Is It Worth It?

You go into a restaurant, scan the menu for tell-tale vocabulary words like "corn tortilla, grilled, served with toast OR FRUIT" and it can be maddening. If you go to a restaurant and ask if they have a gluten-free menu, you feel like you're labeled instantly as one of "those people" and everyone thinks you're insane.

Are they right?

What if this is really in your head, and you're just wanting an excuse to change something, to feel more in control?

I remember the first few weeks I realized I really needed to do gluten-free. It was hard. A year into it, it's totally second-nature. I know what to look for, what to avoid, and what substitutions I can ask for, without making myself sound crazy to the waiter. Now, realizing that I really, really, really need to do dairy free. Sometimes, it feels worse. I find myself forgetting, then remembering, and then forgetting to make changes. Some are easier than others, and you would think that knowing this is in my son's best interest would make it easy as pie to change!

But it's not.

Partly, because I wasn't fully convinced that's what the problem was. Babies cry. Babies are gassy little creatures by nature. So, there would be some days (regardless of my diet) that he would be suuuuper fussy - and days where he wasn't. And partly just out of habit. I had consumed large amounts of cheese and dairy while pregnant because it was high in calcium, and it was cheap protein. Now, I was faced with changing a whole new habit.

It's worth it. It's worth it to try. Little One is a different Little One when he's not being fed things his body can't tolerate. The least I can do is not eat something that doesn't hurt me so that it doesn't hurt him.

Dave Ramsey repeats the phrase, "Live like no one else, so that later, you can live like no one else." and it totally rings true. If you can get through the hard part, the life detox, and build new patterns, then the possibilities are endless.

Coffee Cake Muffins: Gluten and Dairy Free

But AWESOME

Ingredients:

1 box gluten free yellow cake mix (that would be the cheating part)
3 eggs
1/2 cup of either an oil of your choice, or I used (this time) 1/2 cup of Earth Balance. Either one is dairy free; either one works.
3 tablespoons of vanilla (or more, if desired)
2/3 cup water
2 of the most overripe, disgustingly soft bananas you can find
1/4 cup milled flaxseed
Cinnamon - to taste
Ground Cloves - to taste
1/2 cup-ish of brown sugar.

For the muffins: I totally cheated. Deal with it.

Mix the bananas, eggs, and butter first. There's nothing special about that, it's just the three hardest to mix.

Add the water, cake mix, flaxseed, and cinnamon/cloves to the mix. I used exactly 4 dashes of cinnamon and 2 of cloves. That's super-scientific measuring for ya...

It will be a lumpy batter of brown, delicious goodness.

Grease your muffin tin: this will make 12. I've used both cooking spray and a paper towel of earth balance; the cooking spray works better, but I was out. Go with what works.

Fill the cups almost full.

For the topping: Optional, but Ahhhmazing...

Use either oil or Earth Balance for this, too.

Mix about 2 tbs of butter or 1tbs of oil with the brown sugar. The mix should be crumbly. If you want, you can add some more cinnamon and cloves to this, too.

Sprinkle liberally on top of muffins.


Bake at 325-350 for about 20minutes. Set the time for 18minutes just to be on the safe side. The muffins are ready when you can put a toothpick through them and it come out clean.

Technically, you're supposed to let them cool. But that's stupid. They're amazing. Grab a couple, and get some coffee.

You're welcome.

Gluten-Free Shopping Without Going Broke

If you haven't been paying attention, I had a baby about two months ago. I was a very adept housecleaning machine. I love to cook. I could spend HOURS on a really good dinner, that would no doubt be enjoyed for an hour, possibly with a glass of wine, and definitely with a good episode of our favorite show: Bones.


Hey! I'm new here!

Enter, The Little One.

I am a very adept milk-making machine. I love to cook. I could spend MINUTES on a possibly edible dinner, that will definitely be enjoyed in segments, possibly while breastfeeding TLO, and definitely after a diaper change.

