Brenda

Better late than never???????

So….. it’s been awhile since I’ve posted.

Since I started this blog I’ve learned something. I learned that launching a blog right before the holidays and all of the fun and commitments that come with them,the extra hours at work, not to mention the flu, can make regular blog posting difficult. It can also make you wonder if you really want to do this whole “blog thing”. I wonder if what I have to say really matters. There are so many things I want people to know regarding living with food allergies, but I don’t want to rehash what other people are saying. I have so much floating around in my head, I’m having a hard time putting it all on paper. I am just an ordinary person with no educational training in health and nutrition. I am a mom who had to figure this all out by myself – on a budget. Someone who likes to cook, but doesn’t like to follow recipes; I prefer to cook by “smell” and “sight”. When following a recipe, if I don’t like a called for ingredient, I don’t put it in. When measuring ingredients, I’m a “close enough” kind of gal. If I don’t have an item in a recipe, I use something similar. This is how I do real life. I think there may be a lot of people out there that think like me (or not???). That’s why I feel what I have to say can resonate with a lot of people-people who might think the way I do. So, I’m going to try to get on track with a posting schedule. I just think my posts will have to be shorter. I keep running out of time and I have so many things I want to tell you!

Today’s post is about roll-out sugar cookies (popularly known as Christmas cookies). This is not exactly the best of timing, but hey, who doesn’t love a good sugar cookie anytime of the year? Especially those of us who’ve not had a good cookie in what seems like forever! I haven’t tried baking a roll out sugar cookie in years. I’d tried several times, years ago, with the gluten-free flours and it was always disastrous. It was so long ago I don’t honestly remember if I had discovered xanthan gum or not – which could explain why it was so disastrous. Now that I’m doing this blog I’m forcing myself to try cooking/baking some old and some new foods. So, I pulled out my Grandma Thelen’s sugar cookie recipe. I’d hoped to make them early to mid-December and blog about it, but got sick. I was finally able to mix them up around Dec. 20^th. I put the dough in the fridge to chill; I realized on Christmas Day the dough was still in there. Our kids were coming home that afternoon so I figured I might as well bake them and have everyone frost them. The cookies turned out beautifully! The kids said things like, “Wow, these taste just as good as real cookies.” And “Mom are you sure you used your ingredients? These actually taste really good.” Things like that make a Mom feel good…??. Yeah, I’ll take good.

Brenda’s Non-Dairy, Non-Egg, Non-Wheat Buttermilk Sugar Cookies Because I was doing this recipe so late before Christmas I only made a ½ batch and still got about 3 ½ dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

Since this is a buttermilk cookie, first thing you have to do is make your buttermilk so it can set for a bit to “turn the milk”. (see below)

You need one Tablespoon apple cider vinegar. Pour ½ of the vinegar into bottom of a 1 cup measuring cup. Add milk of your choice (I use cashew milk because I like it’s creamy consistency) just about to the top of the measuring cup and then add remaining vinegar. Let it set as you gather and mix other ingredients.

2 Cups white sugar
1 Cup shortening
4 ½ teaspoons EnerG Egg Replacer plus 6 Tablespoons warm water

Mix these first 3 ingredients until smooth

First 3 ingredients mixed until smooth. Remaining ingredients are pictured on counter surrounding bowl. My buttermilk is the grey-ish kind of disgusting looking ingredient.

Then stir in:

1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups of Carol’s Gluten-Free Sorghum Flour Blend (recipe in my 2^nd post)
1 cup buttermilk (which you prepared at the start of this recipe)

Cover dough and let it cool in refrigerator for at least an hour, but it can set for several days. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lay out parchment paper on your work surface (I know I’ve said it before, but I love that stuff!). Lightly dust paper with either the flour mixture (or it looks like in my picture, this last time I dusted with brown rice flour & tapioca flour) – it doesn’t matter which, your just doing it so the dough won’t be sticky. Roll out dough on floured surface to ¼” or ½”thick, cut out cookies. Place cookies on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Don’t have cookies touching each other on pan. Bake 12 minutes. Let them cool a few minutes before moving to a cutting board or rack. Once completely cooled you can frost them.

Frosting

I’m embarrassed to try and tell you how I make my cookie frosting; this is one of those things I just do by sight and feel. Here it goes!

