FOOD! Yeah... BumBumBum... What are we thankful for?

In the continuation of our holiday series, the next holiday on our list was Thanksgiving or as it just so happened this year "Thanksgivukkah." (Thanksgivukkah is when Thanksgiving aligns with the first day of Hanukah, which doesn't happen to often.) This holiday is major carb overload to begin with and most of the traditional foods attributed to Thanksgiving have hidden gluten in them. Since we celebrated with my (Mary's) family this year, the pressure was on for them to accommodate our new life style. And like most things, the "Tops" rose to the occasion.

I asked Mama and Papa Top to be guest bloggers on the site but they declined for now (don't be surprised if you see a Mama and Papa Top's corner on our page in the near future.) They did, however, provide a few  of their recipes and shared with us how they kept gluten away from our meal in which we give thanks.

At first I thought the only thing safe to eat would be the turkey (I would be highly concerned if you are slathering some wheat filled product on your turkey in the first place.) Just as I suspected my mom gave the turkey a relaxing massage with some olive oil and seasoned it with Adobo and paprika. Score! My parents ended up surpassing all my expectations and found every alternative to make sure we had the same Thanksgiving meal as always.

I'm Stuffed

The biggest obstacle that my family had to face was making my favorite Turkey Day staple GF. Stuffing!!! (or like some people call it, dressing.) It literally is made from bread and before I went gluten free it was something that I ate on a pretty regular basis just because I love it so much. My family is far from fancy so we usually just make Stove Top but they don't offer a gluten free version of it yet so my mom found the next best thing, Gillian's Foods Home Style Stuffing Mix.

GF Stuffing Recipe

1 box/bag Stuffing 

1 1/2 to 2 cups gluten free chicken stock

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped celery

Saute onions & celery together with butter until cooked translucent. Add eggs, chicken stock, and stuffing and mix all together until bread is moist.

My dad originally only used about a cup of chicken broth and in hind site says, he should have added more (I agree with him and we added some extra broth to our leftovers as well as a 1/4 cup of an Italian Cheese blend.) 

My family tried to be conscious of what ingredients went into our other side dishes and made sure they were all gluten free. I usually make gravy with the meat drippings, broth, and corn starch (even before going GF) and was shocked to find out this isn't how other people make gravy. I told my parents to just use corn starch but they opted to use gluten free pancake mix of all things to thicken the gravy and I must say it was quite delicious. 

We waited an hour or two to digest and see if we had any negative reactions after our meal but found that we were not "glutened" at all (despite my brother's careless utensil mixing.) With no side effects of a gluten contamination we moved onto what Hayley is most thankful for.... dessert.

DESSERT!

"The Farmer and Mi-Del"

My mother's theory on pies during thanksgiving is that there should be a 1 to 1 ratio, meaning one pie per one person. Without disappointment that is exactly how many pies we had  (9 in total, 4 gluten free, 5 laden with it.) Hayley did her part to contribute to the pie to person ratio by bringing a Sweet Potato Pie (her specialty) and a Pumpkin Pie using Grandma Kennedy's secret recipe (just read the side of a can of Libby's Pumpkin.) Both Hayley and my mom used Mi-Del's pre-made pie crusts for some of their pies. I really like the Chocolate Style crust but Hayley is on the if-y side. No holiday would be without my mom's Chocolate Mousse pie so she texted me a thousand times worked really hard to make sure she used the right ingredients. 

Chocolate Mousse Pie

Mama Top's Chocolate Mousse Pie

Mi-Del Gluten Free Chocolate Style pie shell 

6 oz Nestle semisweet chocolate bits (Hershey's could also be used, both are gluten free) 

2 Tablespoons Margarine -room temperature  

2 raw eggs 

1 small container lite Cool-Whip

Pinch of salt

Pour chocolate chips into a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 45 seconds, stir, and then continue for 15 seconds until all the chocolate is melted and smooth. 

Add a pinch of salt

Stir in margarine until melted and smooth and then add the raw eggs. Make sure to keep stirring so the eggs don't scramble. 

Fold container of Cool-Whip into the chocolate mixture. Once all is mixed, pour into pie shell and refrigerate. Serve with whip topping.

All in all, our first Gluten Free Thanksgivakkah went off with out a hitch and without being "Glutened." I would mark that as a success. Two holidays down, two more to go.

How my mom differentiates

Potato, Potahtoe, Lets just call the whole thing Latkes

When we decided to take the plunge and go Gluten Free there were many things we didn't consider (and food we wished we pigged out on before cutting it out of our life.) One main thing we never thought about was how we would we be able to enjoy the holidays without the foods we love. Luckily, there are some tasty alternatives on the market now that will help ease the pain of missing out on all that comfort food. We still have Christmas to tackle but Thanksgiving and Hanukah have been conquered.

Let's start off in the order in which we started the holiday season:

Hanukah! 

Gluten Free Latkes

We didn't have a big meal planned out to ring in the "Festival of Lights" but the most important thing we had to have was Latkes (Potato Pancakes to some.... I call them Yiddish Hash-browns... same thing.) Fried food is traditionally eaten on Hanukkah in commemoration of the oil that miraculously burned for eight days when the Maccabees purified and rededicated the holy Temple in Jerusalem. 

Our recipe:

4 large starchy baking potatoes grated

1 small sweet onion, grated

1/3 to 1/2 cup Gluten Free Matzo ground finely or 
all-purpose gluten-free flour blend, as needed

1 large organic free-range eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

Dash of black pepper

Canola, or high heat oil, for frying

Peel and grate the potatoes and onion by hand (You need to put your blood, sweat, and tears into this, sometimes literally.)

Let the grated potato and onion mixture rest then press them into colander  to extract the moisture.

In a large bowl, combine the grated potatoes, onions and Gluten Free Matzo. Add the beaten egg, sea salt and pepper. Stir well. Add more flour as you go, if you need to.

Heat a good half inch of oil in a cast iron skillet over high heat.
Carefully drop the batter with a large spoon, or fork, into the hot oil, and press down with a spatula.
Cook the latkes until they are golden on each side - crispy on the outside, and tender in the middle. This takes maybe five minutes, depending upon the size of the latke.
Remove the latkes with a slotted spatula and place on paper towels, to drain.
Keep the drained latkes warm in a hot oven (200 degrees) until all the latkes are ready to serve. Try to work fast, as latkes are definitely best hot from the pan.
Serve the latkes immediately with applesauce or sour cream or Ketchup if you have a shiksa for a wife.