Glutened Serving Other Gluteny Food?

[rachbomb]

I've been gluten-free for 6 months now and I'm finally starting to get the hang of it and feel better (after dropping dairy, soy, peanut butter and peppers along the way and only eating non-processed foods). That being said, I think I've been glutened at least twice now serving other people foods that contain gluten! I know I am pretty sensitive but I washed my hands REPEATEDLY and kept my food totally separate. Has anyone else had this problem? I've gotten pretty comfortable bringing my own food everywhere and being careful for myself. My husband is super supportive and we rarely have gluten in our house unless we have company over. Thoughts????

[GlutenFreeManna]

I have found I cannot touch gluten foods without getting glutened. If your house is gluten-free why do you feel the need to serve your guests gluten? There are so many meals that are naturally gluten-free and do not require bread to go with the meal. Desserts and sweet breads are also very easy to make gluten-free and your guests may not even know they are eating gluten-free unless you tell them.

[rachbomb]

I have found I cannot touch gluten foods without getting glutened. If your house is gluten-free why do you feel the need to serve your guests gluten? There are so many meals that are naturally gluten-free and do not require bread to go with the meal. Desserts and sweet breads are also very easy to make gluten-free and your guests may not even know they are eating gluten-free unless you tell them.

Thanks for the response. It is so hard to be so sensitive, but I must be considering this is not the first time this has happened. You are very right, I probably just needed someone else to say it. My husband and I eat a lot of wonderful meals that are gluten free. Most others aren't as understanding as my husband but I suppose they don't have to know they are eating gluten-free

[T.H.]

Most others aren't as understanding as my husband but I suppose they don't have to know they are eating gluten-free

We run into the same thing. I sometimes find it hard to have people over and not feel, I dunno, bad that they have to eat with my diet. Which is really ridiculous, when you think about it. Everybody eats whatever their hosts make, right? Right now, I'm trying to come up with food that everyone can enjoy, and we never have to mention the gluten free thing except in the manner of 'don't worry about bringing over any food. We'll provide it all.'

One thing that can help avoid an unpleasant dinner if you have guests (aka family) that might be give you crap about gluten free food might be to make a meal from another country that has no gluten normally.

Asian cuisine is a great one for this. Thai Kitchen has a lot of sauces that are gluten free and can help with this, if you want to go Thai. Broccoli beef is usually pretty easy to do with rice for a chinese flair. Fish based dishes are easy with gluten free soy sauce for japanese dishes. Oh, and coconut based soups can go well if you're going for thai food or Indonesian, sometimes, too.

Mochi is a completely rice based dessert that is not too hard to make (on boxes of sweet rice flour, they even usually have a recipe), if you want to have an asian flavor for the entire night (this one is japanese, but I don't know how common it is elsewhere in Asia.).

Indian you can do too, if you use rice rather than naan bread, which isn't unheard of. A real simple one would be cubed fried potatoes, fried with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and maybe a little chile pepper (or coriander instead, if you don't like spicy). Then fry little bits of chicken, and fry little bits of beef (separately), the same way, except add ginger when you cook the two meats. Maybe vary the spices a bit. Do a few other veggies if you want. Then you serve these in little bowls and everyone gets a heap of rice and puts what they want from various dishes over the rice.

Ethiopian food can go over well too - just look up 'traditional' injera bread - it's a flat bread that's based on teff, and is fermented so it gets a slightly sour taste like sourdough bread. Flexible tortilla type product, and you use it to scoop up meat and lentil dishes and eat them that way. Very yummy! Oh, you want traditional bread because the modern recipes tend to have flour added.

Greek food can work out, too, if you make your own falafel with no flour, get some gluten-free hummus or make your own, meat (lamb works) and maybe some tzatziki sauce (yogurt and cucumber sauce/dip, if you're unfamiliar with it), or a little salad.

Of course, if you have folks that are more meat and potatoes oriented, this might still be a problem...except of course you can always just have meat and potatoes.

