Mark, Turbo and I will be hitting the road tomorrow and heading to Michigan for a few days with our families. We have much to be thankful for this year. We’re particularly looking forward to our first Christmas with our newly HUGE family, now that Mark’s Dad got married and we have new siblings and nieces and nephews – it’s going to be a joyful Christmas for our family!
My Christmas wish when we travel to Detroit is always the same – to make it through a holiday without getting glutened. It’s much harder than you’d think, and every holiday buffet table contains peril – not just in the dishes I know I cannot eat, but from an errant spoon or fork dipping into my dishes with a crumb of wheat on it. The tiniest morsel of gluten can make me sick these days. So say a prayer for me and my nephew Matthew that we make it through the holidays healthy and happily eating our own special gluten-free goodies.
Speaking of goodies – here’s what we’ll be eating in the next few days:
Gluten-free Rugelach
Recipe from the genius GlutenFreeGirl
These rugelach are amazing – flaky, buttery, and filled with goodness. I made 2 batches of rugelach – two savory flavors and two sweet for the various potlucks we’ll be going to. For the savory fillings I used basil pesto and parmesan for one, and a puree of oven-roasted tomatoes, toasted pinenuts and feta. It’s taking all my willpower to not gobble them up before we leave! For the sweet varieties, I did one with bourbon maple cranberry puree and one with cinnamon sugar and minced dried tart cherries.
Chewy Chocolate Cookies
Recipe from Emily – The View from the 32nd Floor
I love these cookies – this is the third time I’ve made them. Perfect, chewy bites, rich with serious chocolate flavor – they’re like eating the edges of gooey brownies, and super simple to make. I dressed them up for the holidays with pieces of mints leftover from the mint chocolate ice cream.
Wild Rice with Mushrooms
This dish requires no recipe – Sautee some onions and garlic, then add to a pot with 2 cups wild rice blend, water, chicken stock, thyme and salt, and cook until tender. Top with mushrooms sauteed with olive oil and thyme and a bit of parsley. Perfect side dish for any holiday table.
Sweet Potato Crisp with Bacon
Recipe from November 2009
I already swooned over this one at Thanksgiving, and it was so good, we’ll be having this one with Christmas dinner (Mom’s making prime rib – YUM!).
Oven Roasted Tomato & Feta Spread, Basil Pesto & Goat Cheese Spread
Serve with gluten free crackers
Have you made these oven roasted tomatoes yet? I’ve got quite a stash of them in the freezer, so I made one of the rugelach fillings with a puree of my roasted tomatoes, feta, red pepper flakes and toasted pine nuts. I had some leftover, and munched on it for lunch with some Mary’s Gone Crackers, so I decided I’d save the rest for our Christmas Eve buffet. I paired it with the leftover pesto from the other rugelach filling and whipped it with some plain goat cheese – instant appetizer!
The Whole Kitchen 