Category Archives: Thanksgiving

Making Holidays and Events More Enjoyable with Food Issues

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October, November and December are all about events. October is about Halloween parties, November has the big (and sometimes ominous) Thanksgiving, and December is about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and others. Parties galore!

For the last few years around Christmas, I’ve struggled. With Celiac Disease and other food allergies (especially milk and corn!), most holiday goodies are on my “bad” list. Bowls of candy set around the room? Nope. If they don’t have milk, they have corn syrup. (Candy canes, anyone?) Corn chips and salsa? Nope. Most baked goods (that I’m not bringing myself) have gluten in them. I’m having a tough time coming up with things to list here since I’m so used to not having them.

When I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, I was self-conscious about letting people cook or bake for me, for two main reasons. 1- It’s very difficult to do gluten-free cooking and baking correctly, without any cross contact and 2- I hate putting people out. Ever since the other food allergies made themselves known, I’ve just assumed that any party I go to won’t be able to accommodate me, so I eat beforehand. It’s habit, now.

The holidays are especially difficult because it seems that all of a sudden, people are very emotionally tied to their food! People usually have at least one dish, without which, it wouldn’t be Christmas or Thanksgiving or what-have-you. It also can’t be just any rendition of the dish, it has to be Grandma’s recipe. (This is true for my family and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.) It also seems to suddenly be that if a food is eaten, then the maker of the dish understands that you like it, and that you appreciate their efforts. Not eating someone’s dish is just not okay!

To help everyone understand each other a little better, I’ve come up with a few suggestions. The level to which these work is dependent on how well the host and guest know each other, so please adapt accordingly.

* Guest: Please don’t be offended if your host doesn’t accommodate your food issues. If they haven’t had to deal with any, they might be intimidated at the thought of attempting something and then having you get sick anyway. If they’re going to try, and you’re comfortable with their efforts, consider it a gift.

* Host: If the guest says they’ll eat beforehand, please don’t be offended. They’re looking out for their health, not condemning everything you cook or will have at the event. Take it as a BIG compliment that they’re willing to come, even though they won’t be able to eat anything.

* Guest: Don’t try something you know isn’t safe for you just because you’re feeling pressured to do so. Getting sick isn’t worth it. Just politely decline and mention you have food allergies. In my experience, people are pretty understanding.

* Host: If your guest is more comfortable eating beforehand, don’t force the issue. It’s not code for “please try harder.” It usually means that they don’t want to put you out, and would rather make food a non-issue.

* Guest: Understand that your host and the other guests mean well, even if you’re uncomfortable. Most people care very much, but aren’t used to dealing with food issues, and may not be aware if they’re saying something insensitive. It’s also been my experience that most people are seeking to understand something they’re unfamiliar with. If you’re comfortable, be willing to talk about your food issues. We can increase understanding in others if we are willing to talk about food in a calm and positive way.

In this season of holidays, parties and events, may we all be more considerate and deferential to each other. May we find ways to love each other and to appreciate the people who care for us. May we especially be kinder to ourselves.

Announcing! Gluten-Free/Allergy-Free Events by Cinderella’s Pear

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One of the most difficult things about my food issues is dealing with work events. I attend several meetings per month that are accompanied by some kind of meal that I usually end up not eating. When I was diagnosed with my food allergies, I started having my co-worker do the food ordering, because I’d open the menu binder and just get angry. I usually eat before these meetings instead of trying to order for myself. Very few are willing to make me my own meal when I’m only ordering for 20 people, and I know that the group I regularly order for would not appreciate eating like I do. As a result, I’ve learned which local companies are better about gluten-free/allergy-free options, and those companies are typically (though not always) caterers.

