Thanksgiving Dinner

[puggirl]

Hey just wanted to see how everyone did with Thanksgiving Dinner? Where you able to not eat anything with Gluten in it? I unfortunetly wasnt that strong! I did eat a Small Bread roll. So We will see how that goes in a few days... I hope it'll be ok, but probly not! Anyway I hope everyone was stronger willed then me! and I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

[Green Eyes]

I am so excited and I just have to share!!!

I did it!!! My very first Thanksgiving and I have a wonderful time and I did not get sick - not even a little belly ache!!!

This was no small task. We are talking about 50 people!!! My Mother's family always gets together on Thanksgiving and this is my favorite day out of the year. It just wasn't an option to miss this special day. My Mother (God bless her) informed the right people (evidentially). Everyone was so understanding without having to make a big deal out of it.

As we gathered to have prayer before the meal my cousin (she has a friend that has celiac and was knowledgeable) advised everyone there were "dietary issues" and utensils could only be used in the dishes they were placed in. My Aunt fixed me my special bag of turkey before she put gravy on the rest. I was careful with the items I ate (even had my own special dishes that I had made) and actually survived lunch and dinner!!! My rice krispy treats (made with chex mix) where a hit!!! It was a good thing I hid some back!!!

I'm still not certain when family the celiac comes from (there is still possibilities it could have been both maternal and paternal) and I even had opportunities to educate some of the family without preaching to them. I have an Aunt, 1 cousin and my father which are going to have blood test run because of some symptoms they are having.

Hope everyone else has a positive story to tell!!!

Jennifer

[missy'smom]

This was not my first Thanksgiving gluten-free, but it was my first with diabetes and it went great. I enjoyed our company and still stuck to my meal schedule and simple menu that I have everyday, with the one new dish that I made to share. I didn't feel deprived, but instead was happy that I was able stay on track, even on a holiday when the usual routine gets interrupted. We opened our home to anyone at church who didn't have another place to go. Last year the woman who hosted it had around 30 but this year it was only 6 of us, which was nice. It was potluck with us providing the turkey. All the dishes that were brought by others were gluten-free, by chance.

[Juliebove]

We didn't leave the house. And nobody came over. So we had a simple meal. Husband only likes turkey legs so I did 8 for him in the crockpot and had a couple of smoked ones in case he wanted variety. For my daughter and I, I had sliced turkey breast from Coscto. She wanted stuffing so I made some with leftover gluten-free cornbread. She loved it. I didn't try it because I fouled up and bought turkey broth that said "may contain milk". I'm allergic. I don't much like stuffing anyway. She liked it but I thought it came out oily. Recipe called for a cup of butter. Seemed like a lot. I subbed olive oil because I had no butter, and I used less but there still was a layer of oil on the top. We had mashed potatoes (dairy free), canned green beans, cranberry sauce, cranberry salad and cherry jazz for dessert. Husband didn't like the dessert. I bought some regular chocolate chip cookies for him. I expect him to start whining any time now that there's no pie. But my few attempts at gluten-free pie were not so good and I didn't want to buy a regular pie just for him. Plus there's no room in our fridge for anything else!

[Green Eyes]

I tried a new pie recipe for Thanksgiving and it wasn't so bad. I made a million dollar pie and used gluten free ginger snaps mixed with butter for the crust. It was a crumbled into the pie, but I liked it even better that way. For the center of the pie I just mixed together 1 can of crushed pinapples, a bowl of cool whip, 1 can of evap. milk, and 6 tbls of lemon juice. Just mix it together and pour in the crust. Refrig. and it is ready within a couple of hours.

I'm not dairy free, but there might be some substitutions you could try!!!

Jennifer

[Hummingbird4]

This was my first gluten-free Thanksgiving, and it went amazingly well!!!

We went to my dad's house for brunch. My stepmom is being great about my dietary needs, and she fixed dishes that contained no gluten. And we each made our own omelets. I brought some pumpkin bread made with Pamela's baking/pancake mix (all I have to say is YUM!!!).

Then we had my husband's family over to our house for dinner. My kitchen is completely gluten-free, so I was a little nervous about this, but we pulled it off! I cooked a turkey breast in the crockpot, and gluten-free stuffing in another crockpot using recipes I found here: Open Original Shared Link

They turned out delicious! The turkey breast (Honeysuckle White) came with a gravy packet that was gluten-free, and I added some drippings and some more cornstarch to that and made a delicious gravy. We also bought a spiral sliced ham (Cook's brand, made by Hormel). It came with a glaze packet, and it was so yummy. And I made sweet potatoes with craisins, apples, and a brown sugar topping. My in-laws brought mashed potatoes, spinach salad, and a jello salad. I made a chocolate-pumpkin tart for dessert. All gluten-free, all delicious! It was awesome. I'm so proud of myself!!!

