Help me! I've been glutened and can't get up!

"I've been glutened"

For anyone living with celiac, gluten sensitivities or allergies i am pretty sure you are about to sit back and agree with everything i am about to say...

I have always had a love/hate relationship with any season that involves large family gatherings and parties because of my mucho complicated and ongoing issues with food. So naturally as we approach the end of spring and the beginning of summer it seems that my calendar is booked with graduation parties, weddings and baby showers every weekend.

So since this is the first year that i actually have a clue of what to avoid i feel a bit more prepared. As always friendly reminder ringing in the back of my head is constantly doing its job of showing me what horrors would happen if i eat any of my no-no foods.

Here's the usual set up: 

usually is a mis-mash of delicious looking and smelling "who-who-know-whats"in large pans with mystery sauces. And my even more favorite part of this whole event is the completely ignorant event staff or that uncle who has been grazing the table for the past hour and is telling you what everything is. Because we all know both are DEFINITELY reliable sources of information for those of us with allergies... NOT.

So i personally am yet to master the beast i call my hungry stomach and stick to what i know are more times than not safe foods.

Safe foods:

-Salad (usually dry with dressings on side)* Jackpot if the bottles are there to read!*

- I am still yet to find another solid option to put here... sometimes if you are lucky they will have burgers and other meats for the grill made to order. But for all my GFFs* you're out of luck :(

(GFF=gluten free fiends)

Iffy Foods:

-Potatoes. 

          I find that these are usually cooked in either butter or some sort of oil (vegetable/olive) with seasoning.            usually no obvious signs of wheat or gluten. I say this is IFFY because we all know gluten likes to surprise us sometimes..

DO NOT EAT:

-Chicken ... anything. Hidden in that sauce is only lord knows what.

- Any food with any sort of sauce.. 

So basically my best advice is to try to load up on goodies before you go somewhere with uncertain food choices. 

King Arthur GF cookie mix with Enjoy life non-dairy choco chips! Made by yours truly.

OR if possible bring a dish to share that is friendly to your dietary restrictions. I tend to always bring GF "chocolate chip" cookies because i LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate. 

And then this brings me to my recent experience with these parties...

The past two graduation parties i got a little cocky and thought that since i asked what was in my mystery chicken dishes that that means that it was gospel knowledge at that point... Which as we have all learned the hard way is not true.

So i had to leave early those two times. Once because of some BBQ chicken deal (which in their defense was quite tasty until it settled) and some chicken in red sauce. 

And in case anyone wanted to know how i spent the rest of my afternoon...well i think you can get what happened there...

So lessons learned.

Don't get cocky

Stick to your safe foods (we all remember what happens if you don't..)

Bring appropriate back up food/snacks

Lastly in case you haven't seen this site yet: When i went gluten free Gifs

And yes we are all making those same faces as you are right now.

:)