Tag Archives: holiday

Happy Gluten Free Holidays

With Thanksgiving a recent memory, Christmas will be upon us soon – and that means a season of food and potentially tough times for Celiacs and anyone on a gluten-free diet.

Luckily, knowledge of the condition and appropriate products are spreading like wildfire.  We attended a few Thanksgiving meals in the last few weeks, and at each one I was able to find some appropriate grub.  With a six- or twelve-pack of Woodchucks in hand, I’d even have some drinks to keep up with the college kids.

For our actual Thanksgiving meal, we had some beef ribs marinated in Stubb’s regular BBQ sauce.  I also cooked up some green beans with bacon and red bell pepper, grean peas with minced onion and garlic, as well as Colcannon – an Irish dish so nice they made a song about it.

Ok, so the song might be about a little bit more than just the potatoes, but they still taste pretty great.

First you cook potatoes, fry up some bacon or ham, boil up some kale, and heat a bit of milk and cream with scallions. Drain the kale well and chop it finely before mixing the whole thing up, and serve it with a bit of melted butter in an indentation at the top of a potato hill.

Anyway, we had some gluten-free muffins on hand but there wasn’t much talk of dessert. We pretty much ate the main course until we were ready to pass out for the holiday nap.

On that front, my fiancee has been baking quite a bit in our new, gluten-free kitchen. Since we don’t have any wheat products in the house, she’s been craving some breads and pies so in the last few weeks there have been some very interesting and delicious experiments in biscuits, apple pie, and banana-nut muffins.

The recipes are definitely in an experimental phase or else I’d share them, but for now I can at least post some pictures of that delicious gluten free applie pie we enjoyed last month:

The taste was spot on, but the texture of the crust was a bit too crumbly and it didn’t hold up well with cutting. Hopefully we get that figured out before too long and I’ve got some tips to share about overcoming that little defect of the gluten-free flours.

Until then, here’s hoping that you and your loved ones have a happy, and gluten-free holiday season!

Gluten for Christmas

I don’t even know when it hit, but without fail I started feeling the effects of gluten soon after leaving town for the holidays.  Maybe it was some of the snacks I ate on the way, maybe it was kitchen cross-contamination or traces of wheat in something that seemed innocent and gluten-free.  Whatever it was, I ended up sleeping most of Christmas and now I’m still in the phase where the itch is crawling all over my skin.

And its not just getting sick that makes holidays and travel difficult, there was also this odd sense of being incredibly hungry while being surrounded by the most delicious food.  Oh I’d love some of that meal you’ve cooked up – but I really shouldn’t. Pies, cakes, cookies?  You can’t just hop in the car to Walmart to get a gluten-free version (Publix near here does have some great gluten-free cookies, though they’re incredibly expensive.)

Here’s another unique dilemma faced by the gluten-intolerant at Christmas:  gifts containing gluten!  I mean, of course I like chocolate, but not the kind with barely malt in it 🙁

Families tries to accomodate and I love them for it, but I can barely keep track of my own ingredients and kitchen space when I’ve got such a huge incentive to do so.  I think next year, I’m bringing some gf brownies…