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Wheat-free for the Holidays? Relax, it's doable.

Contributed by: Donna Feldman on 11/14/2007

One of the most inconvenient food elimination diets in this country is wheat avoidance. Yet plenty of people manage it. Celiac disease is one reason: one tiny bite of food containing the gluten protein leads to severe digestive symptoms. For other people, wheat allergy is the motivation, to control symptoms that range from hives and rashes to asthma and sinus problems. Some people avoid wheat just on principle--they feel better without it.

Whatever the reason, wheat elimination removes dozens of major foods from the diet: everything bread (boo hoo!), pizza, pasta and bakery items. The holiday season could be the worst possible time of year for wheat avoidance. No Christmas cookies. No pumpkin pie. No fruit cake - well some people would be concerned. No rolls, bread, stuffing, gravy, sauces or pastries. No leftover turkey sandwiches. It's a big issue, whether you're the wheat-sensitive person or the host, worried that your wheat-free guest won't be able to eat anything you want to serve.

Actually, if you calm down and think about it, plenty of traditional holiday foods are already free of wheat and perfectly fine for this type of diet. Thankfully, the main dishes--turkey, ham or roast beef--are OK. Elsewhere on the dinner table, many common holiday foods are naturally wheat free: potatoes, sweet potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, apple cider and salad.

Unfortunately, wheat is a critical ingredient in some well-loved dishes, like stuffing (or dressing). Everyone wants stuffing, and it's almost always made with bread. What to do? You could make stuffing with potatoes, using pre-cooked chopped potatoes. Not too cooked, or they'll turn to mush inside the bird. You could also make your own bread for stuffing, using cornmeal. Any cornbread recipe will do. Most call for half white wheat flour, so just substitute all cornmeal. The resulting cornbread will be more crumbly, but turkey stuffing relies on crumbled bread anyway. Flavor it with added celery, onion, chopped apple, bacon, chestnuts or whatever else you prefer. If you use sausage, check the label for any wheat-based fillers.

Gravy? It's usually thickened with flour. An alternative is cornstarch, or arrowroot starch. The texture will be slightly different, but it will still be gravy. If you're using cornstarch, remember it only works when first added to cold liquid and dissolved completely before adding to the hot gravy mix. Putting cornstarch directly into hot liquid results in nasty lumps of cornstarch that won't dissolve.

Pie, with real pie crust, is out. You could look for wheat-free pie crust, available in some grocery stores or on the internet. Or, you can bake the pie fillings separately in greased casserole dishes. Pumpkin custard works well this way, and baking custard takes less time than baking a pie with crust. Other pie fillings can be cooked without crust as well. Apple, or other fruit pies, may be thickened with flour, so you need a recipe that uses cornstarch/arrowroot/tapioca instead. If you want to make the apple dessert more pie-like, bake it like a crisp, with a crisp topping made with a non-wheat flour or cornmeal. Again, the texture won't be exactly the same as with wheat flour, but the results can be just fine.

Sad to say, Christmas cookies will be a major no-no for wheat avoiders. Well, there's always fudge, which everyone seems to make this time of year. If you bake, you can try using alternative flours. Some shortbread, cookie press or sugar-cookie recipes could work using rice or oat flour. Cookie-cutter cookies will be more crumbly without wheat flour, so handle them with care, and avoid using really large cutters. Small cookie shapes will hold together better.

If you aren't avoiding gluten, you can use oat, barley or rye flour. Traditional holiday recipes from Northern Europe frequently rely on rye flour. I make a spice cookie recipe from Julia Child that uses rye flour, and the cookies are very good. In general, recipes for spicy cookies, or quick breads, are good bets, since the spicy flavor masks the flavor of rye. Think gingerbread. The strongest flavors are ginger and molasses. And of course, whipped cream.

So, wheat-avoiding guests coming for dinner? A newly diagnosed wheat allergy has you feeling deprived? Holiday meals just need a little tweaking to be wheat-free. And remember, Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and that's all about chocolate. No wheat involved.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Donna Feldman

Louisville , CO

Donna Feldman has posted 133 stories and 1 comment since joining on 9/14/2005. Donna Feldman 's average story rating is 4.91.
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