A microwavable Thanksgiving

November 21, 2013 6:55 PM

My son and I are both gluten-free and incredibly sensitive to cross-contamination. We are going to a big family thanksgiving where the food will not be GF and cross-contamination will ruin the food that normally is. (a serving spoon being shared between dishes or someone dropping bread crumbs on an open dish would leave me very sick). I would like to bring dishes so my son and I can enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal. I don't mind spending this whole weekend cooking and freezing so he has a nice Thanksgiving. The only problem is that everything we bring has to be microwavable... So help me MFites. What are your favorite Thanksgiving recipes that would hold up well to being warmed up from frozen in a microwave. (Don't worry about the recipe being gluten-free -- I'm pretty good at converting recipes).
posted by LittleMy to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Best answer: There's really nothing that can't be reheated in the microwave - thanksgiving food is potluck and leftover food.

I would make:

GF bread/cornbread sage dressing
Roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon and parmesan
Green bean casserole from scratch OR fresh green beans and halved new potatoes to microwave with butter OR fresh green beans in steamer bag AND smaller sweet potatoes
Meat - I find dark turkey or chicken meat microwaves pretty well, but even breast is fine with a little butter on it
GF Gravy
Dessert

The dressing you can make a whole pan of now and it freezes great as long as you wrap it well (I use a FoodSaver vacuum sealer, but wrapped in plastic and then in a gallon zip-top bag works), so you can have more at Christmas. GB Casserole doesn't freeze all that great, unfortunately.

I would be fully happy with a microwaved sweet potato with butter and garlic, but for a potluck today I made roasted butternut squash - half a big squash roasted, one nuked sweet potato for body, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, salt, a little garam masala, butter, whirled to smooth in a food processor. I meant to put some goat cheese over the top and forgot; I'm not sure if it needed it. This better freeze okay, because I still have another half squash to deal with.

You could certainly mash potatoes, and they reheat great with a dash of butter and/or cream (and/or cheese, bacon, etc).

Really, aside from dressing, it's just the thickening and general contamination you're dealing with. All regular t-day food is fair game, whatever you love.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:14 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

Oh, and if you're within range of Trader Joe's, I just bought two boxes of their turkey gravy tonight and while the box doesn't say gluten-free or have the symbol on it, the ingredients only say potato and tapioca starches and the "CONTAINS" line only says MILK.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:21 PM on November 21, 2013

Yeah, I'd do turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry something (there are a million recipes - I like, no, I love, this one, especially over ice cream). All of those would reheat great in the microwave.
posted by dawkins_7 at 8:07 PM on November 21, 2013

This pseudo-stuffing is wonderful and is one of those kind of things that gets better with reheating. It's also hearty enough to be a meal on its own and is well-loved by paleo/GF types and non alike.
posted by pekala at 8:08 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

Please make this for dessert: Pumpkin Mug Pie with Toffee and Caramel

3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
A pinch of ginger
A pinch of cloves
A pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all the ingredients in a large mug. If your mug is too small, try two mugs or a microwavable bowl. Turn the microwave power down to 50% power. Cook for 6-8 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out pretty clean. You could also try doing it at full power for less time. If you do that, I would start with maybe 2 minutes and then try every 30 seconds till it's done. Cool in the refrigerator (or freezer) and top with whipped cream, toffee bits, and caramel.
posted by inevitability at 9:32 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]

My extended family and I often do gf meals and dairy free meals for family members and other guests. We just prep everything ahead and put some to the side before continuing on. So, for example, I put some cooked/mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, yams, mashed carrots/turnips, cranberry sauce and gravy in bowls. Depending on who is there, I may or may not use butter/margarine or milk/cream. I just cover everything with foil and it stays hot enough. If you have trustworthy people doing the meal prep, you could simply coach them through prepping gluten free sides. I never stuff my turkey, due to food safety concerns, so that's gf too. I personally make stuffing for all my guests, using gluten-free bread, but that's a bigger adjustment for most people, so you might prefer to prep just that. I would recommend talking to people and asking if they can make any accommodations. But, of course, you have to have trustworthy people prepping things. We have extreme reactions, so not everyone is trustworthy.

I also have a folding, rolling cooler that I load up with food. I take this to most events and microwave like crazy, which means we can go to potlucks and meals where people aren't really likely to follow food allergy protocol. It also gives me a cool place to store anything we do set aside from the main table and a place to keep things safe from cross contamination. It just occurred to me that perhaps some of those thermal bags that keep things cool might also keep them hot. You might be able to try something like that.

So I'd see what you can get people to prep for you and then just fill in. I buy a pie.

You can always cook a turkey breast too.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 10:10 PM on November 21, 2013

This fruit and nut relish is really good cold.

12-oz fresh cranberries
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 Granny Smith or other apple peeled, cored, and chopped
1 orange, zest grated and juiced
1 lemon, zest grated and juiced
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Cook cranberries, sugar, and 1 cup of water over low heat until skins pop.
Add the apple, zests, and juices, and cook for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and add raisins and nuts.
Let cool, and serve chilled.
posted by obol at 11:39 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: So... stuffing, cranberry sauce, turkey in a little broth, sweet potato casserole, and pecan pie all did beautifully. Pumpkin pie got a little weepy.

My son and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving -- thank y'all!
posted by LittleMy at 7:40 AM on December 5, 2013