This upcoming holiday will be my third Christmas season after my son and I were diagnosed with Celiac disease. Every year it gets a bit easier and my repertoire of recipes expands. Every year there are also newer products available that make the dinner preparation that much easier.
Christmas dinner is absolutely one of my fondest memories growing up. It was important to me when I first became a Mama, to first learn how to cook, ahem, and second continue on what my mother and her sisters had started so long ago. It was especially imporant to me since we live so far away from them, we would be now on our own in our little family unit to carry on this tradition ourselves. I, of course, didn't want my son to miss out.
So perhaps it's your first Christmas Dinner going gluten free either because you or someone in your family has an intolerance or is Celiac. Don't fret. There are many easy ways to cut the gluten and enjoy a luscious gluten free feast! Here are my absolute favourite ways to enjoy the holidays without compromising the menu.
First, just take a moment to assess what is gluten. If you are cooking for someone else that isn't in your family, you probably feel the pressure to ensure that there is no gluten and you may have less experience with it than someone that shops for a gluten free diet. There are easy peasy things to remember like barley, oats, spelt, wheat and rye are the main culprits. If you are delving into using any pre-mixed or pre-packaged food, definitely look for gluten free labels, and also check for the following ingredients and ensure that they aren't present: Maltodextrin, Barley Malt, Malt and Soy Sauce. I've seen Maltodextrin on the package of trail mix ingredients, so just be safe and check all packaging.
Naturally I wanted my dinner to just be a carbon copy of a regular Christmas dinner with no exceptions. I want stuffing and pie and gravy. And those things you shall have too.
My secret to making gluten free stuffing a little less expensive over the holidays, as bags of pre-made gluten free breadcrumbs could in themself break my budget, is to save the ends of the gluten free loaves of bread that I buy throughout the year and throw them into a bag in the freezer. This makes things pretty simple come Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you aren't using gluten free breads already, a simple loaf is more cost efficient than buying the gluten free crumbs. If you are rich, just skip to the bagged gluten free crumbs.
Gluten Free Cranberry Stuffing
(I love the sweet and tart of the cranberries mixed with the savoury of the sage.)
1 loaf or 10 slices of gluten free bread (we use Udi's)
1 C butter (we use Earth Balance vegan spread)
3 medium celery stalks, chopped
3/4 C finely chopped onion
1 C dried cranberries
2 T chopped fresh Sage
1 T thyme
1 1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1. Set oven to 375 degrees. Place slices of bread onto cookie sheets and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and slice into crouton shaped bread cubes.
2. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook celery and onion in butter, stirring frequently, until onion is tender. Stir in about one-third of the bread cubes. Place in a large blow. Add remaining bread cubes and ingredients; toss.
3. Stuff turkey just before roasting. Use about 1/2 C to 3/4 C of stuffing per pound of turkey. Bake any extra stuffing in a covered buttered baking dish at 375 degrees until heated through and top is golden, 25-30 minutes.
4. Spoon onto your plate and enjoy! I love mine with a little gravy and mashed potatoes all in one bite!
Now there are a couple of things that I have heard about turkey cooking that aren't so friendly to our friendly neighbourhood Celiacs. One is that people put flour in or on the turkey. Just kind of sprinkling before cooking. Second is that some people cook them in a turkey bag. If this is your practice just be mindful, that you are in fact sprinkling with a gluten free flour, my preference for this would be a nice brown rice flour or sorghum, and that the turkey bag does not contain flour inside of it.
Now naturally you can't have a turkey (or stuffing or mashed potatoes) without a little gravy. One of my favourite things to do at a epicurean restaurant called the Wallflower is to get the gluten free meat gravy on the dairy free vegan cheese. I love irony in all forms especially in my belly. Another thing I love to do lately is get almond milk hot chocolates with real whip cream but that's a whole other story!
I have yet to make a gluten free gravy from scratch so I consulted with the ultimate pro on gluten free cooking. This would be Shauna from Gluten Free Girl. When it comes to gluten free, she knows all. I'm planning to try out her recipe this year.
In the meantime, I have sufficed and made delicious gravy a la package. Simply Organics makes a few delicious gravies and many other sauces and spice mixes at an affordable price. All are Certified Gluten Free. This has been my go-to brand for the past few years.
Now the desert portion of the meal is most likely the part that I could go on and on about. Really, why don't we eat our desert before and after? Before I delve into a recipe or two (or three) I just want to point out something especially important if you are considering doing any other baking in your house the day of or even before the Christmas dinner when a Celiac will be present.
