Who Survived Thanksgiving?

[Skylark]

Is it cheating that I had it with my folks and Mom is gluten-free too? Turkey, cornbread stuffing, corn starch gravy, sweet potatoes, broccoli, baked apples, cranberry sauce, and crustless pumpkin pie.

[precious831]

Mine wasn't so good. I went to my sister's and before hand she said the turkey was gluten-free and also DF. Well when I got there, I got a different answer. So I almost starved, I'm glad I brought sweet potato fries, I ate that. Oh and I cheated and ate rice (I'm grain-free)with some pork stew that my mom made and brought from her house. I still feel sick.

My sis said it was just too much work for her and BIL to make the foods gluten-free. I don't care, I just wish they gave me enough warning! When we are about to eat is not the time to tell me that it's not gluten and dairy-free. *smh.

I brought food for my DD who is also celiac but I didn't bring anything for me, save for the sweet potato fries, which was actually hers too but I ate most of it.

This was my 2nd Thanksgiving having celiac. I can't even remember how it was last year, I think I brought my own food.

[polarbearscooby]

We are having our Thanksgiving Day on Wednesday, we are going to Longhorn Steak house because my parent's want to give me a break from cooking

I'll let you know how it goes....

[notme]

this was my first gluten-free thanxgiving. usually, we have a packed house - my sister and her family come down and stay for the week. this year, our brother was able to come as well along with his family. oh, boy, i'm thinking getting zapped is gonna be pretty unavoidable NOT SO!!!!! i had great kitchen help (husband, sis, bil) with some minor adjustments and recipe tweaking, everybody ate delicious food and i didn't get cc'd! yayyy!

now, keep in mind everyone arrived monday night, so we planned 'suppers only' (with lots of snackies inbetween) for tues, wed, thurs - every other meal was fend for thyself...

TUES: "ugly turkey" (used rub & marinade for usual deep-fried bird but roasted it instead)

cheese & crackers

raw veggies & dip

baked ziti

eggplant parm

stuffed jalapenos

WED: cold cut platter (boar's head!!)

deviled eggs

shrimp cocktail

olive garden salad

rolls & bread (OK I FORGOT TO GET THE BREAD LOL)

THURS: stuffed mushrooms (w/italian sausage, mozz & parmesan chz)

pineapple, ham & cream chz spread w/crackers

the 'must have!' pickle tray according to my husband haha

turkey & gravy

cornbread/apple/sausage dressing (not in bird, needed something... but ok...)

mashed taters

carrots

sweet potato casserole (w/pecans yummmm)(who needs dessert??)

rutabagas

cranberry sauce

"poison" crescent rolls

dessert: pumpkin custard pie w/(MI-DEL mmmmmm) gingersnap crust. lol it turned out ok but not very pretty, as i combined two recipes to come up with the pie filling and i made the crust with 'fake' butter so it turned into sticky goo after awhile. still ate it. then i bought another bag of gingersnaps a few days ago and it included recipes for the crust and the pie filling. right there. so, problem solved for next year

the 'kids' took a few trips to fast food (traitors) but all in all it went rather well. my sis said she actually ate all she cared to eat and still lost weight (she is always trying to drop 20 lbs). hmmmmmm....

[bincongo]

My first gluten free Thanksgiving and I was very pleased with the results. I cooked dinner at my daughter's house since she just had a baby. Our whole family got together and it was a wonderful get together. I cooked and everything was gluten free except a store bought pumpkin pie. My son-in-law made the stuffing with gluten free cornbread and he said he liked it as well as his usual gluten cornbread. I made the best sweet potato casserole from the Living Without magazine.

Now my biggest problem is missing Christmas parties because so many aren't gluten free. That is the biggest thing that makes me sad this year. Sometimes I think of going and bringing my own food but that isn't much fun.

[*Tinkerbell]

Hi, all!

My situation is a little weird, so I'll start at the beginning.

