Weekend Cooking is a weekly feature hosted by Beth Fish Reads, linking up food-related posts. Click here for links to this week’s Weekend Cooking posts on Beth Fish Reads and other blogs.
Nine family members gathered (some dubiously) for Thanksgiving dinner at our house, which was going to be strictly vegetarian (except for the turkey) and completely, utterly gluten-free (including the turkey.)
The appetizers were maybe the biggest crowd-pleasers: Tostitos corn tortilla chips and Spicy Cranberry Salsa; warm Brie and apples; Mediterranean Snacks lentil crackers and Riceworks chips with Baked Artichoke Dip; and an enormous antipasto platter (oh, yeah, another thing that wasn’t vegetarian, but which pleased the low-carb dieters.)
But the dinner was widely considered a success, thanks to the variety of available sides and desserts, and especially to the centerpiece dish, the Thanksgiving turkey, cooked to perfection by my husband. He made sausage-free stuffing the usual way with celery and onions, but substituted cubes from two loaves of store-bought g-f bread, one wheat and one white. (The gluten-free bread seemed dry even when fresh, and so was well suited to becoming stuffing.)
The vegetarian main dish, Thanksgiving Meatless Loaf with Savory Mushroom Gravy, wasn’t as impressive-looking a centerpiece as something like Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa and Roasted Almonds might have been, but it was very tasty except for the mushroom gravy being too sweet from accidentally using vanilla-flavored almond milk in it.
Vegetarian Sides:
Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin (from Gratins cookbook)
Green Beans Almondine
Mashed Potatoes (of course!)
Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Kale Salad
Sweet Potato Pumpkin Seed Casserole
Two gluten-free appetizers that were on the menu plan but didn’t happen:
Mini Rosemary Cheese Balls
Cheese Straws (saw this recipe in Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays, but I couldn’t remember this fact at Thanksgiving)
The after-dinner drink that we had on Friday night was a delicious digestif recommended by Lynne Rossetto Kasper on The Splendid Table.
Hot Cranberry Punch with Sage and Peppercorns
Where we really missed gluten was the rolls and pies. The gluten-free rolls were not that great, but the gluten-free cornbread (that also got added to the stuffing) was pretty good. My mother-in-law brought g-f pecan pie and chocolate-covered macaroons from Twist Bakery & Cafe in Millis, Mass., that were delicious.
Our homemade gluten-free pies and spectacular gluten-free pumpkin cheesecake will require their own Gluten-Free Baking post!
Happy Weekend Cooking!
a
Wow that sounds like one great dinner. I’m a vegetarian and I’d happily have been number 10!
You’re welcome anytime, Judith! Let me know whenever you plan on visiting New England!
Great job making the menu work for a variety of diets. One of things I love about stuffing (and bread pudding) is that it hides all manner of problems with bread, especially a dry texture.
Will you be going through all of this again at Christmas?
We’re not hosting Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, so we won’t have so much cooking to do all at once. But we’ve got about a million gluten-free recipes for cooking and baking and ten million g-f ingredients that we need to use up in the space of the week that the kids are all home for a visit!
Good job!! The hardest thing about feeding a crowd is to make sure there is something for everyone, no matter their diet preferences, allergies, or medical issues. Sounds like you accommodated the whole group.
Interesting menu. Had to giggle about being strictly vegetarian … except for the turkey! Merry Christmas from Carole (Carole’s Chatter)
I am so glad your Thanksgiving was a success. The appetizers do sound fantastic, I’m going to try some of them.
Wow! This is great. I’m going to forward this post to my GF friends.
We have a long list of recipes to try this week for holiday meals and goodies, too!
Mmm… look at that spread! I’m sure it was delicious.