040: Holiday Dining Safely, Festive Pecan Tart, Good Riddance to 2024

December 2024

Dec 18, 2024

About Naturally Gluten-Free Digest

Naturally Gluten Free Digest is a regular publication that gives you free exclusive content that’s not available anywhere else, as well as a featured article and recipes from NaturallyGluten-Free.com.

Feel free to pass this along if you know anyone who would benefit. Just click the share button.

If you’ve received this from a friend and would like to subscribe, you can do that here.

Ten Tips for Staying Safely Gluten Free Over the Holidays

When it comes to living with celiac disease, we need more than just recipes, we need strategies.

So let’s talk about some of the dangers and stressors we face and then how to have a safe, delicious, fun filled gluten free holiday.

The Stress of the Holidays When You’re Gluten Free

Family meals and dinner parties are right up there with restaurant meals as the greatest stressors for people with celiac. All kinds of questions and insecurities spin through our minds:

What do I do if my family isn't supportive?
I don't like to put people out.
Is it rude if I bring my own food?
I don't like to be the center of attention.
I don't want to feel left out.

That last one is the biggie. Food is about so much more than just filling our bellies. Food is at the center of nearly every human gathering and celebration. To “break bread” together is to form a special bond. For a person with celiac, we find out quickly how you can feel alone in a crowd, especially if you’re not eating the same meal as everyone else. Sitting at a table with everyone chatting and commenting about the food, passing dishes around, asking for the rolls or the gravy, can seem like a pretty lonely place if you’re not a part of it.

But the danger is real. If you don’t know each recipe, how it was cooked and what was done to prevent cross contamination, then the meal may be unsafe for you.

In my Ten Tips for Staying Safely Gluten Free Over the Holidays I cover all of these stressors and give you practical tips to get you through the meal so you can focus on what really matters - your loved ones and the reason for the season, whatever that is for you.

Featured Recipe

Gluten Free Canadian Butter Tart: An Elegant Twist on Sweet Tradition

I’ve been feeling like I’ve neglected my duty as a Canadian gluten free food blogger by not giving you a gluten free butter tart recipe. Of course, there are lots of them out there so I created this gluten free Canadian butter tart so you could have something a little bit special and a little bit fancy for a holiday meal or special occasion.

It has all the sweet buttery goodness of the traditional Canadian butter tart, with a soft flaky almond crust and crunchy pecans. It’s kind of like a butter tart and a pecan pie got married and this is their beautiful child.

Try out my Gluten Free Canadian Butter Tart and serve it to your holiday guests. They won’t know or care that it’s gluten free. Got a holiday potluck coming up? This is perfect and looks impressive too!

Let me know how you like it in the FB Group.

What I’m Reading

Breath - The New Science of a Lost Art

James Nestor

We tend to think our digestion and gut health is all about what we eat. But what about how we breathe? In this book James Nestor explores how humans breathe and the impact it has on all aspects of health from blood pressure to athletic performance to, you guessed it, digestion. Spoiler alert - you’re doing it wrong.

I’m about half way through this one and it is Christmas time, so look for the review in January or February.

A Personal Update and Note for the Holiday Season

Good Riddance to a Tumultuous 2024

The year started out all hope and potential like most years do. This one came with a particular light that sustained us through the year and will, God willing, continue to brighten our lives and hearts for years to come. The chatter around the 2023 Christmas table turned to how this would be the start of a new era with a new generation of children to bring back the magic to the holidays like only little ones can do. My daughter and her husband were expecting their first child - and my first grandchild!

Little Henry did not disappoint though he took us by surprise making his debut in mid January, 5 weeks earlier than expected.

They’re far away but through visits, Facetime and the wonder of my Wi-Fi photo frame I’ve had the joy of watching my beautiful grandbaby progress through his first year of life.

Thank frickkin’ god because the rest of the year sucked!

If you own a dehumidifier, get rid it! “Or at least unplug it when you leave the house.” That’s what the fireman told me as he dropped the stinky, steaming pile of plastic goo into the snow at my feet. That pile of goo was the dehumidifier that mysteriously ignited while my husband went to pick me up at the train station. I returned from the high of my grandson’s first week to the smoking disaster that would consume most of the rest of the year.

Stepping Back and Catching My Breath

You may have noticed that I’ve been MIA for a few months.

After the fire and a week at a hotel we moved to an Airbnb for what we were told would be two or three months of a basement reno that would restore our humble home to it’s former glory. Long story (involving tear inducing toxic odors and equally lamentful bouts with the insurance company) short, the house had extensive smoke damage resulting in a nearly full, rip it out to the studs, 10 months out of home renovation.

It’s over now. We moved back in at the beginning of November and have spent the last six weeks getting settled: unpacking, hanging blinds, buying beds and building a new pantry.

I thought I was doing well.

I expected move in day to be like a weight lifting from my shoulders, but instead it all came crashing down. Usually stoic, feet on the ground me needed a break. I needed to step back, take a deep breath, cry a little and let my emotions work themselves out.

All this to explain why it’s been three months since my last newsletter and just as long since you’ve seen me on social media.

Opening the Door to the Holiday Spirit

A smile crossed my lips this morning as the sparkling lights from the Christmas tree came into view from the stairway. We’ve come full circle.

In a mere 7 days baby Henry will celebrate his first Christmas under the very tree that keeps me company as I write. Hopes are high and finally the Christmas spirit has entered our peaceful and newly renovated home. It was a reluctant visitor this year. Or maybe it was me that was reluctant to let it in.

My Holiday Wish for You

Whatever 2024 has brought your way, I wish you the very best of the holiday season and the year to come.

Many of you are dealing with a new celiac diagnosis and are struggling to navigate this often confusing gluten free world. I encourage you to take a beat. Inhale. Exhale.

You’ve got this! It’s a journey. One that I’ve been on for nearly thirteen years now and after a brief sabbatical to catch my breath, I’m back with you to hopefully help illuminate the road ahead.

That’s All For This Month

I’d love to hear from you. Let me know what you’d like to see in the newsletter. Just drop me a line from my Contact Page .

Talk to you soon.

Patty

In the meantime, you can follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/naturallyglutenfree/

Or on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.ca/naturallyglutenfree/