1 Tablespoon of Earth’s Balance Buttery Spread melted

This is the embarrassing part: I then just dump powdered sugar in with the melted butter, stir, add a little cashew milk and keep adding powdered sugar and milk until I get the consistency I like. Then when done I add just a little bit of vanilla extract for taste. Use food colorings of your choice and frost, decorate.

I hope you get to try this recipe sometime soon. They make a great cookie for Valentine’s Day.

Happy New Year and thanks for stopping.

Brenda

I know, I know. I gotta quit with the cheesy photos. I need a bigger budget! LOL

Disclaimer:

These recipes and tips are not guaranteed to work or be safe for everyone. Allergies are extremely complicated and vary for each individual. It is still your responsibility to read labels to ensure your safety. I cannot be held liable for any ill effects from using my tips to avoid your allergies. (Sorry guys, I don’t foresee any problems, but Momma’s gotta cover her backside, ya know? Just read your labels!)

It’s a Party and I’ll Snack if I Want To, Snack if I Want To, Snack if I Want To, You Would Cry Too if You Couldn’t Eat the Fooooooood.

If you’re my age or older, chances are you may be singing as you read this title. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, ask your mother. Lol (I do know my kids get it.)

Party season is upon us and nothing is as disappointing as when you walk over to the snack table and find nothing you can eat. (Yes, that is very disappointing to me, because I enjoy eating.) Six years ago, when I initially had to make my food changes and was asked to bring a dish to pass, I struggled with what I should bring. Do I take something I can eat or something everyone else can eat? Most of the time, I took the easy way out. I baked a pan of boxed brownies, or cookies from a mix. Maybe I’d grab some chips and a cheese dip. I couldn’t eat any of these foods. Usually it turned out not only couldn’t I eat the food I brought – I couldn’t eat what anyone else brought either! This got to be old fast. I needed to come up with some quick and easy snacks that I, along with everyone else, could enjoy. So, I’m going to give you some quick party food hacks.

Many of the items I’m going to suggest can be made from scratch or you can pick them up pre-made. If we’re going for easy during the busy holiday season, I go for the pre-made items. It’s a luxury I don’t always have the opportunity to take advantage of, but these hacks are pretty fail-safe.

(The first five items I mention all suggest bringing corn chips. If you can’t eat corn chips, there are many options out there either in the “health food” section in grocery stores and many times even in the chip aisle. READ your labels. “Beanitos” and “Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips” (Pita chips contain wheat, but not corn) are just two that come to mind.)

Hummus and chips: Pick a flavor of hummus you like and grab a bag of corn chips.
Salsa and chips: Whether you make your own salsa or you have a favorite brand you like to buy, you can’t go wrong with salsa and chips.
I love chili con queso (the kind you buy in a small glass jar) and chips. I can’t eat the premade kind in the store, so I mix Original hummus with salsa and I call it chili con queso. It gives me a little bit of a creamy, almost cheesy fix.
Pico de gallo and chips: Most grocery store delis make this and it’s good.
Guacamole and chips: You can find this pre-packaged or made fresh in most grocery store delis.
A veggie tray and hummus or I sometimes fill a small dish with the “Just” brand of ranch salad dressing. You can clean and cut up the veggies yourself or you can pick up an already prepared tray on your way home from work or on your way to the party.
Fruit tray or bowl: You can put either of these together quite easily, but if you don’t have the time, again, pick one up at the store on your way home from work or on your way to the party.
Glutino Gluten-Free Pretzels: Just set the bag on the table and they’ll disappear. Ask any of my family or friends; they can’t say enough about how much they like them.
“Snyders of Hanover Gluten-Free Pretzel Sticks Honey Mustard and Onion”: Oh my! Another family favorite.

These last two suggestions have to be made at home, but require very little prep time.

Chocolate covered Glutino Gluten-Free Pretzels: Either drizzle chocolate over them or dip them in melted chocolate (sprinkle with colored sugar crystals or decorating sprinkles to make them festive). I can’t eat dairy, so I use “Enjoy Life” brand “semi-sweet chocolate Mini Chips” or “Enjoy Life dark chocolate regular size Morsels”. They are dairy, nut, soy and gluten-free. (I’ve put the recipe and a couple pics down below.)
Ham and pickle roll-ups: I love these things. (I’ve put the recipe and pics below.)