[mamaesq]

Mine went pretty much as I predicted.

My in laws had normal turkey dinner stuffed with regular stuffing (which took a tremendous amount of willpower to avoid because it is soooooo good...fortunately, I won the battle!). I only ate a small bit of turkey because I knew it was contaminated, some mashed potatoes and corn...no gravy.

Then at my parent's house later that evening, my parents also had a regular meal, despite the fact that my mom and I were diagnosed in October and my sister a few weeks ago. I ate some turkey, mashed potatoes, and corn, but I did have some gravy. At least they thickened it with cornstarch....but I knew that even that was contaminated because of the stuffing.

My husband rocked my gluten free world by baking an gluten-free apple pie. It was really good!

I was ok last night, but I spent most of this morning in the bathroom with diarrhea and stomach cramps. I am so glad I didn't get up and go shopping!! I told my mom that I am never again participating in a glutenous holiday dinner. She wanted a normal Thanksgiving dinner because she didn't think it was fair to the other family members.

I'm in charge of Christmas dinner. It WILL be gluten free.

[julirama723]

I made everything 100% gluten-free (even though I'm in the middle of a gluten challenge, I wanted practice with gluten-free holiday foods) and it was great!

I bought a small turkey breast and used the bacon-wrapping idea from another thread. My fiance liked it, and he HATES turkey! For sides we had fresh string beans, homemade whole berry cranberry relish, I had a baked sweet potato (fiance had mashed potatoes), and sweet potato corn bread. For dessert I made flourless chocolate cake, it was AMAZING. It was grain free and could be made casein/lactose-free if you use ghee instead of butter. I also mulled wine (simmered wine with honey, orange, lemon, cinnamon sticks, and cloves) which was WONDERFUL!

Here are the recipes, they're worth a look!!!

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

[lonewolf]

We just finished eating leftovers. Ahhh, I love Thanksgiving!

I made a traditional dinner with just a few modifications:

Turkey

Cornbread stuffing inside the bird

Mashed red potatoes w/skins on

Gravy thickened with cornstarch

Yams with maple syrup and cinnamon

Green beans

Rolls - Pamela's Wheat Free bread mix in muffin tins

Cran-raspberry jello salad

Pumpkin pie made with coconut milk and a gluten free crust

Everything was 100% gluten and dairy free (except for the butter for the rolls). I like cooking everything myself because then we can all eat everything and not miss out on a single yummy tradition. I usually have a house full of people, but it was just the 6 of us and my dairy-free mom.

[Jestgar]

My sis in law is doing thanksgiving today. I just called to find out what time I should come over. She listed all the things that she's made gluten-free, including cornbread stuffing 'cause she used Bob's red mill gluten-free cornbread mix.

She bought regular gravy for her daughter, and is making corn starch thickened gravy for me. She made pumpkin pie for my bro, and some other custard dessert for me (and her, she doesn't like pumpkin pie).

Looking forward to it. :droolface:

[ShayFL]

Mine went very well too. We went over to some friends and there were 13 of us total. There was a ton of food!! Huge turkey...stuffed of course. Mashed potatoes. Veggies. Fresh made bread. And other dishes (Columbians and Ukranians there). I dont know what the dishes were called....LOL

Anyway, at home I roasted a small turkey breast and cut off enough for myself. Wrapped the rest and put in the fridge. I put my portion in a baggie. I made steamed asparagus and pumpkin casserole (like sweet potato with pecan/sweet topping).

When I got there, I got two serving dishes from the host and put some of what I brought on those (therefore avoiding CC). When time to eat, I plated up at my own little sideboard with what remained in my dishes and my little baggie of turkey.

No one noticed this.

I sat and ate foods that others were eating.

PLUS I could take my yummy leftovers home because no one ever dipped out of them. Add to the turkey breast in the fridge and I had food all day today!

[cat3883]

Mine went well too. We drove 7 hours to visit our son and daughter-in-law. I was just diagnosed in October. My daughter-in-law made a gluten free dinner. EVERYTHING on the table was gluten free. She is wonderful. I felt so good after that dinner. I remember in the past I would have to lay down for a few hours from exhaustion. It was gluten all this time. No nap for me!!

[tarnalberry]

I did thanksgiving today. Everything was gluten free, dairy free, and moderately low fat. The meal was also, as a whole, vegetarian friendly and low-carb friendly, not to mention friendly to my husband's particular tastes.

