Holidays

Alicia Woodward, Editor Living Without Magazine

After getting the opportunity to interview Living Without’s Editor, Alicia Woodward, and learning more about her and the magazine, we went on to discuss Holiday and Social Event tip ideas.  The following is a compilation of Alicia’s tips along with some of my own tips on the how to effectively work through the barriers that might interfere with following through on these suggestions. Enjoy!

Holiday Tips for Social Events

1. A- Communicate.  Call well before the party to alert your host to your food sensitivities.  Be specific about your food “triggers,” clearly explaining what you can (and can’t) eat.

J- Take a deep breath and think about what you would do if you were the host of the situation.  My guess is you would try and do something to accommodate.  Most people, especially people that care about you, don’t want you to get sick and will try their best to help out…or at least let you know ahead of time if there won’t be something safe, so you can eat ahead of time.  If it’s a work event, you might want to talk to the organizer about the Read More »

Tom Sawyer Gluten Free Flour is giving away their .

This great resource gives you dozens of desserts, sides, breads and stuffings – pretty much everything you need to make a delicious and memorable Holiday Dinner. And while many of the recipes use , any all-purpose gluten-free flour mix should work. (Of course, they may not work as well. Tom Sawyer’s mix is absolutely excellent! We LOVE the biscuits!!)

Bread Stuffing, Grandma’s Corn Bread, Turkey Gravy, Baked Candied Sweet Potatoes, Holiday Muffins, Tom Sawyer’s Award Winning Gluten Free Angel Food Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Cake Roll and Cranberry Spice Bars are just Read More »

In my pre-coeliac days, canapés were a doddle. Even on a budget. The day before a party I would buy the cheapest bread from the supermarket, cut out as many circles of bread as I could get out of each slice, dip them in olive oil and press them into pattie tins or mini muffin tins and bake.   I would end up with hundreds of little crisp toasts that kept overnight in a sealed box ready to be topped with an array of fresh toppings throughout the evening.

These days, that isn’t an option!  Gluten free bread is too expensive to buy, too small to get more than 2 circles out of (with a lot of wastage), and frequently too crumbly to use.  Home made is better – but that is an awful lot of bread to make, slice and cut.  Just not practical – especially when you have no fridge or kitchen space – or time – for advanced prep because you are running a supperclub!

So this week I was left wondering what I could use as canapé bases for our Christmas Party that would be a) gluten free b) economical c) effective and these are my top three suggestions:

Read More »

Candy canes can make any cake or cupcake turn into a magical winter treat. All you need to do is take some gluten-free candy canes (click here to see my favorite brand) and crush them up.  Sprinkle them on top of your favorite frosted treat and you will end up with a beautiful creation that looks like it is from a bakery.

Some of my favorite ways to use the candy canes:

1.  Make a vanilla cake from your favorite mix.  Add 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract to the batter.  Bake and allow to cool.  Frost with frosting (I like the Betty Crocker canned frostings).  Sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Read More »

Fruit Cake seems to be one of those things that you either love, or you hate. Personally I also find them really hard to bake and not have them dry out, so this year was a double challenge to make the perfect gluten free fruit cake without it drying out. Like most recipes it’s a personal taste on what you’d like to add, obviously if you have a nut allergy you can exclude those. If you like your cake frosted with frosting you can also do that too.

Enjoy!

Read More »

It’s a season of love, joy, peace. . . and stress? For those us with restricted diets, the holidays can be a struggle, especially when we are sharing meals with those who don’t adhere to the same eating style as we do.    So how do we survive the holidays without sacrificing good times or our well-being?

It’s sad, but true, that many people who follow a specific diet (out of need or choice) opt to “check out” of holiday gatherings. Relationships are of such central importance in our lives, however, that we really shouldn’t let our dietary choices limit our interactions with others.  I’m happy to share that our family has successfully hosted holiday meals in our home for years and we’ve attended family gatherings and Read More »

Welcome to Monday, December 12, 2011.  Only 13 days until Christmas!  For all of you out there (this includes me) who haven’t finished your shopping, it is time to get busy!   Right now I am out running 8-10 miles to help motivate myself to knock out the rest of my shopping later on today.  Not sure yet if that will include in person or online shopping – it depends on how I feel.

With Hannah home sick with the stomach flu, I had plenty of time to catch up on all things online.   I found some great gluten-free tidbits and plan to share one of them now with you guys! Are you ready? Ta-da….

Kinnikinnick is now offering some new mixes just in time for the holiday season.  These mixes include: Read More »

We’re lucky that there are more and more recipes out there that taste just like the real thing. But for many people, it s easier to make some desserts that happen to be gluten-free, rather than gluten-free adaptations of “normal” foods.

Foods that are naturally gluten free avoid the expensive specialty flours. Personally, I am not a fan of spending a lot for specialty flours when I’m sharing with many non-GF folks. This avoids the inevitable complaints of friends or family who won’t even try GF foods just because they’ve decided they won’t like it.

There are a lot of treats which just happen to be GF, or mostly GF. You can find recipes in normal cookbooks, or maybe you have Read More »

This is my first attempt at making any type of pie, but my mom has made this pie recipe dozens of times, so I know it’s good. As with most gluten free pie crusts, you have to press the dough into the pie plate instead of rolling it out. I messed up a bit with this part because I forgot to check the depth on the bottom of the crust. It turned out way too thick… oops. Luckily, the dough tastes like a sugar cookie, so it wasn’t the end of the world. Next time I will remember to check the depth with a fork before baking the crust. Other than that slight misstep, the pie turned out great. Read More »