Gluten-free Thanksgiving

[KahleFamily]

I just found out I am highly intollerant to gluten, dairy and eggs, and also somewhat intollerant to soy.

This is the first year that I am supposed to cook a Thanksgiving dinner with many guests who haven't got problems with gluten. Three of these guests are the old-fashioned major carb eaters--they eat TONS of bread, and other unhealthy tasty comfort foods that make me SICK .

So not only is this my FIRST thanksgiving to cook for, but also my FIRST gluten-free Thanksgiving.

Does anyone have any good recipes that will keep me from getting sick and that will *hopefully* somewhat satisfy the grandparents?

I will be cooking:

The turkey, with stuffing

Turkey Gravy

Mashed Potatoes

I have a great home made pumpkin pie filling recipe (will post), but I need to make a crust

Possibly more, depending on responses and my mood

[momxyz]

hi, I'm in the pits with you, as this will also be my first gluten free Thanksgiving! (though I've hosted Thanksgiving many times before).

Yes, figuring it all out is a bit overwhelming...

One thing my husband and I were thinking of was preparing 2 smaller birds instead of 1 big one. My mother in law likes to contribute to our holiday meals, so we were thinking of inviting her to make her traditional bird and stuffing.

Then we will make a second bird. We actually have a turkey fryer; they do come out delicious. So that's one option. The other is to do a traditional stuffed bird in our oven, using a gluten free bread for the stuffiing. I've only bought two kinds of gluten-free bread before, they seemed really heavy (ended up turning most of it to bread crumbs). So I will be looking for suggestions for breads that won't make a stuffing that goes down like a ton of bricks.

I was also thinking of making a stuffing that's a combination of gluten-free bread and cooked brown rice, celery,onion, and the traditional seasonings.

If I do a stuffed bird then I'll use the pan juices from the roaster to make my gravy. I will be using cornstarch for thickening.

And squash..... gotta have squash..... lots of squash! (if you can't tell its one of my favorite foods on the planet.)

Mashed potatoes from scratch aren't a problem with regards to gluten but I don't know how to help you around the dairy part (my whipped potatoes are made with butter and milk.) If I had a dairy problem, I'd just leave the potatoes for my guests and eat more squash!

[missy'smom]

Homemade cranberry sauce is free of anything you can't have and most any regular recipe needs no adjusting.

If you don't find a pie crust recipe that suits you, you can always make pumpkin custard-just bake the filling without the crust in a greased dish. Set the dish in another dish and fill with hot water half way up the sides of the dish that your filling is in. I made individual ones for Ds not long ago. Just as yummy.

I'm thinking that the usual sweet potato casserole with the marshmallow topping could be made easily, with just a sub. for the butter-Earthbalance makes a soy-free spread now.

Apple or pear and cranberry crisp for dessert. Here's the topping recipe I use. https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.ph...amp;mode=linear

[purple]

I use any df milk for mashed potatoes. The first time I tried it they were really sticky. I heard on T.V. to rinse the starch off before mashing. I never had the sticky problem with dairy milk (never rinsed them and never let them sit before mashing). But what I found out was to mash them right away after draining b/c if they sit awhile before mashing they will be sticky...so it must not have been the df milk I used but the "sitting", waiting to be mashed.

You could try a gluten-free/vegan cookie crumb crust. I use them for a pumpkin cheesecake.

You could make a pre-thanksgiving dinner for practice...I used to do it every October, after I got married.

[momxyz]

apple-cranberry crisp! I am salivating. I think I will be starting a new holiday tradition.

I have also baked the pumpkin pie filling like a custard before. I didn't bother with the water filled pan thing, but did bake in an a thick pottery dish rather than a regular pie plate.

Deserts are now taken care of! thanks missy's mom.

purple, if we decide the gluten free turkey is going to be stuffed, I am definitely doing a dry run!

[tarnalberry]

Turkeys are easy to cook - some spices, wrap in foil (to keep moist and juicy), use a temperature probe (sensor goes in the turkey as you cook, connects to a reader outside the oven, and beeps when it hits the temperature you set - never over cook a turkey again!), and in the oven it goes. Yes, you'll want to check time tables (and the foil causes the turkey to cook a tiny bit faster). Let sit for 20-30min after coming out of the oven. Boom - perfect turkey!

There are a gaggle of recipes on the site for stuffing. I make stuffing with brown rice and mushrooms, cooked in a pot outside of the turkey Brown and Wild Rice Mushroom Stuffing. Not only is it easier, but it's MUCH more sanitary NOT to stuff the turkey.