Recipe for Chocolate Covered Pretzels:

(I can’t really credit anyone for this recipe; this is just one of those things I learned along the way.)

½ cup “Enjoy Life” brand “semi-sweet chocolate Mini Chips” or if you are a dark chocolate fan use “Enjoy Life” dark chocolate Morsels (both are pictured).
½ teaspoon shortening
Glutino Gluten-Free Pretzels Twists (You can use regular pretzels if gluten is not a problem for you.)

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place pretzels on cookie sheets so they’re touching but not on top of each other.

Microwave ½ cup Mini Chips and shortening in small glass microwave safe bowl for 45 seconds. Stir. If not completely melted, microwave another 10-15 seconds and stir again. I used a spoon to drizzle melted chocolate over them and sprinkled with colored sugar crystals. I also dipped some of the pretzels (just the top side, leaving bottom of pretzel uncovered) and sprinkled them with decorating sprinkles.

Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They’re only good for a couple days so eat them fast!!

Recipe for Ham and pickle roll-ups:

(No one to credit for this, again, this is something I just picked up along the way.)

Sliced ham
Tofutti Brand Milk Free Better than Cream Cheese – Plain
Dill pickles (you can leave them whole or cut them in half)

Lay ham slices out on a cutting board or flat surface. Put about half of the cream cheese in a glass microwavable safe bowl and microwave around 30 seconds to soften. Stir and spread cream cheese on ham slices and place pickle on ham. Roll it up. Cut roll in half and put a toothpick in each individual roll. Refrigerate till serving. Pretty simple!!! Pretty yummy!!!

A little reminder: As you browse over the food choices – if possible, read the label on the package. I was at a party the other night and saw a bag of corn chips. They were the only item on the whole table that I thought I could eat. I grabbed a couple and popped one in my mouth. It was delicious and had a distinct taste of ranch. I grabbed a napkin and spit the chip into it. I went over and read the bag. Sure enough, they contained milk. I found a wastebasket and tossed out my handful of chips and napkin. My motto has become: ‘When in doubt, go without’. Obviously we are gathering with family and friends for the socialization, but the food is a nice addition. Don’t let food allergies/sensitivities get you down or make you sick. Be proactive, bring foods you can eat, ask questions about the food being served and whenever possible, read, read, read the labels!

Thanks for stopping and have a Merry Christmas!

Brenda

Disclaimer:

Xanthan Gum – My Excalibur

In my last post I briefly mentioned xanthan gum and I do mean briefly. I totally did a disservice to both xanthan gum and you. I really wanted to post more about it and its’ importance in baking, but my last post was well over 1,200 words. Seriously, how long can I expect all of you to stick with me before you think, “Enough already Brenda, pleeeeease, just sign off!” So I will now give xanthan gum the respect it deserves & you the reason it is key to baking gluten-free.

But first, a little background on my history with homemade baked goods. My mother’s mother was an avid baker. She baked bread weekly, as well either sugar or molasses cookies, the kind that you roll out and cut with a cookie cutter. These were not your average cookies. These cookies were literally 4” in diameter with scalloped edges and either a raisin or a red hot cinnamon candy in the center. (I actually know the dimension because I have Gram’s cookie cutter & I just measured it to be sure.) When staying at grandmas, as long as we ate all of our supper, dessert was a dish of sauce (fresh cut up fruit) and 2 or 3 cookies. Gram’s homemade bread and giant cookies are just two of my favorite memories of her.

While my grandma loved to bake, my mom had no passion for it. She didn’t really believe in dessert. In fact if we had cake when there wasn’t a birthday at the house we didn’t even frost it. Frosting was for birthday cakes. Good news was that there were nine of us in the house and mom always baked and frosted a birthday cake for each of us. She would also occasionally make strawberry shortcake, pudding pies or chocolate chip pan cookies. And then there was always that one special day in early December. Her friend Elaine would come to our house and the two of them would spend the entire day making Christmas treats, cookies and candies. When we arrived home from school, the house smelled phenomenal and every flat surface in our kitchen was covered with beautiful, delicious treats. Between my grandma’s cookies and Mom and Elaine’s Christmas treats, I developed a love of delicious and pretty cookies.

