Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Menu

Thanksgiving is this week, and we have three wonderful family-packed celebrations coming up.  I like to bring desserts to two of our family events).  Since no one else in our families eats g-free, I do my best to make sure what I bring is delicious and doesn't taste weird (I don't want to be "that" family member who brings the food everyone else avoids).  Here's what I have on my menu.

For Thursday and Friday's Thanksgiving celebrations, I'm bringing Salted Caramel Apple Bites, Mini Pecan Pies (it's a family recipe; I'll show pictures once I make them), an apple pie (with this awesome crust mix from the Gluten Free Pantry), and Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.

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For Saturday, I'm hosting the dinner, so I'll be making more than just dessert.  Here's what's on the menu: a lovely roasted turkey (and thanks to The Pioneer Woman's show yesterday, I know how I'll be making it), whipped potatoes (I make them a little different every time I make them), cornbread stuffing (from a Whole Foods recipe), gravy (made with cornstarch like this recipe), roasted acorn squash, and a peanut butter chocolate pie for dessert (from Simply Gluten-Free).  Since I'm the difficult one to cook for, I like to make the tricky menu items and ask my guests to bring the easy stuff (like cranberries, veggies, and beverages).  After church this morning, we purchased all the ingredients, so I'm ready to rock for this food-packed week!
 

(G-Free) Comfort Food

The weather has cooled down quickly (last week's cold snap did me in), and now I'm in the mood for soups.  This week, I've made two soups - mixed bean and squash.  Below are beautiful images someone else took (and they also created the recipes).  You should make them.  I'm loving both soups and think you will, too!

Mixed bean and ham shank soup from Bliss (source)

Creamy garlic butternut squash soup from Undressed Skeleton (source)

For my birthday, Kristina made me the best g-free chocolate cookies (and she delivered two platters of them to my desk).  She got the recipe here.  You should make these, too.  They're heavenly.

Flourless fudge chocolate chip cookies from Chocolate and carrots (source)

Spinach Artichoke Dip

The holidays are right around the corner (it's October 2 already!)...and that means lots of family get-togethers...with lots of food.  I typically struggle at any pot-luck as not many people bring gluten-free options.  I'm pretty sure this spinach artichoke dip recipe I found on the Undressed Skeleton blog (below) is going to make the cut this year.  Paired with some Food Should Taste Good chips, I'm pretty sure no one will notice it's gluten-free!  However, if they do, there will be more for me to eat...

Healthy Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Fab Finds: Undressed Skeleton Blog

I was pinning some lovely g-free recipes on Pinterest tonight, when I stumbled upon a new blog:  Undressed Skeleton.  She's a cute girl (from Ottumwa, Iowa) who lives in Chicago and lives a healthy lifestyle (read about her amazing weight-loss story here).  Her recipes aren't all g-free, but she has some really delicious-looking (and low-calorie) recipes I'm dying to try.  Below are some recipes I plan to make this week.

Creamy Garlic Butternut Squash Soup

Cauliflower Mash

Creamy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal

Fab Finds: Gluten-Free Cupcakes in Des Moines

It's one of my co-worker's birthdays today.  He brought in some beautiful cupcakes from Creme, a cupcake bakery right here in Des Moines.  They were out of gluten-free cupcakes when he was there yesterday, but I think I should probably make a journey to the bakery (it's a five-minute drive from the office; 20-minutes from home).  Check out some of their cupcake images below (or read their menu here).  If your mouth isn't watering now, it will be in approximately .0482729 seconds...

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On Weekends, they're open until midnight, and serve adult beverages with the cupcakes.  I think this might just be a perfect date night with the hubs.

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Fab Finds: Joia

Saturday afternoon, I caught up with Lindsay, a friend from high school.  I am pretty sure we haven't seen one another since we graduated from Wayzata High School in June of 2003.  (P.S. That seems like a long time ago!)  Anyway, she invited me over to her house in Edina, and we had the best time catching up.  We gossiped about old high school classmates, discussed what we "really do" at work, and completely enjoyed the company of one another.  Lindsay moved out to NYC with her hubby for a few years after graduating from undergrad at the U of M, and they've been back in the Minneapolis area for the past two years.  Last fall, when Josh and I visited NYC for the first time, Lindsay was kind enough to share with us her top places to go in NYC - it was a thorough list and I truly appreciated her input (word-of-mouth marketing is WAY better than reading it on tripadvisor).

When I first arrived at her house, she gave me the grand tour.  I'd already seen a few pictures on Facebook, but seeing it in person was more fun.  She's remodeling her kitchen this fall, and we've talked all about cabinets, surfaces, appliances, layouts, lighting...the works.  So, seeing her final picks for tile and countertop in person was exciting.

Anyway, after the tour, we sat in her beautifully landscaped backyard and sipped Joia Life sodas.  Um, DE-licious.  Apparently one of Lindsay's MBA projects was to do some marketing for Joia, and I'm so glad she did!  I enjoyed sipping the Pineapple, Coconut & Nutmeg beverage, while Lindsay sipped the Grapefruit, Chamomile & Cardamom beverage.  Heavenly.  Refreshing.  My mouth is literally watering now just thinking of them.  And, after doing a handy little Internet search, I learned I can purchase them at the Caribou on Mills Civic Parkway in West Des Moines.  I will probably have to go there tomorrow.  I can't wait...

I could sip you all day long, Joia!

Fab Finds: Forkly

On Sunday, I had brunch with Jaime - a good friend from high school - at Blackbird Cafe in Minneapolis.  We both ordered The Colleen Obrien [rancheros plus house made chorizo & avocado].  It was delicious.  Pretty much every time I'm up in Minneapolis, Jaime and I have the opportunity to catch up and it's really wonderful (typically, we reconnect over a lovely meal).  We learn a lot from one another, and now that Jaime is working full-time on her MBA, I know she'll have even more wonderful things to share with me.  This week, she introduced me to a new iPhone app:  Forkly.  If you like food, you should probably download it.  It's kind of like FourSquare and Twitter had a baby.  You take pictures of food (from restaurants), rate it, and then share it.  The goal is to become a Tastemaker, which means the foods you photographed (and likely ate) was loved by your followers...basically, it means you're respected in the food world.  I think this may become a new addiction of mine as it could open up a door to the eating-out g-free world...

forkly