Food intolerance Manifestations

for your enjoyment: 

a picture I found of me leaping (unsuccessfully, I might add) over a stream during the mud run. isn't my outfit super attractive?

Over the last few years, I've learned to pay attention to my body and can usually identify when I'm reacting to something I ate. I've also learned to watch the Little Miss for her reactions.

That said, I still sometimes miss things.

My reactions have evolved from stomach pain and throat swelling. Now I get eczema under my wedding ring (weird, I know) and in my scalp. It took me awhile to figure out that the rash under my rings wasn't poison ivy like I originally thought, but directly related to what I eat. It also took me awhile to make the connection between the itchy "dandruff" and what I eat. Thankfully my hair hides most of the damage, but I do go around looking like I have a bad case of dandruff if I haven't been eating right.

With LMS, it's a bit trickier. Some things are fairly obvious, like intestinal issues, but others are less cut and dried. Changes in her behavior sometimes don't click right away with me, even though I know (and have known for some time) that her behavior is greatly influenced by what she eats.

Recently I've finally made another connection that has eluded me for months.

This past fall LMS and I went on a road trip with my sister for a few days and LMS started coughing. I chalked it up to the dry air in the car (I always get dehydrated when road tripping) and when we got home I turned her humidifier on each night and the cough went away.

The cough re-surfaced around Christmas, which coincided with another road trip, and some actual winter weather. LMS got sick on New Years, and even though she got better, the cough hung around. Last week she got a bit sick again and the cough evolved from a dry, unproductive cough (so annoying to listen to) to a pleghmy cough. I'd been thinking about taking her to the doctor, but with the phlegm and cold, the doctor would just say to keep an eye on things.

I've been praying about how to help her, and I finally made the connection between the cough she had in September and her current cough. And I realized that it wasn't caused by the dry air- it was caused by eating things that don't agree with her. When we road trip, we are a lot more lenient about what we eat since we invariably have to eat at restaurants at least part of the time. We hadn't started GAPS yet when we went on the road trip with my sister, but we were pretty close. When we returned home, we went back to eating more carefully and her cough cleared up because she wasn't eating the offending foods any more, not because the humidifier made a difference.

At Christmas we cheated on GAPS while traveling to my sister's, and we've been cheating in one way or another (for one reason or another) ever since. LMS's cough hasn't been able to clear up because of the continued cheating.

Yeah, it's only taken me since September to realize that coughing is one of LMS's food intolerance manifestations. I'm not always the fastest on the uptake, that's for sure.

My super-sensitive sense of smell seems to be disappearing (thankfully!). I only have a couple weeks left before I hit the second trimester and I'm really hoping the nausea and lack of appetite clear up then so I can start cooking food again, which will enable us to get back on the GAPS wagon.  I can't wait for LMS's cough to go away....

CSA

pretty spring flowers we bought yesterday

I've wanted to join a CSA for 3 or 4 years now, but could never quite justify the cost in my mind.

Then I realized I was going to the grocery store and only buying produce and spending X amount of dollars to do it. I vaguely recalled that the CSA's I'd investigated were not that expensive.

I did some research, and found a local CSA that has a winter option- reduced offerings, but it does include random items like local cider, local raw honey, local pastured beef, etc to make sure you're getting your money's worth. And it's a lot less than what I was spending at the grocery store.

I still need to buy some produce items at the grocery store (our current diet is restricted enough that we have to eat some veggies out of season, though I'd like to be able to eat with the seasons), but it's a lot less than before. I'm still buying our weekly pastured chicken at Whole Foods, but I may switch to getting it from the CSA- it's a little more expensive (not much), but it would mostly eliminate the need to go to Whole Foods every week. It's not nicknamed Whole Paycheck without reason.... I'm also trying to reduce the number of stores I'll have to go to each week once the baby comes- less running around with a newborn is always a good thing.

I really like how flexible our CSA is:

• monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly options
• small, medium, and large boxes of produce
• milk, eggs, fish, beef, pork, chicken, bread options (varying delivery options available)
• al a carte- you can order more of something if you want, and just pay for that
• very allergy friendly- easy substitutions
• you can quit any time it stops working for you- you pay weekly, as opposed to for the season
• Pickup and delivery options- less options in the winter, but more the rest of the year

I should mention that our CSA is not an actual farm that sells just what it produces: it finds local sources  for everything and builds the boxes from there. They tell us where everything comes from and whether it's organic, low-spray, etc.

