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Summary on GF Thanksgiving. Thank you to everyone who responded!

This is where you can really make use of the archives recipes! I found a
corn bread stuffing recipe there that worked well last year.

we have a totally gf thanksgiving, and haven't really altered the old
favorite menu all that much....we always had bread stuffing in our turkey,
which we now just make with gf bread...comes out great! We have omitted
bread, make home-made cranbarry sauce, have peas, saurkraut, mashed
potatoes.... i was the only big pumpkin pie fan in the family, so we usually
have gf carrot cake instead now.

I saw your posting on the St. John's listserve and might be able to provide
some assistance. First of all, if you're not already familiar with it,
there's a great on-line celiac support group where you can get lots of ideas
and recipes. Here's a link: http://forums.delphi.com/celiac/start
My husband was diagnosed with celiac last August, so I know what you're
going through. We made it - and had an excellent Thanksgiving dinner. I used
a wild rice stuffing rather than my normal bread stuffing, purchased a fresh
turkey, and made pie crust from a Bette Hagman bean flour recipe. The only
thing we didn't have that would normally have been included was dinner rolls
- and I've since discovered a recipe that will resolve that problem
Turkey is usually safe--see archives Rice dressing works well.
I like pumpkin pie filling baked in a pie plate without a crust; although
there are gf crust recipes available. I haven't found one I like. Most
cranberry salads are gf. Veggies and other salads.
I know it is difficult. I went gf the first part of November 4 yrs ago. It
does get easier as time passes.
I know it is difficult. I went gf the first part of November 4 yrs ago. It
does get easier as time passes.

I am wheatfree and often gf as well although I can tolerate some of the
other grains. My wife substituted a bread in the stuffing that I could
tolerate along with cornbread made from blue cornmeal. The salad dressing is
Vegenaise (no egg, no dairy but not sure if gf) and the pumpkin pie is made
from a grain flour that I can eat. I would like to try one of the gf
pastries this year for it, along with a gf loaf of bread made in the
breadmaker. She also makes her own cranberry sauce

You can order pie crust from Gluten Free Pantry in Connecticut.  It makes it
possible to have pies for Thanksgiving.  Also , they have a stuffing mix
which is made with cornbread.  It is not the same as grandmothers stuffing
but it is alright.  Otherwise you can make turkey, sweet potato, mashed
potato, vegs etc just as you always did. It is not really that bad.

Perfect Pie Crust Marlene Herron 1 cup white rice flour 3/4 cup potato
starch 1/2 cup tapioca starch 1 Tbsp sugar 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup shortening 4 ounce cream cheese, softened 1 large egg 2 large egg
yolks 1 tsp vanilla 3 Tbsp very cold water Combine dry ingredients. Cut in
shortening and cream cheese with pastry cutter until the size of peas. Add
eggs, vanilla, and water. Stir into flour mixture until smooth. Don't worry
about over handling. Form 3 balls. Makes 3 pie crusts. Single Crust Pie:
Place a ball in the center of a 8 or 9-inch pie tin and pat out covering
bottom and sides of pan, press top edge into a design. Bake at 425 F for 15
minutes or until crust is slightly brown. Double Crust Pie: Pat a pastry
ball in pie pan for bottom crust. Pour filling into crust. Roll out top
crust on a cornstarch dusted pastry cloth and covered rolling pin. (May roll
out crust between sheets of plastic wrap to desired size, remove top plastic
sheet and use remaining sheet to reverse dough onto the filling.) Bake as
directed for filling used.

Hi - here's a turkey recipe we've used many times - gluten free and very
delicious:Brine-cured turkey breast with turkey bacon, roasted pears and
roast-pear gravy. Comment: Soaking the turkey breast in salt water creates
the most moist smoothly textured turkey breast - it's not so much a flavor
thing as a texture thing. The roast-pear gravy looks exactly like
traditional turkey gravy, but with no flour or additives. Serves 8
Ingredients: 1 - 6 1/2 - 7 pound all-natural turkey breast 2 - 12 ounces
thin-sliced turkey bacon 3 - (about 3 pounds) assorted large, firm pears
such as Bartlett, Comice or Anjou, To prepare: Soak thawed or fresh turkey
breast in a large pot of cold water to cover, with I pound kosher salt.
Refrigerate for six hours. Remove, breast, rinse under cold water, pat dry.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Season breast with,." I teaspoon coarse ground
black pepper. Lay strips of turkey bacon in a tightly overlapping pattern to
cover the entire breast securing with toothpicks if needed. Wrap breast
tightly with double layer of cheesecloth, making sure top, bottom and sides
are covered. Place breast in large, heavy, flat roasting pan. Cover breast
tightly with foil. Roast for, 75 minutes. Halve pears, remove seeds and
stem., After turkey has roasted 75 minutes, surround with pears, cut side
down. Roast another 45 minutes. Remove foil and turn pears over. Roast
another 30 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 160 degrees. (Total
cooking time is about 2 1/2 hours) Remove pan from oven. Transfer turkey and
pears to large platter. Let the turkey sit 15 minutes while you prepare
gravy. Gravy Add 2 cups boiling water to pan juices and scrape up all
drippings and brown bits. Pour though a fine strainer and reserve. Cut half
the pears into chunks and place in blender. Process until very smooth,
slowly adding reserved liquid. Transfer gravy to a small pot and keep warm
adding salt and pepper to taste. Serving Carefully remove cheesecloth from
turkey. Remove bacon. Slice breast. Serve turkey slices with some turkey
bacon, roasted pear half, and gravy.

