Sister's sprinkle; day of cooking, and a question for knotties

themuffinman16

I am so exhausted!  I made some food for my sister's baby sprinkle tomorrow. I made blackberry lemon cupcakes and my kicked up potato salad.  I detest mayonnaise, so I like to add spicy mustard to the mayo mixture, and add it sparingly to the potatoes.  My first attempt to make my potato salad and I overcooked the potatoes.... I will have you know that I just started bawling my eyes out over the countertop.  (This intrigued FI immensely... who cries over cooking? Lol).  There is a chance I am hormonal or overtired or both.     The second batch of potatoes were cooked perfectly... crisis averted (you can all breathe again.)  THE CUPCAKES were phenomenal.  After the party I will post a picture and the recipe. This cupcake is in a three-way-tie of best cupcake ever.  My sisters raspberry almond cupcakes were amazing, and, of course, my favorite... Orange chocolate cupcakes.

  My step-mom is helping me co host the shower and she picked up all this gluten free crap.  I wouldn't eat gluten free at gunpoint.  I would have to say, some can stuff can be tasty.  IMO, when you are hosting, if you have unique taste or are on a special diet, you need to have more traditional foods.  It is okay to have some of your foods, but understand that gluten free foods are unusual, and you definitely need a balance of average food to gluten free.  I think it is polite to guests to offer choices.  A lot of the gluten free stuff tastes like cardboard.  Am I being nit-picky, or if you were attending a party and a majority of gluten free foods were offered, would you think that is not against any etiquette guidelines?

JCbride2015

Yummmmm I want ALL the cupcake recipes please!  Sounds delish.

As for your actual question.... what exactly do you mean by gluten-free?  Are these processed, gluten-free versions of "regular" food, or just food that does not have gluten to start with?  For instance: if I went to a party and was served chicken, vegetables, and quinoa I would not bat an eye.  If I was served processed gluten-free cookies, or special gluten-free bread or pasta, I'd think it was weird.  KWIM?  If you want to be gluten-free, that's fine for the guests.  Just serve food that wouldn't have started off with gluten anyway, and have the normal types of options (chicken, fish, and/or steak, veggies, rice/quinoa or some other grain).

AddieCake

I agree with JC.

themuffinman16

I am totally okay with things that naturally don 't contain gluten. My stepmom made a pasta salad that she said she would make, but she used gluten free pasta, instead . All of the chips are gluten free, and she even bought Greek yogurt chip dip... That one made me throw up in my mouth a little. My brother-in-laws' family are lays potato chips, cheese puffs and pop people , they won't touch this food.
My stepmom hung out with some friends, yesterday who have gone gluten free and she decided to try it that day, and replaced all of her groceries for gluten free. She hasn't even tried this stuff, yet. I have had some organic chips, and it is a huge effort in trial and error. Most organic foods are just gross, and gluten free probably has a smaller percentage of decent tasting foods. But, even though i liken some organic chips, i know it is not the normal fare. I think it is crappy to make people at the party her test subjects for some fad diet she won't maintain. Should I bring chips and dip to this party, or would it be a slight to my cohost?

JennyColada

Unrelated: but I cried over breaking the yolk of an over easy egg before.

Sugargirl1019

I LOVE blueberry lemon cake!!!!

If someone hosted a party and offered gluten free cookies or cupcakes, I would hope there was one offering of non gluten free. Also I agree with JCBride.

theartistformerlyknownas

themuffinman16 said:

I am totally okay with things that naturally don 't contain gluten. My stepmom made a pasta salad that she said she would make, but she used gluten free pasta, instead . All of the chips are gluten free, and she even bought Greek yogurt chip dip... That one made me throw up in my mouth a little. My brother-in-laws' family are lays potato chips, cheese puffs and pop people , they won't touch this food. My stepmom hung out with some friends, yesterday who have gone gluten free and she decided to try it that day, and replaced all of her groceries for gluten free. She hasn't even tried this stuff, yet. I have had some organic chips, and it is a huge effort in trial and error. Most organic foods are just gross, and gluten free probably has a smaller percentage of decent tasting foods. But, even though i liken some organic chips, i know it is not the normal fare. I think it is crappy to make people at the party her test subjects for some fad diet she won't maintain. Should I bring chips and dip to this party, or would it be a slight to my cohost?

First bolded. What?! That's a gross over-generalization. Things don't taste worse because they don't contain pesticides! That's crazytalk. The ones that add trying to reduce fat or use weird ingredients or whatever else in addition to being organic, sure. But give organic a chance!

But to the chips and dip... those aren't things that naturally contain gluten, so why is she buying something special? Just tell her you'll handle the chips and dip if what she got offends you, but don't bring secondary chips and dip. If she already bought them... let it go and don't let people see the packaging.