So we get a large box of produce once a week, with a portion of pork (local, pastured pork- can't find that at Whole Foods) once a month. They send out an email each week stating what's in the boxes that week and I just respond and ask them to substitute the items we can't eat. They have the info in their computer, but responding each week allows me to state a preference for what we'd like instead- usually apples one week, squash another week, etc. Right now I drive downtown to pick up our box each week, but next month I'll be able to pick it up at a location that's a lot closer and more convenient- they'll be starting their regular spring/summer routine.

I hear everyone talking about Bountiful Baskets, but they're not available in our area :(
Do you get food from a CSA?

Gluten Free Food Storage

(our previous food storage set up, but the curtains made it too hard to easily see what we had)

Several months ago we bought a Shelf Reliance Food Storage System (that I finally set up a week or so ago), and I started looking into finding gluten free food storage items.

A lot of foods that are naturally gluten free (like freeze dried fruits, veggies, and meats) are packed in shared facilities, so there's the potential for some cross-contamination. Since this has proven to be an issue for me in the past, I knew I had to be completely anal and find a company with a dedicated gluten free facility.

I only found one: Auguson Farms. They have a couple packing facilities, and one of them is a dedicated gluten free facility. Unfortunately, they don't offer their full range of products as gluten free, but they do have a decent selection, and it's much better than all the other companies I've looked into.

We decided to do a bulk order to start with, and several weeks after placing the order, FedEx brought 16 boxes of buckets and cans of dried and freeze dried foods (poor delivery guy!). An advantage of placing a large order: we got free shipping, as well as some free food items.

We'll continue to place orders, but not so much at one time. Now that I've finally rearranged the basement workroom (a workroom no longer) and set up the Shelf Reliance system it's so much easier to get to our food storage and see what we have.

(a sneak peak of the basement bedroom that used to be the workroom and is now our storage/exercise room- more pictures coming soon!)

I know we're told to store what we eat, but that's not really an option for us right now. This summer I plan on doing some canning and dehydrating, but for now the bulk of our food storage is dried and freeze dried fruits, veggies, meats, beans, rice, and lentils. I'd like to have food we could actually eat without having problems (like if our food budget were to be drastically reduced), but at this point, most of it would only be good if we were in a true emergency situation with no access to other food. If that were the case, we'd be able to eat, but we'd have problems.

We stopped building up our food storage for awhile because of this problem. Since most of what we eat now is fresh or frozen, it's hard to store what we eat. As I googled around, looking for ideas, I found that the best source of info for real food (how we eat these days) food storage are preppers. You know, the people who are preparing for the end of the world? Not all of them eat a real food diet, but I have found several bloggers who do, which has been helpful.

For us, focusing on self reliance in addition to food storage seems to be the answer. This means getting a garden actually producing veggies (unlike the complete failure last summer), and getting some chickens. I keep debating whether we want to keep them for eggs (which we still haven't added back into our diet) or just for meat. I'm thinking meat chickens this year, layers and meat chickens next year.

We also need to make the space for a larger freezer. We have a small chest freezer, but it can only hold 1/4 of a cow, with no room for any fruits, veggies or other meat. If we want to store food in the freezer, we need to have the space. Now if we could just figure out where to put the freezer...

What's your approach to food storage?

GAPS/Gluten Free Disney World & Universal Studios Trip

we saw lots of princesses and other characters, but LMS only got a pic with Ariel- she had a really short line because it was the end of her shift

We finished the 6 phases of the GAPS Intro Diet back before Christmas (I still need to finish that post), but since we went to my sister’s house for Christmas, I took advantage of that time to do some judicious cheating. I knew our Disney trip was coming up and I wanted to gauge how we would react to eating non-GAPS approved foods. We still reacted, but it wasn’t as bad as it used to be, which shows that we have made progress- YAY!

Since we wouldn't have access to a kitchen, we couldn't just cook all our meals. I thought about our options and made a plan. GAPS foods for breakfast, gluten free park food for lunch, miscellaneous gluten free restaurants for dinner.

Breakfast

I cooked down and dehydrated 10 quarts of chicken broth (following directions I found here) to make homemade chicken bouillon that we could take with us. I prepared butternut squash, divided it into baggies, and froze it. I blanched some broccoli, lightly sautéed some zucchini and summer squash, then froze baggies of them and some green peas. I also chopped up and divided some roast chicken.