Gluten is actually an airborne allergy as much as it is consumed through cross contamination or accidental glutenization. You can buy a regular baked pie at a bakery bring it home and not affect a Celiac but if you bought a gluten free pie that was baked in the same space as a regular pie was baked there will most likely be a problem for the Celiac. If you are hoping to do regular baking beforehand I recommend doing it at least a day or so in advance and I highly recommend that everything is properly sanitized before moving onto the gluten free baking. One great option would be to have someone else bake regular baking and bring it along or to purchase from the store. This is how we Celiacs live or at least live comfortably! Just ask my friend Lisa and the story of how her regular baking career changed to a gluten free baking career when her daughter Sawyer would get sick in the house just from being around regular flours.
Now, raise your hand if you are with me on this: Cakes are for birthdays and celebrations and pies are for holidays? Ya? Great, let's continue.
First I will direct you to my Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie with Ginger Snap Crust and Almond Healthy Top Whip Cream. This recipe is dairy, gluten and soy free. The pumpkin filling is made with Sucanut sugar making it a low sugar alternative to regular pumpkin pie. Recipe found here. This was from last years Thanksgiving and was pretty much my first pumpkin pie ever. My first pumpkin pie filling from scratch I just did in October with a pumpkin from the farmer's market. Recipe for from scratch pumpkin puree is found here. As I see it Thanksgiving AND Christmas is for pumpkins and lovers and lovers of pumpkins.
Okay, so you are more of a fruity an light kind of pie person as opposed to a rich and creamy kind of pie. Here is a gluten free strawberry rhubarb pie that I made earlier this year with my favourite go to gluten free pie crust product, Glutino Gluten Free Pantry Pie Crust. It's the closest thing I've tasted to a gluten free match for real pie crust. Fill it with your favourite pie filling. Mine would absolutely be apple at this time of year, hot from the oven, topped with some vanilla almond or coconut ice cream.
So we've covered the gluten free dinner but I can't leave without sharing a little love of gluten free Christmas treats for this time of year.
The past couple of years we have made what I lovingly refer to as Gluten Free Gingerbread Shacks. It was great coming across the idea to use graham crackers as the foundation for the first house as opposed to baking gluten free ginger bread right in my first year of being gluten free. And my second and now my third. I kind of love the shack! Also it's a time thing. We usually make our gingerbread/graham cracker house in the first week and it hangs out as decor until Christmas day when we are officially allowed to dig in! We have baked gluten free ginger bread men (seen below) for Santa, but making the house seems like a real challenge. I'm hoping that I'll be reporting back here in a year with a recipe to share!
As we will do the shack again this year just cause we love it so, I'm looking at trying out the gingerbread recipe in the Babycakes Covers the Classics recipe book that I spoiled myself with earlier this year. I do love their recipes and find them mostly reliable. If you were looking to invest in a proper gluten free baking book, this is also vegan and mostly sugar free. It is a great resource and the place where I discovered the perfect bean free flour blend to making my own gluten free all purpose flour. Another great resource for gluten free gingerbread is again, Shauna at Gluten Free Girl. I used her recipe as a compass point when making these ones last year.
If you are lacking the time to bake gingerbread men but were thinking it would be a fun activity for the children to do, I just discovered a BRAND NEW LOCAL PRODUCT that I am so pleased to introduce here.
Wendel's is originally a cafe and bookshop in Fort Langley. A lovely shop that I absolutely love that has recently taken on the gluten free world all because one day a little boy was crying he couldn't have cookie in their shop because he was Celiac. Well, Christmas blessings from Wendel's. they have been hard at work all year developing gluten free Christmas products just for our super sensitive bellies. I just love the naked gingerbread men in their little 6 pack!
And of course, what would Christmas be without shortbread cookies!!!
Wendel's is offering shortbread cookies in this great little tube. I do admit I love the packaging and believe these would make a great little gift for the Celiac in your life! Check their site to find where you can buy them.
If shortbreads are a holiday favourite as they are mine (especially if they have been dipped in chocolate, on my!) don't sell yourself short on the opportunity to bake an easy batch of them with Bob's Red Mill Shortbread Cookie Mix. This is also another great product that I have used for shortbreads that even the non Celiacs loved. I have also used this mix as a crust... options my friends! You have a plenty! (Please note, this one has been known to sell out at this time of the year!)
Well that about wraps things up from here! You have now officially been blessed with the goods to stuff yourself silly and put on as much weight as you would on a regular diet this holiday season! I hope you enjoyed my favourite gluten free ways for the holiday as I did sharing them here with you. Good luck going gluten free! Enjoy! XO. S