Work in itself has been stressful lately, so I’ve been daydreaming about being my own boss (which is something that I inherited from my dad). One of the jobs I had in college that I enjoyed a lot was working for Temple Square Hospitality Company in downtown Salt Lake City. Specifically, I was a banquet server at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was great fun! Most of the events I served were wedding-related (ceremonies, receptions, wedding breakfasts/luncheons/dinners), with a few company parties (usually around the holidays) thrown in. It was a lot of fun getting to help people with their special day, and the rhythm of the event was invigorating. I also got a free meal with each shift that I worked, so I got to taste a lot of different JSMB dishes. Let me tell you — they have some good ones.
While I don’t have the physical strength or stamina to be a banquet server anymore, I’ve played with the idea of becoming a wedding planner/coordinator. Unfortunately, there are LOTS of people who want to be wedding planners/coordinators in Utah, and I didn’t think I had anything unique to offer to attract clients… until now.
I’m officially announcing Gluten-free/Allergy-free events by Cinderella’s Pear, and I’m really, really excited about this!*
I’m glad I didn’t know about my food issues when I got married, because that would have been unbelievably stressful. My aunt Charlene, who’s one of the sweetest ladies I know, needed a meal without any salt at all for an illness she was struggling with at the time. It was very important to me to make sure that she got the right meal, and that was stressful enough. Now that I do know about my Celiac, food allergies and gastroparesis, it’s stressful just going out to dinner during the week. Forget about making sure I could eat safely on the one day that’s supposed to be perfect! Who wants to spend their wedding day stressing about gluten, cross-contamination, or other food allergies (whether it’s for someone in your party or for you)? No-one. Do you want to spend your time speaking with the wait staff and/or cooks to make sure they’re not cross-contaminating your food, when you could be listening to the toasts and making sure that Aunt Bertha isn’t telling any embarrassing stories about your daughter in front of her new in-laws?  No!
I’ll do it for you! I can help you find a gorgeous and delicious gluten-free/allergy-free cake.I can be the one to call the catering companies and talk to them about their gluten-free/allergy-free options based on what you need. I can be the one in the kitchen making sure that things are being prepared safely for you. I can be the one monitoring the wait staff to make sure the gluten-free/allergy-free meals are delivered to the right people, so you can just enjoy your guests and your day. I can be “that person” that you hate being when you eat out.
(On a slightly different (though related) note: If this is your first Thanksgiving gluten-free and want some help (or someone to do it for you)? Let me know. I have lots of tips and ideas, and would love to help you. The prices below don’t apply to this, as I would rather work that out with you based on your needs.)
If all you need is an hour or two of consulting because you’d like to do it yourself and just want to make sure you know what you’re doing? I can do that. (See prices below.**) Need me to call the catering companies and/or bakers for you to compare options and prices? Piece of cake. Maybe after a couple of hours of consulting, you’d like me to be there for the luncheon? I can do that. Maybe you’d just like me to be around all day to make sure the food parts go smoothly? I can be there. Want me to plan the food piece so you don’t have to worry? Happy to. Think I’m freaking awesome and want me to plan your wedding with you?? Well, you have good taste. Having a company party and aren’t sure how best to meet the varied food needs of your employees? I can make sure that your employees know how much you care about them.
I want to help you have a great time, and I want you and your guests to be able to eat great food safely without having to worry. I want you to know that you’re in capable hands.
Send me an e-mail at cinderellaspear (at) gmail (dot) com with your name phone number and what your particular food issues are, and I’ll call you right back. This is going to be great fun!
* I’m going to be getting a logo and probably doing a blog re-design, but I’ve been so excited about this idea that I couldn’t wait to announce it! Look for the changes — they’ll be coming soon.
** What?! I’m actually posting my prices online?! Yes. Eating gluten-free and allergy-free is all about knowing what’s in the food you’re eating. I figure that you should be knowing what you’re getting into if you hire me. For the first hour, I’m asking for $40 at that meeting. Should we proceed beyond that, I will draw up a contract that you will sign so you know what to expect from me, and I will sign so I know you’ll pay me. :)  
First hour: $40. $30 per hour after that. $200 for an eight-hour day, $300 for a twelve-hour day. If you would like me to have more involvement than that, we can negotiate a price together. I’m excited to make this day wonderful for you!

Happy Celiac Anniversary!

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It was right around now two years ago that I was sitting in my doctor’s office and told that I have Celiac Disease. (It also happens to be Celiac Awareness Month. Cool, huh?) I’m lucky that my doctor also has Celiac. It means he knows how this all works, and isn’t going to prescribe me something glutenous. That day, he ran and got his laptop and gave me a PowerPoint presentation about Celiac Disease — the same one he gives to other medical professionals. He told me that I had to go gluten-free — that day — or I would continue to destroy the villi in my intestines, I would keep my body from absorbing nutrients, and I would probably get lymphoma. Sounds fun, right? The one regret that I have about that appointment is that I talked my doctor out of ordering me an endoscopy. If I had known then how not-a-big-deal endoscopies are, I would have gone for it.**

I can’t really believe that it’s been two years. Two years! Two years ago, I only knew one person (besides my doctor) who had Celiac Disease. She works down the hall from me, and was a HUGE help getting me going in the right direction. She gave me a little pocket-size ingredients book from (I think?) the Canadian Celiac Association that details which bizarre ingredients have gluten in them and which don’t. Two years later, I know that book is in my house somewhere, but I don’t know where right now. I almost never need it anymore.