For breakfast, I walked up two flights of stairs to the nearest microwave, where I heated up some squash, some chicken, and some veg, and made some broth using the bouillon. Not ideal, and I could have sworn there was an in-room microwave, but it all worked out.

The last two nights we were in a different hotel (more on that in another post), and there was no microwave available.  We ended up using a one cup coffee maker to make cups of broth, and ate fruit for breakfast. The coffee maker worked surprisingly well, especially compared to microwaving it.

The dried broth turned out great, though I didn't double check the instructions before starting to cook it down. I should have scooped all the fat off, but only remembered after the fact. I kept the bouillon in the fridge just to make sure it didn't go rancid, and it was fine.

The zucchini and summer squash ended up kind of soggy when reheated, so I think I'll stick with broccoli and peas in the future.

We didn't end up eating all the food we brought, but I'd rather have too much than too little.

Lunch

For lunches we ate at counter service restaurants in the parks. I tracked down the updated gluten free lists beforehand, which was helpful. Unfortunately, they made some changes in the last year, and they don’t have dedicated fryers for gluten free fries anymore L They’ll bake them for you, but they take forever, and everyone else’s food is getting cold and the little one is getting impatient….

Monday we ate at Pizzafari in the Animal Kingdom. LMS and I ordered the gluten free pizza. I don't remember the brand, maybe OMG It's Gluten Free? Whatever brand, it was disgusting. The pizzas were very small and tasted like pasty cardboard. Gross! They came with caesar salads minus the croutons and dressing, but we didn't eat them- I found multiple bread crumbs in the salads. I don't think they picked croutons off, I think the cheese or lettuce bin was contaminated with bread crumbs. Not worth the hassle to get them replaced, so we gave them to the guys. Our meals cost the same as the guys' pizzas and salads, despite the drastic difference in amount of food, and were grossly overpriced.

Tuesday we ate at Liberty Inn in Epcot. LMS and I ordered gluten free hamburgers and grapes for her and an OMG It's Gluten Free brownie for me. The wait was long, but the food tasted pretty good, though I had to save my brownie for later since it was still frozen. It tasted pretty good once it defrosted.

Wednesday we ate at Fairfax Fare in Hollywood Studios. LMS got a kids meal turkey sandwich, applesauce, and Enjoy Life gluten free chocolate chip cookies. They used a gluten free bun for the sandwich, but it was still frozen and very stale. Yuck. I ordered a half rack of ribs with slaw and baked beans. They weren't on the gluten free list because of the potential for cross-contamination, but I decided to risk it. The flavor of the sauce was good, but the cut of meat was substandard- very gristly and not at all fall-off-the-bone tender. I didn't get glutened, so I was happy.

Thursday morning we picked up our race packets, and weren’t actually in one of the parks yet, so we went to 5 Guys for burgers and fries.

Friday we went to Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios, but I hadn’t been able to find any gluten free info ahead of time, and nothing looked promising while we were there. So we made do with some snacks (Butterbeer is quite tasty!) and ate a late lunch/early dinner at PF Changs. I’ve heard good things about PF Changs in general, as well as their gluten free options. I’ve never eaten there because we don’t have one nearby, so when I found one in the Orlando area, we decided to give it a try. It was quite yummy, and a nice change from our other dinner choices.

Dinner

We ate at Outback one night- we’ve always had good luck with their gluten free menu, though it does get pricey. We also ate at Chili’s several times, but that started getting old. We ate at 5 Guys a couple times, and we did Chipotle for lunch Saturday after the races.

End result
13 meals not prepared by me, but no gluten! Unlike last year, when I got glutened two days in a row. Whether this was because there was truly no contamination or because my intestines have made progress, I don’t know, but I’m not complaining. While LMS and I did react a bit to what we ate (dairy, rice, and potatoes were the major offenders we ate), it was a lot less pronounced than I was afraid it was going to be.

Overall, our experience eating gluten free at Disney World was quite a let down after last year, when we had a much better experience. I know suppliers and options available are always changing, but having a wider variety of options that taste good would be nice.

I’m really glad I brought the broth. Before we left, we were getting sick, so I did some research and found a suggestion here to add kudzu root starch to our broth to help us get over our colds quicker. I actually had a bag of kudzu root starch in the cupboard, so I added it to our broth all week. I really think it helped LMS recover quickly and shortened my symptoms. Though running a half marathon and fighting a cold was a bit too much for my body to handle at the same time, so I did relapse a bit.

