Holiday Party With Extended Family

[ruthla]

This Sunday, my family is having its annual Hanukkah get-together. It's a potluck, and the host family is making latkes (potato pancakes; their recipe includes wheat flour). Generally all the food is placed on the same table and everybody helps themselves, then we light the menorahs, then we open presents, then they serve dessert.

This morning my Mom asked me if I was planning to make "Ruth's Famous Pasta Salad" that I've made in the past. It honestly hadn't even occured to me that I should cook something- I'd figured on having a huge meal before going and maybe being able to have some fruit at dessert.

I supposed I could make the salad with rice pasta, but then it still has soy sauce in the dressing. And would it still be safe for me to eat if it's on the table with gluten-containing stuff? What's the chance that it WON'T get contaminated?

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Happy Hannukah! (Chanuka) (Hanukkah) (whatever)

You can use La Choy soy sauce, many store brands of soy sauce like Target andWalmart (gotta read the labels), and Bragg's Liquid Aminos, which is very similar to soy sauce. Also, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce is gluten-free in the States (but not in Canada, for some reason).

I would not only make the salad using rice pasta, I would call the host family and ask if they would consider using potato starch instead of wheat flour for the latkes (and offer to help with the grating/mixing, etc, partly to be nice since you are making a special request, and partly to make sure nobody screws up and puts flour in. There is NO flavor change--nobody can possibly tell the difference, and even Manischevitz uses it in their Latke mix! (At least, they did last year when I bought it.)

Besides, it will help them use up their potato starch left over from Passover, right?

If you had a guest (a family member, yet!) coming who had a peanut allergy, wouldn't you call everyone up and ask them not to make anything with peanuts? Heck, so many people are observant of keeping Kosher, and request that guests not screw that up for their household, right?

Make sure your pasta salad is well away from any bread or bread-crumby anything, with its own spoon. You might even bring a cheapie folding table, and have the pasta salad pre-served in individual small paper bowls, away from other food.

Has your fibro improved on this diet? (I know, its only been a few weeks!) Our rabbi's wife has fibro, and was diagnosed as a child with "wheat allergy," but I can't convince her to go gluten-free for some reason.

I've been monkeying around with gluten-free bread recipes, adding extra eggs to try to make a good gluten-free challah. There's actually a good "egg bread" recipe in Robyn Ryberg's The Gluten-Free Kitchen. Only problem is, you can't braid it, but it does taste good!

[blueeyedmanda]

I like Fiddle-Faddle's idea of of using gluten-free ingreidents for the pancakes. I would take some of your rice pasta and put it in a seperate container and maybe keep it away from the gluten table. In the event they do use wheat flour there is no chance for CC.

Make yourself some gluten free goodies and take them to dinner so you guys can all eat together. It will be fun

[ruthla]

Happy Hannukah! (Chanuka) (Hanukkah) (whatever)

You can use La Choy soy sauce, many store brands of soy sauce like Target andWalmart (gotta read the labels), and Bragg's Liquid Aminos, which is very similar to soy sauce. Also, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce is gluten-free in the States (but not in Canada, for some reason).

I would not only make the salad using rice pasta, I would call the host family and ask if they would consider using potato starch instead of wheat flour for the latkes (and offer to help with the grating/mixing, etc, partly to be nice since you are making a special request, and partly to make sure nobody screws up and puts flour in. There is NO flavor change--nobody can possibly tell the difference, and even Manischevitz uses it in their Latke mix! (At least, they did last year when I bought it.)

Besides, it will help them use up their potato starch left over from Passover, right?

If you had a guest (a family member, yet!) coming who had a peanut allergy, wouldn't you call everyone up and ask them not to make anything with peanuts? Heck, so many people are observant of keeping Kosher, and request that guests not screw that up for their household, right?

Make sure your pasta salad is well away from any bread or bread-crumby anything, with its own spoon. You might even bring a cheapie folding table, and have the pasta salad pre-served in individual small paper bowls, away from other food.

