No Nuts / With Nuts
The last few years, I’ve spent Thanksgiving with my first cousin Gregg and his family. Gregg’s wife Lynn coordinates the meal, providing the main dishes and then we all supplement with sides.
She does serve nuts but that’s okay with me; as long as I know where they are, I can avoid them. There’s no fish during our Thanksgiving and wheat is easily avoided as most everything is made from scratch and Lynn can tell me the ingredients.
*If you feel uncomfortable with your allergens even in the room, talk with a food allergy coach about your anxiety and a board certified allergist about the real risks to you.*
Before the day, Lynn and I go over the menu and my food allergy/intolerance needs. I also offer to bring a dish or two. This year Lynn read about the bacon fudge I made over the summer and requested some for dessert. Of course! This time I used some Guittard chocolate samples (Guittard is made in a gluten-free, peanut-free facility. Here’s their allergen statement ) and Applegate organic GF/DF bacon. It was a huge hit. Fudge - so easy to make and so beloved. Who knew.
When I arrived on site, Lynn walked me we go through the dishes that had nuts that I should steer clear of. Usually, there’s one pie with nuts on the dessert table (I don’t eat desserts anyway) and someone brings a sweet potato dish that has nuts. I asked my mom if she would make a safe sweet potato dish for me this year. She did and there were two sweet potato with marshmallow dishes, clearly marked.
With Nuts:
No Nuts:
Everything had its own serving utensil. And I'm the designated first on the buffet line. It was all that simple. And delish.
How was your Thanksgiving? Did it go well? Did you institute any new strategies? Or were there things you’d do differently next year?
She does serve nuts but that’s okay with me; as long as I know where they are, I can avoid them. There’s no fish during our Thanksgiving and wheat is easily avoided as most everything is made from scratch and Lynn can tell me the ingredients.
*If you feel uncomfortable with your allergens even in the room, talk with a food allergy coach about your anxiety and a board certified allergist about the real risks to you.*
Before the day, Lynn and I go over the menu and my food allergy/intolerance needs. I also offer to bring a dish or two. This year Lynn read about the bacon fudge I made over the summer and requested some for dessert. Of course! This time I used some Guittard chocolate samples (Guittard is made in a gluten-free, peanut-free facility. Here’s their allergen statement ) and Applegate organic GF/DF bacon. It was a huge hit. Fudge - so easy to make and so beloved. Who knew.
When I arrived on site, Lynn walked me we go through the dishes that had nuts that I should steer clear of. Usually, there’s one pie with nuts on the dessert table (I don’t eat desserts anyway) and someone brings a sweet potato dish that has nuts. I asked my mom if she would make a safe sweet potato dish for me this year. She did and there were two sweet potato with marshmallow dishes, clearly marked.
With Nuts:
No Nuts:
Everything had its own serving utensil. And I'm the designated first on the buffet line. It was all that simple. And delish.
How was your Thanksgiving? Did it go well? Did you institute any new strategies? Or were there things you’d do differently next year?
Comments
I made a milk-, egg-, and soy- free pumpkin pie. We discovered that he must have developed a pumpkin allergy this year (so that's why carving jack-o-lanterns made him itchy!!!). Oh, well. Next year we'll stick to his favorite, blueberry pie!
We're traveling to my parents' next month. They are so accommodating and have done great with his egg and milk allergies. The soy is relatively new, but my Mom came and took over my kitchen when our son was born this summer. She followed my recipes and got used to the alternate products and methods I use (like parchment paper instead of cooking spray). She and I are already working out a meal plan for our stay and deciding what specialty items she can find locally and what I'll have to bring with us.