Making the gravy is easy once the turkey is made - use a baster to remove juices from the bottom of the turkey pan, and put it in a pot. Either add water for a less intense gravy, or keep as is. Mix a little cornstarch or sweet rice flour with cold water, then add this mixture to a gently simmering pot of juices. Let simmer for a minute or two - adjusting thickness as desired with more or less starch/water mix - and you're done!

On the same thread as linked above, you'll find a recipe for Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, but I will just as often just make oven roasted rosemary potatoes (not mashed), or sweet potato fries, or mashed sweet potatoes with pumpkin.

Making cranberry sauce from scratch is also easy, and WAY better than canned. (All my thanksgiving recipes are on that thread.)

I'll usually make some variety of greens - chard with roasted beets is a good one, but sometimes just sauteed green beans.

Starters are usually bean soup, and a mixed green salad.

Dessert is usually baked apples (literally, apple pie filling, without the crust - you can always get a premade gluten free crust (depending on where you live) and use that. Some times I'll make pumpkin pie as well.

All of this is made gluten and dairy and soy free, and usually very low fat for my father in law who is on the Ornish diet.

It's a full day of cooking, but hey, that's what happens with twelve dishes for 6-10 people!

[Juliebove]

I've never cooked a turkey from scratch. We don't like it that well, so just breast for daughter and I and legs for my husband. I do the legs in the crockpot.

As for the stuffing, the only time I tried to make it gluten-free, the people who didn't need to eat it liked it but daughter didn't. The following year we just had wild rice and no stuffing.

For the pies, you could do crustless or make a nut crust.

I have made mashed potatoes with turkey broth instead of milk or more recently just mashed them really well and added plenty of Nucoa margarine.

We always have plenty of raw vegetables and olives at our Thanksgiving meal and that's mainly what I fill up. Those things are truly my favorite.

[soulcurrent]

The last couple of years I've made a pumpkin bread for my family as my single contribution to Thanksgiving (my dad resists any outside influence in his masterpiece). I found a recipe for a gluten-free version that I'm going to try out this year

Open Original Shared Link

For other recipes I've also been turning to this website: Open Original Shared Link

The recipes aren't all gluten free (she identifies them with tags) but she's hilarious and its worth reading the non-gluten-free stuff also. Lots of good sweet potato recipes in there, good for a side dish.

[Wolicki]

I used to be somewhat of a gourmet chef before gluten sucked the joy out of cooking for me. I've been giving this some thought and her are my ideas:

My Mom always made cornbread dressing. Cornbread(crumbled), couple slices of white bread (toasted), sauteed celery and onions and chicken broth. Add poultry seasoning and eggs (replace with egg sub or applesauce! Use gluten-free cornbread mix and Udi's gluten-free white bread and I am sure it will be delicious. PM me if you would like exact proportions.

Whole Foods makes gluten-free pie crusts- in the frozen section next to the gluten-free bread. So you could have a regular pumpkin pie.

Cranberry cream is a good dessert. The easy way in to take a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and mix in with a small container of cool whip. Put in a dish and freeze it. Slice into chunks and your family will be fighting over it.

If you can cook with butter, the Martha Stewart Turkey is great. Baste with a bottle of White Zinfandel, chicken broth and butter over cheesecloth. Again, PM me if you want details.

Whirled sweet potatoes are yum, cinammon and brown sugar mixed in.

That's the most thinking I've done about cooking in 4 months! Thank you for the opportunity to share something I used to love

[KahleFamily]

I used to be somewhat of a gourmet chef before gluten sucked the joy out of cooking for me. I've been giving this some thought and her are my ideas:

My Mom always made cornbread dressing. Cornbread(crumbled), couple slices of white bread (toasted), sauteed celery and onions and chicken broth. Add poultry seasoning and eggs (replace with egg sub or applesauce! Use gluten-free cornbread mix and Udi's gluten-free white bread and I am sure it will be delicious. PM me if you would like exact proportions.

Whole Foods makes gluten-free pie crusts- in the frozen section next to the gluten-free bread. So you could have a regular pumpkin pie.

Cranberry cream is a good dessert. The easy way in to take a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and mix in with a small container of cool whip. Put in a dish and freeze it. Slice into chunks and your family will be fighting over it.

If you can cook with butter, the Martha Stewart Turkey is great. Baste with a bottle of White Zinfandel, chicken broth and butter over cheesecloth. Again, PM me if you want details.

Whirled sweet potatoes are yum, cinammon and brown sugar mixed in.

That's the most thinking I've done about cooking in 4 months! Thank you for the opportunity to share something I used to love

I still LOVE to cook, and share my talent for cooking with others. You shouldn't look at it as losing something you love, but as a new challenge. Through trial and error I have discovered some GREAT recipes for gluten free pizza, breads, brownies etc. I discovered that I relied heavily on cheese and grains before (I am itallian) to make tasty recipes. Now I am having to learn to go without anything similar to cheese-all cheeses, real or dairy free, either have something in them I can't eat, or taste terrible.