My friend & her 3 kids were diagnosed with celiac (she has two genetic markers!) about 3 years ago. Since then I have been experimenting with the flours & starches, learning about the diet & what products are safe for them. I test, create & write a newspaper column on recipes for a living, so exploring the world of gluten-free was fun for me. My mom (in another state) has also been playing around with gluten-free ingredients, helping me find good recipes for my friend. It just so happens that my mom went to school (same graduating class) with my friend's father.

Anyway, over the last few years we've done the eating & most of the cooking at her house. I have collected a small assortment of kitchen basics that I keep entirely gluten-free for prep or cooking. She's one that is extremely sensitive to any CC so I do prefer to do the cooking at her house, just in case. But she has trusted me with her kids & when I made them homemade gluten-free chicken nuggets she ended up eating them herself & really liking them (and not getting sick). Since she has family that doesn't respect or understand her need to avoid CC, our family has joined hers for the last two years at Thanksgiving & we've made gluten-free holiday meals. I think, by far, this year's meal was the best & here's what we did:

Together we made Alton Brown's recipe for brined turkey (with gluten-free broth and fresh herbs)

I made homemade gravy from the drippings & using gluten-free A/P flour

I made stuffing with gluten-free bread & sausage

I made two chocolate chip mint ice cream pies, using gluten-free chocolate cake for crust & gluten-free ice cream & frosting

I made pumpkin pie with gluten free pie crust

I made gluten-free French bread (I modified my dinner roll recipe to gluten-free last year, so wanted to try something new this time)

She made sweet potatoes

She made green beans with gluten-free turkey bacon

She made mashed potatoes

She had lots of gluten-free wine on hand!

We had an amazing holiday and they ate up all the leftovers without getting sick! I'm so, so careful, yet still worry about CC. You know?

The strangest thing about this story, is that the Monday after the holiday I got my blood test results back and am positive for Celiac! I had been seeing an Endocrinologist for hyperthyroid (Graves Disease) & just threw in a request that he test for Celiac on the last blood draw. I don't have the symptoms my friend does (tummy issues) or the evidence of damage based on the last scope, but I have been diagnosed with a diverticuloma and my MD thought maybe that was why I am so severely anemic. Now, we think it's more probable that Celiac disease is the reason.

Fortunately, I've already gotten comfortable cooking gluten-free & am not freaking out at the shear enormity of this diet change, but honestly, the prospect of making it permanent IS freaking me out. Mainly because I won't be able to test & create & write about all the different recipes we're used to trying. Even though I've written about gluten-free recipes in the past, the majority of my audience is not (or doesn't know that they are) gluten-intolerant.

*Tink

[luvs2eat]

Mine was a piece of cake... or pecan pie, that is. I made everything myself except the pumpkin pie my neighbor brought... and as I don't care for pumpkin pie... all the gluten eaters were happy.

I made:

Turkey

sausage, apple, cornbread, pamela's bread stuffing/dressing

gravy

mashed potatoes

green beans w/ slivered almonds

homemade challah bread (w/ gluten... none for me!)

pecan pie (gluten-free) and pumpkin pie (gluten)

Plus we had different cheeses and crackers w/ a cranberry chutney and raw veggies w/ a caramelized shallot/bleu cheese dip for appetizers

Everything was delicious... but I think my favorite meal is the turkey tettrazini I always make on Sunday night after Thanksgiving!!

[bridgetm]

I was really nervous about going to my aunt's for dinner (I ate a small meal beforehand just in case) but it actually went really well. My aunt has been more conscious of what she eats herself lately so while my uncle was roasting a giant turkey stuffed with gluten, she made a small free-range, additive-free chicken which we kept to ourselves at one end of the table. My mom handed me the mashed potatoes before everyone had settled in so I got the first not-CC'd scoop of potatoes and of the carrots (sweetened with some brown sugar... yum!) and the salads we brought from home. While everyone else loaded up on pecan and pumpkin pies, cookies and ice cream, my aunt and I commandeered the fruit bowl. And, of course, the gluten-free wine was flowing.

It turned out to be the best meal I've had in a while (not that the bar was set very high after my dorm room meals of white rice and eggs) and I was awarded what was left of the free-range bird to bring home for the obligatory leftover sandwich