The Holidays

Well, I've been pretty quiet on here the last couple of months, mostly because I haven't really had anything relevant to blog about, but I think the holidays in general are pretty relevant to all with special dietary requests. So here is how I got through my holidays:

Christmas Dinner Theatre

The first Christmas event that I attended was a lovely Christmas dinner theatre. Pretty basic concept - they feed you dinner, then you watch a play. The play was Christmas-themed, of course, and I loved it. It was amazing.

The dinner, however, was pretty so-so. When I called to buy the tickets, I asked if they would be able to accomodate me in any way. I was pretty open-minded about options. The lady said that most of the dinner was already gluten-free, so I would just be able to eat anything. Well, anything besides the stuffing, the pasta salad, the gravy, and the buns, of course. Well, that left turkey, ham, potatoes, corn, and fruit salad. It wasn't what I would call a plentiful banquet to begin with, so knocking out half the options made it pretty depressing. Oh, and the fruit salad was right next to the buns so I couldn't trust it.

I did try to make the best of it though - I loaded up on mashed potatoes and corn, and I smothered my dry turkey in (pre-packaged) butter, and put on a happy face. And you know, that plate of food was pretty delicious. Maybe not worth what I paid for it, and maybe not what I would call "accommodating" but hey, it's the holidays.

Work Christmas Party

Two days later, we had my work Christmas party to attend. Ahead of time, I asked one of the organizers about the meal, and she contacted the catering company. They promised to make and set aside an un-contaminated plate of food with my name on it.

When it came time for my table to go get food, I grabbed a waiter and told him my name. He returned shortly with a plate stuffed with roast beef, turkey, roasted potatoes, and hot vegetables. There was an au jus on the turkey, which they assured me was gluten-free (without me asking), but everything else was dry and sauce-less (which I prefer, for safety reasons alone). I barely finished my plate of food and I was stuffed for the rest of the evening.

The organizer also made sure to have at least two gluten-free alcohols on hand, so I ate and drank without a worry. It was a really lovely party, and I loved how care-free I felt.

Work Potluck

Quite possibly the source of the most anxiety for me was a potluck hosted at work. As I've mentioned before, I love potlucks, and I love bringing food to them, so despite my fears, I signed up. I decided to bring a potato dish as well as a dessert so that I would be able to eat real food and junk food (genius, right?). I brought slow cooker scalloped potatoes and some cheesecake truffles. Both went over really well.

As for what I ate, I did some spy-like work ahead of time, and casually asked a couple people what they were bringing and what they were putting in it. Then I went through the line and scoped out about four different dishes I could eat. I also dumped a bunch of raw veggies on my plate too, so no one would see and empty plate and pressure me about going back for seconds. I know, I go to a lot of work to avoid people saying anything, but it worked - nobody said anything. I was feeling a little sick right after lunch, because I ate a lot of dairy, but I figured that was pretty unavoidable.

Holiday Baking

As tends to be the rule for celiacs, I knew the only Christmas baking I would be eating was what I made. I made the cheesecake truffles from the potluck, and then I also whipped up some bacon peanut brittle and some chocolate walnut banana bread. Both went over very well, and I enjoyed them as well.

Home for the Holidays

The next big step in our holiday plans were that we were driving 'home' to Moose Jaw on Christmas Eve and staying with my in-laws through the weekend. That means four days full of meals that I wasn't certain about. I didn't want my mother-in-law to worry about every ingredient in every meal, and I didn't want to be eating out constantly, and I didn't want to compulsively wash every dish in their kitchen. So, in answer to all that, when we got to Moose Jaw, my first stop was a grocery store, and I bought four days worth of freezer dinners. That way, the only dish I needed was a fork, and I could have a quick, safe meal at any time.

Yeah, also picked up granola, oranges and Coke. Can't make it through a weekend without those.

However, I didn't need half of what I bought. I ended up leaving three meals behind in the freezer, and I didn't even touch my oranges or granola. My MIL had actually taken a few steps to carefully cook for and feed me as much as she could, without my permission. Haha. She cooked up a delicious ham and potatoes meal on Boxing Day, and she also had a supply of oranges, chips, and nuts so that I didn't go hungry.

Not that I regret any of the meals I bought! When it comes to my food, I would rather be safe than sorry!! And I think that freezer/microwave meals are pretty safe. Quick, easy, uncontaminated, and I never get to eat them at home.