Super Yummy Nightshade Free BBQ Ribs

ok, so they don't look pretty, but they taste good! we served them with steamed broccoli and mashed roasted cauliflower. Yum!

Ribs are easy to prepare, but BBQ sauces have tomatoes and peppers in them, and rubs have paprika and cayenne (also peppers) in them. Since nightshades and I don't get along, that was a problem. We've been doing some research, and after some trial and error, we've come up with some ribs that are yummy and don't have the offending nightshades.

Super Yummy Nightshade Free BBQ Ribs (adapted from a recipe found here)

Baby back ribs
Fauxmato BBQ Sauce
Sweet Dry Rub

Remove membrane from back of ribs. Place ribs on a sheet of foil on a cookie sheet and sprinkle dry rub on one side, then rub it in. Turn over and do the same for the other side. Let sit for 15 or 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees while ribs are resting. Spread bbq sauce on both sides of the ribs. Place a sheet of foil on top of ribs and fold over all sides, sealing the ribs into a packet. Bake ribs in oven for at least 2 hours. We've baked them for 2 1/2 hours and they've just fallen apart before we even got them on the grill. Experiment and see what works best with your oven. After removing from oven, carefully open foil and spread more bbq sauce on the ribs. Throw (or gently place) ribs on the grill for about 10 minutes each side. Be careful not to have the grill too hot or to leave them on too long as the sugars will burn instead of caramelizing. Remove from grill and enjoy!

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, peanut free, nut free, coconut free, soy free, as well as free of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, sorghum, tapioca, and shellfish. Always check labels before using to make sure the ingredients and/or manufacturing conditions haven't been changed.

Nightshade Free Sweet Dry Rub

When I made ribs this week, I first had to make the BBQ sauce and the dry rub.

BBQ rubs usually have paprika in them, but paprika is made from peppers and I can't eat it, even in small amounts. Because of the lack of paprika and the presence of black pepper, this rub is a bit peppery instead of spicy.

Sweet Dry Rub (adapted from a recipe found here, other ideas are there as well)
6 Tbl brown sugar
3 Tbl Sea salt or Kosher salt (you want a coarse salt that won't soak into the meat right away)
3 Tbl ground black pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp mustard powder

Mix ingredients together and store in a cool, dry place.

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, peanut free, nut free, coconut free, soy free, as well as free of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, sorghum, tapioca, and shellfish. Always check labels before using to make sure the ingredients and/or manufacturing conditions haven't been changed.

Fauxmato BBQ Sauce (Tomato Free)

I made ribs this week, which meant I finally sat down and tried to figure out our BBQ sauce recipe. This version tasted close to the one Mr M made awhile ago (but didn't document) that we've been trying to re-create since. This sauce gets a Korean BBQ sauce flavor from the sesame oil and ume plum vinegar, but it's not over-powering. In the past we've used a bottled Korean BBQ sauce that was really good that contained whole sesame seeds, so you could easily add a tablespoon or two of whole sesame seeds as well.

Fauxmato BBQ Sauce

4 c fauxmato sauce
2 tbl worcestershire sauce (recipe found here, mix together the ingredients below)
     1/2 c cider vinegar
     2 tbsp coconut aminos
     2 tsps water
     1/4 tsp mustard powder
     1/4 tsp onion powder
     1/4 tsp ground ginger
     1/4 tsp garlic powder
     1/8 tsp pepper
     1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 tbl sesame oil
1 tbl ume plum vinegar
1/3 c brown sugar
1 tbl coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute)
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp molasses
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 bay leaf

Simmer for about half an hour. Remove bay leaf and use sauce. Freeze or refrigerate leftovers. Great on ribs and chicken.

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, peanut free, nut free, coconut free, soy free, as well as free of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, sorghum, tapioca, and shellfish. Always check labels before using to make sure the ingredients and/or manufacturing conditions haven't been changed.

Dragging Through More Food Issues

LMS with creepy googly eyes. Ick!

We've been having food issues again. I had to stop buying the pre-made guacamole because the peppers in it were giving me problems. Nobody makes guacamole that doesn't include hot peppers. It's not a huge deal, but it was convenient to have packets of guac sitting in the frig for whenever I wanted to use it.

