A Wonderful Thanksgiving

No Internet.  No cell phones.  Mountains, trees, and farms.  The smells of fall.  The beauty of nature.  Really delicious food.  Family.  Fun.  Card games. Hugs.  Smiles.  Laughter.  That was my Thanksgiving, and it lasted four days. 

I’m back now, and just wanted to say hello.  I don’t have a recipe for you, but I will soon.  I wish I had food pictures for you, but unfortunately my camera battery was low and I saved it for pictures of people. 

My brother loves to cook.  It’s a hobby for him, so he is happy to do most of the cooking when we get together and give us wives a break.  I couldn’t keep myself out of the kitchen completely, though.  My brother does a great job of meeting various dietary needs of the family.  Most of what he cooked was gluten free.  The little bit that wasn’t, I didn’t miss.  Here is a list of some of the things we ate over our four days together:

• oyster stew
• fried oysters (not gf)
• potato chowder
• roast turkey breast
• ham
• mashed potatoes w/gravy
• autumn casserole (the one I told you about last week)
• green beans cooked w/ham
• ratatouille
• rice pilaf w/raisins & pine nuts
• mahi mahi stuffed with crab imperial (wonderful!)
• butternut squash soup
• apple pie (not gf)
• pumpkin pie (gf)
• fudge
• sausage
• eggs
• hash browns
• fried apples & onions

Oh, it was all so good.  And I didn’t get sick!!!  Best of all though, was the time we had together as family.  For the past six years, my parents have given us the gift of renting part of a retreat center where our group of 17 can all be together without being cramped and have a great time.  We look forward to it every year, and our children  have wonderful memories that I know will last their lifetime.

I am thankful for my family, and I’m thankful for my cyber friends.  Whether rowdy and fun or quiet and peaceful, I hope you had an enjoyable holiday also.

Linda
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What Can I Eat That’s Gluten Free?

Welcome to this weekly carnival of gluten free eating ideas.  Please join in by visiting the links below and adding your own.  If this is your first time participating, you can read the guidelines here.



Next week the carnival will have a theme of party foods.  With holiday parties coming up, we could all use some new ideas.  Share an appetizer, main dish, dessert, or drink – anything you might serve at (or take to) a holiday party.  Of course, as always, the theme is only a suggestion.  You can link to any gluten-free eating post you like.

This week I thought I would highlight a couple of people who were late in linking up last week, just in case you missed theirs.  Both look great, so be sure to check them out.  You can view all 21 links from last week here.

Similar to my own entry this week, Caitlin of Blooming Rose has a Chicken Pot-Shepherd’s Pie. Nancy of The Sensitive Pantry has Banana Walnut Oat Pancakes. Yadi of The Gluten Free Diaries has Pumpkin Bread.

My entry for this week is:



Chicken (or turkey) Pot Pie  - I use green beans instead of peas and add my biscuit dough on top.





I will be offline the rest of the week enjoying time with my family. Thanks for participating and have a wonderful, safe, gluten-free Thanksgiving!

Linda
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Chicken (or turkey) Pot Pie

Cooking meat for dinner and having leftovers for a second dinner is a great way to save time.  I like roasting a chicken and using the leftovers in various gluten free recipes, but many chicken dishes can also be used with turkey.  This is one of those, and with Thanksgiving only two days away, you’ll likely have leftover turkey to use this week.

I have a confession to make.  I can’t remember the last time I cooked peas.  I have never liked them.  The only peas I can stand to eat are the small baby peas.  I used to cook them occasionally just so the kids would be exposed to them, but I seem to have quit doing that.  One of my kids hates peas.  When he was younger he would hold them in his mouth forever, unable to swallow without gagging.  Not liking peas myself, I had mercy on him.  I guess that’s part of the reason I don’t cook them.  The rest of the family eats them, but nobody particularly loves them.  The only exception to my dislike is split pea soup, which I only began eating in recent years.

Traditional chicken pot pie recipes call for peas.  I use green beans instead, but if you are a pea lover, feel free to use them in place of the beans.  They won’t require as much cooking as the beans, though, so you can just add them in with the chicken.