Now my husband’s background with baked goods was quite different. He grew up in a house with an always full cookie jar and daily dessert. He had and still has a terrible sweet tooth. You should have seen his face the first time he was served cake without frosting, asking, “Did your mom forget to frost the cake?” You really should have seen his face when I replied, “It’s nobody’s birthday, why would we frost the cake?” I honestly didn’t know that people frosted a cake just because and he had no idea that cake could be served without frosting! So, when we married I had to do some soul searching. To bake or not to bake, that was the question! Baking won out. I enjoyed baking and I wanted my kids to have homemade cookies every week, besides I like cookies too. I became an expert pie maker – single and double crusted. I even won 2^nd place in a pie making contest at our church festival one year. We didn’t have daily dessert after our evening meal, but we always had a full cookie jar. I was the woman that would bake and hand out freshly baked cookies to the plumber or electrician that happened to be working at our house that day. That’s how much I enjoyed baking! And Christmas cookies…man I could bake beautiful and delicious Christmas cookies. Then we entered the world of gluten-free baking.

I hadn’t found Dr. Fenster’s book yet, so I was on my own. I tried all my old recipes replacing regular flour with rice flour. That really doesn’t work. Everything seemed kind of gritty. Nothing seemed to hold together. Cookies crumbled, cakes were flat, crumbly messes, bread a disaster. I tried gluten-free mixes. They weren’t very good and they were expensive, especially because it seemed we threw out more than we ate. Not sure exactly when, but at some point I discovered that gluten is basically the “glue” that holds everything together when baking. While this little nugget was helpful, they didn’t tell me what I needed to do in order to replace the gluten. Then I found, “Gluten-Free 101: Easy, Basic Dishes Without Wheat” by Carol Fenster, Ph. D. https://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Free-101-Basic-Dishes-Without/dp/1889374083 which gave me the key to gluten-free baking – Xanthan Gum! What does it do? It helps keep the baked goods from crumbling. (Seriously, that’s her explanation.) It was this simple, yet profound statement that made my baking world open up again. Still to this day, not everything I bake turns out well. I bake cake and brownies from a mix, cookies from scratch, and a good pie still eludes me. In fact I don’t have a large variety of items that I can bake, but I have a few items I’ve mastered and I occasionally try a new recipe. Below I have one of my favorite, tried and true, recipes. Thumbprint Cookies. It’s a bit like a shortbread cookie, but the jam that I put on top sweetens it up just enough. I’ve taken pictures so you can see how the dough should look, how large the cookie balls are, and the final result.

Betty Crocker’s recipe for Thumbprint Cookies. Page shows some wear and tear.

Cookbook the recipe is in. My mom gave me this book in 1995. I use it all of the time, yes it’s in two pieces.

Below is my version of the recipe with the changes necessary for our food allergies.

Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free Thumbprint Cookies

¼ cup packed brown sugar ¼ cup shortening

¼ cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread ½ teaspoon vanilla

Ener-G Egg Replacer equivalent to one egg (instructions for use on back of box)

1 cup Carol’s Gluten-Free Sorghum Flour Blend (recipe in 2^nd post)

¾ cup crushed walnuts

Jelly

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix brown sugar, shortening, buttery spread, vanilla and egg replacer. Stir in flour until dough holds together, shape into 1” balls. Roll each ball in walnuts. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet (I use parchment paper on cookie sheets.). Press thumb deeply in center of each. Bake until light brown, about 10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet, cool. Fill thumbprints with jelly. About 2 dozen (I make my cookies bigger than Betty does.)

Betty Crocker recipe calls for rolling balls in egg white before rolling in nuts. Not necessary, the nuts will stay on, but if you can use eggs it does give the cookie a bit of a shine.

Why do I us Earth Balance Buttery Spread for baking? A few years back while at a Whole Foods in Chicago, I met a woman who delivered her gluten-free, vegan baked goods to the store weekly. She had a table with samples. I tried a cupcake and loved it! She told me she only bakes with Earth Balance Buttery Spread and I was sold. You can use another dairy-free butter if you have a favorite. Word of Advice: Careful with any of these dairy-free spreads, they tend to be a little oily, so it’s better to go a little light on the “butter” than heavy.

I use Ener-G Egg Replacer. There are quite a few different egg replacers out there, but I have pretty good luck with it and it’s easy to use. Also easy to find in most Kroger, Meijer and health food stores.

