colleen, I have an excellent GF brownie recipe developed by David Lebovitz. The chocolate cake DH wants is from a regionally famous bakery that sells the cakes frozen. We have one in the freezer that I'd like to unload. However, I think I need to explain to DH that once we've invited our GF friend, we need to accommodate him to the extent that we can. And that means GF brownies instead of the chocolate cake.

I considered veggies and dip, but quite frankly, at this point, I've seen so many of them, and made a few myself, that I really don't want to see another carrot and hummus or celery and Ranch dip. However, if I can find some endive, I might make Caesar Salad in Endive Spears (a few without croutons for my GF friend). That would get vegetables on the plate! What do you think of that?

Also, I have a late breaking news flash! Mr. GF has taken up eating small amounts of pork! So I only need to do the pork sliders.

The endive spears sound fine. If you're using bottled dressing, make sure it's GF.

What's wrong with some vegetables to go with the dips you're already making? Bell pepper wedges. Jicama chips. Zucchini spears. It doesn't have to be carrots!

Yes, you should make the GF chicken so the no pork guy has a protein. Anything David Lebowitz sounds good. :) I think GF guy might be content with ice cream, but it's kind to include him when possible. If the frozen cake will make it 'till then, why not use it for Valentine's Day?

I should try that GF brownie recipe for DH. All the ones I have tried so far tasted like a ball of hair and so I gave up.

Colleen, try the Lebovitz brownies. They are good enough to make even if you aren't GF.

The traditional flourless cake is also gluten free. The only gluten free cake mix I've tried that was worth eating is King Arthur and it's passable. Better than nothing, according to Amanda. It tastes pretty much like a cake mix cake to me, so I guess that's good.

I've had the best luck with desserts that are already naturally gluten free, like the flourless chocolate cake, coconut macaroons, meringues, the 5 ingredient peanut butter cookie with no flour, no-bake oatmeal cookies, etc.

If he has taken to eating small amounts of pork, then you're good to go with the sliders, although a chicken option would be a nice second choice. It's not the pork that caught my attention, it's the fact that it's sliders. What will your GF friend put the pork on while everyone else has buns? If he'll eat the pork, maybe corn tortillas as a choice in place of bread? I've also made the gluten free crepes with cornstarch in place of flour and I actually liked them better, so that may also be an option that can be made in advance.

I also agree that just adding some different vegetables might perk up that veggie tray, some red peppers, and I love raw turnips or kohlrabi, something different.

With only six people, I think you have enough options, but adding a gluten free dessert and a bread choice wouldn't be too cumbersome and would probably be much appreciated by your GF friend.

Thanks for the brownie recipe! Since my daughter is celiac, I keep trying new recipes that are gluten free. Many are promptly discarded but some are actually good.

Annie

I find eating gluten free is a natural result of lowering carbs, generally. It's not something heinous that must be endured. I would add some potato thing and would still want chicken tacos, just for variety.

What a great idea for sliders. The sliced pork would also work for tacos. I'm planning on having a stack of warmed corn tortillas since everything else seems to be some sort of taco filling. I'm also making a similar bean thing that uses my homemade salsa as its dressing.

We usually have a ham with biscuits and other slider type rolls but have not shopped yet. I've already made the mustards and fresh pickles and onions. DH wants ham since it is a once a year thing and tradition.

I was missing the veggies in your menu also. Just because that is all i want after the xmas holiday. We're having more open house so probably 5-10 on and off all day. I'll do all my veggie prep and charcuterie platters tonight...I make 3 of each, smoked salmon, cheese and meats and a veggie/fetta. (small platters fit best in the fridge and once one is near gone i can bring out a fresh one)...or have one in the kitchen and one or two in the liv rm.

I just prep my veggies raw divided up and put into qrt zip-locks and platter a bag at a time to keep the table looking fresh...any leftovers will make great meals for us all weekend.

I put black-eyed peas in everything. Probably overkill. Fold them into humus, a small cup into an adult mac-n-cheese. My mac-n-cheese is 50% veggie. Roasted cauliflower, red pepper, etc and i use a rice pasta elbow. I'll make a small casserole with less veggie and spices if we hear friends with their kids are stopping by. The adult one will be in two med casseroles instead of one biggie so i can pop the second one in the oven if the first one goes fast.