Christmas Dinner

For Christmas dinner, my mother hosted a feast, as she has every year for as long as I can remember. I was, as usual, a little anxious about it, but I shouldn't have been.

My mother bought and made gluten-free gravy and gluten-free stuffing. She made them just for me and nobody else got any of them (there was plenty of regular gravy and stuffing). Both of parents also ensured that I got the first helping from every dish. They didn't let anyone else grab any food until I had grabbed some, so that the serving utensils couldn't be contaminated. Mind you, the only contaminants were the other stuffing and gravy.

So, I was pretty impressed by their effort, and I ate until I was stuffed. And then of course, my mother pulled out a gluten-free torte for dessert (and tarts for anyone else).

New Year's Eve

For New Year's Eve, I've decided to host another little party at my house, so there won't be any chance of contamination. I'm kind of excited. Much like last year, I'll make a few appetizers ahead of time, and hope they go over just as well.


So, I made it through all of December without getting glutened once. How about you? What were your survival techniques?

My Last First

The other night, M and I were laying in bed, ready to go to sleep, and this conversation happened.

R: "This is my last first."

M: "What?"

R: "Valentine's day. It's my last first."

M: "That's crazy. You have lots of firsts left. First pregnancy, first kid, first --"

R: "You know what I mean. It's my last first gluten-free thing."

I don't know how to explain what I'm feeling, but I'm coming up on my one-year anniversary of this whole thing. I've handled every major holiday (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas), every season, every birthday, and minor things like weddings, baby showers, and banquets. Sure, there are things I haven't handled, but they're things I didn't handle before being gluten-free, so it's not quite the same. There's only one annual thing left that I haven't faced - Valentine's Day. The big V day. Singles Awareness Day.

My Untraditional New Year's Eve Party

I'm pretty sure I was meant to be a sixties housewife, but somebody somewhere messed up and I was born in the nineties. What the crap, guys? I live in a time where I'm not expected to bake, host dinner parties and clean all the time. I'm expected to have a job, go to work, and be independent. I would way rather be home all day, keeping the house clean, making casseroles for dinner, baking plenty, and hosting dinner parties often. Honest to goodness, I was meant to be a sixties housewife.

But with the way life has been going, I haven't been hosting much. The last event I had at my house was in May. Recently, a couple friends of mine were planning a New Year's Eve Bash, so I jumped on the chance to host it. Yes, that meant I would need to do a lot of cleaning, but goshdarn it, I wanted to have people over again.

Until it was time to plan the party, and then I realized I've never even been to a NYE party... I mean, my parents had friends over every year, and I used to go out to a big youth event, but that's it. I've never even been to a bar for NYE.

So I didn't know what to make, what to serve, what to do, or what to have on hand. I felt totally at a loss. I figured it out, and I think it went really great, but I didn't exactly do anything traditional.

Happy New Year!!

Happy new year.

I guess the arbitrary calendar this culture adheres to has flipped a page and we must celebrate.

Numbers only have as much meaning as we assign to them, and New Year's is all about numbers. I honestly find it all really arbitrary and meaningless. I'm not one to make a whole list of resolutions and feel all heartbroken when they only last for two weeks. I don't really think that the calendar turning one page will help me become a better person.

However, in the same way that I celebrate Valentine's day and mother's day, I will celebrate New Year's. I appreciate holidays like this, because although we should honour our mothers every day, and remember to love our SO's all the time, it helps to have one day a year where the world reminds us to. So in the spirit of remembering what we should always be doing, I'll take the time to look back and look forward.

How I Survived The Holidays

The holidays are full of gluten. Left, right and center, there is nothing but gluten. Everyone makes and gives baking, there are dinners constantly, everyone has at least one Christmas party to go to, and then of course there is Christmas day! A lot of people who try to avoid gluten-free, or just eat less gluten give up over the holidays. I know several intolerant people who are just saying Oh well, and feeling sick because there is too much temptation.

But as a celiac, I don't have that luxury. So how did I survived the holidays?

Merry Christmas from Lola!

Baking Exchange + Glutened = Crazy Week!

This week has been a little nuts.

I signed up for a baking exchange at my work. The concept is that you make a dozen "somethings" for each person who signed up, and then you go home with a dozen other "somethings" from each person. It means you get a bunch of holiday baking, but you only have to work with one recipe! When one of the girls ran around asking everyone if they wanted to sign up, I was conflicted. I love baking, you know that! The idea of making a whole bunch of baking and sharing it sounded splendid! But there was no way I would be able to eat any of the other stuff... Oh well! I signed up anyways. I figure I'll take some home for M to enjoy, I'll share some with my family during the holidays, and I'll leave some up on my desk for everyone at work (who didn't want to bake) to enjoy.

