Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Happy #Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

Yes, it's true... a gluten-free Thanksgiving meal can be a very happy experience!  The whole meal prepared for our traditional Canadian Thanksgiving turkey dinner this year was gluten-free. and it was truly delicious.




On the menu:

Roasted turkey and potatoes
Turkey gravy
Quinoa dressing
Homemade cranberry sauce
Steamed carrots
Crustless Pumpkin Pie
Pinot Grigio/ice water

We gave up stuffing our turkey a few years ago.  Not only does it cook much quicker, but the meat is moister, by far.   There is a lot more jus to make gravy, too.  Neither of us ever cared for the bread dressing that was cooked inside the turkey anyway, so we don't miss that one little bit.



We peeled and cut up russet potatoes and set them around the turkey to roast along side it. Roasted potatoes taste so good, and require no mashing and who needs all the butter that it takes to do that!

The turkey jus was thickened slightly with a bit of cornstarch instead of white flour and and then seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper before serving.  I heated it in a saucepan and then mixed a bit of it in a little bowl with some cornstarch and then added that back to the sauce pan to thicken the jus just a bit.  I don't like a thick gravy so this worked really well.




The Quinoa Dressing is made with celery, onion, herbs,  and chicken broth... quite lovely!  And I made enough for lots of leftovers.  I will share the recipe later in this post.  Just an aside...we both do like bread dressings... but we opted to make a gluten-free dinner this year and so decided not to go this route. I will make a bread dressing later for The Captain to have with leftovers... and I will bake it in the oven so it is crispy and crunchy on the edges, just the way he likes it.



I made my homemade cranberry sauce.  It can be made with sugar or with an artificial sweetener for those of you looking to lower calorie and P+ values of your meal.



Steamed fresh carrots need no explanation. I chose them because they are easy and nutritious and they go nicely with turkey.  And they are colorful and look like Thanksgiving!



Rather than fussing with a gluten-free piecrust, I opted for a crustless pumpkin pie.  This is such an easy and delicious dessert.... dress it up with real whipping cream or vanilla yogurt if you like.  It is great and you will make it again and again.



I served an very cold Pino Grigio with dinner and we also like to have a glass of ice-water to sip on, too.

There you have it.. a wonderful gluten-free traditional roasted turkey Thanksgiving Dinner! I hope this will inspire you to think about your own.  Eating gluten-free doesn't have to be an isolating or expensive undertaking. 

 




Stove-Top Quinoa Dressing
Makes 16 servings, approximately 1/2 cup each
  • 2 cups quinoa
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 3 stalks of celery, diced
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbs fresh sage, chopped
  • 1 Tbs fresh or dried rosemary
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  1. Heat oil in large saucepan on MEDIUM, and then saute the celery, and onion till they are translucent, about 10 minutes.
  2. Add the quinoa, chicken broth, sage, rosemary, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil.
  3. Cover the pan and reduce heat. 
  4. Simmer for 15 minutes until the quinoa has absorbed the chicken stock.
  5. Remove from heat and fluff the qunioa with a fork. 
  6. Replace the lid and keep covered till ready to serve.

Per serving.
Weight Watchers P+ = 2.
Calories 98;  Protein 3g; Carbohydrate 16g; Fat 2g; Fibre 2g.

12 comments:

  1. It all looks delicious, Elle! I just got hungry for our Thanksgiving meal next month... :)

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  2. oh my that sounds delicious!

    I think I am going to need to remember this one and skip the dressing this year! Just need to figure out how to convince dear hubby to NOT stuff the turkey.....

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  3. Happy Thanksgiving!
    this is awesome. I wish my thanksgiving this year would look like this but being surrounded by people that don't eat healthy... doesn't work out haha.

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  4. Wow...even though I just had a similar Turkey dinner a few days ago...these pics make me want more!

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  5. That crustless pumpkin pie looks amazing!

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  6. I made the crustless pie once. I thought it was fine, but my kids hated it. Ah, well. And I have many happy memories of turkey & gravy from when I was a kid. Haven't eaten meat since 1998, but I still enjoy the family get-togethers and cooking the turkey!

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  7. Happy Thanksgiving! All of the Canadian Thanksgiving posts are getting me very excited for celebrating myself next month.

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  8. That quinoa stuffing sounds right up my alley. I think I may try a vegan version for Christmas this year!

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  9. You have a healthy and great line up! :) Yummy!

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  10. This will be my first gluten free Thanksgiving! I can't wait to make my Perfect Pumpkin Pie :)

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  11. That moment when you accidentally close the browser before the comment goes through, d'oh!

    The quinoa stuffing sounds really yummy! I'll have to make that for myself - hubby wouldn't eat it. And I always make a crustless pumpkin pie, mostly because I suck at making crusts LOL.

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  12. Wow quinoa stuffing - that sounds amazing!! I should try making that this year - I'm really trying to cut out processed food because it makes weight management so much easier. Cheers!

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