{"id":3999,"date":"2011-11-12T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-12T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=3999"},"modified":"2011-11-10T16:40:30","modified_gmt":"2011-11-10T21:40:30","slug":"holidays-how-to-survive-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=3999","title":{"rendered":"Holidays &amp; How to Survive Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wlWriterHeaderFooter\" style=\"float:none; margin:0px; padding:4px 0px 4px 0px;\"><iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/widgets\/like.php?href=http:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=3999\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none; width:450px; height:80px\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Now that we have discussed the social side of the holidays, it is time to discuss the behind-the-scenes part \u2013 food.&#160; If you are visiting family or friends for the holidays, planning meals can be a little harder than if you were hosting the meal yourself.&#160; <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/048_thumb.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>First order of business is to find out what the host is planning to serve.&#160; Ask what you can contribute to the meal.&#160; If there won\u2019t be many gluten-free options, make sure to bring something to share that you can eat, even better if it is a casserole or something substantial that will fill you up.&#160; If it seems that the meal will be a cross contamination nightmare, consider bringing a meal you prepared at home to warm up at your destination.&#160; Make your own version of your holiday meal at home and assemble your plate before you leave.&#160; This option may not be possible if you are traveling a long distance or staying in a hotel.&#160; If it seems that I won\u2019t be able to eat most of the food being served and logistics prevent me from bringing my own meal, I will either eat before I go and enjoy a cocktail or coffee or I will eat a protein bar and then nibble on veggies or salad.&#160; I always have bars, almonds or dried fruit stashed in my purse for emergencies.<\/p>\n<p>If you are hosting, you have a lot more control.&#160; If you can, make the entire meal gluten-free and your problems are solved.&#160; It really doesn\u2019t cost that much more to do it this way.&#160; Cranberry sauce is cheap or easy to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/gluten-free-food-in-columbus\/pom-wonderful-cranberry-sauce-gluten-free\" target=\"_blank\">make from scratch<\/a>.&#160; Stuffing can be made out of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=2006\" target=\"_blank\">cornbread<\/a> or rice, which are both less expensive than using gluten-free bread.&#160; Pies can be made crustless (check out Shirley\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/glutenfreeeasily.com\/best-pumpkin-pie-ever-and-its-crustless-gluten-free-and-dairy-free\/\" target=\"_blank\">crustless pumpkin pie<\/a>) \u2013 not only are they gluten-free, but healthier &amp; lower in calories!&#160; Gravy can be thickened with cornstarch instead of flour, which is the way my grandmother always did it!&#160; Skip the bread at the meal \u2013 it only fills you up and takes up space that can be filled with pie!&#160; <\/p>\n<p>Focus on friends and family and not so much on food.&#160; Play board games or put some jigsaw puzzles together.&#160; Consider making a list of questions in your head to ask your friends and family so that you learn one new thing about each person that you didn\u2019t know before.&#160; Breathe.&#160; Remember to be thankful for all that you have.&#160;&#160;&#160; <\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to head over to enter my<\/p>\n<p><strong><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=3991\">Riceworks giveaway<\/a><strong>.&#160; The giveaway runs until Monday, November 14, 2011 at midnight.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=3999\"><\/div>\n<script><!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_div_class=\"linkwithin_hook\";\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 135270;\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts with Thumbnails\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now that we have discussed the social side of the holidays, it is time to discuss the behind-the-scenes part \u2013 food.&#160; If you are visiting family or friends for the holidays, planning meals can be a little harder than if &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=3999\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n<script><!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_div_class=\"linkwithin_hook\";\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 135270;\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts with Thumbnails\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1R9ov-12v","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4000,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3999\/revisions\/4000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}