I picked banana bread. I figure one loaf of banana bread is equivalent to a dozen cookies, and I saw these adorable loaf pans at the grocery store. They're cardboard and silicon oven-safe loaf pans that are cute enough to gift the baking in. They're reusable, and come with a bag and a red ribbon for each pan. Easy-peasy giving and presenting. Plus, I won't have to wash my loaf pan a bazillion times.

Twelve people signed up, which means I need to make twelve loaves of banana bread for Friday. That's not too hard, right?

Except that the only evening I have off this week is Friday.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Sadly, I am not doing anything at all for Halloween this year. I have to work both jobs, and one jobs forbids dressing up, so I'm not dressing up for either. Because I have to work all day, I won't be handing out any candy, or going to any parties. My hubby isn't much for dressing up, so although I'm sure we could find a party to go to on the weekend, I won't even bother. I'm just going to let this one pass without any fanfare at all. And that is totally okay with me.

I think.

Gluten Free Chex Mix

M's dad lives a 16 hour drive from here. I am told only Canadians measure distance with time, but it's the only way I know how. So his dad (and sisters and grandparents) all live South of the border. Which is great, and we've gone to visit them a couple times, both over Christmas. His grandma makes Chex mix every single year for Christmas, and M's dad picked up the habit (and the recipe). I'm not hooked on it, because I've only had it two Christmas's, but M loves it, and misses it around the holidays.

When my family, up here, decided to have a Christmas/Thanksgiving dinner, I had to figure out what to bring. Something gluten-free, without being really obviously gluten-free, and something everyone would enjoy. I thought of Chex mix, for M's sake. I didn't use his dad's recipe, I used a recipe I found online that called for a slow cooker.

Thanksgiving Dinner

This is my second major holiday of my gluten-free life. There really are only three a year: Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I tackled Easter by avoiding my family and having dinner with friends, and the friend who cooked made everything completely gluten-free (and mostly vegetarian).

I did have a big family dinner back in May, which I cooked, and made completely gluten-free. (That family was just my parents, siblings and SO's.)

But this time, we had a big family dinner. My grandparents, their children, their children, and all the SO's involved. Oh, and one great-grandchild. In years past, we would all gather for Christmas at my grandparents' and do a gift exchange. It was our family tradition. In the past five or so years, my grandparents bought an RV and started driving south to Arizona every fall. They come back up in the spring, and completely miss Christmas (and, of course, all of the snow).

Thoughts of Halloween

Well, it's October third. Do you know what that means? It means I woke up and didn't want to leave my blankets. It means my cardigan isn't warm enough for being inside. It means my wet hair felt crunchy by the time I got to work. I means I'm moving to Florida.

Okay, I'd probably never move to Florida, but this time of year every year, I daydream about warmer places, I look at plane tickets, and I resent my winter coat.

And yet, I still live here. And I am going to keep living here, at least this year. I will most likely suffer through a snowy halloween, or at least the kind where children wear costumes over their snowsuits.

So anyways, enough complaining about the cold. I will embrace it. I will learn to love it. I think.

Day 72: Rainbow Jello!

Tomorrow I'm having a big family dinner at my house! My older brother has been living in BC for several months, and he finally came home to visit, and brought his girlfriend (who none of us have met) too! They're staying in the bigger city, where her family is, but they're coming into town tomorrow for dinner.

Hip hip hooray.

I'm hosting, because I have the biggest dining room, and I'm cooking because I can make safe, yummy food. My mom will help, of course. She offered to do it all, but I insisted.

I kind of feel bad for his girlfriend, because she's going to meet all of us at the same time, in one giant family dinner. Oh, my sister is also introducing her boyfriend to the family tomorrow, so that should take some stress off of both of them.

That also brings the people count to ten.

I'm making dinner, not a feast, so I won't start cooking anything until tomorrow, but I did start dessert today. Rainbow Jello! Hubby wanted to try making it months ago, so we have six packs of different coloured Jello, and unflavoured gelatin.

I used six flavours, Strawberry, Orange, Lemon, Lime, Berry Blue and Grape. You could use Cherry, or Raspberry for red, if you like.

