gluten free life style

My Gluten Free Life…7 Year Update

Update on being gluten free: I went GF seven years ago this past February. My diagnosis was on the last day of January but it took two weeks for me to gradually transition off gluten. I remember the first day I was supposed to be fully gluten free and in the faculty room I absentmindedly popped a chocolate cookie into my mouth and chewed. I was aghast and just felt I couldn’t spit it out in front of everyone. So, the next day was my first fully gf day. It is seven years later and most days I am fine. But once in a while I really morn the loss of the normalness of being able to buy a donut or bagel at a convenience store for a treat. I mourn the inability to be flexible and easy when my family or friends want to eat out. I watch my loved ones eat things I cannot eat anymore. I often can’t eat at church events; nothing safe for me. I feel sad over that. I won’t lie or sugar coat the situation: it still can be difficult and my food choices do leave me feeling left out at times. It is not easy long term, especially when I am eating outside my house and kitchen. There is temptation, there are no options for me most of the time and it just wrenches me to be forbidden many foods I used to enjoy.

On the flip side, I feel much better; the pain in my gut left not that long after going gf. I actually had the start of ulcers in my stomach due to the Helicobacter pylori bacteria. I underwent a two week treatment of two heavy duty antibiotics to get that crap out of my stomach! They found it during my endoscopy to confirm my diagnosis of celiac disease. But once I was gf two weeks and the antibiotics were done I was hugely better. It was a great feeling. I highly recommend being fully gluten free if you have the diagnosis of celiac disease. Just don’t eat gf until you have completed your testing; being gf can reduce your symptoms and give a false negative result to testing.

So, how do you do this gf thing every day? One day at a time. With the support of your loved ones. With the knowledge that if you continue to eat gluten you will get sicker and sicker. I knew gluten was at the root of my gut pain and discovered a host of issues that I had been suffering from that are directly linked to my auto immune disorder. I hate how I feel if I do eat gluten and that knowledge is a major factor holding me back from cheating. I am not willing to deal with the pain and the side effects from cheating.

I used to know someone who said she had no symptoms of her disease. I imagine that would be much harder to stay gf without the drum beat of painful hours post gluten feasting! I hope she is sticking to gf. For her health and for her family.

I see folks in social media talking/bragging about their recent cheating and wonder how they do it? How they make that bad choice. I am guessing it is for the taste of regular food, for the freedom to eat something at 711 or Dunkin or a family gathering and a beloved holiday food that is hard to resist. I see their posts, half bragging and half whining about how sick they got. I know we all have moments of weakness. Seeing what they say and have done I feel sure I am on the right path; the choice of eating safely, totally gluten free.

It is just not worth it to me to cheat. To risk damage to my small intestine for that treat, that glass of beer or that plate of regular pasta. I am also afraid that once I start cheating it will become normalized and I will slide downward into daily consumption of a substance I know to be deadly to me. I hold on tight to the knowledge that I am doing what is best for my family and the uprising subsides in my brain. Life goes on.


I eat well. I enjoy many tasty homemade meals and treats. I made focaccia this week for first time in years. Great with soup. I have a lot of awesome go to recipes for things like Italian bread, muffins, cookies, pie, angel food cake and cobbler. People clamor to eat those foods and none of them have to be gluten free. It is totally possible to eat well with a bit of planning, basic willpower and a little effort. So, life is good; even gluten free. Hang tough; you can do it! Thousands of us do it. Have an awesome gluten free day!

Great Hamburger Buns

I recently shopped at a Trader Joe’s in Massachusetts. Bought some interesting stuff. One item I was really pleased with was a pack of gluten free hamburger bun. They even had sesame seeds all over the top! The flavor and texture was very close to what I remember of gluten based burger buns. Firm enough to hold a burger and fine for a sandwich. The bonus for me was that each bun was full sized; my beloved ciabatta buns by Schar are a tad small when it comes to holding a typical burger. Great price point too. Win Win!

gluten-free-hamburger-buns

Longing for Trader Joe’s to take the plunge and put a store in the Lehigh Valley; third biggest metro center in Pennsylvania. Soon!

Finger Lakes Trip

Six days ago, I fell in my yard and fractured my right wrist. Casted the next day. Cannot garden cannot lift much of anything. Typing one handed for next 6 weeks. There won’t be any long posts….

Last week we were up in the Finger Lakes. I cooked a lot, full kitchen in our bungalow. I made blueberry pancakes and cinnamon waffles. Suppers included crab cakes, grilled lamb chops and grilled Delmonico steaks.

Big and juicy crammed full. of lump crab meat! No preparation pictures: on vacation!

I made a blueberry rhubarb crisp which I loved. Joe was hoping for a cobbler though…  And the smoked trout appetizer was delish: gf crackers, homemade cream cheese, capers and fresh dill. Mmmm.  smoked troutWe ate great meals for 3.5 days for under $100. Luxury proteins and fresh veggies including homegrown peas, romaine and broccoli. Delish! I will post my crab cake recipe another day. Need to rest now.

Update 2019….GF Keeps Getting Better

It’s been 6 years and a month. I find it fairly easy to be gluten free at home. It’s when I go anywhere that it becomes fairly difficult. I bake a lot of treats rather than buying them as I find the readi-made stuff to be drab and of poor quality. I sure don’t want to eat it if I can bake something easy and tasty. My family is quite understanding and accommodates my gluten free lifestyle. We get together at frequent intervals, my sisters and I and they always make sure we are eating safely for me. And yummy food too! They love my gf french bread, my lemon birthday cake was a huge hit and the recently enjoyed banana cake has been requested for this Saturday night supper with family.

banana cake

A big hunk of banana cake.

