Gluten Free Holidays and Parties - How to deal?!

The hardest part about your first year of being gluten free is getting through holidays and parties. Stop feeling sorry for yourself - this is the 1st step. You can still eat! And holidays and parties are not just about eating, they are about socializing and spending time with people - remember that!

However, there are still things that you can do to get through these times and not feel like you're being left out. Go into your local grocery stores and look in the health/organic section and look for the gluten free stuff. You will be AMAZED at everything you will find there.

CAKES:
Hodgson Mills makes the best gluten free cake mixes I have ever tried! They have chocolate and yellow at my local kroger, but I have also seen red velvet, white, and a TON of other flavors on Amazon that you can buy in bulk. I promise you, YOU CAN NOT TELL THE DIFFERENCE in these gluten free cakes and regular cakes. And guess what - they are healthier for you. You can eat any icing on your cakes!

My favorite is chocolate cake with mint icing, and chocolate and coconut shavings on top!

Although don't take that last statement as a reason to eat cake all the time. Sweets and desserts are not for everyday eating - or even weekly eating - these are for special occasions :) K?

COOKIES:
I have also tried gluten free cookie mixes and loved them! The sugar cookie mix is my FAVORITE - it makes the big, fluffy sugar cookies that are to die for and envies any other sugar cookies I have tried. But, if you want a REALLY easy cookie recipe that is gluten free, lower sugar and calories than regular cookies, try this:

GF COOKIES RECIPE - SUPER EASY!!!
1 box Gluten Free cake mix (any flavor - you can be creative!)
1 box instant pudding  (and flavor - you can be creative!)
1 large egg
1 regular tub of whipped cream
bowl of powdered sugar for rolling dough into

Pour your cake mix into a mixing bowl and add the egg, tub of whipped cream and pudding mix. Mix all. It will make a thick, sticky batter. Using two spoons, scoop out 1" balls of batter and put them one-by-one into a bowl of powdered sugar. You are going to coat each ball of cookie batter in the powdered sugar. Put them onto a non-stick cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

My Favorite combination is a yellow cake mix and a box of instant lemon pudding mix. It makes lemon snowdrop cookies that are out of this world!!! Posting a pic :) Did I mention these cookies are only about 35 calories each?!

My next favorite combination is chocolate cake and caramel pudding - YUM.

ICE CREAM:
Eat it! You can eat ANY ice cream babes :) Just watch for ice cream that has added things like brownies, which you can not eat. But what birthday is a good one without some cake and ice cream?

CHOCOLATE:
Eat it! So eat it..... all chocolate is gluten free! Eat some for me.

WHAT TO EAT/TAKE TO PARTIES AND SOCIAL GATHERINGS:
This one can be tricky when you are first starting but live by this simple rule - you can not be sure of anything that is at a party, and you don't want to start asking people a million questions about the ingredients so just take your own dishes! You won't even have to tell people you have celiac if you just eat your own foods.

Taco Dip - this is what I take. Corn tortilla chips and a can of hormel chili mixed with a box of cream cheese is seriously amazing. You can also take fresh salsa or I also make a mean spinach dip!

Pickle Hors d'oeuvres - An all time favorite. Dry off a whole pickle with paper towels, cover the entire outside with cream cheese and wrap with slices of deli ham. Slice and serve. These are also low calorie and low carb!

Fruit and Veggie Tray - can't go wrong with this and it's healthy! I buy the Hidden Valley Ranch dip packet and add it to sour cream for the veggie dip. A good fruit dip is plain Greek yogurt, add some vanilla and almonds or get really sassy with some chocolate chips babe!!

*Try to set your goodies away from gluten-containing foods like a cracker tray, for instance. You don't want crumbs falling into your goodies and contaminating you. Also watch this on spoons and spatulas.

THANKSGIVING & CHRISTMAS:
This one was hard for me this year because my favorite was always my mommy's homemade noodles. But knowing that just one bite would have me puking made it easier.

Here is what I ate this year:
Ham & Turkey
Green Beans (plain - you can NOT have green bean casserole!)
Corn on the cob
Cranberries
Scalloped Potatoes (that I made)
Mashed Potatoes (and I made my own gravy - see the recipe here!)
and my yummy desserts above that I took

*What to watch for:
-Stuffing baked inside of a turkey means the turkey is contaminated. Ask them to make the stuffing separate if you can, or prepare your own turkey or ham to take.
-You can make your own stuffing with Rudy's Gluten Free bread!
-Cross-contamination of spoons, spatulas, crumbs falling into your foods, etc.

I am SURE there are recipes for GF pumpkin pie, but I did not have the time or care to try to look it up this year. Maybe next year :)

I think I will end it with this! I feel like this is a great start for you, but I still have so much to learn. Please comment with any information or questions, loves!