Eating in with non-celiacs

Gluten-free roasted chicken with vegetables

I think almost everyone who either had guests coming over for dinner or had office or class party happening was forced to spend a few minutes figuring out what they can cook or bring with them that will appeal both to majority of the gathering and to themselves. When you're a celiac following a fairly strict diet, your choices are more limited. In case of an office/class party, you'll have to plan on being (in most cases) the only person who will bring any gluten-free food; whatever you're going to bring will most probably be your only food choice for the evening, unless it'll get cross-contaminated, and in that case you'll have nothing to eat. Ordering a takeout would be an easy way out, but it depends on the area where you work or go to school. I've never been lucky with takeouts nearby; they do not have any dedicated gluten-free options, except for sad-looking salad with dressing on a side...

I remember when I just got diagnosed, surviving any kind of a gathering was an ordeal. I was still struggling with my usual homemade meals; converting to gluten-free versions took some time and effort, and I did not feel like confident enough to be making any home-cooked food for anyone but my family. For a while when we had guests over I've been making a lot of salads, since it's fairly easy to make a gluten-free salad that looks and tastes like a regular one; for the class and office gatherings I was simply buying some GF chips and GF hummus for a dip. At some point I felt like I was boring everyone with my salad and chips diet, so I started exploring other options.

Roasted chicken with bacon and rosemary on bed of root vegetables, ready to go in the oven

One day, when we had friends coming over, I've decided to experiment and made a simple roasted chicken instead of another salad. It was surprisingly easy to make, preparation time was much shorter than either of salads, and the best of all - everyone liked it! I know that roasted chicken is hardly a revolutionary idea, but it made my meal planning a breeze. There are so many ways to make a roasted chicken, I never have to repeat myself - I can pick different spices and herbs to use, I can put stuffing under its skin, I can wrap it with bacon, and I can mix and match vegetables I'm roasting it with. I don't have to worry if gluten-free flour that I have at hand will work for dredging pieces of chicken before frying; not all GF flour mixes work well for that, and we're still figuring out the best one by trial and error. If you have to bring something for any kind of gathering, roasted chicken travels well, is easy to reheat and in my experience does not get contaminated often. It makes a nice presentation, and it looks like I've made an effort, even though I did not have to do much. The ultimate appeal of home-cooked meal is hard to match.

While for many people nothing will replace traditional fried chicken, home-style roasted chicken might serve as a successful gluten-free substitute. In last few years my husband (who's becoming a really good cook) and I came up with many gluten-free meal alternatives, but we still like our roasted chicken, especially when we don't want to spend too much time and effort of meal planning and preparation.