Knowing what you can and cannot eat when out with friends and family can be extremely frustrating. For those keeping to a strict diet due to gluten sensitivities, knowing what is used in preparation of foods is a must.
Even though I can't have dairy, every once in awhile I crave a creamy alfred0-like pasta sauce. I say Alfredo-like because it is challenging to make something that's entire essence is dairy into a non-dairy recipe. Alfredo is defined as "with cream sauce: served with a rich sauce made from cream, butter, and Parmesan cheese."
Elsewhere on this blog we've espoused the virtues of the Tinkyada brand GF pasta. In a word, it's great. You can find all sorts of GF pastas these days, made from brown rice flour, quinoa flour, corn flour, and other base ingredients.
One of the most stressful parts about eating out on a gluten free diet is trying to figure out what's safe to eat. Some restaurants don't provide gluten free menus and others require you to search through those annoyingly long "allergy/nutrition" charts online that literally takes you hours to navigate.
Pasta salad is the perfect cold dish to take to every summer BBQ. You can change the vegetables to really whatever you like and it still will be the dish everyone wants to grab a spoonful of. Why? BECAUSE most everyone I know loves PASTA!!!