I will also mention that when baking gluten-free, I prefer to use a glass mixing bowl. It may all be in my head, but to me, the gluten-free flours have an almost “metallic” smell to them. I felt as if when mixing the ingredients in a stainless steel bowl, whatever I was baking had a slight metallic taste to it. While the glass mixing bowl doesn’t completely eliminate this for me, it does help.

The dough, cookie balls, nuts and balls rolled in nuts w/thumbprint.

Done baking, time to fill with jelly/jam.

Finished product. They really are a pretty cookie aren’t they?

I have to apologize for the amateur photos and I also have to admit I’m not much of a techy. When I checked this post before publishing, the pics were right side up and now they aren’t right side up in the actual post and I can’t figure out how to flip them. I may get one of the kids on that.

Thanks for stopping!

Brenda

Disclaimer:

In the beginning: Our first encounter with food allergies.

When I tell people my kids and I have food allergies and then I explain our reactions to certain foods, they usually say, “I had no idea food could do that to someone.” It’s that statement that makes me feel it may be helpful if I give you some background on my kids’ and my own allergic reactions. Maybe you or someone you know has had a similar experience and didn’t realize it could be food related.

Today I’ll start with the first kid. In early 2003 our oldest son, then 14, began having daily stomach pain. The pain wasn’t horrible but definitely enough to make him miserable whether at home, school, practice or his part-time job. We had no idea what was making him sick. This continued for months – he turned 15; winter turned to spring, his stomach pain got worse.

Mother’s Day weekend he went on a school service project. He came home nauseous and in severe pain. He told us the pain had actually knocked him down to his knees at one point. We took him to ER and they kept him in the hospital for three days. Every test came back showing nothing. They sent him home and we followed up with our primary care doctor. He was referred to a gastroenterologist who removed his gallbladder, but had no relief from his symptoms. More than a year passed with still no answers.

The pain continued with some days worse than others; weekends by far the worst. By this point I had reached the end of my rope. I didn’t know if I wanted to cry because I felt so bad for him or just scream in frustration. No one could give us any answers! I found a website that discussed food allergies. I mentioned the site to my sister and she told me there was an allergist in East Lansing that did blood testing specifically for food allergies. We made an appointment. They did the blood work and also had him do the “Caveman Diet” http://www.dividecreekent.com/forms/forms1/CAVEMAN%20DIET.pdf. Basically it’s a 5-7 day diet where you eat only fresh fruits, vegetables and meats. Generally after 5-7 days you feel better, and then you reintroduce the foods you’ve not been eating to see if you will feel miserable again. (Sounds fun doesn’t it?)

They diagnosed him as being allergic to wheat, corn and soy. (He does not have celiac sprue.) After getting his diagnosis I made the connection. He liked sandwiches, pasta, baked goods, sports drinks, pizza, corn chips, popcorn and candy – all the foods every teenager loves. I took a look at the lunch he packed every weekend when he worked 6-8 hours on a farm. It consisted of 3 sandwiches (that’s 6 slices of bread!), a cereal bar, chips, an apple, and a couple cookies. He also drank one or two sports drinks. Yes, that’s a lot of food – and no, this is not an exaggeration. The kid had an amazing metabolism and was super active. It was crazy to think about the sheer amount of wheat and corn he was eating daily, not to mention the overload on the weekends! He had to cut all wheat, corn and soy from his diet. This was tough, but I am happy to say that in a short amount of time he started feeling better. We were thrilled the day he said, “I can’t believe how good I feel. I just thought everyone had a stomach ache every day.”

I’d decided, when possible, I wanted all 5 of us to eat wheat, corn and soy free. Making these food changes was not easy. It meant spending a lot more time in the grocery store reading labels and a lot more money on gluten, corn and soy-free products. I also spent a lot more of my time in the kitchen. I can’t tell you how many disastrous meals I prepared for my family. I threw out a lot of food as the result of failed recipes. Who knew that overcooked rice pasta looks and tastes a lot like the stuff we used for paper mache’ projects in elementary school? (Not that I… ever actually ate the paper mache’ goop. lol) Fresh baked gluten-free bread sometimes comes out shaped like and as hard as a rock. Gluten-free cakes don’t always rise (birthdays were a bit of a downer for a couple years). Gluten-free cookies will literally crumble as you take them off the cookie sheet, barely making it into your hands. I once baked a brownie mix that seriously looked like it was alive. It kind of had a heartbeat (or it was breathing). I baked it until it finally quit moving, which was about an extra hour. We cut it and realized I had created brownie flavored gum. We just chewed and chewed and chewed and…. After chewing a while, we threw it out; I was afraid it might damage our digestive systems. I was getting frustrated. I wondered if instead of buying anymore gluten-free products, it just might be easier to throw a $20 bill in the wastebasket; saving me time and grief.