It's not that I'm a different person; I'm just... well, I'm tired. Also, keeping TLO happy and in love with me is far more of a priority than making sure the home looks like something on Pinterest at all times.






So, instead of giving you a s-ton of recipes with ingredients you'll never find in the store, let alone will actually use; here are a few of my staples.

Gluten Free Pasta: Heartland makes a great fusilli, penne, and spaghetti. The fusilli can make a mean mac n' cheese. The penne is great for salads. And spaghetti is Jesus' perfect food.

Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix: I've yet to actually make a cake with this stuff. I have turned into muffins, coffee cake, and corn fritters.

Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix: Makes a damn fine cookie.

Gluten Free Wraps: Usually found in the bakery with the deli meats. These things double as flour tortillas. So you can use them as flour tortillas. Yes, it actually tastes pretty close to a flour tortilla. For those of you who haven't gone a full year without a flour tortilla, you have no idea how excited your Celiac counter-part is right now. So, I'm going to say it again and let you bask in it: Flour Tortilla.

Corn Tortillas: I make them into chips, tostadas, and taquitos.

Things To Watch Out For:

* Very, very few of those pre-packaged spices are gluten free. The rest that are, are usually not dairy free. McCormick makes some that are in a clear package that literally are just spices, and they're wonderful. You will have to make your own taco seasoning, as almost all of them contain whey.

* Barbeque sauces are also tricky. Head Country barbeque sauce is our go-to. And it's amazing.

* The cheap tomato sauces sometimes contain gluten, and frequently contain dairy.

* Lunch meat: get it AT THE DELI from a brand that advertises gluten-free meats. Most of them will also not have nitrates and other fillers/chemicals as well.

* Bratwursts are best purchased at a grocery store with an actual butcher. I use the Homeland by our house, because their brats are actual meat: no fillers, spices, or 'extras' that can be found inside a casing.

I used to LIKE grocery shopping??!!

Recently Diagnosed Gluten Intolerant or Celiac Disease?

Freaky, right? I mean, it's not a fatal diagnosis (although it can feel that way knowing that Auntie Ann's, Cinnabon, and Subway are off the table) but it will forever impact the way that you live your life. If you're like me, and you live in a city where if you close your eyes for a second and concentrate, banjos are indeed playing everywhere, then your task may seem impossible. Bigger cities offer more options, and it will take some time for every store to "get there."

So, now, you stare at your grocery list and either weep, panic, or a little of both. Also, if you're like me, your grocery budget didn't adjust itself the day you realized you had to do this. So now, you have to do the same meals as before - or risk mutiny at the dinner table. You also have to spend roughly if not exactly the same as before. Oh, and it can't taste like cardboard.

Well, this should be interesting, shouldn't it?

Relax. Honestly, it's not that hard.

Realistically, though, it will take some time.

We did the piecemeal approach, and it worked for us. Healthwise, it may not have been the best idea. Budgetwise, it was genius. Instead of going to the grocery store and spending $400 all at once (after having already spent money on groceries for the month) on "new stuff" we just slowly replaced things as we ran out of something that wasn't gluten free.

As we ran out of spaghetti noodles - I got gluten free ones. As we ran out of bread, I bought gluten-free bread. As we ran out of flour tortillas, I cried. Then I bought corn tortillas.

Then, at our next month's grocery shopping extravaganza, we did gluten-free hard(er) core. Again, if I wasn't out of it, I didn't buy a replacement yet, unless it was something I could use immediately. If you have the finances to go do the whole thing at once, then by all means, go for it. But it also slowly worked me into changing my entire lifestyle. THAT was much harder than I though. There was no more running to Arby's for their magical sandwiches that can warm even the coldest heart. There was no "I-hate-shopping-but-the-pretzel-makes-it-better" time at the mall.

In short; food becomes only something you do because your body needs it to live. And it stops becoming everything else.