Thanksgiving, the holiday where we give thanks for the many blessings in our lives. Like elastic waistbands.

In our family, the holiday eating begins as soon as guests arrive. Usually, this means 10am. That leaves us with at least 6 hours for pre-turkey snack foods – a serious commitment, gluten or no.

Whether you think of it as picky food, finger food, snacks, appetizers, or hors d’oeuvres, the pre-feast feast is a great time to be gluten-free. Because there are lots of smaller dishes, it’s fairly easy to accommodate a range of dietary restrictions without making anyone feel left out.

You’ll need to watch out for cross-contamination from errant breadsticks and pita wedges, but we’ll talk more about that in a few days. In the meantime, some easy ideas for naturally gluten-free Thanksgiving snacks:

• Crudité with:
  • Gluten-free blue cheese dressing, made fancy with extra crumbled blue cheese
  • Hummus and/or baba ghanouj
  • Tzatiki (homemade or store-bought)
• Grilled vegetables, which can be made ahead and served room-temperature
• Nuts, which Real Simple suggests jazzed up sweet and spicy or rosemary orange
• Tortilla chips, which you can buy or make at home, with:
  • A variety of salsas: black bean, pico di gallo, peach, etc.
  • Guacamole
  • Gluten-free spinach-artichoke dip
• Skewers or toothpicks with
  • Ciliegine mozzarella, roasted red pepper, and basil
  • Prosciutto and melon
  • Bacon-wrapped dates
  • Cucumber, cream cheese and smoked salmon
  • Gluten-free meatballs, scaled down to a smaller size

What are your favorite gluten-free Thanksgiving snacks?