Hen23's Journal~Goodbye

[keljonma]

We have fond memories of Old Sturbridge Village (from the early 80s). A really great place.

My dh became 50 last November. I was out of town visiting the kids and grands. He went to lunch with my sisters. He didn't want any big 'do' and hates birthdays. When I got back home, we had a quiet celebration.

 

[Henrietta23]

Best kind really, just a few of our favorite people. Some good food and a little wine which is a splurge here. It just struck me as funny that his actual 50th birthday falls on the day before Ash Wednesday. If he were the type that would have been the perfect excuse to head for New Orleans and Mardi Gras. If I'd thought of it sooner I'd have done a Mardi Gras theme for the party. As it is I'm glad I didn't. Simple fits better right now. He doesn't hate birthdays, he just doesn't like the fuss.
The coop is clean, the house is getting there. I've got one duck egg and hope to have another in the morning to bake something yummy with, like bread. One guest is gluten intolerant so I'm not going to make it a priority.
The menu:
Cheese and crackers
Appetizer (being brought by friends)
Tuscan Beef and Onion Stew
Marinated Green Beans
Potatoes (being brought by a friend)
Salad
Dinner rolls or bread
Roasted Pears in Red Wine sauce
Ice Cream (for the 6 year old)

 

[Farmfresh]

Henrietta

Make a potato dish or a rice dish and use cornstarch instead of flour when you thicken things. Your gluten free friend will bless you for it! In addition to avoiding wheat flour, you should avoid barley, oat and rye as well. The big sneaky no no's are modified food starch, malt, and maltodextrin.

Being gluten free you often feel carbohydrate starved. Basic meat and veggies are fine, but we need a starch with the meal. If you do that the fresh homemade bread for everyone else will not make them feel so bad.

Tell hubby to have a happy birthday!

 

[Farmfresh]

Looking at the menu in a gluten free mind set. Add some tart apple slices (also good with cheese). Check your salad dressings for evil ingredients. I usually buy Ken's Steakhouse Dressings - they are usually safe.
What are you marinating the green beans in? Soy sauce is a no no.

And remember to thicken the stew with cornstarch.

 

[punkin]

Your menu sounds wonderful. I agree with FF: tart apples and cheese are great together.

I hope your DH has a great birthday.

Oh, and if you find yourself with some extra time . . . my kitchen could use a good sparkling.

 

[Henrietta23]

I always have apples and cheese around so no problem there. No thickening agent in the stew recipe. The beans marinate in Annie's Naturals Tuscan Italian salad dressing. Just double checked the label-gluten free! Phew!! I'm not making the potato dish but the friend who is knows our other friend can't eat anything with gluten so I know she'll avoid it. I think except for the dinner rolls she'll be able to eat everything and I do have a loaf of gluten free bread so she can have some of that if she likes. She's bringing gluten free beer! I think I've been careful. Thanks for the pointers.
I won't be using soy sauce for this meal but I do buy the gluten free kind anyway these days.
Hubby says thanks!

 

[Farmfresh]

Good girl Hen!

One time hubby and I decided to try a new restaurant with memorable results. We were on vacation at the Lake and it had been a long day, it was late and... I was starving! The new place featured "home-style cooking", which sounded awfully good. Even gluten free I can usually eat a bun-less burger or a steak and baked potato no matter where we eat... but not this place. They had a dinner buffet. Country fried steak, fried chicken, BBQ beef, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes with cream gravy, fried okra and mushrooms, green been casserole, potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans and green salad with several choices of dressing. For dessert was baked apple cobbler, chocolate cake or cinnamon rolls.

Sounds great? Well the only thing that I could safely eat was the green salad with NO dressing. Everything else was either breaded, floured, creamed, or contained mayonnaise or sauce full of evil modified food starches. When you have to be gluten free you can starve in full sight of plenty. There was no other place open, since we were eating so late, so I got a salad.

I actually cried. Then that made hubby feel horrible as well but there was just nothing else to do. We did have a nice omelet the next morning EARLY and I am quite sure that I could very easily miss many meals safely considering the size of my backside, but the disappointment was still hard to bear.

I am glad that you are trying to make this little supper easier for your guest.

 

[Henrietta23]

Aw, thanks FF! I've been talking to her a lot about it lately. The more I read about gluten free the more I think I have issues with it. Not like celiac disease, but that it may cause some of my health issues. I think this summer, when I don't have work to contend with, I may look into it more. It's startling how much of our food contains ingredients we aren't aware of! I've been moving away from prepackaged foods for a while now. I never buy anything without reading a label. I started doing it to save money, but now I can see there are many other benefits as well!
I forgot to add that I do have rice crackers as well as conventional crackers for the cheese, cracker and fruit platter.

 

[keljonma]

Sounds like a great meal, H23! Have fun!

FF, my sister in law carries salad dressing in the trunk of her car, so that when she and my bil go out to eat, if nothing else, she can have a tossed salad with her own dressing!

 

[Farmfresh]

Yeah, before they found out about the gluten problems I had horrible acid reflux. I took medication daily, no colas, no spicy food etc.. and still had problems with it. One week after quitting the wheat and gluten - no more reflux! I can even eat hot sauce once more!

Other ways that if affected me: I was always out of whack in the mineral department. Iron poor blood, leg cramps from potassium problems and even migraines that were finally solved by increasing my sodium intake. Evidently I just did not retain any of the minerals that I consumed. This is also part of the disorder.

Looking back my mom died from esophageal cancer, which can be brought on by chronic reflux. My grandmother had bleeding ulcers most of her adult life. I believe both of them were probably gluten intolerant but did not know it. Other people are either chronic diarrhea or constipated all the time.

The cool thing is all it takes is a blood test to find out if you are or not. Easy as pie and could save you from some pretty sever problems down the line.