Though I'm not what I would call a "chef" and my fiance would probably make jokes about whether I know where the kitchen is or not, I actually look forward to cooking exactly one meal a year - Thanksgiving Dinner. The one request I made for holidays when we got together, was that, when we have our daughter (alternating Thanksgiving or Christmas each year), we celebrate that holiday at home. It's important to me that we create traditions and memories.
We didn't have Maya last year for Thanksgiving (we got Christmas!) but we did start a holiday tradition for Thanksgiving, the Elf on the Shelf. If you've never heard of it, you should really look into it. A little elf comes to visit on Thanksgiving night and "returns" each day until Christmas to check on the child. The elf "reports" back to Santa each night about whether the child has been naughty or nice and what the child REALLY wants for Christmas. It's a fun game as you hide the elf in a different place each morning (since he went to the North Pole the night before) and the child has to go searching for their elf. Hiding places can get pretty creative. There are whole books, blogs and boards dedicated to this.
The elf, who Maya has named "Ellie" will make a return to our home this Thanksgiving night. But along with that tradition, for the first time, I will make Thanksgiving dinner for the three of us....and by myself. I'm secretly patting myself on the back for insisting on double ovens when we built our house this summer.
This excites me in some ways but terrifies me in others. As I mentioned, I'm not an avid cooker. What I didn't mention is that I have some serious obstacles to work through. I have Celiac Disease and cannot have gluten (read wheat, barley, rye, anything that tastes good). Not only that, but HANDLING products containing gluten can also sometimes give me adverse reactions. I don't know if you realize this, but bread crumbs, flour and pasta tend to be pretty large parts of most thanksgiving meals.
On top of this, Maya has become a picky eater. She used to eat literally anything and everything in sight. Then about 6 months ago she started a ritual where she picks at least one item on her plate and declares that she no longer likes it. So keep up with that list right? Wrong. It grows exponentially by the day. She also changes her mind more than she changes clothes. Last week she wanted to eat the pepperonis off of her dad's pizza. This week she doesn't like pepperonis and won't eat pizza unless it's cheese ONLY. We used to go strawberry picking. Now she picks AROUND her strawberries in her fruit bowl. And then there's peanut butter, jelly, crust (sometimes), bread (depending on the type and meal), spicy foods, etc.
So I need to make a gluten free-friendly and tasty kid-friendly Thanksgiving dinner that will also impress my fiance and kill the kitchen jokes (at least for a week or two). Fingers crossed that all goes well. I don't end up sick and I don't make anyone sick (or burn down the house in the process).
My plans for the big meal include Maple Sweet Potato Cups (individual servings with a glob of melted marshmallow on top), Mashed Potatoes (with cheese and cream cheese), Stuffins (stuffing in a muffin pan), Buttery Dinner Rolls (I'm rolling up my sleeves on this one, dinner rolls are never good gluten-free, I'm just going to have to miss out and hope I don't get sick making them), Lemony Green Beans (fresh and delish), Golden (GLUTEN FREE) Mac & Cheese, Apples in the shape of a Turkey (trust me) and (store bought) Cherry Pie. Well, and Turkey of course!!
Hope all goes well, I'll report back what the peanut gallery thought of all my hard work on Thursday. Anyone else have some easy, kid friendly, gluten free friendly recipes they are dying to share???? Please??? :D
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