I forgot all about something desserty, oops. I think i'll just pick up a half dozen or so fancy chocolate bars and have a tasting platter. Maybe some nut butters to dip in. I was gifted a killer chunky cashew butter.

Without trying real hard i have enough variety that i've covered just about any restricted diet i think.

Found slaw at the deli that would be excellent with the pork, especially if served on tortillas. It was a cranberry-broccoli slaw with poppyseed dressing. They couldn't assure me that it was totally GF, so I let it pass. It would have nicely upped the veggie level. If I have time tomorrow, I may pick up a bag of broccoli slaw mix, some dried cranberries, and poppyseed dressing (the guy at the deli told me they use Brianna's which is GF) and mix up my own.

I wimped out on dessert. Picked up a GF chocolate cupcake today. The rest of us will have cake. And all of us will have ice cream!

Wishing all of you a healthy and prosperous New Year!

Happy New Year right back to you, bbstx. The cranberry-broccoli slaw does sound good. As for the cupcakes, I have a dozen stashed in my freezer, unfrosted. When we have dessert, Amanda can have a cupcake or two, and if there's buttercream, she can have that on top. I understand that canned frosting is gluten free, I could keep a can of that on hand, I suppose, but she likes a yellow cupcake drizzled with Hershey's syrup or some homecanned apple pie filling. So, I think a gluten free cupcake is a good idea!

Bumblebeez, if it were just bread and baked goods, it wouldn't be so bad, although I've not yet found a gluten free bread worth eating. However, gluten is in so many things, from soy sauce to BBQ sauce to those shaped Christmas Reese's peanut butter candies, although the regular Reese's cups are gluten free, I haven't figured that out. It's in malt vinegar, Worchestershire and taco sauce, some tomato sauces, catsup, mustard, soup, even olives sometimes. Plus, just avoiding wheat/barley/rye won't work because things like oatmeal are processed on the same equipment that wheat is and so it's contaminated. It's in chewing gum and licorice and toffee and salad dressings, some cooking sprays and pie fillings, every label must be carefully read and translated because they hide it sometimes. No Chinese food because of the MSG and/or soy sauce (which often contains wheat products) but she could eat all the white rice she wants. It's in that fake crab stuff too.

The gluten free pasta is now good enough that I can't tell the difference, and I made some passable garlic/cheddar biscuits a few weeks ago. But I breaded some chicken with some Sweet Chili Doritos, thinking I was safe, as most Doritos are gluten free. What aren't? The Sweet Chili and the Nacho Cheese. (sigh) She was throwing up today. So she can eat all the fruits, vegetables, eggs and meat she wants. No dairy because she's lactose intolerant. But she can't have breading or sauces or condiments. She can only eat breakfast sausage I grind and make myself, because there is gluten in many seasoning blends. Oh, and no corned beef either, so there goes hash and fast food fries are often rolled in flour or batter so sometimes even potatoes are out. It's even in lipstick, toothpaste and medications and she can't take communion at church.

Annie

And that is why when my friend comes, I fret.

Wanna talk about my other friend who is allergic to food colorings - some but not all. You'd be surprised at the foods that contain FD&C Yellow No. 5

I agree, GF bread generally tastes like a ball of hair, if I was diagnosed gluten intolerant I'd give up bread altogether. There is one brand here DH doesn't mind so much toasted, but not fresh. A lot of commercial GF cookies are pretty yuk, I did find some GF gingernuts to make cheesecake crust and they're pretty good. I looked at the flavoured corn chips and potato chips and only buy plain because the flavourings have gluten in them. A lot of butchers here make GF sausages so we're lucky there; I had no idea there is gluten in corned beef. Could you corn your own without it? I wouldn't have thought there was any need to use a gluten product to corn beef. There are also GF soy sauces here (we just had some with lunch :-) ). I make DH GF muesli bars with GF raw muesli and lots of extra dried fruit added as he likes lots of fruit. The bought ones are fairly expensive and DH tends not to buy things he considers expensive even when he's the only one eating them and it's not like our grocery bill is high anyway. He also likes classic florentines which are essentially dried fruit and nuts stuck together with toffee and coated on one side with chocolate.