Gluten-Free Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

• 2 Tb. butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1 1/2 c. thin green beans, cut in pieces
• 2 c. chicken, cooked and chopped
• 2 c. chicken stock
• 3 Tb. rice flour
• 1/8 tsp. ground thyme
• salt & pepper
• 1 drop biscuit recipe

Instructions
In a large skillet, melt the butter and cook the onion, carrots, celery, and green beans until the onion is transparent and the other veggies are tender.
Add one cup of the chicken stock and the chicken.  Heat through.  Whisk together the other cup of stock and the rice flour.  Add to the skillet with the thyme and salt & pepper to taste.  Heat and stir until it is thickened. Place the veggie mixture in a greased 2 quart casserole dish. 
Make the biscuit recipe and spread it over the top of the dish. 
Bake at 350 degrees about 30 minutes.  Use a knife to see if the biscuit dough is done at the center.

This post is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesdays.

Linda
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Bob’s Red Mill Cookbook-Review & Giveaway

“Whole & Healthy Grains for Every Meal of the Day” is what you will find in this new 448 page cookbook, which Bob’s Red Mill kindly sent to me for review.  While it is not a gluten free cookbook, it does contain many gluten free recipes which are marked as such. 

Because the book starts with breakfast foods I was initially disappointed in the number of gluten free recipes.  Only 8 out of 42 recipes in that category are gluten free.  It only got better from there however.  There are many gluten-free recipes in the salads, soups, snacks & sides (fewer here), main dishes and even sweets categories.  In fact, almost all the main dishes are gluten free. 

I have only just begun to try the many healthy recipes in this book.  Here are a few I have made so far, one I even plan on making for Thanksgiving.

 

Pennsylvania Dutch
Baked Oatmeal - You of course need to use gluten-free oats for this recipe.  I’ve made baked oatmeal before, but I really liked the apples in this recipe.  Variations are also given for peach or berry baked oatmeal.

 

Chicken Tamale Pie   - This recipe uses ground chicken or other ground meat.  I used beef.  It uses a corn mush crust on the top and bottom.  My family enjoyed it.

 

 

 

Autumn Casserole with Yams and Cannellini Beans  - I loved this.  With the beans it can be served as a main dish.  I plan on serving it without the beans as a side dish at Thanksgiving.  It contains yams, cranberries, apples, and pecans along with other tasty ingredients.

If you enjoy whole grain healthy meals, you will like this book.  Many of the recipes use beans which my family is not fond of.  I used them in the autumn casserole, and they didn’t mind too much, but I know that my family would not care for a lot of the recipes.  However, this book has more than 350 recipes which means there is something for everyone. We enjoyed the recipes I tried and I look forward to trying more.

The book is attractive with red recipe titles and dividing lines.  Picture symbols are used to indicate recipes which are gluten free, vegetarian, and vegan.  There are a number of basic recipes provided for things such as millet, quinoa, or brown rice along with recipes that include those ingredients.  There are also occasional boxes of information on particular ingredients such as teff flour, amaranth grains, and polenta.

My only criticism of this book is that the print is too small. The pages are nice and big with plenty of white space, which I like, but I would rather that some of that space be used for a slightly larger font.  My forty something eyes which don’t even require glasses, had to keep moving closer to my cookbook holder to read the print.  Even my teenage son couldn’t read the fractions listed in the ingredients without getting up close.  I have to say, though, that the autumn casserole was worth having to move up close to read.

You can purchase this cookbook from Bob’s Red Mill or Amazon (where you can take a look inside the book) for just under $20.  Bob’s Red Mill is also offering to giveaway a cookbook to one lucky reader.  To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite whole grain.  Be sure to leave an email address if your name does not link to a blog where I can contact you.  The giveaway ends Saturday, November 28 at 11:00 p.m. eastern time.

Linda
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Edible Gifts

The Holiday Food Fest is taking place this week at Cents to Get Debt Free. The theme is edible gifts.  Be sure to stop by to get ideas for food gifts you could give this holiday season.

Last Christmas I gave a number of food gifts.  I combined them all in a nice basket, but of course I don’t have a picture.  I thought I would highlight a few of the ideas I used, though, and I do have a couple of pictures of individual things.



Roasted Cinnamon nuts – just click the link to see the recipe I used.  You can find other recipes online.  Some are spicy too.  They are easy to make, and most people enjoy nuts.  Nuts can be expensive.  I bought large bags of them at BJ’s which made it more economical.




Herbes de Provence – For some reason I can’t find the recipe I used for this, but recipes abound on the internet.  Most use lavender, which I wasn’t able to find, so I used one that contained thyme, basil, oregano, and rosemary.  I specifically bought spices in jars that I liked so I could use them to package the mix.  I made the labels on the computer and printed them onto label paper (which I happened to have). The bottle show is the one I’m using, but the ones I gave away were full.