Keep your chin up, life is an adventure, sometimes the only way for us to realize this is for us to be pushed out of our usual box.

[KahleFamily]

This is the pumpkin pie/custard recipe that my family has used for years (don

[momxyz]

hey there, your "experiments" sound awesome, and I love your enthusiasm. thanks to everyone else too, for their suggestions.

For our family, its decided, we are doing 2 turkeys. Grandma is going to do her traditional bird with her traditional stuffing. And me , I will be doing the "experirmental bird" with a gluten-free stuffing. Basicallky trying to replace the regular bread in my old recipe with gluten-free bread, or a combo of gluten-free bread and rice.

ya know, I had been looking ahead to the holidays with a certain amount of fear and trepidation.... now I am feeling like its a pleasant challenge

[gluten-kills]

I know this is not a graham cracker type of crust but they may have one. I really like the gluten free pantry pie crust!!! Its like a regular pie crust!

And i had a stuffing recipe save from a couple of years ago that was pretty good but i am not sure if we still have it. YOu may be able to find it on here from posts a long time ago because this is where i got it!!!

[momxyz]

well , that was one of my ideas, to search this site under the topic of "stuffing"

[KahleFamily]

This is the pumpkin pie/custard recipe that my family has used for years (don

[KahleFamily]

well , that was one of my ideas, to search this site under the topic of "stuffing"

Ah, good idea! I am fairly new to this site, and I am still finding all the goodies in the nooks and crannies. I must say, that out of all the celiac sites, this one is my favorite. There is SO much information on it!

[ang1e0251]

I will post my recipe that I shared last year for the easiest and best tasting turkey ever. When we moved to Flagstaff, AZ my husband worked in a 4 star hotel and naturally became friendly with the chef. Natually because my husband is always looking out for his stomach! The chef taught him this method to cook the turkey which he has done every year since.

Defrost your turkey and remove the giblets. I make a broth with these for the stuffing then discard. Place your turkey in the roaster and lay strips of bacon all acros the tops. Lace the bacon back and forth until you use the entire package. Then spread pepper generously over the bacon. Now if you want stuffing, prepare it and stuff into the bird's cavity. Cover with the roaster lid and place in the oven on 250 - 275 degrees THE NIGHT BEFORE!!

The bird is going to slow cook all night. We put in into the oven about 10ish. The whole house will fill with delicious smell of turkey baking and in the morning you will be fighting over the bacon! About 1 - 2 hours before you want to serve, turn the heat up to 350 degrees and remove the lid so it can finish baking and brown.

You will not be getting up at 4 a.m. to stuff a bird. You do not have to baste this every 1/2 hour. It is self basting. It will be super tender and juicy. You will have to use a broth or alternative for gravy as the bacon and turkey drippings do not set up well.

Good luck resisting this bird until time to eat! We usually snitch so much it's hard to keep an appetite!!

[homemaker]

I just wanted to chime in with a recipe I found using gluten-free Gingersnaps...

I hear that it is great for pumpkin pie?

gluten-free Gingersnap Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients:

* 2 cups ground gluten-free ginger snap cookies (35 to 38 cookies)

* 2 Tbsp sugar

* 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Put the cookies and the sugar into your food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs. Then add butter and pulse until moist clumps form.

Press the crumb mixture into bottom and up the sides of a lightly greased pie plate.

Bake until golden, about 8 minutes. Let cool.

[KahleFamily]

I just wanted to chime in with a recipe I found using gluten-free Gingersnaps...

I hear that it is great for pumpkin pie?

gluten-free Gingersnap Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients:

* 2 cups ground gluten-free ginger snap cookies (35 to 38 cookies)

* 2 Tbsp sugar

* 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Put the cookies and the sugar into your food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs. Then add butter and pulse until moist clumps form.

Press the crumb mixture into bottom and up the sides of a lightly greased pie plate.

Bake until golden, about 8 minutes. Let cool.

WHAT AN AWESOME IDEA!!! Thanks!

[lisa25]

For pie crust I use Betty Crocker's recipe with substitutions to make it gluten, dairy, and soy free. I usually use Bob's Red Mill Flour Mix, Spectrum Palm Shortening, and a touch of butter flavoring for the substitutions...next time I might try the new soy free Earthbalance for the shortening. I have also found it takes about twice the amount of cold water as the original "gluten" recipe. I roll the dough between waxed paper and then lift off one side, transfer to the pie plate and then remove the other piece of waxed paper.