Even still, I felt lonely. I felt like no-one had this weird disease. I felt ostracized. Going grocery shopping was hard, and took forEVER, since I wasn’t used to checking every. freaking. label. I almost cried in the middle of Whole Foods the first time I went. I bought Shauna James Ahern’s Gluten-Free Girl book, and read her website until my eyes blurred over. Of anything, that probably helped me the most to not feel quite so alone.

My husband, The Franchise, immediately stepped up to the plate and went (mostly) gluten-free with me. This has meant more to me than anything else. He has never questioned that it’s real. He has never complained about the additional cost of eating gluten-free, or about the costs of all my medical tests and procedures and appointments. He’s willing to try everything I make at least once, and sometimes he even likes my gluten-free version better! (Sometimes, though, like with hummus, he thinks it’s gross and can’t understand why anyone else likes it. :) That’s okay.) When he does eat gluten, he makes sure it’s very well contained and doesn’t contaminate my stuff. When those days pop up where I just feel like food controls my life and that I’m never going to feel better, he’s there to give me a hug, hold me, tell me that he loves me and that it will be okay. I’m very lucky to have married him.

My mom, who’s a nurse, was with me and The Franchise at my diagnosis. She immediately sprang into action and had the rest of my family tested for Celiac, since it’s hereditary. In July of that year, my sister was diagnosed after inconclusive bloodwork and a positive biopsy. My parents have gluten sensitivity, but everyone else is clear. My mom dove into finding out everything she could about gluten-free cooking and baking. She’s the one who found Life Tastes Good Again, and at her recommendation, I bought it a few months later.

Life Tastes Good Again taught me that I can still make “the standard” bready things, gluten-free, and have them taste good. I can’t tell you what that did for my ability to feel “normal.”

I discovered the Udi’s line of products, which have also been a lifesaver. Bread for sandwiches that tastes like…bread? Check. Bagels that are lovely when toasted and smothered with cream cheese (Tofutti brand for me)? Check. Blueberry muffins to die for that are also dairy and soy free? Check. I also hear their pizza crust is great, but haven’t tried it.

In the past two years, I have learned:

* How to read labels like lightening (and how to recognize gluten in its various hidings)
* Fresh foods are delicious!
* It’s a lot easier to avoid gluten if I’m eating fresh, whole foods instead of processed ones.
* I still have bad days when I feel like I’m never going to feel better, but that’s ok.
* So many people have Celiac or gluten intolerance. You might be one of them. If your stomach is always upset, that is not normal. E-mail me at cinderellaspear(at)gmail(dot)com. I can help.
* I love to cook! Seriously…I do. I love playing with flavors and textures and colors, and I’m almost to the point where I can make it look pretty, too.
* I don’t love to bake yet, but I’ll get there…someday.
* Life Tastes Good Again bread recipe + KitchenAid mixer = easiest bread ever, with none of my allergens.
* In addition to the Celiac, I have been diagnosed with gastroparesis, and allergies to beef, chicken, eggs, milk, bananas, carrots, and corn.
* When I don’t eat gluten or allergies and I do my best to eat the right foods in the right amounts for gastroparesis, I feel better.
* Ginger tea is my friend.
* Tofutti brand is my friend.
* I love food!
* People generally want to understand, and just one conversation can raise awareness, which is great. I have people all the time tell me that they saw some gluten-free product somewhere and thought of me. :) It makes me happy.
* I still do feel self-conscious about this, but it’s getting better. Most of the time. I think.
* I have the most supportive family in the world. The summer that I was diagnosed, we went up to our family farm in Idaho, and my “aunt” Tammy bought me a HUGE bag of certified gluten-free oats. That was so amazing, because I love oatmeal. Love it. Always have. Always will. Those bags? Not cheap. She did that for me. My grandpa Armando let us come stay with him last year and was brave enough to let me cook for him. So sweet. So sweet of him to let us stay with him. My in-laws are very supportive — especially my mother-in-law. They’re also brave enough to let me cook for them on occasion, and are always sending me articles and things they find about Celiac.
* There is a wonderful community of people with food issues that I would never have had the chance to interact with had these issues not come up. Thank you for your time and efforts and blogs. We are not alone in this, and it’s wonderful to know you. I hope I can meet you in person.
* Whole Foods? Awesome. I could spend sooooo much money there. It’s good for practicing self-restraint as well as all the awesomeness.
* Good Earth? Also awesome. I get bulk flours and other various & sundry items there.

