Host a Great Gluten Free Thanksgiving

Congratulations! You get to host Thanksgiving dinner!

I know, I can see it now, the endless preparations, the serving dishes, the fact that you can't seat Uncle Fred anywhere near Cousin Murray. All of this is spinning in your head as you begin to contemplate the task in front of you. Maybe you just haven't had time yet to see the good in all of this. As a member of the gluten free elite, you now get to be worry free!

Really! The food is now in your complete control. You are the master of not only your holiday cooking, but everyone else's too. This year you don't have to wonder what is available to eat. You don't have to interrogate family members for ingredients lists or preparation methods.

There are still technical details to hammer out, however, you need to decide if you are cooking the entire meal, if others will be contributing, and various other details. So grab a cup of coffee and let's discuss.

Thanksgiving Dinner is on You

In this situation you are the Thanksgiving master. You get to choose what dishes to prepare and when. It's a lot of work, but the reward of having no fear of cross contamination is well worth it. This is also a great time to show the nay sayers in your life how fabulous gluten free eating can be.

You have an opportunity here to treat others the way you would like to be treated. Is there someone on your guest list who has special dietary needs? Why not make a list of those needs and try to plan around them as much as you can. You can even make labels for the food listing the allergens, this would help immensely at a buffet style dinner.

Potluck Thanksgiving Dinner

Since you are the host, you are also the organizer. Take some initiative and assign certain dishes to certain people. There's a bit of sneakiness allowed here. Grab the dishes you can't live without and assign them to yourself and your most trusted gluten free sympathizers. To me it's just not Thanksgiving without turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Those are the dishes I would reserve for the inner circle. Assign the things you can live without to the other guests on your list.

You can also give a bit of extra instruction on certain foods. Request that your salad maker leave the croutons on the side, for instance. You can also tell your friendly feasters that you are trying to create an allergy friendly environment and request that they bring the labels from prepackaged foods.

One of the most important things to watch out for with a potluck type Thanksgiving Dinner is cross contamination. Pick up some extra serving spoons from your local dollar store before the event to ensure that there is no need for using the same spoon twice. As people bring the food in, try to localize the gluten free eats in one locations, far from the contamination risk if possible.

Thanksgiving Worries to Watch Out For

We're venturing into scary territory here, take a deep breath. Again, I must remind you that as the host, you are in charge.

1. Rolls! These fluffy yummies present the biggest challenge of the Thanksgiving feast. They are small, require butter and are made to be eaten with the hands. Talk about your cross contamination nightmare. No big deal this year though, you have the power to prevent disaster.
   

If you are the only gluten free eater at the party, then consider yourself in the clear. Put the basket of rolls on the table for people to pass around. As long as the rest of the food is located in the buffet line, this limits the interaction. If you have several gluten free guests, you have two options. You can find a spectacular gluten free bakery like Kneaded Specialties and order all gluten free rolls for the entire party, or you can set up a separate space for the gluten free bread. Remember to give this space a it's own butter, jelly or whatever else you offer as spread.

1. Dessert. Make sure you separate and designate the gluten free ones. Also a great time to make sure you have plenty of serving utensils.

2. Double dippers. Uncle Larry just finished a roll. He takes a piece of broccoli from the veggie tray and dips the now contaminated piece into the big bowl of dip. The solution here? Make sure you have at least two spoons in the dip. It's a psychological thing. When people see the effort you have gone to to provide so many utensils, they will not be able to help but use them.

The final tip on the things to look out for is worry. Make sure that you are not so high strung that you forget to enjoy the day. Take a deep breath and repeat after me, “I can do this.”