Blogs I follow and what we eat

Little Miss Sunshine, finally healthy and growing properly

I've recently been asked by several people about going gluten free, learning to read labels, dealing with restricted diets, and everthing else that goes along with it. I've been directing people to this post, but since I wrote it 2 1/2 years ago, I thought I should update it a bit.

I no longer follow very many gluten free specific blogs. Given all the dietary restrictions we have, I follow a variety of paleo/primal/vegan/allergy blogs. {hee hee} Listing paleo/primal with vegan seems counter-intuitive, but it works for us.

Anyway, here's the most helpful blogs I follow, mostly for recipes. I rarely follow recipes as they're posted, since I'm getting better at using them as a starting point and tweaking them for dishes we can eat.

The Spunky Coconut
The Food Lovers' Kitchen I have their cookbook, and it's great!
Cybele Pascal
Elana's Pantry
The Sensitive Pantry
The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen they also have a great cookbook
Civilized Caveman
Comfy Belly
Gluten Free Goddess

These blogs host linky parties, so they're a good source of random recipes and new blogs to check out. I'm always searching for someone else who has the same dietary restrictions and who posts recipes. Hasn't happened yet, but I keep hoping :)
Allergy Free Vintage Cookery
Simply Sugar and Gluten Free

An athlete's perspective on dealing with celiac, which helps me as I work to overcome damage caused by years of nutritional deficiencies. He also writes well-researched and well-written articles on various gluten free topics, which I find very informative.
No Gluten, No Problem

As I've mentioned before, we have a fairly restricted diet that doesn't include a lot of processed foods. I'd like to eat less rice crispies and rice milk, but at this point it's our best breakfast option.

Breakfast is usually rice crispies sprinkled with Enjoy Life cinnamon crunch nut and gluten free granola with rice milk. We were eating rice Chex and cinnamon rice Chex, but the BHT was giving both of us problems. The Kellog's Gluten Free Rice Crispies also contain BHT, but it doesn't seem to be as much, since it doesn't bother us (yet). If (when) it does, we'll switch back to Erewhon gluten free rice crispies, which don't have BHT, but are more expensive. In the past we've done green smoothies, but I got out of the habit over the winter and haven't quite picked it up again.

Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before (ie, meat and veg). Occasionally we will do nori rolls or meat rolls (lunch meat rolled up with veggies inside), and there's always fruit in a bowl on the counter that we can grab a piece from.

Dinner is a variety of dishes. We do rice pasta once a week, rice once every week or two, and quinoa and beans occasionally- I'd like to do more, but haven't yet found recipes we like. Mostly the meal is made up of meat and assorted veggies. We don't eat potatoes, but mashed roasted cauliflower and mashed baked squash make pretty good substitutes. We eat fish, chicken, pork, and elk (instead of beef), and I'm always looking for new recipes that incorporate them. I'd actually like to eat less meat, but that's just not an option right now unfortunately.

Snacks are usually fruit or the occasional Larabar (they're made with nuts, and most nuts are on the bad list these days, so we don't eat them often, but they're easy to keep in my bag). Treats are homemade sorbet (still need to post that recipe), smoothies, Yummy Earth lollipops (the ones made with rice syrup, not tapioca syrup), and occasionally fruit strips (corn syrup free, of course). I keep trying different recipes for snacks and treats, but none of them has worked out well enough (or agreed with us well enough) to be added into our repertoire.

We try to eat as balanced a diet as possible, but we're also trying to overcome years of nutritional deficiencies caused by the untreated celiac. As a result, we take Juice Plus+ supplements (instead of a traditional multivitamin), calcium, D3 and a chewable B (6, 12, and folic acid) vitamin. We also take digestive enzymes and I take CoQ-10 because I sleep better when I do (I actually have dreams, which never happened before I started taking it) and fish oil. We do have to be very diligent about reading labels on vitamins and other supplements. I once had a reaction to a vitamin I was taking that claimed to be gluten free, but was manufactured in a shared facility. A lot of supplements are made with soy or corn ingredients, which drastically decreases the brands that we can choose from when buying supplements.

We only occasionally eat out- there just are not a lot of options for us right now. In the past, 5 Guys Burgers and Fries was a great option. Their limited menu offerings mean you don't have to worry about the french fries being fried in the same oil as the chicken nuggets. They're also good about preparing your burger without a bun, wrapped in lettuce. Unfortunately, potatoes just do not agree with me, so we haven't been to 5 Guys for awhile. The pad thai at Noodles and Co are gluten free (I always let them know I have celiac just to make sure) and can be ordered without eggs. We don't have a restaurant close to us, so we don't eat there very often. Chipotle's burrito bowl has been a go-to meal in the past, but they cook the meat and rice using soybean oil, and I've been progressively having more and more problems when we eat there. And you have to be careful about anything they touch with their hands- so no lettuce or cheese. Outback Steakhouse has a great gluten free menu (it tells you how to order in order to avoid gluten), and their employees seem to be fairly knowledgeable. I've never had problems eating at Outback.

