Looking for pity here.

[Minimus]

This is my first Thanksgiving since I discovered I have an autoimmune reaction to gluten (protein in wheat, rye, barley). So I will not be able to eat any of the following:

Stuffing
Dressing
Gravy
Rolls

And the worst is NO DESSERTS! No pies. No cakes. :cry:

So basically I get plain turkey, mashed potatoes, and veggies.

I am thankful I have food to eat, but I still feel sorry for myself.

[ET Awful]

1. :( Bummer!!!

You could always scopp out the innards of pie couldn't you? Like scoop out the apple filling and such, slather it with whipped cream, that bypasses the gluten doesn't it? :)

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. I've been through that

It turned out to be a misdiagnosis, but, in the meantime I found out that I felt a whole lot better not eating all that "whitebread" stuff. I still keep it out of my diet.

That's the upside.

Stay with something made of wonderfully fresh fruit for dessert.

In the end, you'll be glad. You'll just feel great. Isn't that worth it?

[Minimus]

9. I definitely feel much better than I used to and most of the time it is

worth it. But missing out on all my Mom's good cooking this Thanksgiving, man it is going to be hard.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

28. I know, I know - here's a gift for being such a good kid:

[Minimus]

29. LOL. Thanks for the laugh.

[Spinzonner]

3. I had no shoes ...

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

17. And then I met a man who had no feet?

That one?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

27. So..........

I stole his shoes.

HEY, he wasn't using them ................

<snort>

[evil genius]

4. sheesh!!!

they have glute-free flour you know...it may taste like cardboard but hey, no stuffing? bummer.

[Minimus]

12. I have tried making stuff with the different gluten free flours and

you are right about the cardboard. That is exactly what it tastes like.

[linazelle]

5. Why live at all if you can't eat dessert? j/k

I've been on a no-carb diet plan at this time of the year before. I know how tough it is going through the holidays without those things. But you can do it. And although you may not appreciate it now, you will FEEL so much better--and you'll lose weight. What's not to like about that? :shrug:

[ogradda]

6. can you have gravy??

please, tell me you can have gravy:hug: and how about pie without crust?

[Minimus]

8. no gravy, thickened with flour.

pie without crust is probably ok, as long as there is no crumbs. I discovered the hard way that even crumbs will make me sick.

[Beaverhausen]

7. I have a friend with the same condition

She has learned to live with it and she often brings her own food to dinners. We as her friends also tried to keep in mind her food restrictions and I learned to make that yummy flourless chocolate cake.

Try the local Whole Foods or other health food store. You will find a lot of choices there.

Good Luck!

P.S. Can I have your stuffing?

[Minimus]

13. We have Earth Fare here, it is like Whole Foods and their

are substitutes but I'm still trying to find out the things that taste the best.

How do you make a flourless choc cake? I bought a gluten free mix and it was awful.

[Beaverhausen]

15. Flourless chocolate cake

If I was on a faster connection I'd look it up for you but I bet if you go to the food network's website and search for "flourless chocolate cake" you will find several recipies for it.

It is basically a very rich dark chocolate cake- mostly eggs, butter, sugar and bittersweet chocolate. More like a torte. I topped it with whipped cream and raspberries!

[Minimus]

18. thanks!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

23. Trader Joe's has Gluten free bread you can make stuffing with

some are sweeter than others but it will work!

[MidwestMomma]

25. My mom's mom used to make a flourless choc cake during the depression

So I searched for you. This is what I found on yahoo

http://www.jsonline.com/entree/cooking/nov00/flour03112800.asp

http://www.cacaoweb.net/flourlesschocolatecake2.html

http://www.gourmetspot.com/recipes/dessert/flourlesscake.html

I'll check with my mom tomorrow at dinner and see if she has her mom's recipe. She remembers it fondly so it must be good.

About the stuffing....

My mom makes her stuffing with half bread cubes and half corn bread. Maybe your mom could make corn bread stuffing. I found this recipe for cornbread without flour. Can you have cornmeal?


INGREDIENTS:

* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1 cup stone ground cornmeal
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 egg
* 1 tablespoon shortening

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Melt the shortening in one 9 inch round iron skillet in the heating oven.
2. Stir the cornmeal, salt and baking soda together. Add the egg and buttermilk and mix well.
3. Remove skillet from the oven and pour the batter into the skillet, stirring the melted shortening into the batter.
4. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven when top of cornbread is brown and turn out on to a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve immediately with butter.