I cut back on breads although I had a rare grilled cheese sandwich today. Needed a quick meal. T hat I could take somewhere. My seven year old grandson is living with me and he is not gf. He eats gf for most part but I don’t want to make him eat gf store bought snacks and I just don’t have time to bake them for him. So there is a bit of effort needed for me to remain safely gf. I did find some Everything bagels at Aldi’s last week and that made me so happy; great flavor and texture. Their bagels are the best. Honestly, I shop more and more there; great dairy, super chocolate, love their salsa and chips and I’ve never had bad meat from there yet.bratwurst package

My Instant Pot is a great resource for making quick gf meals. I use it most weeks at least once. Plus it is perfect for making yogurt in it; I use organic milk from Aldi’s; makes great cheap yogurt. I also love making rice in my IP; perfect.  I do a lot of chicken thighs in it in a wide array of recipes from Indian to Thai and Italian. It is portable and can be used anywhere you have an outlet. instant pot 2

I still am experimenting with flours although I truly am happy with the King Arthur All Purpose flour blend. I do like gf bisquick and Better Batter. I have experimented with cassava flour for tortillas and I have a new blend I want to try soon that uses meringue powder to lift the dough. I enjoy that sort of baking. My dad was a chemical engineer and I am clearly his daughter! lemon birthday cake slice

We went out to dinner at Jennys Kuali in South Bethlehem recently. Their egg rolls are absolutely the bomb and we adored the ginger garlic sauce. We both enjoyed the chicken on a stick; kinda a curry flavor there.Jenny eggrolls

My fish special; a whole fish in very spicy sauce was enjoyable if a tad overcooked and Joe’s chicken with mango was rather bland but he dressed it up with hot sauce and that ginger delish sauce and happily devoured it. The staff there is very pleasant and they go out of their way to make it easy to eat GF; only dumplings and egg noodle dishes are off my menu. We agreed that we want to go back there soon and try some other dishes.  And eat more eggrolls! I haven’t had one since I went gf. We had a great table and I had a glass of bubble tea; a novelty in Bethlehem. Joe loved the Thai black iced tea. We tried some desserts and left stuffed and happy.

Eating at church functions is tough; sometimes I bring my own food. Sometimes there is fresh fruit I can enjoy at gatherings. Not complaining. Just observing.

Life is good, I try to avoid even minor gluten incidents so I don’t eat at events most of the time nor do we eat out as often as years ago. I eat so much healthier than I did six years ago. I feel better for it and am so glad I need no medicine for my celiac disease. Many thanks to all my family and friends who accommodate my strange diet. I’m doing great!

GF Flour Choices and a Few Personal Words….

Wanna know what flour blends I favor? It took me a few months or maybe years to figure this out for my cooking style. First, I bought a zillion weird and a few typical gf flours. Tried to bake with each and every one of them. Found out a few kinda suck and stopped using them. Others are used infrequently but have real value for a few recipes that they match to. If you are new to gluten free or just trying to get into baking gf this post is for you.

My favorite blend is King Arthur’s Gluten Free All-Purpose blend; made of three flours; brown rice, potato starch and tapioca flour. It is versatile. It makes great pie crust that my family really loves. I use it in most of my muffin recipes. I use it for gf pasta making and for cookies that wow.  Get some and give it a try. I actually make my own blend (same exact blend as KA’s basic all-purpose flour) as it is cheaper but you can buy it at your local grocery store in a  box.

 

king arthur flour

Another blend I like very much is Better Batter, the copycat version you can find on glutenfreeonashoestring. I make a batch and keep it in the freezer so it stays fresh. Great for quick breads, desserts and pastries.

If you want a cup for cup replacement flour there are some good options; Cup 4 Cup or King Arthur’s Measure for Measure flour.  They can be used in your favorite recipes for the most part.

king arthur flour

white rice flour

White rice flour or cornstarch work well for breading things and thickening. I always keep both on hand. Ditto for tapioca flour which I use in my blends and some other recipes. Gotta have it available. I also keep sweet rice flour to use in my main blend and in a few recipes. It adds flakiness in my pie crust. Potato starch is great in my basic blend and a few other blends/recipes. Another must have.

I use sorgum flour in a number of recipes including my delish buttermilk pancakes. It has a nice flavor compared to things like quinoa flour or bean flours. Uggh on them! I still have some in my freezer but I NEVER willingly use them. I do have some chickpea flour but rarely have a need for it.

Occasionally I use teff flour; in small amounts. It makes breads darken and seem like rye or pumpernickel breads.   But, it can give a muddy flavor if you use too much. Coconut flour is another flour I keep in the freezer but only use occasionally.  It can dry out a recipe if you use too much so  use sparingly.

I just got some cassava flour to use to make flour tortillas.  I hear it is fantastic.  I’ll let you know how that goes…

My suggestion is that you start with one or two blends and a couple single flours that can be used in combination. I rarely ever use just one flour except for breading or thickening. A great blend is critical.

Don’t let all the flour choices discourage you.  Try a few and find out what works for you. Some need to be frozen or refrigerated especially if you don’t use them up rapidly; check for that storage information so your flour blend that costs a lot doesn’t get rancid on you.  Have fun!

A personal note. I am sorry I haven’t blogged much lately. Been struggling somewhat. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in July and had a partial mastectomy in early August. On the first of October I started radiation therapy and it has sucked my energy and focus away from most of my enjoyable hobbies including this blog. I hope to feel better soon; 3.5 more weeks to go! At least I won’t lose my hair, LOL! I have done a bit of baking and cooking but due to my low energy I seldom can find it in me to write. This will change in November I hope.  Peace and happy gf cooking!