Starters:

Mediterranean Lentil Soup

Mixed Greens with Pomegranate, Apple, Pear, and Clementine with a Berry Vinaigrette

Main Course:

Apple-Cranberry Sauce

Herb Roasted Turkey

Turkey Gravy

Savory Mushroom Rice Stuffing

Roasted Garlic Rosemary Potatoes

Roasted Cauliflower

Sauteed Green Beans

Dessert:

Baked Cinnamon Apples

Green Tea Ice Cream

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

Make-able by one person, in one day (well, I did make the ice cream ahead of time). Everyone (10 of us total) loved everything, and it was made in large enough quantities, there are definitely lots of leftovers.

Thanksgiving is one of the easiest "big meals" to make gluten free, in my book.

[ang1e0251]

We had a great Thanksgiving, nearly all gluten-free. We baked our normal bacon turkey but DH forgot to start the oven. In the morniing, I started the oven and everything turned out fine. My Mom invited my niece and family to eat also and it was a nice group with my two at home for the meal. They had dinner rolls and I made my own gravy. I did make stuffing for them in Mom's oven out of the bird though. I didn't want any. I made the Green Bean Casserole gluten-free from the other thread. THank YOU it was yummy! Then I made a peach pie that everyone loves. I just added the gluten-free four blend to my old crust recipe from the back of the Crisco can. Very good. I think next time Ill double the amount as we like a thick crust and add a tablespoon of sugar. It was good, good, good.

Today we've been invited to another dinner at my sister's in laws. THey have about 60 people and I'm going to take my own food, in case. Mom made baked apples gluten-free so I can have some dessert. I may eat some of their food, if I feel safe. All my sister's kids and families will be there so it's a good time to see everyone.

[taweavmo3]

Just wanted to chime in here.....we had a gluten/casein free Thanksgiving for 8, and it went great! Here is what we had:

Turkey w/cornbread stuffing

Wild rice and sausage stuffing

Mashed potatoes (almond milk/smart balance butter)

Sweet potato casserole

Peas w/ cream sauce

Cranberry relish

Brown sugar ham

Lemon layer cake....totally not a t-day dessert, but VERY delish (from Annelise Roberts cookbook)

Oh, and dh and I had some hot buttered rum after the cooking was finished, lol.

The best part about this meal, was not feeling sick the next day! I usually cave and have a little dairy around the holidays, then pay for it the next day. I stuck to my guns this year, and it was so worth it. Happy holidays everyone!

[JNBunnie1]

Oh, and dh and I had some hot buttered rum after the cooking was finished, lol.

The best part about this meal, was not feeling sick the next day! I usually cave and have a little dairy around the holidays, then pay for it the next day. I stuck to my guns this year, and it was so worth it. Happy holidays everyone!

Out of curiosity, how'd you manage the hot buttered rum casein-free?

[MollyBeth]

I had a great day!!! I was a guest at a friends house. They were very understanding and even made a separate turkey breast on the grill that wasn't stuffed with dressing! It was so good most of the people actually ate it instead of the traditional turkey!!!

[nasalady]

This was my first gluten-free Thanksgiving and I'm really happy and proud of myself for accomplishing what I set out to accomplish.

If you want to know what we ate and see the recipes, please feel free to visit my blog:

Open Original Shared Link

It's a brand-new blog and I'm still trying to get it in shape.

It wasn't easy making an entire Thanksgiving meal gluten free, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be either. And it was definitely worth it!

JoAnn

[ANDOBEAR]

I had my first gluten free Thanksgiving! We had 4 Celiacs at the house so the entire meal was completely gluten free! The best part is that nobody missed a thing...even the gluten eaters. We had tons of food and a variety of delicious things for everyone to enjoy. Here is a list of the amazing food we had...all completely homemade:

starters:

stuffed dates wrapped in bacon

cheese platter with various crackers

bread basket with pumpkin bread, gingerbread, cornbread

stuffed artichokes

stuffed celery

deviled eggs

main meal:

creamy corn soup

endive salad

turkey

cornbread sausage stuffing

sweet potato casserole

string beans

homemade cran-raspberry sauce

mashed potatoes

squash

turnip

honey glazed carrots

gravy

oranges stuffed with orange sorbet

dessert:

cupcakes

brownies

blondies

pumpkin pie with gingersnap crust

chocolate cream pie

pecan pie

apple pie

eggnog custard pie

half moon cookies

It was a lot of work but it was sooooo worth it to be able to eat anything we wanted. my aunt was thrilled since this is the first time in years she could walk into a house and eat without interrogating the hostess. It was the best!!!

[marjean]

This year I am making stuffed turkey w/ gluten free bread, or I may try a corn bread stuffing, green bean caserole..yes u can make it gluten free!, sweet potatoes in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, gravy for our guests(I have gerd and cant eat gravy of any kind), relishes, etc..for dessert a chhesecake w/pumpkin pie on the top(w/ gluten free graham cracker crust), a chocolate cream pie(for my son and me.. ), and a apple pie for the guests..There are gluten free rolls, but I dont like them..so there ylou have it.