Three elements are involved in every successful Thanksgiving feast. Our family will need these things:

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STRATEGIES. Our family celebration will include one celiac (me), one child with a potentially lethal allergy to peanuts, two family members who are lactose intolerant, a diabetic who survived a heart attack in March, and 4 or 5 more-or-less normal people. We’ll need to plan ahead, of course. Here is an excellent guide that provides detailed hour-by-hour instructions for preparing a holiday meal. Here is another plan that might be particularly useful since it targets novice cooks.

Specific plans and strategies are needed to strategies needed to enable a person who lives gluten free to enjoy a meal in the company of wheat eaters. I’ll have not problems since the principle cooks will be my wife and my daughter-in-law. They were witness to the “collapse” that led to my celiac diagnosis. They are both great cooks who have the desire and the ability to keep me out of trouble.

Many celiacs are not so fortunate, so I recommend these articles, which are intended for non-celiacs who will be hosting people who live gluten free: “Showing Hospitality to a Gluten Free Guest”, and “Keeping Celiac Guests Safe“. They might also like to read “Surviving The Holidays Gluten Free” to give some insight into what your gluten free guest is think about during the holidays. Everyone involved should review chapter 7 of “The Gluten Free Bible”, especially the section called “8 Rules to Ensure You and Your Host Never Feel Ill at Ease”.
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RECIPES. Each of the articles mentioned in the first paragraph contain one or more appropriate recipes. The website All Recipes.com provides 1900 recipes if you use the search term “Thanksgiving” If you type in type in the phrase “Thanksgiving Gluten Free”, you will still find 37 recipes.

Here are  links to two collections of gluten free recipes. Since their titles are almost identical, I’ll simply suggest that you click here or here.

One of the pleasures of the Thanksgiving holiday is enjoying the leftover. Click here for some recipe suggestions.

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COOKING TECHNIQUES. This year I am using a series of five videos demonstrate all the cooking process for roasting and carving the turkey, preparing the gravy, making the dressing or stuffing,
side dishes featuring pecans, and holiday pies. You can watch those videos by using the links or by starting with cooking the turkey and then move to the next video by using the link at the bottom of each page.

A gluten free tip: do not cook the stuffing or dressing inside the turkey. That way, you can offer your guests the choice of a gluten free or wheat-based dressing.

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REASONS. If we have nothing to be thankful for, what is the purpose of all of this? We can enjoy a great meal almost any time of the year.

→ I’m having a problem with the term “celiac disease”. The first word is OK, of course,  but I don’t think of myself  as “diseased”. I’m simply a guy who has to adhere to a strict diet, makes money and thoroughly enjoys himself writing about that diet, pays no medical bills related to his so-called disease, and considers it little more than an inconvenience.

→ My wife is recovering beautifully after having a heart attack on March 29 and experiencing double by-pass surgery.

→ My son lost his wife to cancer three ago but this year remarried . Our family is now intact and thriving.

I’ve got a lot to be thankful for!

I have linked this page to our “Gluten Free Diet” power page. Like all celebrations, Thanksgiving is a challenge to our gluten free diet and lifestyle. I hope this article supports you in your quest for a happy and ‘safe’ holiday.