JCbride2015

OK so after reading your post-- I think neither you nor your SM seems to really understand what gluten-free is.  It basically means wheat-free because gluten is a protein naturally found in wheat.  Gluten-free doesn't have to mean healthy.  French fries, potato chips, tortilla chips, tacos, chip dip, bacon, and all other kinds of junk foods are gluten-free.  So the stuff your SM is buying doesn't make sense-- potato chips are gluten free, you don't need to buy some different kind of potato chip.

So go ahead and bring potato chips and dip.  Tell your SM it's gluten free because that's the truth.

But as for the organic food-- what the heck?  Again, I think you're confusing "organic" with "processed diet food."  Low fat crackers are probably processed to hell and not organic.  Organic just applies to produce that was grown without pesticide, or meat that was fed food without pesticides.  It doesn't really taste much different, just tastes like an apple or whatever.

themuffinman16

The chips ( not potato chips) are gluten free the dip is just organic. The gluten free are the crackers, brownies, pasta, She has a mixture if organic foods, but all of the chips and pasta are gluten free. I will eat organic food, but usually any cheese cracker tastes like a pouch of Kraft macaroni. There are some good organic chips, but it is trial and error, because you don't know what you will like, and the food does taste different . I like organic tortilla chips, but I don't like that crap with flax seed

JCbride2015

themuffinman16 said:

The chips are gluten free the dip is just organic. I Will eat organic food, but usually any cheese cracker tastes like a pouch of Kraft macaroni. There are some good organic chips, but it is trial and error, because you don't know what you will like, and the food does taste different

Okay, so you're talking about "organic" crackers and snacky stuff?  I see how that tastes different because it would be lacking all the chemicals/ processed stuff that's normally in the snack.  An organic apple won't taste much different, but once you start taking the artificial ingredients out of snack food, yep it tastes different.

So from your posts, I'm gathering that you and your family mostly just eat "regular" non-organic food.  That's why unprocessed food tastes weird to you.  Which is fine.  Your SM should not be foisting her fad diet (which she obviously doesn't even fully understand) on anybody else, especially if the crowd would not like that type of food.

So just bring some potato chips and some regular dip, and call it a day.  Tell your SM that it's gluten-free (truth).  

themuffinman16

I said chips because they don't look like crackers. i honestly don't know what they are, but it's made with a weird flour. She does not want regular chip dip because it contains MSG and artificial thickeners ( guar gum),. Not all if it is gluten free, a lot of it is. I am just saying, when you are used to eating a certain way , your palate has to adjust to find certain things tasty. I don 't think she should be using a party to convert people. I will pick up some potato chips and dip for everyone else ( I don't know what her problem is with Cape cod potato chips, now... They rock!)

Aray82

I tried some of my sister's gluten-free pasta, crackers, etc. and while they weren't bad they definitely weren't quite the same as things made with wheat and I would prefer to have non-gf options. If I had an allergy I would expect that my guests would want to have foods they were used to.

Also, OP, that potato salad sounds amazing. I detest mayo so much that I shudder when FI takes it out to use and am always looking for alternatives. Someone brought deviled eggs made with avocado instead of mayo to an Easter potluck this year and they were soooo good!

RebeccaB88

OP, I still think you're confusing a bunch of terms and lumping things together that shouldn't necessary be there.  "Organic", "gluten free", and "healthy" are sometimes the same things and sometimes not. You have to read packaging.

OK, so you don't like crackers with flax seeds. That's OK, I can't eat them either. But if you write off anything that is GF or organic as having flax seeds, you're wrong.  I've tasted plenty of GF foods. Some are awesome, some are just ok, and some are awful. They all have different ingredients. Some ingredients are weird, I'll give you that, but it doesn't make them automatically gross or your stepmom weird for liking them. The Tostitos chips from the grocery store and the fancy organic ones from Whole Foods are both still fried tortilla chips, and are both naturally gluten free, just one will have different ingredients than the other. If you're used to tasting chemicals before the food, then you might be able to tell the difference. Personally, I just know 'good' and 'bad', not much else. You've gotta give stuff a chance before you really know.

Not all organic stuff is GF, and vice versa.
Not all organic stuff is healthy, and vice versa.
Not all GF stuff is healthy, and vice versa.
Some things are all 3 of the above, and some things are just one or two of those things.

Greek yogurt is also an awesome substitute for sour cream. It has more protein and calcium too. A lot of people can't tell the difference. Sure, it's fine to get some of the traditional stuff in case people want that. It's good to have choices. But give the greek yogurt dip a try. At worst, you won't like it and don't have to eat any more. But people who do like it aren't weird or obsessive or anything like that. They just like it and like eating that way. Lay off them.

HisGirlFriday13

I am not GF, but there is a brand of pasta noodles that are GF and are ready made with quinoa, brown rice, and corn and they are ZOMG amazing. I use their lasagne noodles for making lasagne. DH noticed the difference and commented on how good the noodles were.

