October’s Double Whammy- Thanksgiving and Halloween - October 2011

Navigating the first two holidays of the fall season

By Cathy Lauer

One of the great joys of the fall season is getting to share and eat the bounty of the garden that you have tended all summer. Family and friends gather and old family recipes are brought to life and shared with great memories. New family members get to experience the traditions and everyone else feels the comfort they bring. How does all this fit with your gluten free diet? Perfectly fine! Even pumpkin pie and turkey dressing can be made delicious as well as gluten free with very little effort.

Before my Mom learned to make really nice gluten free pastry she used to make crustless pumpkin pie for my daughters. Make up your favourite pumpkin pie filling and pour it into a buttered glass pie plate. Bake until the center is set. Since you don’t have the calories or fat of the crust feel free to add a big scoop of whipped cream!

Turkey dressing is an easy switch to rice or if you know someone who makes good gluten free French bread you could use that for your bread stuffing. Since you can’t have turkey dinner without gravy substitute wheat flour with cornstarch or a gluten free flour mix combined with water and made into a smooth paste. Slowly add it to the boiling, defatted turkey drippings and voila, turkey gravy. The amount of flour or cornstarch used will naturally depend on the amount of drippings you have. We always add the water from cooking the vegetable and potatoes to the gravy too. When our family gets together we go through a lot of gravy! If you are stuck trying to change a family favourite to gluten free you can email me your challenge and I will see what I can do to solve it for you.

 

        The second and probably more problematic challenge in October is Halloween. Yes, it is always a panic trying to nail down just exactly what the kids want to dress-up as for Halloween and actually getting them to stick with their choice. Having settled that issue, you now have the challenge of finding treats to hand out that don’t break the bank and that your children can actually eat. When my daughters were little the choices were very few and they didn’t make a big variety of the cute little chocolate bars that they do now. There are also many other candies and gummies now that are gluten free. Back then I made a deal with my daughters. If they turned in all their candy without sneaking any of it I would take them to the toy store and allow them to pick out 1 item of their choice within a certain dollar limit. This was met with great excitement and a lot of time was spent trying to decide whether to get a new Barbie, My Little Pony, Pokémon or one year it was Pogs.

        Most parents aren’t really all that keen on their kids having so much candy anyway. I do long for the old days when homemade rice krispie treats or popcorn balls were a favourite to get. Yes I know there was always one weirdo in some part of the country putting hazards in them but at least the safe ones were a little more nutritious than candy. These days, unless you are at a private party, all Halloween treats are pre-packaged. Which ones can you trust to be safe for your gluten free children? As always READ THE LABEL! Yes you may have been buying that product for years but a quick check just to be sure they haven’t changed anything will help to ensure that your kids have a fun and safe treat to eat for Halloween.

I always like to try to stay close to real foods for treats with raisins or fruit leather but most kids don’t want to find that in their Halloween bags. Our favourites end up being mini bags of potato chips, fruit gummies and gluten free chocolate bars such as Aero, Oh Henry or chocolate candies such as M&M’s. As a rule I don’t buy anything to hand out that we cannot eat ourselves. With so many kids going to the mall for safe trick or treating, and depending on the weather, you may not get a lot of trick-or-treaters at your door. Hence you will be left with the candy you bought and all the candy from their bags that you cannot eat. The next question is what to do with all the leftover candy than no one can eat. Since two of my kids have birthdays right after I put a lot of it into the party bags I sent home with the kids attending the party. They all thought it was great!

With Halloween being on a school night this year why not host an afterschool Halloween party. It’s one way of avoiding the over abundance of candy from going trick-or-treating. Have the kids who come to the party bring a gluten free treat for your child. Be sure to inform the parents about what treats your child can have so there is no confusion. Have your child answer the door, bag in hand to receive the treats. As everyone leaves have your child hand out treats to everyone that attended. There are a lot of great games that can be played with a Halloween twist. One of my kids favourite was trying to eat a cookie dangling from a string while keeping your hands behind your back. Make gingerbread cookies cut into Halloween shapes and using a straw punch a hole in each cookie before baking. If your kids don’t like gingerbread use corn syrup instead of molasses and leave out the spice. Now you have a plain cookie that the kids can decorate before you hang it on a string for them to eat. Make lots so there are cookies for them to decorate and take home. A quick gluten free supper of hotdogs on a stick, veggies and dip and a gluten free cracker or chip of your choice and the party is complete. Your kids will have a great time and you will have had a safe event for your kids and their friends. If you have older kids maybe end their party with adult supervised fireworks.

Now you know that with a little creative thinking and a bit of help from friends and family Thanksgiving can easily be made gluten free while preserving family traditions. Halloween can also be a fun event for parents and kids alike and yet be gluten free. Embrace your gluten free lifestyle and don’t let it ruin your family holidays or your kid’s special events.

Happy Thanksgiving and a Safe Halloween!

Cathy's Bio: Cathy Lauer has been cooking/baking gluten/dairy free for 17 years. She has written 3 all baking cookbooks and has a gluten free baking blog/store. In her spare time she loves to garden in a big way with fruit, vegetable and flower gardens. She is a classically trained singer and loves to read and collect recipe books. She homeschools her youngest son (11) and has 3 grown children and is grandmother of 2. Cathy's Gluten Free Creations Ltd. Gourmet Gluten Free Baking. Cookbooks and Baking Mixes. 250-758-5232 - Cathy Lauer Website - Email