Along the same lines, the paprika in BBQ rubs is also a problem. And every store bought rub and recipe I've found all include paprika. In case you were wondering, paprika comes from peppers. Grrrr.

We've also had to eliminate most rice products. LMS has been in denial about this for months now, but I noticed some time ago that our weekly pasta night was giving her intestinal issues. I've also noticed that pasta and rice were triggers for her- she would ask for seconds, then thirds of whichever was being served. Since she doesn't do this with other foods and I react the same way when I eat trigger foods, I was able to recognize it for what it was. I was also reacting after my morning bowl of gf rice crispies mixed with rice granola, topped off with rice milk. Yeah, it was a lot of rice.

We still have our gf rice crispies mixed with rice granola, but now we top it with hemp milk. I'm not super fond of the taste of hemp milk, but I'm not reacting as much and I still haven't come up other breakfast options. We've stopped eating rice and pasta and are substituting with cauliflower rice, spaghetti squash "noodles", and zucchini noodles. I have a package of kelp noodles and one of shiritake noodles in the frig, but we haven't been brave enough to try them yet. Some day soon....

We're doing better now that we're limiting the amount of rice we're eating, and I think it's helping me lose weight. Yay!

Over the last couple years as we've tried to figure out these food issues, I've noticed just how much what I eat affects how I feel physically and mentally. The physical part is fairly obvious, but the mental is the hardest to deal with, I think. I hate the fuzzy thinking, the memory problems, and the heightened anxiety levels. My motivation to do things plummets and my ability to focus and get things done also disappears. Combine that with my recent illness and we have the reason why I still haven't finished my current painting projects.  Thankfully I'm finally feeling better all around and have started making progress again. Now if I can just keep the status quo from getting disrupted....

Ranch Burgers {Gluten Free, Dairy Free}

I know, two recipes in a row? It won't happen again, I promise :)

Yesterday I posted the onion rings I made, and mentioned the ranch burgers I served them with. I'm sure the picture wasn't super helpful in explaining what our version of a ranch burger is, so I'll explain.

Mr M used to season our hamburgers with a mixture of spices and such, which usually included tamari sauce (gluten free soy sauce) and worcestershire sauce. Both contain soy, though, and are no longer on the approved foods list.

So what to add to our burgers?

We came up with the idea of adding powdered ranch mix to the meat. Ok, maybe we saw the idea somewhere, but I'm not sure where. In any case, it sounded like a good idea, but then we needed a dairy free ranch mix that would still taste similar to "real" (i.e., Hidden Valley) ranch.

Then I remembered seeing a recipe on a blog I follow for dairy free mock ranch dressing.

Since we use the recipe as she wrote it, I'll refer you back to her blog for the recipe. I like to mix up a double or triple batch so it's ready whenever I want to use it.

Ranch Burgers

1lb burger (beef, elk, etc)
1-2 tbl dairy free ranch mix

Sprinkle the dry mix over the burger (I just eyeball how much I think will be good- more will give a stronger, yummier flavor), then mix well to incorporate the mix into the meat. Form into patties and toss 'em on the grill.

When done, serve with grilled veggies and some gluten free onion rings.

LMS isn't fond of lettuce, so we don't usually wrap our burgers in lettuce, but that is always an option. We also don't add any other toppings (not that there are many that we could actually eat) because the ranch mix gives such a good flavor to the meat that we don't need additional condiments, though Mr M likes to melt some cheese on his. And we just use a fork to eat it- less messy that way :)

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, peanut free, nut free, coconut free, soy free, and {of course} free of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, sorghum, tapioca, and shellfish. Always check labels before using to make sure the ingredients and/or manufacturing conditions haven't been changed.

Gluten Free Onion Rings

It's been years since I've had onion rings, and lately I've been thinking I'd like to make some. After doing some searching, I found a recipe here that looked pretty straightforward and simple. I did have to change some of the spices, but I think the result tasted great. Though I did remember part of the reason why I haven't had onion rings in so long (aside from the whole gluten free thing). All the oil in fried foods doesn't agree with my stomach :(

This recipe makes onion rings that are coated in a nice, light tempura-like batter. Yum!

Gluten Free Onion Rings

adapted from anaseidel.com

1 cup rice flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1- 1 1/2 cups water

1 large vidalia (sweet) onion, peeled and cut in thick rings, then separated

Mix the dry ingredients, then add 1 cup of water. Mix and add more water if needed. (I used 1 1/4 cups of water) Batter should be on the thin side. 