[Poppi]

I get glutened from touching gluten foods too. I wash my hands but somehow it still gets me. Our home is now gluten free. That includes guests. I also insist (as politely as possible) that nobody brings anything over to add to the meal. If they really, really want to contribute then I'll suggest they bring over some uncut fruit or pop. To cut down on costs we will sometimes tell people that we are providing everything but the meat and they can bring over their own meat to throw on the BBQ. I have Grill Buddies (disposable grill trays) that they can use to protect my grill from gluten marinades if necessary.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Shauna gave some great meal suggestions. I wanted to add that I like to have a Mexican night when I have guests over. I do a make your own taco bar with taco meat (cooked on the stove and then transferred to the slow cooker to keep warm), refried beans, chopped tomatoes, onions, shredded lettuce, shredded carrots, olives, avocado slices or homemade guacamole, chips and salsa. I add a bunch of other raw veggies as well so people can make taco salads too if the want. You can also add cheese and sour cream to yours. I have done a taco bar once since developing a dangerous milk allergy and to avoid CC I just kept the cheese and sour cream on a separate station on the other side of the room (and explained ot my guests why and asked them to please use the dairy products last and keep spoons separate). This worked for the one time I did it because I only had two couples over but if I had a big group or people with kids I would not do cheese at all. My guests actually told me that with all the other toppings they would not mind if their was no cheese and no sour cream next time. I have hard corn shells available and also make homemade corn tortillas (which don't fall apart as easily and are not dry like store bought corn tortillas) using MaSeCa brand masa harina (corn flour). But if you're not that adventurerous just offer hard shell tacos only. Guests that compalin about no flour tortilla option are pretty rude and not people you would want to have over often anyway.

Other complete Mexican casserole dishes such as enchiladas or mexican lasagna are very easy to do too.

The same concept can also work to do a loaded baked potato bar with chili and salad. It's more work to chop all those veggies etc, but it takes almost no cookign skill and people will be so impressed by all the topping options I doubt anyone will even notice it's all gluten-free. You can make gluten-free corn bread to go with the chili too!

[annegirl]

I've made it a policy that I won't cook anything that I can't eat. That way I don't have to worry about my kitchen, my utensils, and my propensity to taste something without thinking.

Honestly, there are so many great recipes out there for "everything free" cooking that there are a lot of options. I just threw my sister a baby shower and did all the food. Everything I made I could eat (and it was so fun to be able to load up my plate without worrying!). I didn't really tell anyone that it was "free" of stuff, but my sister did and the ones that did know were excited that I could eat such good food. I'd definitely just stick with whatever you eat normally. If you can eat so can everyone else!

[rachbomb]

Thank you everyone for the great suggestions AND for letting me know I am not the only one who gets sick from this! I can't wait to be a gluten-free "pro" and pass it forward as you all have to me.

[Korwyn]

I got glutened by wiping down a cutting board with a dishrag with which our daughter had wiped up formula. So yes, I think you could be glutening yourself.

On another note, I'm confused by why so many people feel guilty about making others eat gluten free food. For Thanksgiving last year we had Turkey, Stuffing, Green Beans with onion and bacon, candied yams, sweet potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, and pumpkin cake and a carrot cake with a butter-frosting.

We've had waffles, pancakes, pizza, etc, etc. The only time I ever have people notice anything is if I make bread. But usually if I make a fresh loaf of bread for company I'll make something like an herb bread.

[T.H.]

On another note, I'm confused by why so many people feel guilty about making others eat gluten free food. For Thanksgiving last year we had Turkey, Stuffing, Green Beans with onion and bacon, candied yams, sweet potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, and pumpkin cake and a carrot cake with a butter-frosting.

I think part of it is this concept that to be good hosts, we have to provide our guests with what they like, and somehow in our heads, that translates into what they usually eat. Which is gluten. Even though they eat lots of food that can be made exactly the same, with no gluten - as your thanksgiving menu shows pretty darn clearly - and even though there are tons of gluten free foods that taste wonderful.

I don't think this is necessarily the right way to think about food, but I think it's a common way to think, ya know?

[GlutenFreeManna]

I think part of it is this concept that to be good hosts, we have to provide our guests with what they like, and somehow in our heads, that translates into what they usually eat. Which is gluten. Even though they eat lots of food that can be made exactly the same, with no gluten - as your thanksgiving menu shows pretty darn clearly - and even though there are tons of gluten free foods that taste wonderful.

I don't think this is necessarily the right way to think about food, but I think it's a common way to think, ya know?

I think it can also be about what is easy and affordable. I know that was a big mental block for me anyway. gluten-free desserts are easy to make taste good--once you know how--but almost all gluten-free desserts and baked goods are going to be much more expensive than the gluteny one. Lots of people like to entertain but never liked to (or knew how to) cook/bake. Suddenly they have to be gluten-free and most things take longer to make or cost more money. People that didn't know how to cook before are going to really struggle. Having guests can be intimidatign for those first few meals if you are just learning how to cook and trying new recipes at the same time. Not to mention, if you are new to gluten-free and still struggling with fatigue/withdrawl, making a big meal that takes a lot of work is not easy. Maybe in the future there will be basic gluten-free cooking classes offered. I know a few on this board that would great teachers