I made mine in a fluted bowl, so the bottom layers are a lot thicker, even though there are the same amounts of each jello. If you have a straight edge trifle bowl, by all means, use that! Also, make sure your dish will hold twelve cups of liquid. Each box makes two cups of jello.

I poured the pack of Jello powder into a large measuring cup, sprinkled a bit of plain gelatin in too (I couldn't tell you how much, it varied every single time) just to help it set up better. Then I added one cup boiling water, whisked, and added one cup cold water. When it was well stirred, I poured it in.

The first layer was the easiest. The next few, I slowly poured the Jello down the side of the bowl, and the last few, I poured it over the back of a ladle, to prevent the fresh Jello from disturbing the set Jello.

I let each layer set for an hour or two. The longer, the better, but I did start running out of time, so the last couple were pretty close together.

I served with a ladle, and tried to scoop all the way to the bottom, so each bowl would have a mini rainbow in it. I also served it with whipped cream, which some people stirred in, or ate on top. Delicious, fun, simple, and who doesn't like Jello? Perfect family dinner dessert.

Day 37: Easter Dinner

One of the things most celiacs seem to struggle with is holiday dinners. Your choices seem to be:

1. Go to a restaurant with your family, and hope they pick a safe one, or eat beforehand, and don't eat anything there.
2. Make the whole dinner yourself, and include little to no items with gluten.
3. Go to a home-cooked dinner and either risk it, or don't eat anything.
4. Help somebody make a dinner so that it is gluten-free and you can trust it.

I kind of think celiacs have trust issues...

So, I didn't actually decide to do anything with either side of family. I kind of figured if either want to make a meal, I don't want to complicate their lives, but I might show up. Instead, Banana decided to do an entirely gluten-free dinner with my help. She did make most of the dishes, but I was at a minimum aware of what was in them, and mostly just stirred things together when she handed them to me.

Tonight was the night, although we've spent much of the last week prepping (to minimize work today). The dishes on the table were:

1. Ham
2. Scalloped Potatoes
3. Mashed yams, with a glaze
4. Green beans
5. Spinach and strawberry salad
6. Deviled eggs
7. Rice casserole
8. And Trifle!

Okay, so everything was just so delicious that as soon as everything was ready we just dug in, and I completely forgot to take pictures for you! I took some after dinner, which might show you how delicious everything was... But really, I'm sorry this looks like somebody's leftovers. It was just too good to waste time taking pictures!

Ham is one of those sketchy meats that usually contains gluten. As such, we were hunting for one that said gluten-free, when we found a bone-in shoulder that said gluten-free. Not the usual type, but it was GF, so we were happy! We mixed up maple syrup, mustard and brown sugar and brushed it on the ham and then covered it and baked it for about six hours. It went in the oven just after lunch, and came out in time for us to carve and serve. We repeatedly brushed more glaze on over and over throughout the day. It came out tender, juicy and delicious.

Scalloped potatoes usually contain flour. I don't really know why though. You don't add it to the milk to thicken it, you put it as a layer between the potatoes and then pour milk over top of it. So we just scalded the milk a little longer, made it a little thicker, and skipped the flour altogether (as per suggestion of Banana's aunt). It was really delicious. There were of course layers of thinly sliced potatoes, and sharp cheddar cheese and swiss, and I think onions and spices. I didn't put it together, but I did supervise it's baking time. Which was until the potatoes were soft, and then remove the tin foil until the cheese browns. It was a very creamy, cheesey dish.

The yams are pretty self explanatory. We peeled and chopped a few sweet potatoes and then put them in the oven with a lid on until they were mashable, and then we mashed them. We boiled equal parts maple syrup and butter until it thickened (and tasted amazing) and then drizzled that on top of the mashed yams and cooked them a bit longer.

The green beans were put on the stove with a bit of garlic and some butter until they were cooked. And then we ate them.

The spinach salad was really simple. Spinach, sliced strawberries, slivered almonds, crumbled goat cheese, poppy seeds, and a raspberry vinaigrette. Very simple, but flavourful! And easy peasy to toss last minute.

We mostly made deviled eggs because I remembered I had a deviled egg plate I've never used. And Banana wanted to dye Easter eggs with her cousin, who is spending the weekend with her. So she dyed eggs, and then we deviled them. Mixed the yolk with mayonnaise, a bit of mustard and a splash of vinegar, topping them with paprika.