We are going to my Mom's for Thanksgiving dinner. I have told her that
Honeysuckle turkeys are gluten-free, so she said she would get that brand.
She is going to roast it "unstuffed" and prepare her stuffing in a
casserole, baked totally outside the bird. Another suggestion is to offer to
make a vegetable or potato dish. That way you can be sure to have at least
one "safe" side dish. Bring your own salad dressing, request no croutons on
your salad. Cranberry sauce is GF. This will be my second GF Thanksgiving.
It gets a lot easier as time goes on.

That's hard to answer, because 'Thanksgiving dinner' means different things
to different people. Bette Hagman's More from the gluten-free gourmet has
pie crust recipes, although I haven't tested any. I also understand that
pumpkin pie filling can be baked without the crust with good results, and
apples of course, can be peeled, cored, stuffed with sugar and cinnamon and
baked - pears, too, but no filling for them. If that's not decadent enough
and you can eat ice cream, top with that. Baked potato and sweet potato are
gf. Bake tiny squashes (gold nugget is really sweet) or even steam them.
They're great plain, or you can stuff them with anything interesting
(cranberry sauce, maple syrup and butter, herbed rice) Home made succatash
is gf. Try steaming some rutabaga (it takes a long time) and carrot to mash
in with potato - you don't need any butter, just lots of pepper and sage.
Slivers of cooked onion are nice, too. Homemade cranberry sauce is very easy
- 1 pkg. berries, 1 cup liquid, simmer for ten minutes. The pkg. says simmer
with a cup of sugar. My mom used a half cup. I use a cup of juice instead of
water and add cinnamon, orange peel, sometimes ginger, lemon peel, nutmeg
(not all. some combination). That's very sour, but great for topping sweet
potato and squash

Don't get stressed over Thanksgiving, I've been doing a gluten-free Turkey
dinner for many years and even with all the folks over to eat they never
suspected they were eating gluten free unless I told them. Look for
Honeysuckle White Fresh Turkeys. Many of the frozen ones will have a basting
sauce injected into them. So just look for something that is without
anything in or on them.

Last year I took my gluten-free bread (I use Sylvan Border Farms) and
made a stuffing with chicken broth, cooked Jimmy Dean Sausage, celery,
onion, eggs.  I don't have an exact recipe, but that's what I made for
stuffing. As it cooks, you may need to add a little broth or butter if
it seems to dry. I'm still working on making a good pie shell, but most
pumpkin pie and pecan pie fillings are gluten-free or can be converted
easily. Otherwise, Dietary Specialties carries frozen pie shells and
pies, including pumpkin and ready made turkey/stuffing dinners. Here's
their web-site: http://www.dietspec.com/ If we are going to someone's
house for Thanksgiving, I make myself a little container of dinner and
take it with me. I usually have at least one of my celiac kids home with
me for the holidays so I make enough for them too. (If I am making
dinner for everyone at home, i just make everything GF and there is no
problem). For going out: I bake a small whole chicken the day before and
slice it the next day. I save the broth and make GF bread (EnerG white
rice bread) stuffing and gravy with the pan drippings. I make a GF sweet
potato casserole (basically just the potatoes, brown sugar, some
margarine and cinnamon whipped up and baked a few minutes), some green
beans with almonds and my own cranberry sauce (just cranberries, water
and sugar, recipe on the package). I usually make a green salad too,
just to be safe. I take the extra cranberry sauce (I make two recipes of
it) for the potluck dinner at friends and family's houses. I pack the
dinner up in a microwave-able container and when we get where we're
going, I put the dinners in to warm. Then I take the food out and place
it on the plates provided at the host's house. No one knows or cares
what we are eating and we have a lovely meal and a safe GF one. It is
pretty much like all the other Thanksgiving dinners, only without the
risk of gluten (we can't have eggs or dairy either). Frequently there
are some things at the regular dinner that we can add to what we have
brought but it's not really necessary. For dessert, I make some sort of
GF brownie or other treat. Most of the time, what we are eating is
better and more delicious than the regular meal.

It's not too complicated, no fancy recipies needed. In fact, simple foods
are really the key. There seems to be alot of info floating around about GF
turkeys, so that's easy. Skip the dressing, obviously, but substitute with
wild rice, fluffy mashed potatoes with gravy (cornstarch thickener, just mix
the cornstarch with a little water and stir into hot drippings), yams with
whatever GF marshmallows you have (read the labels), salad with GF dressings
(Wishbone, or your own oil and wine, rice or balsamic vinegar. I just found
a couple great dressings in the health food aisle 'Annie's Naturals' at QFC
- gluten free, right on the label!) steamed vegies with fresh herbs & garlic
& fresh cracked pepper; pumpkin pudding (recipe right off the can label,
just no crust) with whipped cream, and your very favorite wine. & then nap
time.