All in all, I feel very blessed. I’m grateful for the opportunity to find a passion for life and for cooking and food that I didn’t know was there. I’m blessed by the people in my life who support me and who are an example to me. I’m grateful for God, who knows who and what I need, even when I don’t, and who leads me to them.

Here’s to a good and interesting two years, and here’s to many more!

**A year after that appointment when I still wasn’t feeling better, my gastroenterologist ordered an endoscopy without me going back to gluten first, and “didn’t see any villi damage,” so according to him, I have latent Celiac. Latent Celiac refers to having a positive blood test but a negative biopsy. Um…hello? I was gluten-free for a year. That’s usually enough time for the gut to heal. So, whatever. I’m not going back to gluten because that would be miserable, and I’m not going to cheat and then have my “latent” Celiac “turn on” and have to get an endoscopy every year to make sure I’m not doing damage. I’ll just keep going on my merry little gluten-free way.

Thanksgiving 2010

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Thanksgiving this year was different than usual.

Well, let me back up.

In most years prior to the gluten-free diagnosis of my family, we had Thanksgiving with my dad’s family. It was potluck-style, with all of us (around 60 people!) gathering at someone’s house and bringing a vast assortment of dishes. I think my grandma usually made the turkey, with sometimes someone bringing another turkey. There were all the classics — green bean casserole, frog-eye (or ambrosia) salad, my mom makes this green salad that everyone loves, several jello salads, pasta salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, chips and at least two kinds of (dairy-based) dip, many pies (especially several of my grandma’s speciality — pumpkin), ice cream, dinner rolls, and the absolute must-have, without which Thanksgiving is NOT Thanksgiving — cinnamon rolls!

Now, as you can imagine, for someone with Celiac Disease and multiple food allergies, this is scary. Not only are there many ingredients that could make me rather sick, since it’s self-serve potluck, there is the great potential for cross-contact between the dishes while people aren’t paying attention.

Thanksgiving 2009 was the first gluten-free Thanksgiving, so we opted to withdraw from the family festivities so we could figure out what in the world we were doing. We went over to my grandma’s house “for pie,” so we weren’t social recluses, but even that was scary! We tried to help people understand that you had to use one utensil for the gluten-free pies and a different utensil for the regular pies, but I saw at least one person use one server for all the pie. Which is why I got mine first.

This year, we were social recluses again, but invited over my brother’s in-laws. It was fun! It was smaller, and a lot easier to control the gluten dishes. The trick this year was dealing with my allergies. We had gluten-free turkey, obviously. :) For the mashed potatoes, my mom usually makes them with butter and milk, but she separated a bowl of them for me before she did that that she made with olive oil. She made gluten-free stuffing from Udi’s bread (which I didn’t have, but I’m not really a stuffing person to begin with). The gravy she thickened with potato starch instead of cornstarch. Amazingly enough with that, she liked the end result much better! You know how, when you try to warm up gravy the next day, it’s all globby and won’t go back to that lovely texture? Try it with potato starch instead. It warms up so much more nicely. She makes this wonderful jello salad with raspberry jello and all sorts of fruits inside with a cream cheese frosting. She made me my own little cupful without bananas, and without the frosting! I was tickled. Last year, as much as my dad liked the gluten-free cinnamon rolls, he really missed the regular glutenous rolls from his family, so she made the regular ones (and actually had to go buy regular flour..haha) and I was in charge of the gluten-free cinnamon rolls. I made them using the recipe in Life Tastes Good Again, but used muffin tins and bread pans.The Franchise made green beans with bacon which were a big hit.

When we’re just with my family, my mom makes my grandma’s pumpkin pie and her own chocolate pie. The thing with my grandma’s pumpkin pie is that the filling is actually a baked custard that you cook and refrigerate and only put into the pie crust about 5 minutes before you serve it. At this point, I still hadn’t tried eggs and dairy baked in things, so the pies were out. Instead, I decided to make a dessert I knew I could have.