The rice casserole was probably one of my favourite dishes. We cooked up a bunch of wild rice and brown rice blend, and then mixed it with slivered almonds, dried cranberries, and slices of dried apricots. It was very colourful as well as sweet. Half an hour or so before dinner, we poured about half a cup of veggie broth over it and baked it. Chicken broth would be just as good, but we were also cooking for a vegetarian.

Ah! And my favourite dish! The trifle! I could probably devote a whole post to this one! Mmm... Layers of homemade lemon pudding, GF pound cake, freshly whipped cream, blueberries and raspberries! Does it get better than that? Okay, it might. I don't know. I haven't had every trifle ever. But this was perfect. Banana's ten-year-old cousin actually put this all together, that's how easy trifles are to make. She also decorated the top, which I just loved. 

I don't think the eight of us got even halfway through this thing, despite how amazing it was.

So! That's my gluten-free Easter dinner. Not as hard as it sounds, huh? I mean, if you're going to cook everything at home, you need to be careful about reusing bread knives, cutting boards and pans, but if you are aware of cross-contamination, and ensure things like mayonnaise and honey either come from a squeeze bottle or are brand new, you should be fine. Things like that tend to be things other people forget or don't think about, but if you help or remind them, it's sure to be simple!

Hoppy Easter, everybody!

Day 24: Tuna Casserole

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My mom asked me yesterday to meet her for lunch today during her lunch break, so we went to Boston Pizza. It must sound like I go there all the time, but you need to know it's one of two mid-price restaurants here. There's a few more expensive ones, and a lot of cheaper ones, or family restaurants, but BP's and Original Joe's are the extent of that style of dining. No Applebee's, Montana's, Rock Creek, The Keg, Earl's.... Nope. Just two BP's and one OJ's.

Anyways, so I braved the outside world this afternoon and unburied my car from a foot of snow. No exaggeration. Yuck. I picked her up from work, which is ironically where I used to work until June, and then we went for lunch.

When we talked about it, she said she wanted their original lasagna. It's like lasagna noodles with bolognese sauce and then baked with cheese. That sounded heavenly, so I set my heart on a gluten-free version. Since the noodles and toast were the only offending things, I ordered their Boston's Lasagna, sub GF noodles. Well, they have a create-your-own pasta menu, which is where you actually find the GF noodles (also where it says to add $1 for GF) and you could order bolognese noodles baked with cheese. So the waitress punched my order in like that; Gluten-Wise noodles, bolognese sauce, baked with cheese, and my mom just got the lasagna, but my bill came out $1.50 more than hers. Not sure if you're following still, but basically, we ordered the same thing, and I should have paid $1 more, but the way it was punched in, I had to pay $1.50 more.

So I was just ranting to my mom about how gluten free people basically have to eat inferior food. Why can't I order a pasta dish off the normal menu and sub the noodles? Why does my only option have to be create-your-own? So my mom pointed it out to the waitress, who reacted with a "Here, I'll go get the menu and show you." Which basically means "I did it right. You're wrong." But when she came back, she had a new bill for me, that wrote it up as Boston Lasagna, sub Gluten-Wise noodles, and said she didn't realize there would be a price difference. So that was great, and I thanked my mom, because I wouldn't have said anything.

I spent most of the afternoon at the gym with Banana, after I dropped off my mom again. I managed three rounds on the circuit, and then 4.5 miles on the upright bicycles. That was intense. My legs were like jelly when I got off. But we were thinkers and brought our swimsuits! So we went and sat in the sauna for awhile. Amazing how intense sweaty heat feels great when there's a foot of fresh snow outside. Also, it did wonders on my would-be sore muscles.

For dinner, I made tuna casserole. I know, yuck right? I like it actually, as does my hubby, so we have it occasionally. It's an easy pasta dish that isn't pasta, beef and sauce. I kind of just wing it when it comes to the casserole part. Mostly because most of the recipes I find call for something I don't have when I want it. The easiest recipe I've found calls for cream of mushroom soup, which is something I don't like so I don't keep on hand, but now I can't eat, so it's fine that I've already found my way around that. Last time, I just cleaned out my fridge into the casserole, mixing the last of the sour cream with the last of the milk with some chicken bouillon  to make a cream of chicken like soup. And it actually tasted great. Hubby liked it way better than the version he usually made. The recipe also calls for breadcrumbs and parmesan for the topping, but parmesan has always been on our no-no list (it makes him throw up) and breadcrumbs are a given... This time I wrote down how much of what I used, so next time I make it, I'll have a yummy recipe for you guys!