Thanksgiving dinner/special dietary needs

[wormlady]

Our Thanksgiving plans have been very up in the air this year. DH has had a bad back and abdominal pain for the past month. DIL #1 had surgery a few weeks ago.

But finally we are pulling things together and making the trip up to spend Thanksgiving with DS and DIL #1. DS and DIL #3 will come join and join us. Sis is coming too.

Sis has recently been diagnosed with diabetes - type 2.

DIL #3 has recently found out she is gluten intolerant.

DIL #1 is still pretty weak from surgery, so I'll be doing most of the cooking as well as traveling 700 miles.

Soooo....Sis will have to stay away from the desserts and most of the carbs.

DIL #3 will have to stay away from bread and stuffing and some of the desserts. I always make gravy using corn starch, so no problem there.

Has anyone made stuffing/dressing with gluten free bread?

Do you have any dessert ideas that will satisfy the requirements for both diabetics and gi folks?

I really don't want to have to make several different desserts if I can help it....

Thanks in advance!

[KimTN]

Being from Tennessee, I will assume that your dressing is made out of corn bread. Pamela's gluten free cornbread mix is very tasty. You can find it in Kroger on the organic/gluten free isle. I started making my dressing out of that several years back when I had to go on a gluten free diet. If you also add regular bread pieces to it, they also sell gluten free bread at Kroger. The gluten free bread is almost inedible but cooks up well in dressing and bread pudding.

[Elffriend]

I'm not well versed in what gluten free people need to avoid, but I'm a diabetic who eats low carb.

You can make a pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake using Splenda instead of sugar and a nut crust.

I've made stuffing with low carb bread. It was ok, but not great.

Steam some cauliflower and puree it with cream cheese, sour cream and crumbled bacon as a great side dish in place of potatoes. You can put in cheddar cheese and chives as well.

[powerdam1953]

I also make pumpkin pie and cheesecake with lowfat cream cheese and sugar substitute. I use almond flour with butter, egg and cinnamon and Truvia instead of a graham cracker crust. Tastes good and very low carb.

[Terri]

i have been a type 2 diabetic for years. Let's see....... You might try these out ahead of time, to see if you like them.

Mix 1 cup of pumpkin puree (I use canned), 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, 2 cups of milk, and a box of instant, sugar-free pudding. This tastes just like pumpkin pie filling. If you put it in a pre-baked pie shell and set out a container of cool whip, you will have an excellent pumpkin pie. I have no idea how much of this to make to fill a pie crust, as it will depend on how big your pie crust is and how high you heap the filling. Chill.

I like to make diet jello and add sliced bananas.

For scratch berry pie, cook the filling on top of the stove, cool somewhat, and add nutrasweet until it tastes sweet. put in a pre-baked pie crust and chill. Now, the filling will not look as attractive as if it had been cooked with sugar and so I reserve some berries to put on the top as garnish. You can also spread it with cool whip, which has very little sugar per servings, and sprinkle on just a few berries. CAUTION! If you add nutrasweet to boiling filling it will lose its sweetness: hot is OK but not boiling!

Seriously? You can make 2 sugar free pumpkin pies as easily as one, and then stick a couple of frozen pies in the oven for variety for the non-diabetics. Your sister will not eat a lot of desserts anyways, as *ALL* carbohydrates count, and not just sugar. The pie crust counts, the fruit counts, and so forth.

About the diabetes: she might be allowed one diet holiday a month. Or not. A diet holiday simply means that you do not follow the diet. My custom on Thanksgiving day is to eat the foods on my diet but to eat as much of them as I please. I do this because I get sleepy if my blood sugar gets TOO high, which ruins the fun, but c'mon it is thanksgiving! So I serve salads and sugar-free jello with fruit and turkey and pumpkin pie and stuffing and potatos and olives and such, and a chocolate pie and/or apple pie as the family loves that, and I eat what I want. I am sure my blood sugar goes up a little but not enough so that I get sleepy.

Then, since I am REQUIRED to eat a bedtime snack, I eat more then! Diabetics are supposed to be nibblers, and we eat often and we eat lightly.

It would be courteous to set out a diabetic diet dessert, but do not blink if she does not follow her diet on that day. She might or, if she is taking a diet holiday, she might not. Part of being a diabetic is to take charge of what you choose to eat.

[snoozy]

No law says you have to make turkey. Do some other slab of protein, where stuffing is not considered de rigeur. Or make paella!

[froebeli]

My vote would go for a rice stuffing instead of bread. Don't have any family recipes to share, but that's what Google is for.

Our family's favorite dessert is fruit salad. Not necessarily low sugar, but with all fresh fruit, like red grapes, orange sections, apple and banana with a can of lite syrup or sugar free syrup fruit cocktail to pull it all together is great. My diabetic BIL asks for this each year.

[MO_cows]

I thought corn meal was gluten free?? So as long as you make "real" corn bread without added wheat flour, cornbread dressing should be gluten free.