Let the batter sit for 5 minutes.

Heat some oil in a pot over medium heat.

After the batter has rested for 5 minutes, place some onion rings in the batter and turn them over to coat them.

Let the excess batter drip off (I used a fork), then carefully place in hot oil.

Turn once to allow even browning, then remove from oil and drain on paper towels.

Repeat with remaining onion pieces and batter.

Enjoy!

I served the onion rings with ranch burgers (recipe tomorrow!) and grilled veggies. Yum!

Gluten Free Onion Rings

adapted from anaseidel.com

1 cup rice flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1- 1 1/2 cups water

1 large vidalia (sweet) onion, peeled and cut in thick rings, then separated

1. Mix the dry ingredients, then add 1 cup of water. Mix and add more water if needed. (I used 1 1/4 cups of water) Batter should be on the thin side. 

2. Let the batter sit for 5 minutes.

3. Heat some oil in a pot over medium heat.

4. After the batter has rested for 5 minutes, place some onion rings in the batter and turn them over to coat them.

5. Let the excess batter drip off (I used a fork), then carefully place in hot oil.

6. Turn once to allow even browning, then remove from oil and drain on paper towels.

7. Repeat with remaining onion pieces and batter.

8. Enjoy!

This recipe is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, corn free, peanut free, nut free, coconut free, soy free (depending on the type of oil you use to fry the onion rings- be sure to check the label), and {of course} free of tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, sorghum, tapioca, and shellfish. Always check labels before using to make sure the ingredients and/or manufacturing conditions haven't been changed.

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!

What we eat: Christmas dinner

This is over a month late, but better late than never, right?

Turkey

Red, white, and blue jello salad (my mom's recipe)

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Brussels sprouts

Homemade applesauce

Olives

Gluten free cheddar chive biscuits (store bought)

Apple cider

Apple crisp

Vanilla ice cream (a variation of this)

The jello salad, mashed potatoes, and biscuits weren't on our list of ok foods, but since we fudged less than at Thanksgiving, there were fewer problems this time. Thankfully LMS is getting better at recognizing when she needs to run (not walk) to the bathroom. The accidents are getting fewer and farther between. Yay!

Our Gluten Free Disney World Experience

Last weekend was our first time at Disney World. We've been to Disney Land several times, so we knew basically what to expect, but as everyone warned, DW is huge!

The Parks

We ended up with one day for each of the DW parks, and for the most part, that was enough. A lot of the rides are similar (if not the same) as rides at DL, so we knew right off which ones we weren't going to do (the teacups, for one). We did some of the shows- some were good, some were beyond cheesy. We could have spent more time watching shows and riding rides that we've ridden at DL and standing in line to meet characters, but since we didn't have time to spare we skipped over those.

We took LMS on several roller coaster type rides, and she loved them all! We always kept a tight grip on her, but every time we looked over to make sure she was ok, she had a great big grin on her face.

The Hotels

Our days were pretty long, which is a pity, since we didn't get to enjoy our hotels. We weren't able to make our reservations as early as I would have liked because we had to resolve some schedule issues, so a lot of rooms were already filled. We wanted to stay at a resort hotel for at least Friday night so we could catch the shuttle directly to the start line. Other hotels also ran shuttles, but they weren't as close to the resort.

We ended up staying the last three nights of our stay at Shades of Green, which is for military personnel, and our first two nights at the Yacht Club, because SoG didn't have any openings the first two nights.

Both hotels were very nice, but our room at SoG was bigger than the one at the YC and was half the price. Oh well. If we do this again we'll make sure we make our reservations further in advance. We did get to try out the pool at SofG, which LMS loved, but missed the pools at the YC.

The Food

I was a bit nervous about eating without getting glutened, but we didn't have any problems. I had several pages saved on my iphone and I referred to them at mealtimes- which restaurants had gluten free offerings, as well as which specific gluten free foods could be found in which restaurants.

We ate breakfast in our hotel room (gluten free cereal and coconut milk), then had lunch and dinner at the park (or Chili's restaurant outside the park). We only worried about staying gluten free and didn't focus on all the food sensitivities. While we reacted to the foods we ate, it wasn't horrible.

