My GFCF adventure : Thanksgiving Feast for One

A memo came home from school that the kids were going to enjoy a Thanksgiving Feast. Since I knew that the foods that they would be eating would be loaded with gluten and dairy, I asked my son's teacher for a menu and stated I would be sending my son in with his own food. By some miracle, she gave me a list of the foods that they'd be eating and not surprising it was the usual thanksgiving fare of Turkey, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, etc. The festivities were slated for next week. I had begun to research and ask my gluten free peeps on twitter for help with recipes and ideas. It is tough because I want to make him food that is comparable to what the rest of the kids are eating but I also don't want to make things that will definitely go to waste as they are not in his repertoire or even close to it. I figured that I had the weekend to get it all put together and maybe even trial a dish or two.

Well, the kids took a shopping field trip today to Costco to pick up supplies for the meal. Surprise Surprise, a memo came home today and stated that the feast was moved up to tomorrow. This came home in my son's backpack and he gets off the bus at 4pm! The health food store closes at 7pm unless I want to trek up to Whole Foods which is 40 or so minutes away.
Lucky me, I got to load both kids into my mom van and head to Brick Health Foods in order to get everything that I needed and couldn't pick up at Stop n Shop - we went there too.

I have to presume that everything the class is eating is off limits not knowing how or who prepared it. They are having Chicken (instead of turkey), Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Dinner Rolls, Pumpkin Pie.

Under very last minute circumstances, I put together the following for Alex:

-Cornish Hen (1 pound size) with an orange glaze. I guess it looks kind of like a tiny turkey, right?

-Green Bean casserole with Road's End Organics Gluten Free Shiitake Mushroom Gravy Mix. I couldn't think of anything comparable to the crunchy onion rings or chow-mein noodles that they put on top of this casserole so I'm skipping it. I don't think he'd eat eat that anyways. The green beans that I used were from the organic vegetable co-op that I belong to.

-Mashed Potatoes - I had a bag of potatoes already and I used the trusty stick blender and some vegan spread, rice milk, salt and pepper. They taste pretty good. In a pinch, try the Edward & Sons Home Style Mashed Potato Mix which is organic, gluten free and you make it with your own dairy subs.

-Rolls with butter - I let Alex pick at the store and he chose Gillian's Foods Gluten-Free Plain French Rolls (frozen) over the Ener-G Foods Tapioca Dinner Rolls. I am packing a small container with some dairy free "butter" in it.

-In lieu of cranberry sauce - I'm sending in some pink applesauce. This is applesauce that I made for the kids with apples, pears and plums cooked down on the stovetop. I'd already had this done and made from a couple of days ago so this was quick and easy.

- I decided to skip making stuffing since I just can't see my son eating it and it would be an awful lot of preparation and wasting expensive gluten free bread. I decided to send in an old standby which is gluten free Penne with Chreese sauce on it. Alex loves his GFCF Mac & Cheese! I made up a batch, served him some for dinner tonight and the rest I packaged for his "feast". I figure that if he doesn't eat anything else - he will eat this mac & cheese.

- Last but not least, the Gluten Free and Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie. Did you know that Libby's Pumpkin Pie Filling is gluten free? You can also get whole pumpkin pies that are gluten and dairy free from Natural Feast. Alex won't eat pumpkin pie, but my husband should be happy.

Ok. So - no joke, my son has 8 different plastic containers to bring in - not including a couple of zip locs and a drink (no mention of what drink she has and its probably something toxic). Looks like I'll be driving this in to school tomorrow.

And, after all that... Will he eat it?