Thanksgiving?! Stuffing and Desserts, Gluten-Free!

Part One: Stuffing, Gluten-Free

I've been pondering stuffing for awhile now, but since Udi's bread became available here, I figured I'd try that first. It's expensive, but my daughter really likes it. Since I don't indulge in bread anymore, I buy it for her. Thing is, like most teens, she isn't really into the crusts. Darned if I was going to just throw them away though, at that price. I figured I'd do something with them... croutons, tiny pizzas, even just bread crumbs.... something. I decided to try them in the stuffing, so I picked out 5 -6 crusts that were pretty good slices, not just slivers of crust. I cut them up into tiny cubes, but you could stick them into a food processor and pulse it too. But you really don't want the bread to be the focus of the finished g-free stuffing, so here's the rest of the recipe:

(Sure, I wanted to take a picture of the chicken right out of the oven, but I wasn't quick enough. So here's what it looked like, chicken dinner with g-free stuffing, dished up. )

Chop up the following and add to the cubed bread:
1 small onion
1/2 to 1 stalk celery
1 small cooking apple
6 dried apricots
1 small branch fresh Rosemary
(pull the leaves off the branch first)
several leaves of fresh sage

Then add: 1/2 to 3/4 cup Thompson raisins
salt and pepper (to taste)
Mix up thoroughly. Now you need some fat and some broth. For the fat, I drizzled some garlic olive oil in and mixed it up again. You can use whatever oil you prefer or have on hand. For the broth I used my own *chicken broth, about 1/2 cup. (see below) Once moistened, I stuffed half the stuffing into the bird, and placed the remainder in an oven safe dish to cook separately.
(Stuffing in a dish.)

*To make chicken broth, put the leftover chicken carcass into a crock pot (preferably), with onion, garlic and herbs and a bit of salt, and cover with water. Simmer on low for about 8 to 10 hours. Turn off and allow to cool. Strain into large casserole or saucepan, removing skin, bones, etc., and putting any pieces of meat you want back into the broth. Refrigerate, covered. When it's cold, remove the fat that's risen to the top. You now have fat-free broth you can use for a variety of things. To make your own broth cubes, spoon or pour broth into ice cube trays and freeze, then dump cubes into a freezer bag for later use as needed. Leave chicken pieces covered with enough broth to add veges and noodles for soup. Broth can also be frozen in a larger container to make gravy with later. Just add salt, pepper, and g-free thickener such as arrowroot flour or tapioca starch by dissolving same in some of the cold broth and adding to heated broth while stirring.


Part Two: gluten- and dairy-free pumpkin pie!

It's quite possible to buy canned pumpkin without additives these days, but I was cooking pure foods before the food companies started to smarten up, so I still buy pie pumpkins out of habit.



I just cut it up and cube it, cleaning away the peel and the seeds in the process. Then I boil it with a little salt and mash it, much as you would potatoes.

(Wash off the seeds, drain and dry out to keep for planting, or for crafts. You can also bake them coated lightly with oil and sea salt for snack food, but don't do this if you're fussy about your furnishings, because you WILL find slightly greasy seed husks in your couch.)

Once you have thoroughly mashed pumpkin, you can make your g-free pastry, then your pumpkin pie filling. The pastry recipe is in the post below; here's the recipe for the pie filling:

1 cup milk or milk alternative
(You can use whatever alternative you like that you can find in a gluten-free version... soy, rice, hemp or almond milk are all fine.)
1 and 1/4 cup mashed pumpkin
2 eggs
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Now, the method is important... there's a couple of tricks to this that will make your pumpkin pie supreme, so read carefully. Mix the milk alternative and the pumpkin together till well blended. Separate the eggs. Slightly beat the yolks and add to the pumpkin mixture. Set the whites aside in a bowl big enough to take a beater. Measure 1/4 cup white sugar. Add the spices to the sugar. (By adding the spices to the sugar first and mixing well, the spices will better mix with the liquid ingredients.) Mix the sugar/spices into the pumpkin mixture. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks, then fold them into the pumpkin mixture.


Folding...




The pie goin' into a preheated 425 degree oven for 10 mins. Then turn down to 350 degrees for 30-35 mins.




The pie comin' out golden and if you insert a toothpick, it comes out dry.

*Note: this recipe made enough pie filling for one 9-inch and one 5-inch pumpkin pie, but yield depends on the depth and size of your pie plates.

So it's shaping up to be a pretty traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year. The family doesn't really care for turkey, so I'll get a free-range chicken and stuff it with my fruit & herb g-free stuffing. I'll either use my own chicken broth to mash some potatoes, or if I want some too, I'll use Yoso soy gluten- and dairy-free sour cream to mash them nice n' creamy. I'll make gravy using a g-free starch, and of course, some veges... probably peas and corn with this bunch, and a pickle dish with my own dills, B&B pickles, carrot and celery sticks, and maybe some spiced pickled crab apples and pickled pumpkin on there too... just for fun. ;o) Dessert.... yep, pumpkin pie. Except because of the eggs, I can't have any. But it's ok... while they're preoccupied with the pumpkin pies, I'll be digging into a homemade, g-free, apple cinnamon pie. There will be vanilla soy 'ice cream' served with either one. Mmmmm....

Hope you all have a fantastic, healthy, safe Thanksgiving with the people you love, and who love you. :)