Need menu help for special dietary needs guests

DallasHorn

DD#2 is getting baptised in several weeks and I'm trying to figure out how to handle the food situtation as we will have guests that do a gluten free diet. I know one guest in the family can't do MSG as well, but not sure of the kids (trying to find that out). We want to serve dinner since the baptism will end around 4:30 on a Sunday and some of the guests are from out of town. To make things more challenging, I'd like to have as much as possible prepared in the fridge and ready to either serve or pop in the oven so that when we return to our house, we can focus more on our guests than on food prep. There be several elementary school aged children as well as the adults.

I was thinking about doing several rotisary chickens from the Kroger and keeping them in the oven on warm, but my mom thinks this is a terrible (e.g tacky) idea in that we'd have to carve up the chicken after the baptism. Assuming the chicken had no MSG, I thought this was a perfect idea for the meat.

What would be some side dishes that could be prepared the morning of and either served cold or heated later?

EliseB0323

My usual menu for stuff like this is a beef tenderloin. You can roast it the day before, slice and serve at room temperature. People can make sandwiches if they want, but the GF people don't have to. Serve with roasted potatoes and some kind of green salad. I'd also do a nice chicken salad with the roasted chickens and some chicken tenders for the kids. Round out the menu with veggies and dip and a fresh fruit tray and cheese and crackers.

surprise3rd

a gluten free friend makes a rice pasta salad with veggies, mozz. cheese and a balsamic vinagriette.  She serves it cold and could be a side dish.

mlm1128

My family is big on pasta, which I can't eat because I have celiacs myself.  If it were be, I would go with a spiral ham, roasted potatoes and veggies.  You could have dinner rolls/bread as well and the gluten free peeps just don't eat them.

EastCoastBride

I think beef tenderloin or ham is a great idea.  And before I got to your moms comment, I was thinking rotisseire chicken too (but ify ou go this route, make sure it's GF.  DH picked on up yesterday and one of the flavors he looked at had wheat in the coating.  It was very clearly marked, though.).  I don't really see what is tacky about carving up the chicken, and really - you could do that ahead of time and just serve it cold. 

joseysbride

The other girls have good suggestions.  I will throw in a less formal option.  We have gluten and dairy allergies in our extended family, along with a vegetarian.  For big family get-togethers, I like to make beef and chicken tacos (easy to make gf and ahead of time).  Serve it with rice and beans (works for the vegetarian and gf), flour and corn (gf) tortillas or corn chips, plus all the toppings.  Chips and salsa and guac for appetizers.  It always works, it is easy to prepare ahead of time, and everyone is happy!

You can make your own taco seasoning easily or the regular McCormick taco seasoning is also gluten free.

JSmith321

One thing you need to watch out for with ceoliacs (people who have a gluten and wheat intolerance) is that the pasta cannot keep.  A lot of people might servce a pasta salad of some sort in that situation, but you can't use ceoliac pasta for this.  There are a number of dishes you can make and chill until nedded later in: Gluten Free Cookbook. It's definately worth a read.

livinitup

I'd love to eat rotissary chicken at a dinner. Why would it be tacky? Messy maybe, but I can't imagine why anyone would mind. I'd probably just cut-it up before and serve cold or warm with some gluten free chicken broth in the pan. I'd do potato salad as a side, a salad without croutons, and then anything else you like to make. As long as you have a main dish, starch and veggie, you can make anything else - even if its not GF.