Gluten Free Vegan Living

Thanksgiving can be a real challenge for Gluten Free Vegans — especially if you are looking for a ‘traditional’ Thanksgiving style meal.  But after scouring the internet I have found a few good options for you.

About.com Celiac & Gluten Free expert, Jane Anderson, suggests some of the following tips for a Gluten Free Thanksgiving.

Traditional Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Menu

• Stuffing. You don’t need to mourn your favorite stuffing — it’s actually pretty easy to make gluten-free stuffing, and once you add spices and other ingredients, it’s likely to taste almost exactly the way you remember it. You can use a mix or simply use gluten-free bread crumbs (either packaged or from your own stale bread) in your own traditional recipe — you shouldn’t even need to alter the recipe … Gluten-Free Stuffing for Thanksgiving.

• Cranberry sauce. There’s no reason for cranberry sauce to contain gluten, so this should be an easy item to check off your list — there are multiple options available.

• Mashed potatoes. Like cranberry sauce, there’s no reason for mashed potatoes to contain gluten. (NOTE:  We mix our mash potatoes with Earth Balance and thin with our favorite milk alternative.

• Sweet potatoes. You might find a recipe for candied sweet potatoes that includes flour as an ingredient, but I think it would be more the exception than the rule — the vast majority I’ve seen are naturally gluten-free. Therefore, you can use your old family recipe, or try something new. This recipe from About.com’s Expert on Southern Cooking should be simple to make and elegant to serve.

• Dinner rolls. If you’re trying to make your gluten-free Thanksgiving meal indistinguishable from a traditional, gluten-filled meal, dinner rolls are the one item that may trip you up. However, gluten-free bread products definitely have gotten much better over the past few years, and now there are dinner rolls your guests might mistake for gluten-filled — my guide to gluten-free dinner rolls explains what’s possible. Also, instead of rolls, you might consider deviating a little from the traditional menu and trying a gluten-free cornbread recipe — I like this recipe for gluten-free skillet cornbread.

In addition to her list above, I would add Cashew Mushroom Gravy — our personal favorite!

For a main dish, you might want to try one of the following (will tastes great with the cashew mushroom gravy listed above!):

• Lentil “Meat” Loaf
• Vegetarian Gluten Free No-Meat Loaf
• Gluten Free Vegan “Meat” Balls

If you are looking for a good recipe for the traditional pumpkin pie minus the gluten and dairy, check out the following links for Pumpkin Pies:

• Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie
• Easy Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

Or, if you have your own filling and just need a Gluten Free crust, you might want to try one of thesePie Crusts:

• Easy Gluten Free Pie Crust (sub the egg with egg replacer)
• Basic Gluten Free Ginger Snap Pie Crust
• Pecan Nut Pie Crust

We also have lots of different Gluten Free Vegan pies recipes on this website that you might want to check out.

Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!!