Vanilla extract – It’s too late to make this for Christmas since it takes several months, but I thought I would mention it.  Maybe you have friend who likes to bake who would enjoy this as a birthday gift.  I started the vanilla well before Christmas, but had trouble deciding how to bottle it.  I looked in craft stores and didn’t find anything I liked.  I ended up buying salad dressing just for the bottles.  I don’t have a picture of them, but they were round glass bottles.  The salad dressing was put into canning jars and the bottles were cleaned thoroughly.


I think food gifts are an excellent way to go at Christmas, especially if you don’t know what some one has/doesn’t have or what they need/don’t need.  Everyone eats!  Just remember to take into consideration special diets and eating preferences and whether or not someone is likely to use it.  A single man who never bakes isn’t likely to appreciate the vanilla extract, but might love home made cookies!

Linda
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Celiac Disease and Your Social Life

A Recent Experience

For the first time ever, my husband and I left our kids home alone overnight.  Two nights to be exact.  We escaped to the beach where we shared a huge house with seven other couples.  We had a great time with our friends, and friends they truly are.  They understand celiac disease.  Many of them knew me when I was diagnosed and saw how weak and thin I was.  These are not people who say, “Oh come on, a little bit can’t hurt you.”  And yet, I got glutened. As understanding as they are, as kind as they were to prepare gluten-free food, they are simply not used to being as careful as I have to be to avoid contamination.

I’m pretty sure it happened during dinner Friday night.  I took a dessert for that meal which consisted of fixings for soft tacos.   I made a taco salad.  The meat was prepared with individual spices, and the lettuce, tomato, cheese, and chips were all gluten free.  I served myself first before the flour tortillas were opened.  I was quite confident that all was fine.  Maybe it was, but at some point I ingested gluten.

Saturday morning I was riding in the car with my husband.  We were headed into town to pick up a few groceries.  Suddenly, my stomach felt upset and I grew tired.  Very tired.  That’s always my signal that I’ve gotten glutened.  My husband picked up one thing then headed back to the house.  I dragged myself up to my bed where I  slept for four hours and dreamed that I was so tired I couldn’t stay awake.  My digestive symptoms weren’t too bad, thankfully, but I felt in a fog the rest of the day.  I prepared the main course that night, but still had to be careful because wheat bread and pasta were being served.  As you can imagine, I was extremely cautious, and everything seemed to go okay with that meal.

Going back a few months, I remember when we were asked to join this group at the beach.  My first response was, “No.  It will be too hard to eat.”  But who wants their social life to be controlled by celiac disease?  I didn’t, so we decided to go.  A few days before the trip I got really nervous.  “How will I manage with so many people sharing one kitchen?”  Then I told myself, “Just be careful, and it will be fine.” 

I was careful.  It wasn’t fine.  It’s not anyone’s fault.  My friends did all I could ask them to do.    When I was feeling well, I greatly enjoyed the time with my husband and friends, but always hanging in the back of my mind was the thought that I had to be careful.  I had to avoid any contamination.

Questions

The question is, if I’m given the opportunity to do something like that again, will I do it?  I’ll have to weigh the benefits versus the risk and that nagging concern.  Looking back on that weekend, was the enjoyment and refreshment worth the worry and the auto immune reaction?  Was it worth the intestinal damage that inevitably took place inside my body? 

I asked my husband what he thought.  He said we should do it again, but not in the same way.  If it was worth it to me, I would need to prepare my meals ahead of time and take a microwave or other countertop oven for reheating.  I think I could live with that.  It’s not the same as sharing the same meal with my friends, but it beats not being with them at all.

What Do You Think?

Food is a huge part of so many social activities.  It is inevitable that having celiac disease will affect one’s social life.  For many people, that’s the hardest part of dealing with the disease.  How does it affect you?  How do you handle social situations?  With the holidays approaching, your experience might help someone.

Linda
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What can I eat that’s gluten free?

Welcome to this weekly blog carnival of gluten free eating ideas.  Please browse through the links and add your own.  If this is your first time linking up, please read the guidelines here.



I’m very excited that this carnival has been growing recently, and I appreciate all of you who have participated.  Since I’m now posting my recipes separately, I thought I would use this post to highlight a few links from last week. There were several breakfast recipes which you should take a look at, if you haven’t already.

First, we had TWO mouth watering recipes for pumpkin pancakes from: Lauren at Celiac Teen  Cinde at Gluten Free Taste of Home Second was a post full of healthy, gluten-free breakfast options with great photos from: Iris at The Daily Diet Tribe

I have two submissions this week. 




