The next Rachel Ray????

Happy Thanksgiving! This was my first Thanksgiving after being diagnosed with food allergies. So I was worried how I would adapt my recipes for holiday cooking. I knew I couldn't use any foods with gluten, soy or cow's milk. So there went the traditional pumpkin pie, stuffing and mashed potatoes recipes.

I asked around and was given a recipe for a pumpkin type pudding with granola topping. The recipe contained some of the things I couldn't eat. But after looking at it I decided I could substitute. I went to a market that sells lots of gluten free foods. To replace the granola I decided to buy cashews, sunflower seeds, and pecans. It called for flour or soy flour, both of which I couldn't use. So the same person who gave me the recipe suggested chick pea flour as a substitute.

As for the stuffing I realized I could make cornbread stuffing if the corn bread contained no wheat/gluten products. So while I was at the market I looked for cornbread stuffing. However there was no already prepared cornbread stuffing without wheat. I knew that they had gluten free cornbread that is totally delicious so I figured I would buy it and crumble it up to make stuffing.

Instead of turkey I bought two Cornish game hens. Risley, was coming for Thanksgiving dinner. So I was a bit worried how she would feel about all this gluten free food. I didn't even know if my substitutions would work or how the dinner would taste. When I talked to her I could hear the doubt in her voice. LOL.

Here is the menu:

Pumpkin pudding (in place of pumpkin pie)

Cornish game hens (in place of turkey)

Cornbread stuffing (in place of bread stuffing)

yam (from scratch) with marshmallows (marshmallows made with fish gelatin not pork gelatin)

corn (canned)

mashed potatoes (from scratch)

gravy (from scratch) (the gravy was a last minute addition when Risley said she wanted gravy)

I am the kind of cook that cooks without measuring. I also had most of the ideas in my head for how I would substitute things. Hoping that it would all turn out okay.

For the pumpkin pudding I substituted goats milk for the cows milk. The rest was pretty much a pumpkin pie recipe without the crust of course. I baked it then prepared my substitute topping. I crushed up the cashews and pecans then added the sunflower seeds. It called for flour so I substituted the chick pea flour. It called for margarine and I substituted goat butter. Then I added the honey. When the pumpkin was almost done cooking I sprinkled on the crumbled mixture.

While that was cooking I started the yams and prepared the Cornish game hens for cooking. When the pumpkin pudding came out of the oven I put in the Cornish game hens.

I saved the Cornish game hen necks and threw them into a pot with water to boil while I started the stuffing, I crumbled the gluten free cornbread into a bowl. I diced up the onion, garlic, carrots and threw them in a pan with some goats butter and sauteed them. I then cut up mushrooms and threw them in the last few minutes. I took that mixture and tossed it into the bowl with the cornbread. I added an egg and some spices. Then took the broth of the Cornish game hens necks and added it to the mix. (sans necks!)

After that I put it in an oven proof bowl placed on the lid and put it aside to put in the oven with the Cornish game hens after the hens had cooked for about 30 minutes. I then got the yams off the stove, and made the marshmallow yams. 30 minutes into the hens cooking I put both the pot with the cornbread stuffing and the yams into the oven next to the hen pan.

I threw on the potatoes to boil while the rest cooked. (When I made the mashed potatoes I used goat milk and the goat butter. )

Meanwhile Risley wandered into the kitchen and asked about gravy. Umm I had honestly not thought about gravy. So I said, "Well I don't know how it will taste but I will give it a try with the chick pea flour." She shook her head, and I could tell she still had her doubts even though the kitchen was filled with delicious cooking smells.

To make this long story short, I made the gravy using the drippings of the Cornish game hens, corn starch and chick pea flour.

The stuffing and yams finished before the hens. I pulled them out and placed them on the counter. Risley came in attracted by the smells coming out of the kitchen. She grabbed a spoon and decided to taste the stuffing. She was delighted, I hadn't tasted the stuffing yet so she gave me a taste. OMG it was delicious!!! We preceded to test the pumpkin pudding, yum! She tasted the gravy which I had not yet added all the drippings. We both agreed that the drippings would make a difference, which indeed it did turn it into excellent gravy.

It was a really delicious dinner and Risley admitted that she had indeed been thinking that the only thing edible would be the Cornish game hens.

Me, I feel like Rachel Ray.