We get lactose free milk because that's another thing DH has become sensitive to. When our previous cat was alive I used to buy her lactose free milk because she loved milk but by her late teens her digestion was no longer able to cope with regular milk. (Cats tend to be lactose intolerant.) The milk for cats in the pet section is just lactose free with added taurine and it's pretty pricey compared to normal lactose free in the dairy section, so I just got the regular people lactose free. This was before DH developed his intolerance so I had regular milk and lactose free in the fridge- and we referred to the lactose free as "cat milk". So I still think of it as cat milk :-)

Happy New Year!

colleen,

DD went through a GF phase (may still be in it. I can't keep up with her food quirks. I think the latest is mostly raw vegetables ). During the GF phase I found the recipe below for nut crust for cheesecake. We like it better than the traditional graham cracker crust.

• Nut Crust
• • 3/4 cup sliced blanched almonds, toasted and cooled
• • 2/3 cup sugar
• • 2/3 cup matzo cake meal (or other baked goods: cookies) (to make GF, use GF waffles or other GF baked goods)
• • 1/4 teaspoon salt
• • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• Whirl all in food processor until the consistency of crumb(s. Pat into springform pan. No pre-bake needed. Proceed with cheesecake recipe.

Colleen, not all soy sauce has gluten, but when it's on an ingredient list as just "soy sauce" or used in a restaurant, there's no way to tell and truthfully, most times it has gluten because that's what's in the cheap stuff. Corned beef is only safe if they don't use malt vinegar to corn it, and I was surprised at how many do. I can corn my own, and have a couple of times, but it just wasn't all that good, not good enough to justify the process anyway.

Amanda used to drink lactose free milk, but even that upset her. She switched to soy, which tastes vile. Then to almond milk, which is what she drinks now.

Annie

Oh, I agree about the soy sauce, I get the kind labelled GF. Shame about the LF milk, I agree soy tastes revolting. DH will have it in coffee, but I'd give up coffee or learn to drink it black if soy was the only alternative.

-I use Coconut Secret Raw Coconut Aminos instead of soy sauce. Not only is it gluten-free, dairy-free, and soy-free, but there is 65% less sodium than soy sauce.

-I would encourage everyone to make their own almond milk because you can make it as thin/thick as you like, which is great for different uses. I'll make a fairly concentrated version (1 c. almonds to 2 c. water), that way I can add water if I need a thin version.

By making your own you will also avoid unnecessary additives and sweeteners they lace commercial almond milk with. Carrageenan is an additive in commercial almond milk that may be problematic for some people because it "can cause gastrointestinal inflammation (aggravating conditions such as IBS, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis)...". Anyone with digestive issues may be wise to avoid carrageenan entirely. People who are gluten-intolerant often have issues with dairy products as well (it's all about the gut), so make your own nut milk and coconut milk to avoid the unnecessary ingredients they add to commercial brands.

Nut milk and coconut milk are easy to make in a blender. There are lots of recipes in "Not Milk....NUT MILKS!" by Candia Lea Cole for a large variety of nut milks - not just almond. You make coconut milk with unsweetened coconut and water just like you make nut milks. You can also find powdered coconut milk products, but check them to make sure they don't have a dairy-based ingredient in it. My new favorite is Native Forest Dairy Free, Vegan, Gluten-free, Coconut Milk Powder. It makes a lovely coffee creamer and I've used it to make a homemade cocoa mix.

-Grainlady

bbstx, she does drink almond milk, as I noted. Even the kids will drink dark chocolate almond milk, but they won't touch the stuff plain, and not coconut milk either. Amanda doesn't care for the coconut milk, so she buys regular milk for the kids and almond milk for herself. The small amount she uses doesn't warrant making her own, as she doesn't eat cold cereal with milk, doesn't drink coffee usually (because of her gastric reflux) and only occasionally will she make a cup of hot chocolate, a mocha type drink or have some on oatmeal.

Anyway, back to the original point of this thread. I hope today's football party goes wonderfully, I'll be waiting to hear the results!

Annie

LOL, bbstx, I wouldn't know about endive, won't eat the stuff and I don't think I've ever made anything with it. Elery will tell you that nothing can be too spicy, and the spinach is, well, spinach. Go team, whichever is your choice!

Annie

All went well especially our team WINNING!!! The endive Caesar salads were admired for their uniqueness but only half were eaten. Gauged by consumption and comments, the best dishes were: pork sliders (everyone loved the cranberry/pickled onion juxtaposition), black-eyed pea dip, cheeses (goat milk Gouda was excellent!) and chocolate cake. Mr GF was especially pleased with the GF cupcake.

edited: moving comment about using up cheese to its own thread.