FiancB

GF isn't good when it's something that should be fluffy, like bread. I haven't personally tried it but from what I understand, things that are more dense like waffles are okay, so I would think that brownies would work, while cupcakes not so much. This is just a theory though. Maybe one GF thing would appease stepmom. I agree I definitely wouldn't want to make it all GF. 

I don't get it when people decide to start cutting out things like gluten but still buy ready made processed food that has all kinds of less healthy things, but that's for another thread. 

I totally get the crying when cooking doesn't work out ha. I'm working on my second attempt at bread. Last time the yeast didn't activate and I went ahead and used it anyway and got a nice, whole wheat brick. 

singinchick13

It is always good, as a host, to provide a variety in order to accomodate all guests. If I were hosting and several guests were gluten free, I would probably do 1/3 GF, 1/3 not, and 1/3 items that would never have had gluten in the first place. I would also choose a variety of say, breads and crackers, to cater to those who enjoy whole wheat, gf, or just plain white. I'm one of those who enjoys flaxseed and whole wheat/multigrain bread over wheat based on flavour alone.

freebread03

Lots of confusion here around gluten free, healthy, and organic.  We eat some gluten free, flax+ something else crackers and they are amazing!  And gluten free!  I eat organic veggies all the time-they taste exactly the same as other veggies-I'm really surprised that OP can taste the difference between food produced with pesticides and other additives than food that is grown organically (and likes the pesticide-laced food better!)

I make gluten-free muffins all the time, and they taste great. My non-paleo, non-gluten free fiance eats them like crazy.  French onion dip made with greek yogurt instead of sour cream tastes nearly the same. 

Nothing wrong with not liking gluten free brownies and other food that usually contains gluten but is made without, but I think the OP sounds majorly under-educated about food types and tastes (I will note that I have a gluten free friend who makes amaaaazing gluten free brownies that tastes just as good as normal bakery brownies!)  Getting educated before generalizing is often helpful, or at least I think it is.

arrippa

themuffinman16 said:

I am so exhausted!  I made some food for my sister's baby sprinkle tomorrow. I made blackberry lemon cupcakes and my kicked up potato salad.  I detest mayonnaise, so I like to add spicy mustard to the mayo mixture, and add it sparingly to the potatoes.  My first attempt to make my potato salad and I overcooked the potatoes.... I will have you know that I just started bawling my eyes out over the countertop.  (This intrigued FI immensely... who cries over cooking? Lol).  There is a chance I am hormonal or overtired or both.     The second batch of potatoes were cooked perfectly... crisis averted (you can all breathe again.)  THE CUPCAKES were phenomenal.  After the party I will post a picture and the recipe. This cupcake is in a three-way-tie of best cupcake ever.  My sisters raspberry almond cupcakes were amazing, and, of course, my favorite... Orange chocolate cupcakes.

  My step-mom is helping me co host the shower and she picked up all this gluten free crap.  I wouldn't eat gluten free at gunpoint.  I would have to say, some can stuff can be tasty.  IMO, when you are hosting, if you have unique taste or are on a special diet, you need to have more traditional foods.  It is okay to have some of your foods, but understand that gluten free foods are unusual, and you definitely need a balance of average food to gluten free.  I think it is polite to guests to offer choices.  A lot of the gluten free stuff tastes like cardboard.  Am I being nit-picky, or if you were attending a party and a majority of gluten free foods were offered, would you think that is not against any etiquette guidelines?

In addition to the blackberry lemon cupcakes (which sound so good), can you also post the recipe for the potato salad? Even though I don't like mayo, I love potato salad so much. With Memorial Day and 4th of July coming up, it would be handy to have the recipe. Thanks!

grumbledore

themuffinman16 said:

I am totally okay with things that naturally don 't contain gluten. My stepmom made a pasta salad that she said she would make, but she used gluten free pasta, instead . All of the chips are gluten free, and she even bought Greek yogurt chip dip... That one made me throw up in my mouth a little. My brother-in-laws' family are lays potato chips, cheese puffs and pop people , they won't touch this food. My stepmom hung out with some friends, yesterday who have gone gluten free and she decided to try it that day, and replaced all of her groceries for gluten free. She hasn't even tried this stuff, yet. I have had some organic chips, and it is a huge effort in trial and error. Most organic foods are just gross, and gluten free probably has a smaller percentage of decent tasting foods. But, even though i liken some organic chips, i know it is not the normal fare. I think it is crappy to make people at the party her test subjects for some fad diet she won't maintain. Should I bring chips and dip to this party, or would it be a slight to my cohost?

Yeah that's annoying.  No one wants to eat that shit.  That's poor hosting imo.

I was dieting around the holidays - but I didn't serve boneless, skinless chicken breast, broccoli, and steel cut oats at my Christmas party.  I made meatballs and baked ziti and all the usual crap people like to eat.