An Allergen-Free Thanksgiving

I got to come home from school for the three days that comprised the Thanksgiving break this past weekend and I had Thanksgiving dinner with my family on Sunday.  As this was my first Thanksgiving with allergies, it was an interesting and somewhat depressing experience.  It was the first some of my extended family members had heard of my allergies, so I had to explain to one person that I couldn't have soda pop, and was told repeatedly by another well-meaning relative that there was plenty of gravy, so we should all have more if we wanted (I wanted, but couldn't).  My own personal dinner was comprised of turkey, sweet potatoes (hooray!), cauliflower, grapes, strawberries and pumpkin pie.

It wasn't too bad, really.  The worst thing about it was watching other people eat their stuffing, their gravy, their sugar-sweetened desserts and ice cream.  I really was immensely grateful for my aunt's sweet potatoes (she made them plain so I could eat them, which is perfectly OK with me, as I happen to adore sweet potatoes), and it was nice to have the familiar element of the turkey, even if I had to forgo stuffing and gravy.  But the real victory was in the pumpkin pie.  My mom made it catering to all my allergies, so it was the only dessert I was able to eat.  It had a pecan crust, contained ground up walnuts, and was sweetened via date sugar and pure maple syrup.  It contained no flour, dairy, eggs or cane sugar.  WOW!  It was incredibly good.  My mom (who is allowed to eat like a normal person) had a piece and agreed that it was some pretty fantastic pumpkin pie.  You know the best thing about it?  It didn't taste like a special pie.  It was just a really really good, ordinary pumpkin pie.  It didn't taste good in spite of the fact that it had no eggs and no sugar and no flour, it just tasted good period. 

That, I am finding, is the true test of whether or not any of my allergen-free food attempts are successful: are they good food period?  Do they taste good to the non-allergic?  That's how I know the pie was a success.  Thanks, Mom ;)