Christmas Virgin

[Movablefeast]

No I am not Mary the mother of Jesus.

I am a mum of three who is 49 and has never cooked anything remotely Christmassy in my life. Not sure how I got away with it this long. I don"t cook much anyway. I was orphaned as a teen and lived alone from 16 so working, getting to Uni and surviving etc took priority. Now after all these years nearly 50 so want to try and actually make some Christmas grub. Although a Brit I live in the USA so please take that into account with suggestions. I would really like to make a Christmas dinner but frankly am shit scared. I have never done it once! American DH usually cooks. Can you please help.me learn to make a fool proof Christmas dinner? Restrictions are; must be Gluten Free as we have a kid with Celiac and one is vegetarian.

I would like to start out gently with Gluten free delicious Christmas baked goodies for Advent. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance. Happy Advent

Can highly recommend Jamie Oliver's recipes for vegetarian and gluten free Christmas treats (not from experience but from eating what others have cooked using his recipes!) :) Here's a link for some gluten free and vegetarian mince pies www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/uncategorised-recipes/food-allergy-mums-christmas-mince-pies/ :)

Thanks so much Hannamai I do have a few of his books but all I ever cook is a chicken recipe where you throw literally everything in the dish and stick it in the oven. I can't really call it 'cooking' more 'assembling' but it tastes great. That is my general level of gastronomy.

I found this on BBC: gluten free Christmas recipes: www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/gluten-free_christmas_recipes

I'm from Scandinavia so I'll throw in this recipe too, gluten free Christmas ham, seems super easy: Gluten Free Glazed Christmas Ham with Rosemary
www.superchargedfood.com/blog/all/gluten-free-christmas-ham/

Maybe take a look at the new book "The Haven’s Kitchen Cooking School"? Don't feel ashamed that you didn't learn how to cook properly, you're hardly alone in this predicament. When I went to school we (both boys and girls) had cooking classes for at least two years, at age around 14 to 16 (can't remember if it started at age 13 already). We got school books teaching us how to boil an egg and a lot of other recipes, how to turn on a vacuum cleaner, how to iron a shirt, how to set up a family budget, what is a paycheque etc... Once a week or thereabouts we cooked something in class and ate for lunch. My mum didn't teach me anything at home, so I'm so grateful for these classes. As you say the DH usually cook; at work I spoke to some colleagues and the men liked to swap advanced recipes which was a bit odd, it proved they all cooked at home (the wives didn't like to do it, or did it badly, so they'd taken over).

I see in Hannamai's JO recipe I need vegetarian mincemeat. Where would I find such an exotic article over here as they don't even have mince pies at Christmas?

Where in the US are you? Some cities are better stocked than others for things like mince meat. Costco or Whole Foods would definitely have it.

Oh that's good to know, have both near me. Actually cone to think if it we even have a British Store not too far away but the British owners are so grumpy I haven't been there in years.

Do the americans label it the same way or call it something different?

You could make your own mincemeat so that way you can adapt it to your own specific dietary requirements.

The BBC good food online guide is fantastic for all sorts of recipes not just Christmas ones. You can cook and freeze to save you time and stress on the actual day.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/category/christmas