Happy Thanksgiving

I recently read a post on a friends blog (entitled Happy Thanksgiving) about how stressed out she was preparing a gluten free Thanksgiving dinner in a gluten home. I can't tell you how much I appreciated her attention and dedication to providing this meal all because of her love for this one person in her family who has Celiac Disease. I am constantly amazed at how far some people will go to make sure the food they are feeding their loved ones is safe for them to eat. To these people I say Thank You!!

Having said that...we were in a different situation this Thanksgiving. Our home is 100% gluten free. Everything we make and consume in our home is safe for everyone to eat. It is our belief that our children should have a place where they can eat whatever we have in the house comfortably without the constant fear that it might make them sick. It is also our belief that they learn how to deal with food situations outside of our home.

Ethan is really good at mentioning his gluten free status. He will usually ask whomever is giving him food if it is gluten free, even if he knows the answer. Joshua on the other hand, is an opportunist who will sample anything if it is in arms reach. Knowing this, we made a plan for our Thanksgiving.

Last year we had our first gluten free dinner in the safety of our home. This year, however, we were invited to share in a large family feast...on my husband's side. The Ouellettes have had several large family Thanksgivings over many years. The last one before this was about 8 years ago, a month after we got engaged.

Mike and I discussed it and decided the best way to approach the meal this year was to cook our own Thanksgiving dinner the night before. So, we cooked the turkey, all the fixings and dessert all day on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, we made up three round tin plates with the whole meal, wrapped them in tinfoil, and packed them into a cooler so we could just throw them into the oven at the clubhouse where we were meeting. We also packed gluten free brownies, as well as eggnog. That morning we also had Mike's immediate family come over for a gluten free breakfast. We made a bacon and egg quiche, coffee cake with cinnamon icing, apple crumb pie, and blueberry muffins. Eating that late in the morning took away the need to stuff ourselves on any appetizers before the meal, since we wouldn't be able to eat any of them anyway. (My sister-in-law was kind enough to make up a smoked fish platter without any crackers or dips directly on the plate. She checked the labels carefully to be sure that all the fish she was placing on the tray would be okay for us to eat...thank you!)

So, we were able to sit down with the entire family, and not have to stress about what we were eating. It was not only easy, but incredibly tasty!! Even my husband, who was a little leery about doing it this way, was impressed by how well it worked out. He even suggested that maybe we should do it like this for any future large gatherings. (Plus, it gave us lots of own turkey leftovers which in my opinion is one of the many great outcomes of preparing a Thanksgiving feast!)