It is that time of the year when cookouts are cropping up all over the place and they can be a source of stress for those trying to follow a special diet. This doesn’t have to be the case, though. There are so many gluten-free products these days, that eating great gluten-free food isn’t hard to do.
Whether or not you are hosting the cookout or attending one, it should be relatively simple to enjoy yourself without feeling left out. Let’s start with hosting. There are some great ideas in my post this month on Gluten Freely, so make sure to check it out.
If you are attending a cookout, don’t worry. Make a simple call to the host or hostess and find out what you can bring to help. Make a gluten-free side dish, salad, meal or dessert to share. If burgers & dogs will be provided, consider bringing your own gluten-free buns along. Canyon Bakehouse buns are some of the newest that we have sampled lately. Jon liked these buns so much that I didn’t get any! He had burgers and deli sandwiches on all four of them.
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If you are concerned about the burgers being cross contaminated, bring along your own!
No cookout is complete without some adult beverages, right? Mike’s Light Hard Lemonade & Light Hard Cranberry Lemonade are now labeled gluten-free and only 90-110 calories per drink! Wine is always gluten-free, as is Woodchuck Hard Cider and there are various gluten-free beer choices on the market now. In fact, I just sampled a new brand of gluten-free beer this week that I can’t wait to share with you all.
Alcoholic beverages not your thing? Iced teas, homemade lemonade and Hint Naturally Flavored Water are all gluten-free. Enjoy as you will.
One of the most traditional 4th of July foods is baked beans. I happened upon a great recipe in an email earlier this week from Trader Joe’s that I am going to share with you all.
O Beautiful for BBQ Beans
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- 1 cup TJ’s Applewood Bacon Ends and Pieces
- 1 cup TJ’s Onions, chopped
- 1 clove TJ’s Garlic, chopped
- 4 cans TJ’s Organic Baked Beans (Beans are marked GF on the TJ’s GF list, but not specifically Organic Baked Beans; Bush’s Baked Beans are GF)
- 1 teaspoon TJ’s Organic Yellow Mustard
- 1/3 cup TJ’s Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup TJ’s Kansas City BBQ Sauce (BBQ sauce is on the TJ’s GF list, but not specifically Kansas City; Sweet Baby Ray’s and Organicville are GF )
- TJ’s Salt and TJ’s pepper to taste
Click here for the cooking instructions.
All ingredients are gluten-free, as listed per the Trader Joe’s gluten-free list. My mouth is watering just looking at the picture!!
Last, but not least, be safe. Fireworks can be very dangerous in the wrong hands or even sometimes in the right hands in the case of a freak accident.
Will you be attending any special Fourth of July activities? I will be running in a 5K on Monday July 4th.
Kim
***The Canyon Bakehouse buns mentioned in this post were sent to me free of charge. The opinions stated here are mine and have not been influenced by anyone or anything.