[wormlady]

I live in TN, but I'm a Yankee - so is my DIL. So we have always gone with bread stuffing, but corn bread is a great idea!

[nostawmama]

If you are interested I have a GF chocolate cake recipe that is wonderful. It wouldn't fit in with the diabetic need for low sugar though! I have to dig it out so let me know if you would like it

[Dusky Beauty]

I did a blog post last year specifically for gluten free diet thanksgiving suggestions with recipes and shopping tips. Hope it's helpful!
Dusky Acre Farm: A Gluten Free Diet Does Turkey Day

[oregon woodsmok]

For a start, the roast turkey and all fresh veggies are good for both the GF and the diabetic.

I suggest that you skip the stuffing and just place a sliced onion, a couple of cloves of garlic and either a sliced lemon or a sliced apple inside the body cavity. Instead of potatoes make cauliflower cheese. Both diabetic and GF can have that.

I always do a large pan of sauteed mushrooms. Those go great with roast turkey and gravy and both diabetic and GF can eat those.

You are traveling as well as cooking. Don't work so hard. Limit the number of dishes and prepare healthy foods. Thanksgiving should be more about family getting together than it is about eating 5 different types of pie.

Most diabetics can have a small amount of sugar if it is eaten with fats and fiber. That makes cheesecake a good dessert choice. Only make enough for a small slice for everyone, no seconds. You will have to use a GF crust.

[Mickey]

You can make pumpkin pie filling and cook it without the crust, and you can make apple betty (really just apple pie without the crust) instead of pie, all kinds of puddings(chocolate, coconut, banana, etc) made with cornstarch instead of flour. In other words there are lots of good desserts you can have that don't have gluten.
Mashed turnip is very good too.

[ronbre]

Netrition.com - The Internet's Premier Nutrition Superstore! I just sent my order in for my low carb stuffing for me will fix reg for the guys..

I am fixing a low carb cheese cake with splenda and a ground up nut crust..

there are a lot of low carb products avail as well as gluten free..etc..i love netrition.com cause I can get everything one stop shopping and the shipping is less than the gas to go to the store

[rivenoak]

Sorry, went off on an only semi-related rant & edited to remove.

Would a flourless chocolate cake be ok? I have a good recipe at home from Cook's Illustrated.

[Elffriend]

Here's the low carb pumpkin cheesecake recipe I make:
16 ounces Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup Splenda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1. Mix cream cheese, Splenda, and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed.
2. Add eggs, mix until well-blended.
3. Separate one cup of batter and stir in pumpkin and spices.
4. Pour remaining batter into a nut crust or just pour it into a grease pie pan. Top with pumpkin batter.
5. Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes or until center is almost set.
Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.

[OUVickie]

My brother has celiac disease, so I don't cook anything with gluten/wheat in it. I get the gluten free cornbread mix a the Health food store and make my dressing with that.
I fix veggies and salad to go with the turkey and dressing. There are lots of recipes, like the one here, for desserts.
I make homemade whipped topping and make a layered dessert with sliced fruit.

Once you get used to cooking like this it gets easier with every meal!

[mekasmom]

Why don't you have a potluck type dinner, so everyone can bring something they can eat. You make the turkey. Let them make the sides that they can each eat. That way, everyone has something that they can safely eat for sure.

[bjba]

We haven't had turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas in years. The most popular meals have been smoked brisket or grilled Redfish, coleslaw, potato salad, fruit salad and assorted deserts. Cheese enchiladas came in a close second. Funny the family now requests everything but turkey. Try this berry pie for the gluten free person and diabetic.
1 Almond pie crust baked.
1 quart berries (frozen or fresh)
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup or to taste sugar substitute (Splenda or equivalent generic)
3/4 cup water
dash salt
mix water, one cup berries, salt and sweetener in saucepan (big enough to hold rest of berries). Bring to boil, cook for 2-3 minutes liquid should be berry colored.
Whisk corn starch into mixture. Ensure corn starch is dissolved. Cook until
mixture darkens and clarifies
Add butter, stir until melted. Add rest of berries stir until berries are well coated with glaze.
Pour into baked pie shell and chill.

Almond pie crust
1 and 1/2 cups almond meal or flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons Splenda

Heat oven to 350 melt the butter. Mix melted butter almond flour/meal
Splenda. Pat into pie pan bottom and sides.
Bake about 10 minutes until crust starts to brown. After 8 minutes check every minute or so, once crust starts to brown it browns very quickly

[soulsurvivor]

Not at all healthy but I used to make a dessert for DH that didn't mess with his diabetes too bad and was ok for the sometimes holiday.

In a glass casserole dish layer graham crackers, whole or crushed
Next layer is sugar free chocolate pudding
Next layer is sugar free whipped topping
Repeat the layers
Drizzle with chocolate sauce and chill

You can also use other flavors of sugar free pudding to make this dish. Anytime I've served this there haven't been any leftovers because everyone seems to like it.