That's all I've got. Hope it's some help. Sorry about your limited food choices. I would go nuts if I had to eliminate everything wheat from my diet. Hang in there.

[Minimus]

26. so thoughtful. thanks much.

[neebob]

10. What happens when you eat it?

I probably would eat the stuffing, anyway - that's about the only reason I even do Thanksgiving anymore, to have turkey and stuffing sandwiches afterward. I'd probably just eat it and suffer, but then I'm famously self-destructive.

You realize you can thicken gravy with corn starch, don'tcha?

[Minimus]

14. Well the last time I just said the hell with it and ate some pizza

I ended up praying to the porcelian god and promising to never cheat again. Even if I just eat a little, like some things have malt flavoring in them, I break out in this horrible painful burning itching rash on my arms. So I have to read ingredients carefully.

Mom is cooking this year and I feel guilty asking her to make special gravy just for me, but if I get to her house early enough I may be able to try to make my own. I've never been able to make gravy very well.

[neebob]

20. Ooh, that's not good!

My sympathies. Don't they have bread that people with wheat allergies can eat? I think they do. You should get a little turkey and try stuffing it with that, just to see how it turns out. Of course it's too late to ask your mom to get on it in time for tomorrow, but you could try it yourself some time. It's not hard. If I can stuff a turkey, anyone can.

[NC_Nurse]

11. Do you have Celiac sprue?

There are many out there with it. Find support on the internet and lists of all the things you CAN eat.

You will be glad when you start feeling BETTER! :)

I have a friend with it and she has gotten her life back after years of chronic pain/illness!

We diagnose cases of it more and more in GI procedures where I work....you are not alone!

Yes, it sucks now, but you will be fine. Hang in there! :hug:

[Minimus]

16. Yes and DH

the DH is how the finally discovered it. The dermatologist started putting the puzzle together and sent me to the GI doc. And it is amazing how much better I feel not eating gluten. I was also able to quit taking several prescription drugs for misdiagnoses illnesses.

Thanks for your kind words.

[Heyo]

19. Hey...

.. I will totally bust out the violin for you my friend.

:nopity:

However, thought you can't have gravy, a nice dollop of mashed potatoes with a nice pad of butter on the top and salt and pepper should be pretty tasty.

Hopefully your turkey will be nice and moist so the gravy wont be a problem, and some nice green beans or other green veggies on the side should be nice.

Granted, there's some good stuff you can't have, there's also some great stuff you can still have, and you can make the best out of it and have a really delicious meal.

Happy Thanksgiving, my friend!

:toast:

Heyo

PS: We've gotta find you a way around that desert situation.. what is it in the desserts that will be a problem?

[miss_kitty]

21. celiac sprue. Bummer

get out the spelt. I don't blame you for feeling bad. My sister-in-laws sister has been managing that for several years.

Good luck minimus!

[Beaverhausen]

22. There is a cooking and baking group here too

they should also have ideas for you!

[yellowdogintexas]

24. if you make a good giblet gravy with only a bit of cornstarch in

it for thickening, it should work out ok. That was always my mom's traditional Turkey gravy anyway.

Cook the innards w/ some chicken broth and cut them up. boil a couple of eggs, peel and cut them up. You can also add a can of mushrooms.

Mix the cornstarch w/water or milk and add to the broth, heat until it begins to thicken..the package will tell you how much to add for the amount of liquid you are using. Put the chopped up goodies back in the gravy and you have it.

The eggs are a throwback to the old days when people dressed out their own birds. If the bird was a hen, there would be eggs in the body cavity, which were saved and poached to add to the gravy.

[politicat]

30. Try a wild and brown rice stuffing and a sweet rice crust for pies.

Had a friend who had your problem, compounded with a couple others. He invented a rice crust for pies that was incredible.

for a 9 in. open crust pie, take 1.5 cups of cooked rice and mash or spin in the blender. Add sweetener of choice (he used honey) to a barely sweet, barely sticky consistency. Add spices appropriate to the dish. (i.e. Cinnamon for apple, nutmeg for peach or pumpkin...)

Press into pie tin. Bake at 400 for 6 minutes or until set and slightly browned.

Fill.

Bake again till done.

Can you make the gravy with cornstarch instead of flour?

As for rolls... well, my friend was still working on that one.

And you absolutely do have my sympathy.

Pcat

[Minimus]

31. I will definitely try the pie crust recipe.

Thanksgiving just snuck up on me and I wasn't thinking about all the stuff I can no longer eat. I will be prepared for Christmas dinner though.

Thanks!:hi: