"Yes Virginia there is Thanksgiving dinner after going gluten free…"

Thanksgiving Day…the only Holiday that has as its focus and main activity food. Some celebrate this day in a restaurant, others travel long distances to be with family and friends and some of us, because of gluten intolerance, will always be the host family for this day of gastronomic delight.

Over the years we have shared many recipes on cooking THE TURKEY. This year our online cooking class “Thank Goodness for Thanksgiving Help” gives you a complete Thanksgiving Menu and Game Plan. When purchasing make sure the turkey is gluten free-most natural turkeys will fall into that category. This month we are featuring Chef Jessica’s: Show Stopping Thanksgiving Turkeys. For those of you have that have brined your turkey and will never cook your turkey any other way look at these recipes. Honey Brined Turkey Stuffed w/Lemons & Thyme or Plum-Glazed Roast Turkey. If Fried Turkey is your family favorite you will love this recipe: Deep Fried Turkey. And for the traditionalist we have: Roast Turkey with Bacon and Orange Butter or Roast Turkey with Prosciutto Hazelnut Butter. At the bottom are links to “how –to videos” for those curious folks wanting to know how to “brine” or ‘fry a turkey” .

That was the easy part now onto the rest of the dinner.

Probably the two dishes that are the most challenging to duplicate gluten free are the dressing and the pies. Chef Jessica has over 24 gluten free stuffing/dressing recipes ranging from easy to difficult. This month the 5 Star Stuffings include Apricot Wild Rice Stuffing , Cornbread, Bacon, Spinach & Cashew Stuffing, Herbed Bread Stuffing, Pear & Pine Nut Stuffing, Sausage, and Pecan & Raisin Stuffing.

In Perfect Pies Chef Jessica starts us off with a Basic Pie Crust and you can find recipes for Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with Gingersnap Crust, or Maple Sugar Pumpkin Pie with Rum Cream in our recipe pages of over 4,000 recipes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Epicurious “How to Brine a Turkey”

Alton Brown Fried Turkey 2/3

Alton Brown Fried Turkey 3/3

What's Red & Jiggly and Looks like a Can?

Well, it’s 2 days before Thanksgiving. This year my Thanksgiving dinner will be somewhat low-key with my husband and my two kids and some good friends of ours. This afternoon I’ve been trying to put the finishing touches on my menu and I just realized that I almost forgot the cranberry sauce! As a kid I remember not being too fond of cranberry sauce – after all it was a strange jiggly thing that didn’t resemble any fruit or vegetable I’d ever seen – in fact when examined really closely it looked very much like a dark red Jell-O molded into the shape of a can (not very appetizing, if you ask me). It wasn’t until I entered adulthood and started exploring my passion for cooking that I discovered what cranberry sauce really is and should be. What I find to be most amusing is that my childhood experience and memory of cranberry sauce is also shared by many others. I’ve had many guests at my Thanksgiving table who will attempt to kindly pass on the cranberry sauce – dismissing it as something that they simply don’t care for. This always makes me giggle because if I ask them what kind of cranberry sauce they’ve tried, they almost always describe that jiggly red stuff in the shape of a can! After several minutes of convincing them to take a “no thank-you bite” of real cranberry sauce they are almost always pleasantly surprised and often become cranberry sauce converts by the end of the meal.

Not only do I find cranberry sauce to be a wonderful compliment to the turkey and side dishes of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but it is also awesome with pork and chicken. What’s even better is that cranberry is easy to prepare, doesn’t require a ton of ingredients and is naturally gluten-free!

Here’s my favorite cranberry sauce recipe (hope you enjoy and perhaps convert some of your guests to be cranberry sauce lovers this year as well!):

Cranberry Orange Sauce
3/4 cup water
cup sugar
1 Tablespoon orange zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoon orange juice
12-ounce bag of cranberries, picked through

In a medium saucepan, bring water, orange zest, sugar and salt to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Add the cranberries and orange juice and return mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until mixture is slightly thickened and about two-thirds of the berries have popped opened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. (The cranberry sauce can be covered and refrigerated for up to 7 days; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.)

By Chef Jessica Hale (more cranberry sauces from Chef Jessica at www.glutenfreeda.com)

South of the Border Thanksgiving Feast

As usual, this Thanksgiving finds me pouring over recipes as I endeavor to make my holiday menu special and memorable. With over 5000 gluten-free recipes on Glutenfreeda.com, one can imagine that selecting a menu of recipes can be more than a little challenging. Add to that the fact that as one of the chefs of Glutenfreeda.com, for me, Thanksgiving always strikes twice. Our first Thanksgiving each year happens in October as we develop and test recipes to add for the upcoming month, November in this case. By the time the second Thanksgiving arrives, we've already had plenty of turkey, stuffing and all the trimmings. So, to once again get excited about turkey, I've got to get as creative as possible... within limits. I have learned through experimentation that NO ONE appreciates too much experimentation with the traditional Thanksgiving feast. Case in point, one year I thought I'd forego tradition and prepare Peking Duck for the occasion. My duck turned out wonderful, but instead of rave reviews it was met with raised eyebrows and incredulous stares. As I explained what the little pancakes were for, eyes glassed over and, well, lesson learned; don't screw with the turkey.

This year I intend to be much more subtle. I am preparing turkey (must-have-turkey) with a latin touch. This year we will have a full house of family members and although no one but me has Celiac disease, everything down to the dessert will be gluten-free. I have a gluten-free household and everything I serve is always gluten-free.

Here is the menu I will be serving:

Appetizers
Roasted Cheese Stuffed Sweet Peppers
Mini Crab & Avocado Quesadillas

Soup
Roasted Yellow Pepper Soup
with Jalapeno Garlic Creme Fraiche

Entree
Ancho Chili Roasted Turkey with gravy
Chorizo Corn Bread Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes with Green Chiles & Cheese
Sauteed Corn, Green Beans, Red Peppers & Onions

Dessert
Layered Chocolate Ginger Pumpkin Mousse


From our house to yours, have a delicous Thanksgiving! Ole!

Chef Yvonne
Glutenfreeda Foods, Inc.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Glutenfreeda Blog.

9 years ago we posted our first recipe on our website www.glutenfreeda.com and now as we enter our 10th year we are joining the world of blogging…gluten free blogging that is. In the spirit of Thanksgiving we thought this was the perfect time to launch our blog site as we have much to be thankful for in 2007.

We are thankful to Betty Hagman (1922-2007) for her years of dedication to the gluten free world with her many cookbooks supporting the gluten free life style. We are thankful that the media is giving attention to Celiac disease and gluten intolerance and helping to spread awareness; we have hit the mainstream folks. Finally we are thankful for our ever growing community of friends and readers.
We plan to share with you our recipes that support a gluten free diet, new gluten free products, and the latest in medical research and news.
Please drop us a note and let us know what you think and what you would like to see us include in future topics.