Spaghetti Squash Casserole






 


Cheese Sauce









I look forward to seeing what you post each week, and even if I don’t use your idea or recipe exactly, it often inspires me in some way.

Linda
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Please remember to leave a link back here somewhere in the text of your post.

1. Brian (GF Green Bean Casserole) 2. Iris at The Daily Dietribe: Raw Carrot Cupcakes with Coconut Cashew Frosting 3. Katrina @ Gluten Free Gidget- Oat So Good Bread (GF/DF) 4. The W.H.O.L.E. Gang- Pancetta Sage Sausage 5. Sandy@A Little Bit of Heaven-The Perfect Breakfast 6. Debbie (Millet grits) 7. Amy @ SS&GF (Ancho Chili-Espresso Rubbed Pork Tenderloin)

8. Chelsey - Fresh Corn Tortillas 9. Kim - Gluten-free is Life- (Overnight GF Oats) 10. The Cooks Next Door (Thanksgiving) 11. Janelle - Chicken Tortilla Soup 12. Kim, The Food Allergy Coach (Tapioca Apple Pudding) 13. Heather @Celiac Family (Red Beans and Rice) 14. Cheryl@SomewhatCrunchy (PorkorChicken in Coconut Sauce)

15. Lauren of Celiac Teen (Maple Snickerdoodles) 16. Shirley @ gfe--Special Turkey Breast 17. Chaya - Wild Rice with Vegetables 18. Sweet and Savory - Cheese Latkes 19. Caitlin (chicken pot-shepherd's pie) 20. The Sensitive Pantry - Banana Walnut Oat Pancakes 21. Yadi- GF Pumpkin Bread

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Homemade Cheese Sauce

I don’t make sauces or gravies very often, but with Thanksgiving and other holidays just around the corner I thought some of you might be interested in a gluten-free cheese sauce recipe. 

I made this the other night to put on cauliflower.  I’m not a big fan of cauliflower, but I bought a head of it a couple of weeks ago with some recipe in mind.  I then forgot where I saw the recipe and the cauliflower just sat in my refrigerator.  The other day my husband said, “I keep seeing that cauliflower in the frig, but it never shows up on my plate.  Why don’t you just cook it and serve it with cheese sauce.”  So that is what I did. 

This sauce uses sweet rice flour.  If you don’t have any you can use rice flour or even corn starch.  Sweet rice flour is worth having around, though.  You don’t need a lot, but it’s great for thickening sauces, gravies, and soups. 

Gluten-Free Cheese Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 c. milk
• 1 Tb. butter
• 1 Tb. sweet rice flour (or rice flour)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3 oz. or 3/4 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Instructions
In a small saucepan, whisk together the milk and flour.  Add the butter and salt and heat on medium high heat, whisking frequently, until the sauce starts to boil and thickens a little.  Reduce heat and stir in the cheese.  You can add more cheese if you desire.  Stir until the cheese is melted.

Linda
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Gluten-Free Drop Biscuits Revisited

It seems I can’t just leave a good gluten-free recipe alone.  I have to tweak it to see if I can make it better, usually healthier.  The way I often do that is by increasing the amount of whole grain slightly and decreasing the starch by an equal amount.   I’ve done it with French bread, and French bread rolls.  This time I did it with these delightful drop biscuits.

My family of guys likes having bread with a meal.  Not always, but often, and it goes well with the soups and stews I make during the colder months.  I usually rotate between a few recipes, and these biscuits are a favorite.  I can remember years ago making drop biscuits from Bisquick.  They were quick and easy and we liked them, but they weren’t great.  These biscuits take a little more time since I don’t have a mix, but not much more, and they are so much better!

They are not your typical flaky, buttery biscuits, but they are wonderful.  They have a delightfully soft texture.  My family loves them, and they didn’t notice any difference when I made this change.  I haven’t tried this recipe with other flours.  I think it would work, but it is the sorghum that makes them nice and soft.

Gluten-Free Drop Biscuits

Ingredients

• 1 c. sorghum flour
• 1/2 c. potato starch
• 1/4 c. tapioca starch
• 1 tsp. xanthan
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tb. sugar
  
• 1/4 c. butter, softened (or vegetable oil)
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 c. milk (sub. should work)

Instructions
Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl. In your mixer bowl, combine the butter, egg and milk. Add the dry ingredients and beat on high about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides and make sure it is mixed well.

Spray an ice cream scoop with cooking spray and drop the dough by scoopfuls onto a sprayed cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees about 12 minutes until golden brown. Makes about 10 biscuits.

This recipe is linked to Slightly Indulgent Mondays at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free.

Linda
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