First Thanksgiving Since Diagnosis

[Jennifer2]

After reading other people's thanksgiving dilemas, I realize I have the most amazing friends!

I went to a friend's house for thanksgiving dinner, and the whole dinner was virtually gluten free!

We even ended up having lamb instead of turkey, because when my friend went to get the turkey from the store, they were all out of frozen turkeys. They had some pre-cooked turkeys, but when she read the ingredients, she noticed caramel color and remembered once I mentioned that was a possible source of hidden gluten (which I know now would have probably been okay, but she didn't know that!). We had sweet potatoes, calvacitas, salad, cranberries and I brought gluten free pies. The only thing I couldn't eat was the stuffing-her hubbies fav-I told her not to change it since it's his thanksgiving too. But even with that, she made sure everything else was covered up when she made it. Also, if she had a fork or spoon that she wasn't sure what she'd previously used it for, it went into the dishwasher and she grabbed a new one.

I have to say I'm truely blessed with the friends that I have. I've had other experiences where we all get together for a "pot luck" style dinner, and everyone will try to bring at least 1 thing that I can eat, and no one even flinches if I ask how something was made.

It probably helps that many of my friends are pHD level biologists, so they definately understand autoimmune disorders/antibodies etc...and most importantly, that yes, just a little bit of something is enough to cause a whole immune cascade

So, while I'm feeling a bit bloated right now, I'm 100% sure it's from how much I ate and not what I ate

Jennifer

[Wolicki]

Very cool, Jennifer! Thanks for sharing! This makes up for all those inconsiderate FAMILY members that have been posted about. You are a lucky girl!!

[Roda]

That sounds awesome. Great friends. We have not eaten out at our friends house since I was diagnosed last year. I have eaten at my parent's house and my inlaws without any problems. I have to brag a little bit too. My husband, my two boys and I had a great Thanksgiving dinner at home. It was nice just the four of us. My husband brined our turkey breast overnight in a mixture of salt, sugar, basil, rosemary and applejuice. He smoked it with apple wood and then rosted it in the oven. I basted it once with honey. It was very moist and juicy and really had a good taste. I had steamed butterd carrots, fruit salad, rice with gravy and brazillian cheese bread to go with it. I made a crustless pumpkin pie (kids don't give a hoot about the crust anyway) and a cherry delight desert. I made the crust out of a mixture of sorghum and coconut flour, shredded coconut, chopped pecans, coconut oil and honey. I think I liked it better than the old graham cracker crust. Hubby and I ended up with a belly ache from eating so much of it.

[nmlove]

That is truly awesome! I'm so happy for you. I've a great friend too who thinks of my boys (gluten-free) and me (dairy/soy free). It's so great to know I can trust her and that she's so willing to do this for us.

[freeatlast]

Thanks for sharing positive vibes. We all so need those. I had a positive experience yesterday, too. My niece even asked for my recipe for the Caraway Soda Bread from Bette Hagman's recipe book. I told her she could probably just substitute wheat flour. She said no she liked the rice flour and would go to Whole Foods and buy some and make the rice flour mix. Pretty cool! She's a med students. Who knows? She could end up helping lots of people

[GottaSki]

What a wonderful story...you certainly have a great friend there.

If you ever host them on Thanksgiving, I can say our first gluten-free Thanksgiving went great with everything traditional served. Only adjustment I made was using a loaf of cornbread crumbled instead of the stuffing cubes I used to use for our favorite traditional stuffing. Everyone thought it was even better -- must be that we made the cornbread too - made it the day before TG.

I hope everyone had a fantastic gluten-free Thanksgiving!!!