We only ate at counter service restaurants. Apparently you have to make reservations for all the sit down places, but I wasn't willing to mess with that since I didn't know where we were going to be at any given day/time. We also skipped the buffets because I don't trust them. People use tongs to get food and then touch the tongs to the bun or whatever on their plate, then put the tongs back in the container of food. That's more than enough to cause me massive amounts of discomfort and pain.

We ended up eating hamburgers on gluten free buns (no lettuce because it was in a buffet line), french fries, chicken strips, a salad with chicken, and gluten free cheese pizza. Not a ton of variety, but our meals were prepared by the manager each time, and dedicated fryers were used for the fried items. We got enough to eat, and we didn't get glutened. Definitely a success!

We also stopped in Downtown Disney so we could go to the Babycakes NYC bakery. I was curious to see if their products were any good. We got a pumpkin cupcake, a lemon cupcake, a chocolate frosted donut, and a slice of pumpkin chocolate chip loaf. It was ridiculously expensive (seriously, even for gluten free baked goods, it was expensive), but tasted very good and had great texture. Like hard-to-believe-it's-gluten-free-and-vegan-good.

Unfortunately, while the products are vegan, they do use potato starch, corn starch, tapioca starch, and sorghum flour. I can handle the first three within reason, but sorghum flour does not agree with my body at all. Even so, it's a good thing we don't have one of these nearby, or I would be tempted to spend way more than I should getting gluten free treats :)

We had a lot of fun on our vacation!

Gluten free frog eye salad recipe with egg free option

I've been meaning to post my gluten free frog eye salad for awhile, but with our added food restrictions I haven't seen the point in making it (we can't eat the marshmallows, cool whip, tapioca pearls, or eggs, and the oranges are on the iffy list) and I couldn't quite remember how I'd done it before- it's been a year and a half since I last made it. Mr M convinced me to fudge things a bit for Thanksgiving so I decided to go ahead and make some frog eye salad so I could finally post the recipe.

I've been able to eat small amounts of corn products without too many problems, so I was willing to fudge most of the ingredients, but I wasn't willing to eat eggs. I tried eating some last month and it was not pleasant. So I tried making the custard with a flax egg, and it actually turned out pretty good. While it's not as pretty as an egg custard, it tastes very similar to what I remember it tasting like, and Mr M agreed.

Gluten free, Egg free Frog Eye Salad

EF Custard

½ c sugar

1 tbl fine brown rice flour (I used Authentic Foods)

¼ tsp salt

1 cup pineapple juice drained from 20 oz can of pineapple that you use later

1 flax egg (1 tbl ground flax seed + 3 tbl boiling water, let sit for a few minutes to thicken) or use 1 egg if you're not egg free, beat the egg well

2 tsp lemon juice

Whisk together dry ingredients then whisk in pineapple juice and flax egg. Heat over medium heat , stirring occasionally. Bring to boil and continue to cook for a few more minutes till thickened. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Allow to cool, it will “gel” as it cools, so stir occasionally.

The custard as it cools and gels. The brown flecks are bits of ground flax. 

GF “acini de pepe”

1.5 c large tapioca pearls

Bring water to boil in a large saucepan/pot. Whisk in tapioca pearls.

Stir occasionally and cook till most of the pearls are translucent (about 17 min).

Turn off heat and let sit for another 5 minutes or so till the pearls have only small bits of white left in the centers. Carefully dump tapioca into a fine mesh sieve and gently rinse the gel from around the pearls (I had to do it in three batches because my sieve isn’t big enough to hold it all).

rinsing the tapioca pearls

Allow pearls to cool in bowl.

Bring it all together

1 20 oz can crushed pineapple (juice drained and used in custard)

2 11 oz cans mandarin oranges, drained (juice can be used in custard if needed to make 1 cup)

1.5 c mini marshmallows

8 oz tub cool whip

Once the custard and tapioca are cool, gently fold together.

Carefully add pineapple, oranges, marshmallows, coconut, and cool whip and mix together. Refrigerate overnight.

Enjoy!
My previous posts on gluten free frog eye salad are here and here.

If you make it, let me know how it turns out for you!

What we ate for Thanksgiving dinner

Mr M convinced me to relax some of our food restrictions for Thanksgiving. Not sure that's going to happen again- my intestines aren't too happy. We were gluten, egg, and soy free, but we still ate potatoes, tapioca, corn and corn products, and sorghum.