[BethJ]

I will post my recipe that I shared last year for the easiest and best tasting turkey ever. When we moved to Flagstaff, AZ my husband worked in a 4 star hotel and naturally became friendly with the chef. Natually because my husband is always looking out for his stomach! The chef taught him this method to cook the turkey which he has done every year since.

Defrost your turkey and remove the giblets. I make a broth with these for the stuffing then discard. Place your turkey in the roaster and lay strips of bacon all acros the tops. Lace the bacon back and forth until you use the entire package. Then spread pepper generously over the bacon. Now if you want stuffing, prepare it and stuff into the bird's cavity. Cover with the roaster lid and place in the oven on 250 - 275 degrees THE NIGHT BEFORE!!

The bird is going to slow cook all night. We put in into the oven about 10ish. The whole house will fill with delicious smell of turkey baking and in the morning you will be fighting over the bacon! About 1 - 2 hours before you want to serve, turn the heat up to 350 degrees and remove the lid so it can finish baking and brown.

You will not be getting up at 4 a.m. to stuff a bird. You do not have to baste this every 1/2 hour. It is self basting. It will be super tender and juicy. You will have to use a broth or alternative for gravy as the bacon and turkey drippings do not set up well.

Good luck resisting this bird until time to eat! We usually snitch so much it's hard to keep an appetite!!

Mmmmmm this sounds so good! It reminds me of a Cuban roast turkey I made one year for Christmas. Stuffing is not an issue because you toss potatoes into the pan an hour or so before the bird is done. My grandmother who was very traditional raved about this turkey and thought it was the best she ever had. The bacon really does give it a nice flavor.

It's also naturally gluten-free!

This originally came from The Miami Herald . . .

Cuban Roast Turkey

1 12 to 14-lb. turkey, thawed

2 stick butter, softened

3 tsp. oregano

2 to 3 large cloves garlic, minced fine

3 to 4 large onions, sliced 1/4" thick

6 to 8 sour oranges (or equal parts regular orange juice &

lime juice)

1 pound bacon

8 potatoes, peeled and quartered

Beat the butter, oregano and garlic into a paste. Rub into the turkey, inside and out. Place turkey in roasting pan. Slice onions and drape rings over turkey and inside cavity. Place the remainder in bottom of pan. Wrap entire turkey in bacon strips. Squeeze the juice of 1 orange over the turkey; place the used orange halves in the cavity.

Place a foil tent over turkey and bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours, depending upon weight. Baste every 30 minutes with fresh juice squeezed from an orange and any pan juices that may have accumulated.

An hour before turkey is done, remove the foil and place the peeled potatoes around the turkey. Let sit 20 minutes before carving.

[JNBunnie1]

Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE!!!! I've been doing my own Thanksgiving on Saturday for a few years now, so I can just bring my own food to family houses.

Standard menu in the Bunnie household on Thanksgiving:

Turkey

mashed taters

mashed sweet potato/squash casserole

broccoli with cheese sauce

garlic green beans

stuffing

gravy

chebe rolls

crescent rolls

cornbread

corn & peas -my favorite together

baked carrots

Desserts

I do turkey the easy way- rub inside the skin with lots of butter and leave little pats all over, season, turn upside down, fill with chunks of butter and hunks of onion, and roast upside down. My white meat came out mushy it was so tender. I'll post more later about the other stuff I do!

[tmbarke]

I'm so glad that this issue was addressed.

Every year I make the Thanksgiving dinner for my family get togethers (and transport it to their location). *can be messy during a sharp turn* lol

This year I have had millions of thoughts going thru my mind and nothing concrete.

Our company gives Spartan Turkeys each year so I inquired if it was gluten free.......yes! it is!

I searched the sites and found a cornbread stuffing recipe or 'how to gluten-free' it. I usually make a cornbread stuffing with sausage! Oh is it ever good!

My dilemma is searching for the ingredients that are safe ...... I want to do that again this year.

The only sausage available in my area that is gluten free is the Jennie-O Turkey breakfast sausage roll.

So now I'm gonna need to figure out how to make the cornbread.

Does anyone have a really good cornbread recipe that holds up? I won't be using that in the brid but rather in a bowl on the side completed about 20 min before bird is ready.

I have only tried one gluten free baking attempt and that was the Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie mix.......didn't work for me at all! They were flat and fell apart! (guess I'll use them for a crumb topping or maybe they'll work for a pie crust?)

Anywho.......I decided to just have dinner at my home with my brother and invite my mother over to join us........I don't think people will bring THEIR own food if I bring the gluten-free meal.......lol!

[missy'smom]

I've had some flops with cookies too. Sprinkle them on some icecream!

[ang1e0251]

I think the crumbly cookies would make an awesome crust to cheesecake!