-free pastry table as long as infinity 

WE have good news...in Heaven we will not have to worry about gluten or anything else...understand and believe it is a disease free zone!  

[notme]

  On 10/8/2014 at 2:30 PM, Patti J said:

WE have good news...in Heaven we will not have to worry about gluten or anything else...understand and believe it is a disease free zone!

W00T!!    yes, ma'am!!      

[JodyM75]

  On 11/23/2013 at 6:53 PM, IrishHeart said:

All right, everyone.....I may have written that Newbie 101 thread and I stand by all the info in it, but I never wrote a single sentence proclaiming: you can't eat at someone's house.

Because I do not believe that.

 

This is how you survive Thanksgiving at someone's house:

 

(1)My friend is making an unstuffed turkey in a silver foil pan I gave her ($2.50)with a new baster. ($1.29)

I insist on new basters because I was "glutened by baster" my first THX (long story about two turkeys--1 stuffed, 1 not and a sister who thought it was ok to baste them both with 1 baster)

and I have "issues" with those damn things.

Anyway, no gluten involved in turkey. I still have NEVER seen a turkey with gluten in it, despite what some people have posted here in the past.

(2) She makes the roasted root veggies, but we slice and dice together while we chatter away drinking champagne.

We cut them on flexible cutting boards I bring her . they can be found in a variety of places, and they look like this:

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

(3) I make the gravy with some G F flour I bring using the pan drippings that have never been near any gluten..

(4) I bring G F stuffing made in a crockpot that everyone loves.  No gluten.

 

recipe here: Open Original Shared Link

 

(5) We make a cheese, pate and veggie platter with Crunchmaster crackers for appetizers. No gluten.

(6) we have a shrimp cocktail platter. No gluten.

(7) she makes her family recipe of cranberry-orange relish. No gluten involved. I have watched her make it a dozen times.

(8) She makes a green bean casserole the day before Thanksgiving. I can't eat it and I do not care anyway. Never liked it. Even if it is passed around the table,

it's not going to miraculously gluten me.

(9) I bring the desserts because I am the one who makes them the best 

 

Flourless chocolate cake with ganache

 

recipe here:

Open Original Shared Link

 

and 

Pumpkin cheesecake with pecan/gingersnap crust

 

recipe here

Open Original Shared Link

 

(10) select a nice wine for dinner and one for dessert.

 

This does not have to be the end of the world. It just takes common sense, planning and it requires some assistance and understanding from the hostess,. But unless you are going to be cooking (which I normally do), you need to do a bit of advanced prep, but you can dine at someone's home and be perfectly fine. I have done it many times.

 

I am very sensitive to trace gluten, but I can assure you, I will not be dining outside or in another room. I eat at the table with everyone else. There's no reason celiacs can't enjoy dinner with friends and family. It just takes a few steps of precaution and an understanding hostess. 

 

If you do not feel up to this task just yet, and that is understandable when you are newly diagnosed, then just bring your own dinner and go and enjoy your relatives. If they keep pestering you about why, just say this:

 

MY DOCTOR SAID I HAVE TO EAT THIS WAY RIGHT NOW SO I CAN GET WELL.

leave it at that. All older relatives will get "MY DOCTOR SAID"

 

Don't spend your time defending, explaining or being upset. Later, you can mail them all an explanation of celiac and what it takes

to be truly gluten-free and they can read it and learn about it and maybe talk with you about it..

 

Don't avoid seeing family members --they love you and you love them!-- and you can use their loving support right now.

 

Cheers, IH

 

PS>>and now, I am going to make this post its own thread so I do not have to write this mother of a post all over again. 

 

This is so incredibly helpful and positive, thank you!  I'm coming up on my first holiday season after diagnosis.  I've been dreading it, but this really helps!  I'm off to look up other holiday posts on here.

Thanks for the recipes, too!

[IrishHeart]

  On 10/8/2014 at 7:14 PM, JodyM75 said:

This is so incredibly helpful and positive, thank you!  I'm coming up on my first holiday season after diagnosis.  I've been dreading it, but this really helps!  I'm off to look up other holiday posts on here.

Thanks for the recipes, too!

 

You bet. hon! Any recipes you have traditionally used can be converted. google away!

[SMRI]

You can also use corn starch to make gravy.  It's sure a lot less expensive than the gluten-free flours and you don't need as much because it thickens faster.  It doesn't clump up as easily as flour too.  Before I knew I had Celiac, Celiac relatives would come to our house for holidays.  They would scrutinize everything I made and other than using flour in gravy (just used corn starch instead) and the green bean casserole, everything else was naturally gluten-free.  They did bring some gluten-free dinner rolls to make turkey sandwiches with leftovers too.  For Christmas Eve we traditionally do heavy appetizers.   Since everyone brought something anyway, they would bring a couple gluten-free options.  We would set the gluten-free foods on a separate counter and the gluten food would be on the kitchen island so no CC issues.  Much of what was served again was naturally gluten-free anyway but didn't want spoons contaminating dishes, etc.

[IrishHeart]

I suggested using flour because most people already have G F flour in the house for baking pies and rolls. It probably won't be much of an added expense. 

 

A bit of flour and butter whisked into a roux is then added to the hot drippings and hot stock and honestly, that has never caused any clumping in the gravy I have made for over 30 years. ( all -purpose G F Flour now or Gold Medal back in the day) 

 

But, all cooks have their preferences.