Gluten-free Thanksgiving

The holidays can be an extra hard time for anyone with food sensitivities or allergies. It may feel overwhelming to try to tackle a gluten free Thanksgiving, but there are many options out there. Option one: would be to get creative and try to find multiple recipes that celebrate the autumn vegetable bounty without any bread type items or gravies. Option two: is to grab a gluten-free flour mix and substitute your traditionally wheat based baked goods with gluten-free ones. You can also create a hybrid of option one and two.

Your meal can be a medley of autumn vegetable bounty alongside your beautiful turkey. Here are some recipe ideas that I have gathered from the inter webs and a few of my own.

Side dishes:

Curried Delicata Squash Crescents

https://stickoutyourtongue.org/2013/09/20/two-recipes-curried-delicata-squash-crescents-turmeric-cinnamon-spiced-oatmeal/

Roasted Brussels Sprouts (many former Brussels sprout haters have been converted by simply roasting the little beasties- – -give ’em a second chance)

Ingredients:

load of Brussels Sprouts
2 T olive oil
1 T red pepper flakes
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Preheat the oven to 350. Cut the Brussels sprouts in half. Add the olive oil, red pepper flakes, and halved sprouts to a casserole dish. Toss the sprouts with the olive oil and red pepper flakes. Grate about 1/4 cup of parmesan over the top of the brussels and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. You can flip the sprouts over about halfway through baking if you want both sides to get a nice golden edge to them. If you like your sprouts on the firmer side, remove them after 25-30 minutes. If you want a softer sprout, keep ’em baking until ridiculously easily pierced with a fork.

Carrot Honey Mint Dish:

For extra fun try to get a variety of heirloom carrots in different colors: purple, white, orange.

http://seasonalontariofood.blogspot.co.nz/2008/09/honey-mint-glazed-carrots.html

http://www.food.com/recipe/honey-mint-carrots-31814

Warm Green Bean Mushroom Salad

https://stickoutyourtongue.org/2013/08/29/late-august-farmers-market-recipes-green-bean-salad-and-meat-balls/

Stuffing ideas:

Quinoa stuffing with Apple, Sweet potato& hazelnuts

http://www.familyfreshcooking.com/2012/11/02/quinoa-stuffing-recipe/#.UjbuBWe9LCQ

Gravy:

The recipe below is a simple, homemade gravy using the pan juices from your roasted turkey and corn starch. If corn is not your thing, then I find using a basic gluten-free flour blend, such as Pamela’s or Bob’s Redmill will do the trick in place of the corn starch. Just remember to whisk it, and whisk like crazy while your gravy is thickening over low heat. If you follow the recipe below verbatum or by substituting your favorite gluten-free flour for the corn starch, you should be right on with your GF gravy.

GF Turkey gravy

http://www.gfreefoodie.com/recipes/detail/491/

Rolls/breads:

Bon Appetit Gluten-Free Sweet Potato Biscuits

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/sweet-potato-biscuits

I like these biscuits for both the dessert quality and their basic, biscuit nature. If you want more of a non-sweet biscuit, I would leave out the maple syrup and candied pecans. I also am not a fan of microwave cooking, so I would suggest baking your sweet potatoes first. It takes a lot longer, but in the end it is better for you. I do a similar drop biscuit recipe with pureed sweet potatoes or yams. My recipe is much less pretty, but I use Pamela’s Gluten Free baking mix to make a drop biscuit.

Ingredients

1 cup gluten-free baking mix
1/4 cup butter, chilled and cut into slices
1/3 cup plus one T milk
1/2 cup baked sweet potato or yam meat

Preheat oven to 375. Add the flour to a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter with a pastry cutter or a fork into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Take 1/2 cup of baked sweet potato or yam meat (yes you have to bake it first. Usually, an hour wrapped in tin foil at 375 will do, make sure you can easily pierce it with a fork to ensure it is done)into a blender with the milk. Blend until fully pureed. Add this puree mixture to the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl. Stir with a fork until still lumpy, but combined. Do not over stir. Use a spoon to place about 2.5 inch in diameter ball of dough on a greased baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used. This recipe should make five to six drop biscuits. Bake at 375 for 25-35 minutes. A little more time may be necessary.

Dessert:

You can make a nut crust for your pies. You can also simply use either Bob’s Redmill GF 1:1 Flour in place of glutinous flour. You don’t have to do anything special, just follow your favorite pie crust recipe and swap out the flour for Bob’s GF flour.

If you want to try a nut crust, here is one of our favorite:

Ingredients:

2 cups almonds or almond flour
1 cup walnuts or walnut flour
3-4 T butter, or you can substitute 1/2 of the butter with low-fat/non-fat yoghurt if you are trying to cut fat

I am lucky enough to have a high powered blender that rocks with breaking nuts up into fine particles. If you have a food processor, blender, or coffee grinder that can grind up nuts, then I highly recommend just buying bulk nuts for your nut crust.

Add 2 cups almonds and 1 cup walnuts to the blender and blend until fine, yet a bit chunky.

Place the nut ‘flour’ into a mixing bowl, and add the butter. Lightly Mix them together with a fork or your clean hands. Gently grease a pie plate with some butter, and then press the crust into the plate, covering the bottom and the edges of the pie plate. Add your pie filling and bake as your pie recipe directs. Enjoy!