In Life Tastes Good Again, there’s a pumpkin roll recipe that I love. The main problem, though, is the frosting! Cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. I bought Tofutti brand cream cheese to try it out. I used Nucor margarine (which doesn’t have lactose or casein in it), and just thought that powdered sugar would be no problem. I went to the store, and wrong! Powdered sugar’s ingredients: sugar, cornstarch. No good. I called The Franchise and asked him to Google “making your own corn-free powdered sugar,” and there’s a lot out there! The method I chose was to use a coffee grinder and grind sugar and potato flour together. (Here’s the link if you’re interested: It’s number 5 on the list.) It worked beautifully. I bought a really small coffee grinder, though, so it took a while. The pumpkin roll turned out great! If you choose to go this way, though, make sure you have plenty of time to refrigerate it before you serve it. The Nucor makes the frosting kind of runny, but refrigeration helps it set.

It ended up being a wonderful Thanksgiving where everyone had plenty to eat. I’m definitely thankful for family members and friends who do their best to understand and just roll with things. These people are the greatest blessings in my life.

Thanksgiving 2009

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This was my first gluten-free Thanksgiving since I was diagnosed in May. My sister was diagnosed at the beginning of July. My mom’s blood work came back negative, but she’s gone gluten-free since she discovered how much better she feels. My dad’s starting to think he may have gluten intolerance, too, but just isn’t willing to give up his whole wheat toast yet.

About a month before Thanksgiving, my mom asked me if I would be okay with hosting Thanksgiving, and just having a ton of gluten-free foods, or if I would be too concerned about cross-contamination. She asked me on a difficult day. My response was that I was SICK of explaining what Celiac Disease is and what eating gluten-free means, with the invariable “Wow, that would suck! I think I might kill myself if I were diagnosed with CD! I *love* bread *so* much!!” (In second thought, though, my sister and I have never loved bread like that.) I told my mom that what I would prefer (allowing that I might feel differently on a better day) was that I would love to have one day where the words ‘gluten-free’ didn’t even need to be mentioned, because it was a given, and that the easiest way to do that would just be to have our Thanksgiving dinner be our immediate family.
So it was. I didn’t end up changing my mind. It was Mom, Dad, me, The Franchise, Brother1, SoonToBeSisInLaw, Sister, and Brother2. That’s it! It was especially nice to have a small group this year, as my mom has a broken back and wasn’t feeling well at all the week before Thanksgiving. In order to trim things down a little in terms of stress level, she asked everyone what they *must* have in order for Thanksgiving to feel like Thanksgiving.
Mom ordered a turkey from Good Earth so that there wouldn’t be anything added to it that might involve gluten (and it ended up being very moist). There were very few leftovers because we ate so much of it. Yum. Mashed potatoes are still the same, as is the gravy, which my mom has been making from cornstarch forever. My sister requires stuffing, so my mom, the hero, made homemade gf bread, and then made the stuffing, involving apples and celery. It was very good, and very flavorful. Life Tastes Good Again has a recipe for cinnamon pull-aparts, which are replacing our family’s required cinnamon rolls. I made them, and they turned out wonderfully! We put them in muffin tins instead of doing a bundt pan as the recipe recommended. SO good, and they don’t have the gritty gluten-free baked goods taste. They’re light and fluffy and wonderful. We usually skip the green bean casserole, and instead I made an oriental veggie stir-fry with a teriyaki sauce that I made out of wheat-free tamari. My mom also made a raspberry jello dish that has bananas, and fruit in it, with cream cheese topping. Naturally gluten-free, and always has been. For the gluten eaters, she put together some Rhodes rolls, which ease the concern of potential cross-contamination. For the pies, my mom made gluten-free pie crusts for pumpkin and chocolate pies, and she bought a gluten-free peach-cranberry pie from someone in her neighborhood who also has Celiac.
It was SO GOOD, and I didn’t feel deprived at all! It was lovely to spend an intimate meal with people that I care a lot about, and to know that there was only one item on the table that I couldn’t eat. Afterward, we did go to my grandparents’ house to interact with the rest of the fam, and that was fun. At that point, I didn’t mind talking about the gluten-free wonderfulness that was our Thanksgiving. People kept asking us how it had gone, as though we’d had nothing to eat but rice and vegetables or something tragic.
I truly enjoyed Thanksgiving this year. Cooking and baking gluten-free can be trickier than with normal materials, and it can also be time-consuming, but it makes me slow down and really appreciate all that I have and am blessed with.