That's all I can think of for now, but I do need to add a disclaimer. These are things that work for us, but may not for others. I am not a doctor, so consult with yours before changing your diet. Good luck!

Birthday Cupcakes

Chocolate wacky cake cupcake with raspberry frosting

LMS had a few friends over for a birthday party last Saturday. After playing and the obligatory pinata busting [which required help from Mr M- don't buy pinatas from Target- they're impossible to break. Mr M took a whack at it and the loop tore out of it- the sides didn't bust out.] we had cupcakes and strawbery sorbet.
I used the same recipe that I used for her birthday cake, but used the chocolate gluten free option this time. I used the same frosting recipe (substituting raspberries for strawberries again), also, but didn't overbeat it this time and it turned out a lot better. I also made the same strawberry sorbet that we made for her birthday.

It was all very yummy!

What we eat: Birthday dinner

 

Little Miss Sunshine turned 6 last week.

For dinner, she requested noodles (of course!), jello, fruit salad, and root beer.

Noodles: Tinkyada Little Dreams shaped rice noodles with faux mato sauce, pepperoni, sausage, and sauteed shredded veggies
Jello: blue jello
Fruit salad: fresh strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries
Root beer: Jones brand (doesn't contain corn syrup)

For cake and ice cream she requested a lemon cake with raspberry frosting and strawberry ice cream. And she wanted the cake to have "rings", by which she meant layers.

I used this recipe for the cake, using the gluten free and lemon options. It's called Wacky Cake, and dates from the Depression when eggs, milk and butter weren't plentiful. This is great for us, since that means it's naturally vegan! No substituting with flax eggs- yay! I used Authentic Foods GF Classical blend and it turned out pretty good. A little dense, but the texture and flavor were quite good. The blend does contain tapioca flour and potato starch, so we won't use this recipe too often- I could definitely tell I was eating things I shouldn't be.

I used this recipe for the frosting, using raspberries instead of strawberries. I think I used about 1/2 cup of lightly smashed raspberries instead of the 3 Tbl strawberry puree. It's been quite some time since I made frosting, and I ended up beating it a bit longer than I should have so it went grainy. It was also a bit grainy because of the powdered sugar I used- it clumped pretty bad, even after sifting it. The frosting didn't look super appetizing, but it tasted fine.

I'll post the recipe soon that I used for the strawberry ice cream, which is really a sorbet. Since we had to take coconut milk out of our diet we couldn't use the super easy ice cream recipe that we've used in the past.

All in all, it was a yummy dinner and there was only a minimal amount of things we shouldn't be eating :)

Celiac, vitamin deficiency, and shinsplints

photo courtesy of LMS

Several years ago, before we found out I had celiac, I had a very extensive physical done, and my vitamin D levels were low, as was my calcium. They weren't sure why I was low, but ever since I've taken supplements to correct the deficiency.

I read a post awhile ago that was eye-opening. I originally found Pete's blog pre-celiac diagnosis, when I was looking for info on closed ski resorts in Colorado, which he wrote an interesting book about. Once I went gluten free I started reading his blog, which as a fellow gluten free athlete, though I'm nowhere near his level, is quite helpful and encouraging.

Pete says that the athlete they highlighted had bad shinsplints that were caused by low levels of vitamin D and calcium. He goes on to say that this is a common occurrence in athletes with celiac that hasn't been diagnosed. Once she went gluten free her vitamin levels increased, her bones got stronger, and her shinsplints went away.

Hmmm. Sounds like me. Only I'm not a champion runner :)

Seeing the connection between vitamin deficiency (Ca and D) caused by the untreated celiac and shinsplints and stress fractures was good for me. As I've mentioned before, I've had problems with chronic shinsplints since I was in college. I've seen progress recently, which I attributed to the physical therapy I've been doing, but after reading Pete's post, I think it's a combination of the PT and the vitamin supplementation. Years of intestinal damage and low vitamin levels doesn't get undone overnight, unfortunately.

I'm coming up on my 3 year gluten free anniversary this month, but I'm only a couple months past my 1 year "free of everything my body doesn't like" anniversary (less than that if you count from when I eliminated almonds and coconut). I think I've made more progress this past year than in the previous two. I know LMS has improved more this past year. I sorted her clothes a couple weeks ago, and she's finally outgrowing a lot of her clothes. She didn't grow much the last two years, so it's nice to see evidence that her growth is picking up again.

Yay for progress, and yay for progress validated!