Two years later while on summer vacation, I was in a health food store. They carried the book “Gluten Free 101: Easy, Basic Dishes Without Wheat” by Carol Fenster, Ph. D. https://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Free-101-Basic-Dishes-Without/dp/1889374083

I bought and started reading it as soon as we got back to the cabin. At 5:00 a.m. the next morning my husband woke to go fishing and found I was still reading; making notes in the book’s margins and in a notebook. Dr. Fenster made cooking for food allergies seem simple. She introduced me to xanthan gum – a key ingredient when baking with gluten-free flours. (A rule of thumb is if you are using 1 tsp baking soda; add 1 tsp. xanthan gum also.) Although her book only addressed gluten-free cooking/baking, I at least had somewhere to start and could make substitutions for corn or soy if needed. Reading Dr. Fenster’s book not only gave me recipes for gluten-free cooking, but also the confidence to keep trying new recipes and foods. I still get frustrated. I still have a fair number of baking fails, but I also make a greater variety of foods and we all enjoy eating again!

I use the following flour blend for baking. It can be found on pg. 41 of “Gluten-Free 101: Easy, Basic Dishes Without Wheat”. (Find link above.) All of the ingredients can be found in health food stores & some grocery stores.

Carol’s Gluten-Free Sorghum Flour Blend*

1 ½ cups sorghum flour (I use sweet sorghum flour)

1 cup tapioca flour

1 ½ cups potato starch or cornstarch (I use potato starch)

½ cup corn flour or almond flour or bean flour or chestnut flour

I use almond flour which can be expensive. As Dr. Fenster suggests, I grind my own almond flour by grinding blanched almond slivers in a small coffee grinder. Refrigerating the flour blend is recommended because it should be used within two months. (I freeze mine because I don’t use it very quickly.)

*Makes 4 ½ cups

I’ve kept you here long enough. Thanks for stopping by!

Brenda

p.s.: Next time I’ll have a cookie recipe using the above flour mixture and I’ll try to have pictures. Everyone keeps telling me – “People love pictures!”

Disclaimer:

Surviving the Minefield of Holiday Party Food.

Hi and welcome to my first post! Please excuse our mess – we’re still in the process of putting this blog site together, but I really wanted to start posting.

Surviving the Minefield of Holiday Party Food.

Holiday parties and food go hand in hand. Are you wondering how you or your child are going to survive? With Thanksgiving around the corner, I will tell you how, I’ve handled family parties, in the past (Not the best way…) and how I handle them now (The better way…).

Family Gatherings: My husband and I each have 5 siblings. Add to that, their spouses, children and grandchildren and we’re talking about anywhere from 50-100 people in each of our extended families. (That’s a lot of people to cook for.) Both sides of our families like the traditional turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy meal with family members bringing side dishes and desserts. If you’re not doing the cooking, exactly how do you ask the host/hostess about the menu and how they’ll prepare the food without sounding like a control freak?

What I have done. (Not the best way…): 1.) I’ve tried asking them to set a few potatoes aside for me before they mash them. They usually forget until it’s too late. (ME: “No, really, that…that’s alright, no…don’t… I don’t think you can rinse butter off of warm potatoes. Honestly, I’ll survive without potatoes.”) 2.) I’ve arrived early to the party; armed with my own flour mixture, offering to make the gravy. I wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms. 3.) I’ve checked the turkey over asking, “Did you use any butter or flour when prepping this? ” (THEM: “I used margarine, so you should be fine.” {For those who don’t know, margarine contains dairy. I’m not gonna be fine. They had the best of intentions, but the food could still make me sick.}) 4.) I’ve asked them to please keep any packaging that foods came in so I can read the ingredients. (THEM: “Uh-oh.”)

