Thanksgiving is about a week away. I want to share some tips I wrote up for the NFCA. Preparing a holiday meal gluten free can be easy with a little planning and creative thinking. Please comment with any questions.

Gluten Free Holiday Tips –

Corn Starch will always do the trick. Most gravy packets have flour, using corn starch does the same thing and no one will notice.

Start saving your bread end pieces. Good gluten free bread crumbs are hard to find. Save the unwanted ends, toast them up and make your own.

Offer to bring a dessert since dessert is the hardest to find something gluten free friendly. Try making a rice pudding with some cinnamon or make a pie using your favorite gf gluten free pizza dough or cookie dough as a crust.

Make your own crust with 1 Cup crushed walnuts, 1 Cup Nut Flour and ½ Cup butter and ½ Cup Sugar.

Buy a slow cooker! You can make any side dish simply amazing from cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and sweet potato casserole to fun desserts like pumpkin pudding!

If you’re worried about what a gluten free child might eat don’t be scared to bring a box of gluten free macaroni and cheese. It is simple to do without getting in the way of the cook and some of the new quinoa versions are really great.

Get creative with stuffing made from corn bread or rice.

If you’re going away for a special meal make sure to tell the host ahead of time. They would rather understand that have you not eat. Offer to bring your own bread or anything else on their menu that you may need.

Remember that traditional green bean casserole is made from canned mushroom soup and fried onions that are not gluten free.

Most store bought corn bread mix HAS flour, make your own from scratch with just corn meal, eggs, butter and a little sugar.

Have fun experimenting and creat your favorites with a new spin. Who knows what you might create!