Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Appetizers

A friend recently asked me if there were any appetizers she could prepare for us for a short visit we had planned at her home. I thanked her and told her not to go to any trouble as I always have gfcf snacks for my daughter whenever we are away from home for an extended period of time.

Out of curiosity I Googled gfcf appetizers just to see what is out there, in case she had possibly done the same thing.

A few suggestions:

~ Kabobs - Meats and vegetables are gfcf. Make sure your marinade does not contain malt or maltodextrin or caramel color. Many brands list allergens on their labels. Make sure there is no "food starch" listed on the items you purchase unless it is specified that it is corn starch. Fleischmans's unsalted margarine is CF, as are other oils. Many Wishbone salad dressings do not contain gluten.

You can use pepperoni with vegetables marinated in a GFCF Italian dressing for Italian kabobs, cooked or uncooked.

~ Deviled Eggs

~ Deli Meat roll-ups: These are great. You can sprinkle garlic salt on your mayo and/or mix minced garlic and onions in it. You can use strips of red bell pepper, scallions (green onions), etc. Make sure your ingredients are very cold when you roll your wraps into cigar-like shapes (Boston/Bibb lettuce is great for this) and chill thoroughly if you are going to slice them into coin shaped servings, affixed with a toothpick.

~ BLT stacks - You can make mini single serving sized bites using lettuce, tomato, bacon and mayo, secured with a toothpick. Use a very small biscuit or cookie cutter to help with portion size if you need to.

~ Mixed nuts

~ Chex Mix using GF Chex cereals

~ Mini quiches/frittatas cooked in stainless steel mini muffin tins.

~ Mini pizzas and finger sandwiches:

There are GFCF products that can help make appetizer preparation easier, such as: GF tortilla chips, GF pizza crusts (cut into smaller sizes for mini pizzas), Daiya vegan cheese shreds are delicious and are GFCF.

Udi's GF bread can be used for finger sandwiches and mini toasts. Both chicken and ham salad recipes are traditionally GFCF.

These are just a few things off of the top of my head. As I think of more, I will add them to this blog.