Has your fibro improved on this diet? (I know, its only been a few weeks!) Our rabbi's wife has fibro, and was diagnosed as a child with "wheat allergy," but I can't convince her to go gluten-free for some reason.

I've been monkeying around with gluten-free bread recipes, adding extra eggs to try to make a good gluten-free challah. There's actually a good "egg bread" recipe in Robyn Ryberg's The Gluten-Free Kitchen. Only problem is, you can't braid it, but it does taste good!

Trust me- they're NOT going to change their tried-and-true recipe for one person- and due to my fibro I really can't help them with latke prep.

Peanut allergies are different- I'm not at risk of anaphalaxis if I touch wheat or gluten, so being in the same room as the latkes isn't going to kill me. The same would NOT be true for my friend's 4yo if I were to fry latkes in peanut oil.

I do have wheat-free soy sauce in the house; the problem is that it still has soy in it.

I'm also low-carbing so even if I made the pasta salad safe for me, I wouldn't be able to eat more than about half a bowl's worth. Maybe I'll just make tuna or egg salad instead. Or make both and plan on not eating the pasta salad.

I didn't really notice any changes in how I felt, but 2 days ago I ran out of my pain meds and haven't had a chance to pick up my prescription yet. Usually I'm in awful pain if I forget, but it wasn't until late in the afternoon when I realized I hadn't had my meds the night before and didn't feel any worse. I'm still planning to pick up my prescription today, but I may not continue taking it daily. I also haven't been using my nasal spray regularly and I haven't had problems with congestion or vertigo (usually clogged nose leads to clogged eustacian tubes which leads to vertigo).

[Phyllis28]

Below is a link to a receipe for soy free soy sauce if found on the internet.

Open Original Shared Link

I have not tried it yet.

[kbtoyssni]

I also wouldn't ask them to change their recipe because if they do, you still have to deal with the potential for CC. It took me months to figure out all possible places for CC - double dipping, wooden spoons, etc - I don't expect people who don't live this to fully get it.

I'd make the pasta salad with gluten-free soy sauce. And then I'd take out a serving for you and put it in a separate container with the rest going on the table for everyone else. I do not trust buffet-style; too much risk of someone using the gluten spoon in your food or dropping crumbs across it.

[ruthla]

Thanks for the recipe- I bookmarked it, and I'll experiment with it sometime when I'm just making stuff for my own family (plus I'll try it with teaspoons in place of ounces so if it's horrible, I haven't wasted too much food. )

ITA about the contamination risk if my cousins make latkes with a gluten-free recipe- I'd rather just KNOW I can't eat the latkes and be done with it.

I think I'll stick with my original plan: eat well before going, pack some nuts in my purse, and just drink seltzer until dessert time when I'll have a little fruit.

[jerseyangel]

I recently went to a Thanksgiving dinner--a sit down with 10 others. I made my dinner the weekend before, froze it and as they were putting dinner on the table, I simply microwaved mine, put in on one of their dishes and sat down and ate with everyone else.

With all the husle and busle in the kitchen, I blended right in

Once we were all sitting down, eating and talking, it didn't matter one bit that the food on my plate was different than theirs.

I also had made a gluten-free side dish that went along with everyone's dinner--mine included. I just put a portion in a separate dish beforehand for myself.

I was just so happy to be there--it's truly not the actual food that matters.

[Guest Mari]

I'm sorry. I was reading all these responses. I can't believe your family wouldn't substitute Potato Starch or gluten-free flour in the Latkes. That is how I've made latkes for the past three years, and they are fantastic. My mom and my sisters -in-law make them that way now all the time. The taste exactly the same. Not only that, but when we get together as a whole family (and there are a lot of us) most if not the whole meal is gluten-free because of me. I can't believe that your family won't accomodate. It is very similar to a nut allergy. Right, you won't die, but you will get sick, and tons of bad things can happen inside your body. It doesn't matter that you can't see it. It's still an allergy!!

