This is my 1st christmas Gluten free & am not sure what there is for me?

[Lisa78]

[SimplyYummy123]

A whole host of food is available. Yams/Sweet Potatoes, any fresh veggies, organic/free range turkey, fruits, nuts, rice, quinoa, the list goes on and on. I have had gluten & dairy free holidays since 1996. Stuffing can be made with nuts, rice (a mix of brown/wild/white), eggs, fruits & veggies. Do stay away from processed foods as labeling is not 100% accurate, 100% of the time. Alcohol also contains gluten, except for most wines, 100% agave tequila and potato vodka. Most pop and some fruit drinks contain gluten too. Stick to pure juices. Always read the ingredients list, if you don't recognize any item on the list as a real food, don't buy it. Gluten is hidden in a wide variety of most processed food. Eat fresh and enjoy!

[Lisa78 in reply to SimplyYummy123]

Thank u so much for your ideas,am finding it very daunting & discovering the safest way to eat gluten free is fresh veg etc...Ive been trying to find out what brands of vodka are made from potato as i like Smirmnoff.

[SimplyYummy123 in reply to Lisa78]

Reading the following article may help shed some light on the controversy on distilled liquor. Many celiac sufferers have had adverse reactions to a variety of supposed safe liquors. Although rum is listed as "safe", some is cured in old whiskey barrels to add flavour. It is very difficult to obtain a proper list of ingredients for any particular alcohol, which leaves the old tried and true method - try it, if it bothers you, don't try again!

celiacdisease.about.com/od/...

The following is a list of Vodka brands with their BASE ingredient listed. My preferred vodka is Luksosawa ... with POM - a pomegranate juice sold in stores here in Canada.

wiki.ask.com/List_of_vodkas

My website should be up and running in the very near future... simplyyummy123.com Info, recipes, videos, all about gluten & dairy free living.

Hope the links help to clarify a few things for you!

[SimplyYummy123 in reply to SimplyYummy123]

Luksosawa with POM added is my favourite alcoholic beverage. It is also delicious with lemonade (homemade).

[Liana]

If you want some special treats, like shortbread cookies and sugar plums, or a feast like a Turducken, feel free to check out the recipes on my site. They're all free and tried in my own kitchen. I never post anything I haven't made several times in my own home. Gluten is eliminated from alchoholic beverages during distilation and fermentation. Hard liquer, wine, fortified wines, distilled spirits, etc are all gluten free. The exception is the brewing of beer, however the good news is that there are many good GF beers out there. I use them in cooking all the time. Food Challenges ...foodchallenges.ca

[Hidden]

A traditional Christmas dinner is easy to keep gf as its a roast wirh vegetables the only thing that you have to be careful with is how you thicken the gravy and the stuffing. M&S do a couple of gf pork stuffings.

For gravy you can thicken with corn flour and there's gf boulion and specialist gf gravy powders so this is easy to deal with.

A really good alternative to mince pies is to make a crumble with gf sweet mince meat and just use gf flour for the crumble this is easy peasy and you have more fruit in it and can add cooking apples so its even fruitier.

There are some very good Christmas puddings for sale and you can buy traditional plum puddings that are gf. M&S always get good feed back and my favorite are Village bakery.

Really your biggest obstacle is cross contamination if you are eating a gf meal with others and they are eating bread stuffing etc but if you make the meal and you make the gravy and the stuffing with gf bread crumbs you can relax as everything on the table is safe for you.

I was diagnosed in October 16 years ago and have fond memories of my first gf Christmas as thats when I started to really feel better, when in the run up to it I had seen my first gf Christmas with intrepidation.

Jerry

[Lisa78 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your help.

[Lisa78 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you very much.

[judithr]

You can make really good pastry if you add 1/4 tsp baking powder (g/f) & 3 tsps of cider vinegar to your usual recipe. Then you can have mince pies & other pies. An easy way to roll it out is between 2 sheets of cling film.

Enjoy your Christmas, there are lots of delicious ready made goodies out there & also recipes to make your own.

[Lisa78 in reply to judithr]

Thank you

[meanioni]

OK....

Most meats OK (watch out for ham with breadcrumbs on).

Gravy - I use Just Bouillion which is GF (available from Auravita, Sainsburys) or make your own using cornflour and Kallo GF beef/chicken stock cubes

Stuffing, there are several commercial GF stuffings available. Tescos and Sainsburys do them or make your own with GF bread, some sage, onion, water and egg.

Sossies - plenty of GF sossies now but the Black Farmer sossies are quite nice.

Mince pies - Baker's Delight are the best GF. Tescos do GF christmas puds and christmas cakes

Alcohol, steer clear of beer but cider, wine, white rum, brandy are OK. A lot of people say Whisky is OK but I have had problems with it.

[Hidden]

hi,

I use Bisto Best, they have a full range of gravey from pork, beef, lamb, onion and veggy. Do not use the normal Bisto just there Best range it is in glass jars.

Tesco do Genius mincepies very nice.

I have bought gf cake from M&S. Not tasted it yet.

Boiled potatoes put in hot fat in the oven and basted until golden are delicious.

I make cranberry sauce just add a small amount of water and lots of sugar, I also add Port or red wine and sometimes both, much better than shop bought.

This is my first Christmas too but it is going to be a good one.

[beedy]

hi , i also use bisto best in the glass jars, great taste, i just have to make sure we use my margerine and not the 1 the rest of my family has, hope this helps