Gluten Free During the Holidays

Before Dr. McDreamy (he is that good looking) uttered those three life changing words "You have Celiac's." I always thought people who didn't eat gluten were just super weird, super picky eaters. 

I was wrong. Way wrong. 

Cutting gluten out of my diet has been amazing. I don't know how I went that long without realizing there was something wrong.  I'm losing weight, I'm happier and I just have soooo much energy now. I tell Husby frequently that I feel like I can take on the world now. And no longer after a brief 5 hour nap! 

I thought it would be hard giving up so many of my favorite foods at first but, a quick trip Sprouts changed all of that for me. I can easily find lots of gluten free versions of my favorite items.  Life goes on!

And then the holidays rolled around and it occurred to me that gluten is in sooo many of my favorite holiday foods. Thanksgiving was miserable, I couldn't eat any stuffing and the GF stuffing I found this year was uh, interesting to say the least. I will have to continue my search for an edible GF stuffing next  year.  Gravy was interesting, it looked like congealed something. I ended up dumping it on my stuffing to make it somewhat edible. It helped a little. 

While at my MIL's house this week I cried again realizing now many of her yummy holiday treats I'm going to miss out. 

No pies, no cookies, no crackers for cheese ball, no pumpkin bread! 

But then she shared her recipe for spiced pecans and oh my I was in heaven. I could eat the pan myself. 

You need 3.5-4 cups of pecans, a stick of butter, two egg whites, 1 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon.

Brown the pecans in a 9x13 in pan at 350* for about 10 minutes. 

Melt the stick of butter in a small bowl. In another bowl beat the egg whites until they are frothy, add the sugar and cinnamon to the egg whites, mixing them tiger her gently. Pour the butter and sugar mixture over the pecans and toss to gently coat the pecans.

Bake at 350* for about an hour. Stir about every 10 minutes until all the liquid has been asorbed. 

She suggested using pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon but I'm not a big pumpkin pie fan. It makes a rather large ziplock bag full. I would show pictures but I ate them all already...

C'est la vie.