Last week, I shared a Traditional Thanksgiving Menu. I told you a little about my Mom and her knack for making stuffing and orange jello salad. I wrote about how Mom makes the best Thanksgiving dinner ever. Well… Mom has had to make some changes in her life recently. She’s had to go gluten-free. Mom was feeling very sick earlier this year, and after many, many tests, the docs finally figured out that she had Celiac Disease. The gluten in her diet is what was making her sick. So she’s had to change her diet to one that is completely gluten-free– not an easy feat when you’re in your later years, but thankfully companies are producing more gluten-free products and some restaurants are more sympathetic to dietary needs.
If you’re not familiar with what Celiac Disease is all about, here’s a brief synopsis:
Celiac disease is an inherited condition that causes an extreme physical reaction when gluten is ingested from grains like wheat, barley, and rye. The condition is not curable, and can become severe, damaging the small intestine and causing poor absorption of vitamins and minerals or malnutrition. Though it usually cannot be cured, gluten intolerance can be addressed by avoiding products which contain gluten.
So in honor of Mom, and all of the other folks who need to eat gluten-free, I’ve put together a completely gluten-free Thanksgiving Menu. By the way, everything on the menu is completely edible and delicious–even for those who can eat gluten.
Roasted turkey is pretty easy to do gluten-free. You just need to be careful about buying a turkey that has not been injected with any ingredients that contain gluten. Here’s a good gluten free guide on how to roast a turkey with gravy too.
This is a creamy mashed potato recipe that is very simple to make-ahead. Potatoes are naturally gluten-free, and added dairy products make it creamy and delicious: Creamy Oven-Baked Mashed Potatoes.
Stuffing, oh stuffing. That’s a tougher one to make gluten-free. I decided to make a gluten free cornbread stuffing. I started with a GF cornbread mix, used a fabulous GF dried bread cube stuffing mix from Whole Foods Market, and added in bacon and sauteed vegetables. We all thought this was a pretty fabulous stuffing: Cornbread and Bacon Stuffing. The flavor and texture were just as you might find in a classic bread stuffing.
Every Thanksgiving dinner needs sweet potatoes or yams, right? These yams are simply roasted with a caramelized orange syrup and topped with marshmallows (gluten free!): Caramelized Yams with Toasted Marshmallows.
I’m sure there are quite a few Celiac’s out there who might be missing the classic Campbell’s Green Bean Casserole. This recipe is a terrific substitute and it was my favorite dish of this menu: Fresh Green Bean Casserole with Caramelized Onion- Breadcrumbs. Fresh green beans are mixed with a creamy fresh mushroom sauce. The french fried onions in the original Campbell’s recipe are replaced here by caramelized onions mixed with GF breadcrumbs. SO good.
Classic Cranberry Sauce is another one that is easy to make naturally gluten-free. This recipe is tainted with a little bit of sweetness, orange zest and spice.
For dessert, we enjoyed this gluten free pumpkin pie!
My family ate and enjoyed all of these dishes for a pre-Thanksgiving meal last week, and we’re not even a gluten-free family 🙂
Recipes for the Thanksgiving dishes featured above can be found by clicking on the recipe titles.
Thanks for sharing! This will be my first Thanksgiving without gluten.
What an amazing feast! I’m sure your mom and your family won’t miss the gluten at all!
Everything looks so fantastic and you’re totally right of course, people can eat great food without gluten. I’m kinda mouthwatering over your green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving…
This is great! Thanks for posting it on FB! My Step-Mother, who is coming in town for Thanksgiving, will appreciate any of this that I can make. She was struck with extreme arthritis inher 20s and it has taken over her life. During a complication with her Arthritis about 5 years ago they found that she also suffers from celiac disease. No one had ever thought of it before, but since she started a strict gluten-free diet she has much better days now!
For the past 7 years I have been hosting a Gluten Free Thanksgiving. My nephew who is now in high school was diagnosed with Celiacs as a child. It means so much to me to be able to do this for him. I am really happy to see so many more gluten free options. Thank you for posting your recipes!
My best friend in high school had Celiac disease and that was when I first learned about the gluten-free
My step-mother just found out that she has celiac’s disease. She is having a hard time finding recipes that she can make! What a great cookbook!
My inlaws and my children all all gluten free. So I appreciate all the recipes, and tips so that I can prepare a gluten free Thanksgiving meal for them.
It sounds as if a gluten free diet is not as restrictive as I originally thought. Dinner looks fantastic!
@rb, Exactly… you can eat very good food with no gluten at all, and that’s what Shauna shows you in her book 🙂
One of my good friends is gluten-free, I believe – she never talks about it, so I don’t know if she has Celiac disease (does it even occur in 21-year-olds?) but her diet is strictly limited to gluten-free items and she always looks longingly at our dishes. My plan is to make a dinner without any gluten in it one day and invite her to have some. : )
@Inbar, I’m sure she would really appreciate that. Lovely idea! Yes, it’s typically an inherited disease, and it varies at what age people are diagnosed. Sometimes young kids just tend to show symptoms of gluten-intolerance… and the doctors/parents don’t recognize it as Celiac for quite some time.
Your recipes are wonderful and I will be sharing this with friends that have been told they have Celiac also. They will love hearing about your book and ideas.