I bought the ham from the Honey Baked Ham store and the gravy was Imagine brand. Both are gluten free. Mr M really wanted a HB Ham so we went that route instead of the traditional turkey this year. While pricey, there was zero stress when it came to preparing it. You let it sit on the counter for a half hour or so before you eat, and then you eat it. Sooo simple! I did purchase a turkey from the grocery store because it was a great price, but it's sitting in the freezer- we'll probably have it for Christmas.

The mashed potatoes had coconut milk and Earth Balance soy free "butter" in them.

I made the cranberry pear sauce using this recipe, and there was no questionable ingredients in it.

I made the frog eye salad using my MIL's recipe that I adapted to be more within our limits- tapioca pearls instead of acini de pepe pasta and a flax egg instead of a real egg in the custard- I'll post the recipe soon now that I have it (finally) figured out.

The oranges in the jello are still on the iffy list, but I sure do like them :)

I made the cornbread and sausage stuffing mix using this recipe. I had planned on making my own corn bread from scratch, but I couldn't find gluten free cornmeal so I used Bob's Redmill gluten free cornbread mix. I've used it before and it's super easy to make, but the mix also contains sorghum flour, which makes my intestines really unhappy. Better the sorghum than gluten contamination, though.

I was going to do some green veggies- salad or something, but we eat lots of vegetables and we decided to take a break for the day :) Do olives count as veggies? Mr M insisted that Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without some olives.

We also had blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream and  a pumpkin bread trifle. Yummy! I found the blueberry pie recipe here and the vanilla ice cream recipe was adapted from this recipe.

I used this recipe for the pumpkin bread trifle, which isn't super attractive-looking, but did taste good.

Everything tasted yummy, and while my intestines weren't super happy, my stomach and throat didn't bother me (if I'd eaten eggs or gluten they would have), so I'm not complaining too much. If it was just my intestines, I might fudge things more often. Unfortunately, the mental fog comes back if I eat foods that don't agree with me. So it's probably a good thing I don't fudge on a regular basis. I'll have to decide if it's worth it do this again come Christmas. It does make meal planning easier, and as long as we don't go anywhere LMS and I can be close to the bathroom. Hmmmm....

Grilled elk tenderloin

While I was laid out on the couch last night (I think it's highly unfair that I have to endure painful monthly cramps when none of my other lady parts seem to be able to work properly) Mr M made a really yummy dinner.

He grabbed an elk tenderloin from the freezer, defrosted it and then rubbed some salt on it and let it sit for awhile.  While it was sitting, he put a butternut squash in the oven to bake.

Mr M briefly rinsed the salt off the meat, then brushed on the fauxmato bbq sauce that he had made a couple weeks ago (I still need to do a post on the fauxmato sauce). He then tossed it on the grill to cook.

When the squash was done he scraped the flesh and pureed it in the BlendTec, using some canned coconut milk to thin it.

When the meat was done, he sliced it and we sat down to a dinner of grilled elk tenderloin and coconut squash puree. The elk was a smidge salty (he'll rinse the salt off more next time) and the squash a tad runny (he'll use a little less milk next time), but it all tasted soooo good! The tenderloin was so tender and juicy no knife was needed, and the flavor was great. The flavor combination of the tenderloin and the squash really hit the spot.

I didn't get any pictures because we ate it all up so fast :)  I'll try to get some next time, since we will definitely be making this again.

I'm so glad I have a husband who likes to cook and who has taken on the challenge of cooking meals we can eat :)

Is a Blendtec really worth the price?

image source

After the very first green smoothie, I'd have to say YES.

Our old blender, a fairly decent KitchenAid model that was only a year or two old, just couldn't manage to blend everything up really smooth.

The Blendtec effortlessly blended everything- no chunks or little bits of kale and spinach left behind. We had to do some chewing with the last few smoothies I made with the KitchenAid blender. The Blendtec is noisy, but I don't mind the trade-off. Having fully blended food is definitely worth a little extra noise.

I had heard great things about the Blendtec and its close rival the Vitamix on a lot of the food blogs I follow, but the cost really made me hesitate. I debated for *months* before finally deciding to bite the bullet and buy a Blendtec. I'm glad we finally did it!

We've used it for making green smoothies, mixing up our ice cream before putting it in the machine, mixing up salad dressing, pureeing steamed squash, and making Nomato sauce (more on that one later...). I'm sure we'll be using it even more as we do more experimenting in the kitchen in an effort to find more recipes we like and can use.