Help! What to serve gluten-allergic guest?

[Anonymous]

Husband has invited work collegue and family over this weekend - collegue's wife has wheat gluten allergy. I have no experience or knowledge with this - please help me out with easy brunch/lunch (more lunch, really) ideas of what I can serve that will work for her. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I know all about this - here are a few ideas. Basically, you want to stick to vegetables, dairy, eggs and meats, without suspect sauces.

homemade chili, with sour cream (not lite) and cheese
Eggs, omelets, no-flour/crustless quiche
Baked potatoes
Salad, fruit, nuts, yogurt
Roasted vegetables
Rice
Grilled chicken or steak on salad
Chicken, tuna or egg salads (no bread), mayo and mustard are fine
Pad thai with rice noodles, egg and shrimp - avoid soy sauce

Anything sound good?

[Anonymous]

I am pregnant, 2nd trimester. ALL of it sounds good!

Thanks PP, much appreciated.

[Anonymous]

If she has Celiac, you may want to find out how sensitive she is. I have two friends with it--one can taste a bite of things with gluten in it without any major problems (she'll have a bite of someone else's cake, for example) another can't even use the same toaster as her husband.

[Anonymous]

Also you can cook with quinoa or barley. Youca get pilaf mixes at a place like Trader Joes.

[Anonymous]

15:10 here - I would also be very careful of cross-contamination issues. So clean your cutting boards, knives and pans very very well. Don't have bread crumbs around, don't bake a cake the day before she comes. Use a clean oven sheet with foil cover if you're cooking in the oven. Avoid the toaster oven. Put a plate under food going in the microwave. Buy a fresh jar of any condiments you want to use unless they are the squirt kind. You just want the food to have no traces of wheat, barley or rye. And be sensitive - the typical Celiac is highly anxious when they eat at someone's house.

The thing with Celiac is that there's no "oh, a bite is ok" level. Gluten causes damage to their intestines - period. Now whether the Celiac person notices it, that is another story. But if her blood is tested, the results will show that she had something damaging, whether she runs to the bathroom or not, even after a couple weeks.

The good thing is that its not a life-threatening allergy. Celiac people are just as sensitive as those with nut allergies, but they don't have to be hospitalized if they eat gluten by accident.

[Anonymous]

Whole Foods has a whole section that's gluten free. Perhaps you can check it out and see what you can get. But the 15:10 PP gave some excellent suggestions. I bet you can pick something from those.

[Anonymous]

Please remember chicken broth and soy sauce have gluten. Pacific makes a gluten free broth. Be very carefull and read all labels. My daughter has celiac

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also you can cook with quinoa or barley. Youca get pilaf mixes at a place like Trader Joes.

Oh, I made a mistake -- barley does have gluten. But I believe quinoa does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also you can cook with quinoa or barley. Youca get pilaf mixes at a place like Trader Joes.

Oh, I made a mistake -- barley does have gluten. But I believe quinoa does not.

Quinoa is fine. You only have to avoid wheat, barley and rye.

[Anonymous]

You can do quinoa, rice, potatoes, and corn as starches. My DH's grandmother had Celiac. As others have said, be careful of condiments and prepared foods. I used to make a cake for her that was like a bouche de noel - the cake was a genoise, which had no flour (basically, chocolate, cream, sugar, and maybe egg). The filling was just sweetened whipped cream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also you can cook with quinoa or barley. Youca get pilaf mixes at a place like Trader Joes.

Gluten free here...you cannot serve barley if they are gluten free. You cannot serve wheat, rye or barley. Gluten free is totally different than a wheat allergy.

[Anonymous]

I hear Wegman's has some very good prepared gluten free foods. Also you could make polenta as your starch.

[Anonymous]

Gluten free eater here..

Rice, quinoa, polenta, or gluten free pasta can work as a staple depending on your recipe.

Udi's gluten free bread is amazing, but a bit difficult to find.

I buy Bionature Gluten free pasta - it's so good even my none-GF eating friends and family like it. I find it at Whole Foods and at Giant. I don't salt it like they say to, I just cook it like normal and then rinse it really well.

Some gluten free foods at grocery stores are good. Others are terrible. You also have to watch for condiments and sauces with "hidden gluten" ie: modified food starch, etc. Try doing a little research to get some ideas on what to watch out for.

If you go to Whole Food's website you can do a recipe search for gluten/wheat free dishes.

I'll see if I can dig up some websites and stuff for you.

[Anonymous]

22:20 here... adding:

http://foodallergies.about.com/od/wheatallergies/qt/glutenfreediet.htm

http://www.csaceliacs.org/recipes.php (contains some recipes - I can't give any personal recommendations though).

I have some recipes if you're interested. Chicken parmesan, baked chicken taquitos (which I actually found from Whole Foods recipe site), etc.

Also, if you want dessert ideas Whole Foods sells really good brownie mixes. The brand name is Namaste Foods. They have other things as well which I haven't tried yet.