Good luck.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

I'm sorry. I was reading all these responses. I can't believe your family wouldn't substitute Potato Starch or gluten-free flour in the Latkes. That is how I've made latkes for the past three years, and they are fantastic. My mom and my sisters -in-law make them that way now all the time. The taste exactly the same. Not only that, but when we get together as a whole family (and there are a lot of us) most if not the whole meal is gluten-free because of me. I can't believe that your family won't accomodate. It is very similar to a nut allergy. Right, you won't die, but you will get sick, and tons of bad things can happen inside your body. It doesn't matter that you can't see it. It's still an allergy!!

Good luck.

I'm so glad you wrote this--I was afraid I'd be bragging if I was the only one whose family accomodates!

Even friends who have us over for dinner go WAY out of their way (without my EVER having asked) to make sure I can eat the whole meal.

Maybe you can show this thread to your family?

HEY, RUTHLA'S FAMILY!!!!

WOULD YA PLEASE MAKE THE VERSHTINKEN LATKES WITH POTATO STARCH INSTEAD OF FLOUR SO THAT SHE CAN EAT THEM AND NOT BE IN PAIN FOR THE NEXT 3 DAYS???!!!! OUR FAMILIES DO THAT FOR US, WHY CAN'T YOU??????

How was that? (Let me know if you want me to delete it.)

Sorry about the soy, I did read your sig, but forgot.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

I forgot to add:

My kids made latkes at Sunday School last week, and I called the director to ask if I could send in some potato starch/gluten-free flour for the 3rd grade class to use instead of flour, since #2 son is off gluten.

She went out herself, bought 2 pounds of potato starch, and the WHOLE Sunday school had gluten-free latkes.

[ruthla]

I forgot to add:

My kids made latkes at Sunday School last week, and I called the director to ask if I could send in some potato starch/gluten-free flour for the 3rd grade class to use instead of flour, since #2 son is off gluten.

She went out herself, bought 2 pounds of potato starch, and the WHOLE Sunday school had gluten-free latkes.

That's great!!

In fact, it's probably simpler to make gluten-free latkes for everybody than it is to try and keep one batch separate for one child.

With my family, it's kind of complicated. I've only been gluten-free a few weeks, and I'm not 100% sure it's going to help me, and I'm still learning how to do this myself so how can I teach somebody else how to do it? There's also no way I can be around to supervise the cooking and I'd be afraid that the food got contaminated somehow. I just wouldn't feel safe eating those latkes no matter what recipe they used if they're cooked in their kitchen without a gluten-free supervisor. Not to mention that I'm the only one in the extended family who keeps kosher and I'm not particularly comfortable eating food cooked in their kitchen to begin with. So why ask them to make the changes at all?

Things are always hectic w/ food prep and serving, and I don't do well w/ noise and crowds- remember I still have Fibromyalgia and I haven't really seen major benefits with the dietary changes yet. So, for me to supervise cooking, or even be in the kitchen helping serve the stuff to take my own portions off first- is really too much for me. I'd do better coming late and leaving early. Or maybe I'll bring a foil packet with a few latkes for myself, or a foil pan with latkes for myself and my kids that we can keep separate from the big plates of Uncle Scott's Famous Latkes.

[ruthla]

The party went remarkably well.

I ate well before leaving, AND I brought my own latkes. It turns out I only ate one latke (but the kids had a few) because there was other stuff I could eat- several different kinds of fish plus the 3 salads my mom brought (she actually brought 4 salads, not 3, and only one had cheese I can't eat.)

Between the lox, the whitefish, the salmon salad, and the tuna salad, and my cousin's devilled eggs, I had plenty to eat. At dessert time, there was some lame fruit salad (all the fruits out of season and not particularly tasty) plus some trail mix that I at the nuts out of.