Ok, two things. First off; I’m not giving any of this lovable, crazy bunch of people I call family any grief. (I have 45 of them coming for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday; I don’t need an angry mob!) Secondly, there is nothing wrong with telling family what’s going on with your food allergies and asking for their help. My family really does try to accommodate my kids and I with our food allergies. As time passes more family members are going out of their way to call and ask what they can do when preparing their food so that all of my family can eat it. This is awesome and greatly appreciated. But I also had to acknowledge that I am the only one that can police the foods I eat. I can’t expect others to be responsible for making sure my kids and I are not eating something that could make us sick. That’s why I say what I used to do is “Not the best way…”. I was so tired of rolling the dice when it came to my potatoes and veggies, digging through wastebaskets or having to pull yet another Benadryl out of my purse for whoever was sick this time.

What I do now. (The better way…) My husband’s family celebrates the holidays once a year with a traditional meal. This means we only host the party once every 6 years. On my side of the family we celebrate a holiday with the large traditional meal twice a year. I try to host one of the two dinners, knowing I can prepare the food my way. The turkey is rubbed with MY butter and dusted with MY flour. The gravy is made with MY flour mixture. The potatoes will be mashed with MY butter and MY milk. I make two separate pans of stuffing. The larger pan is good old-fashioned stuffing, just like my Mom used to make; the kind that makes the whole house smell awesome, but could take me out of the game for at least a day or two. I make a smaller one that my kids and I, as well as anyone else that is feeling adventurous, can eat. (I’ve included the recipe at the bottom of this post.) When planning the menu, I group-text family members with the items I would like for the dinner. I check the list. If I’m getting seven layer salads and hot vegetables slathered in butter, I will make a hot vegetable I know I can eat. I always ask that someone bring a relish tray, and someone else a fruit bowl – both of which everyone, including my kids and I, can eat. I also make a dessert. When we don’t host the party, a little more time and effort are required of me. Depending on the meat being served, I bring a meat I’ve made at home. I make and bring my own mashed potatoes and gravy. My dishes to pass are usually a hot vegetable and dessert everyone can eat, my family included.

In future posts, I plan to tell you about myself and my kids, describing our symptoms and how, eventually we were diagnosed with food allergies. I’m also sure some of you may have encountered people with differing opinions on whether to call it food allergy or food sensitivity; I will give you my thoughts on that. Lastly, I have a recipe for a cookie that is pretty enough to set on a Christmas treat tray. Thanks for reading!

Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy all of your celebrations with family and friends! Don’t forget, my stuffing recipe is below!

Brenda

Stuffing

(Credit: My mom, Maybelle, made this for years -yum!)

The following version of Maybelle’s stuffing is my variation of her recipe.

My version is wheat-free and dairy-free.

Ingredients:

1 loaf Schar Gluten Free Artisan Baker Multi-Grain Bread (Walmart & Meijer sell)

¼ cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread (Kroger, Walmart & Meijer sell)

½ cup chopped onion*

2 cloves (minced or pressed) fresh garlic**

1 cup chopped celery

Salt and pepper to taste

2-3 cups chicken stock (if prefer you can use vegetable stock)

Directions:

One to two days in advance, toast all of the bread. After toasting the bread, break it up into small pieces. Place bread in bowl and sprinkle up to 2 or 3 teaspoons of rubbed sage over the top of the bread. (Careful with the sage, it can be overpowering.) Let bread set out uncovered so it dries out. (If you’re not comfortable doing this, covering the bread will not mess with the recipe.)

The day you want to make the stuffing.

Place bread crumbs in a bowl that is large enough to combine & mix all ingredients.
In a small pan, cook and stir the onion, garlic and celery in the Buttery Spread till celery is soft, remove from heat . Pour cooked vegetables over bread crumbs.

Add 2 cups of stock to bread crumbs, stir. Bread is very dense so let mixture set for about 10 minutes to allow stock to soak into bread crumbs. If mixture appears somewhat dry, add another ½ cup of stock, let set 10 minutes and repeat with remaining ½ cup of stock if needed.

Mix the stuffing with a large spoon or your hands. It will be sticky. You want the stuffing’s consistency to be similar to a very thick, somewhat dry oatmeal.
Pour into a greased 2 quart casserole dish.
Bake covered in 350 degree oven 45 minutes.

*If you don’t want to use fresh onion, use 1 teaspoon onion powder OR 1 Tablespoon dried onion flake

per 1/3 cup diced onion.

**If you don’t want to use fresh garlic, use 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder for every clove.

You can check out www.foodsubs.com The Cook’s Thesaurus for these and more substitutions.

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