Stuffed Like a Turkey

 

I love cooking. Have you noticed? In my world cooking equates to comfort, and love. This means that holidays like Thanksgiving are my cup of tea. I absolutely thrive on the preparation and want nothing more than to share what I have made. I may even be okay with missing out on the eating if everyone else gets some. I love cooking for people.

This year was my first year REALLY hosting Thanksgiving dinner. When I was pregnant with Jellybean we sort of hosted. I was on bed rest, my mom was on a cold liquid diet, and The Nerd has no cooking knowledge. Amazingly it all came together really well then. This year was better. 

The Menu:

Turducken Breast Roulade - That is indeed a turkey breast, duck breast, and chicken breast all layered with gluten free sage stuffing

Sage stuffing/dressing - gluten free bread, an onion, some celery, sage, marjoram, more sage, a little ginger, more sage, some white pepper, salt, chicken stock, and more sage

Green Beans - steamed and then lightly sauteed in bacon grease

Honey Ginger Cranberry Sauce - Recipe Below, oh so tasty

Sweet Potato Pudding Brulee- As good as it sounds, but better

Pumpkin Pie - Forgot to take a picture of this one, classic pumpkin pie with no added sugar. 

Add to that the mashed potatoes and candied carrots my mom brought and we had one tasty meal.

Now, the recipe:

Honey Ginger Cranberry Sauce

You'll Need:

12oz fresh cranberries (one bag is generally 12oz)

Zest and Juice of one Large Orange

120ml water

201g White Sugar

240ml Honey (Good honey, you can really taste it)

1 Tbsp Fresh Grated Ginger (Or oops I may have put way too much, oh well we love Ginger)

1 packet gelatin

Combine your cranberries, water, orange juice, sugar, honey, orange zest, and ginger in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium until cranberries pop open. 

Add in your packet of gelatin and stir well to dissolve fully. Cook over low heat for an additional 5 min.

Pour into a serving dish and chill for at least 4 hours, or overnight. The sauce will not be firm enough to mold, but it is mighty tasty!

Happy eating!

Tori

 

Lofthouse Style Sugar Cookies

Since the time we decided to have a gluten free household, not separate gluten free meals, my husband has been pining for a few special items. Sometimes I will go out of my way to buy these things for him to take to work. More often than not, we just don't think about it when it is grocery day. Several times a year a certain cookie mysteriously ends up on my grocery list app. You know the ones. The soft sugar cookies with the seasonal icing. The ones that just melt away in your mouth like clouds. We really miss those around here.

I'm not going to lie, this recipe made me think. How do you take normally dense and very "un-cloudlike" gluten free goods and make them fluffy? Believe it or not the idea came from my daughter's sensory bin. We like to play with "cloud sand". It's pretty much 1 part sand, 2 parts cornstarch, and 1 part baby oil. It's fun, fluffy, and makes her skin oh so soft. In my brain the cloud sand translated to cookies. I know... it's weird... But it worked!!

Gluten Free Cloud Cookies

You'll Need:
113g Butter
226g White Sugar
2 eggs Plus One Yolk
180ml Sour Cream
2.5ml (1/2tsp) Vanilla Extract
4g Baking Soda
4g Baking Powder
230g Cornstarch
100g Brown Rice Flour
60g  Super Fine Milled Flax Seed

With a mixer cream together your butter and sugar until it is light and airy.

In a separate bowl beat your eggs until the color lightens slightly, then add in your sour cream and vanilla. Whisk together until fully incorporated.

In yet another bowl (sorry dishwasher) combine your remaining dry ingredients and mix until they become one.

With your mixer on low slowly add your egg mixture to your creamed butter and sugar. You will probably need to stop and scrape the sides a few times to make sure that it all mixes. When that is fully mixed slowly start adding in your dry ingredients.

Once everything is mixed it will be more of a batter than a dough. That is okay. Now you need to cover it and refrigerate your mix for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 375.

Measure out servings a little bigger than a Tablespoon and roll your cold dough into balls. Place the balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet at least 2 in apart. bake at 375 for 15min. Every time you run out of room put your dough back in the fridge, it behaves best cold.

After baking immediately set the cookies out to cool on a wire cooling rack.

Top with your favorite icing and enjoy... I suggest my eggnog icing.

Eggnog Icing

You'll need:
57g unsalted butter
57g cream cheese
256g powdered sugar
1/4tsp nutmeg
5ml vanilla extract
5ml bourbon

Put the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a mixer. Set mixer to high and whip until light.

SLOWLY add your powdered sugar with your mixer on medium high. At this point it may be a good idea to have the splash guard on. After the sugar is incorporated add your nutmeg, vanilla, and bourbon. Spread on thick and garnish with more nutmeg.

Happy Eating!
Tori

What do you do?

Every so often something happens and you end up with gluten in your system. This could be an accidental cross contamination, or one bad day when self control went out the window. So what happens next? How exactly do you deal with getting gluten in your system? I am not a medical expert but after a recent incident I needed those answers. I turned to a support forum and general searching for my plan. After combining and tweaking a whole lot of information this is what I came up with.

1.) Take some activated charcoal as soon as possible.
Activated charcoal is used to absorb yucky stuff that can get into your system normally. The theory is that it will also absorb some of the gluten and other things that could upset your stomach. Be warned it can make your *ahem* bowel movements *ahem* an interesting color. Read the labeling so you aren't freaked out.

2.) Get Traditional Medicinal Ginger Aid Tea
I suppose you could go buy any brand of ginger tea but I have never had a tea quite as potent as the one Traditional Medicinal makes. Ginger is known to help upset stomachs, another option is to find some strong ginger ale or ginger beer if you prefer to have your drinks cold.

3.) Take L-Glutamine with your meals
Studies have shown that L-Glutamine can help heal your intestinal tract. Here is some more information.

4.) Take digestive enzymes with your meals
You can buy papaya enzymes at your local health store. They are made of an enzyme called papain, here's how it helps

"Introducing papain into a meal containing meat can significantly speed up its digestion. It may also help with the breakdown of other ‘troublesome’ proteins, such as the gluten in wheat and the casein in milk, that are often implicated in digestive problems."
http://superfoodprofiles.com/papaya-enzymes-digestion

5.) After a day or two get some probiotics going
Either buy some tablets at the store or stock up like crazy on the yogurt. (I prefer the tablets) Probiotics are the happy bacteria in your intestines that help break down and digest your food. After a good gluten hit these buddies can get knocked out and you can help them regroup just a little faster.

As I said, I am by no means a medical expert but this is what has helped me. I took the charcoal for two days with every meal and I am still taking the rest of the supplements with every meal and it has been a week and a half. Seeing as these are "normal" supplements you could consult your doctor and possibly just stay on them. Or you could stop after a week or two. It's your call.

Hopefully this helps you, or even better hopefully you never need this advice.

Happy Eating,
Tori