Another wonderful resource

The other day when I posted about "my brain," I included resources that I use to help get my brain in order.  However, I forgot about one wonderful resource I use all the time.... The Low Carb Diner ebook.  This book has an amazing section in the beginning explaining how you can simplify your meal planning. Lisa takes you through the steps to get your kitchen preparation and messes down to the fewest amount of days possible, but with delicious dishes coming out of it every day.  I love to cook once a month and use freezer meal planning quite a bit.  Lisa includes some freezer recipes as well as including other quick meal ideas (like how to make 3 meals at once) and ways to plan for the whole thing.  It is really a WONDERFUL resource I use so much that I forgot to include it...it is just such a natural part of what I do now!

Another wonderful thing about this ebook is, since it is Low Carb, most of the recipes are 100% safe for those of us that are Gluten-Free.  I can't think of anything off the top of my head that may need a substitution, but she might have soy sauce in a recipe or two.

She has a blog that goes along with the ebook and expounds on it.  She includes more recipes, explains how she makes things and has beautiful pictures.

Although I am doing this of my own volition and get no money out of the deal (I just want to share the great resource!), I feel it is only right that I let you know that Lisa is a wonderful friend of mine as well. :-)  She is an exceptional lady with a great family.  I have been privileged to know her for about 10 years now.

update on GF reviews

We found the Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake mix and Brittany made it for tonight. I just had my first bite and mmmmmmmmmmmmm. DELICIOUS! You would NEVER know it is Gluten Free!!

Gluten Free Reviews

Betty Crocker has come out with some gluten free products.  Usually we make things from scratch, but since going gluten free, it has been harder (and more expensive) to make things from scratch.  Because of that and because it is always great to see more products that I can readily eat, I was very excited to see Betty Crocker's new dessert mixes on the shelf of ALL of my usual grocery stores.  Not only are the mixes Gluten-Free they are also made in a gluten free processing facility.  What a relief for those that are very sensitive to gluten.

So far the four mixes they have are: Brownie Mix, Cookie Mix, Devil's Food Cake Mix and Yellow Cake Mix.  We have made the brownies several times now -- VERY YUMMY!! and made the Yellow Cake mix -- very good.  We have not tried the cookies yet and we have been unable to find the Devil's Food Cake Mix.

On Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Page they have many recipes to make with the mixes as well, which will greatly increase my dessert repertoire! I have to say, you could not tell that these mixes were gluten free.  They would definitely be able to be served to anyone who likes a yummy dessert!

On their box (and on their page) they also include the story of why they have added gluten free products to their line.  I find it encouraging that they are branching into GF and hope that other companies will as well.  It is also great that the mainstream stores are carrying the GF products now. It is very helpful to not have to shop at a specialty store to be able to buy things I can eat and enjoy.  I am sure that Betty Crocker, by having a gluten free line, is helping to bring awareness to store buyers that GF consumers are willing and excited about buying GF products at the stores they regularly shop.

As a side note...it is important to know that the cake mix only makes ONE 8x8 cake. If you are wanting to make a double layer cake or a larger cake you will need to buy two boxes.

As a "newbie" celiac, I am still in the "trying things out" stage.  I have tried Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix and I really liked it.  We have used it to bread Marsala Chicken (turned out okay but I think it needed more breading) and we made muffins.  Yummy for the tummy muffins. They came out wonderfully! I can't wait to try out more recipes with the mix.  

We also tried Pamela's Chocolate Cake Mix. Although I have heard RAVE reviews about it, I did not like it - it was very bitter to me.  We had a small glitch while making it, which may have caused the problem, so we are going to try again. The problem being - the GF products are rather costly to keep trying them out.

Before becoming GF I frequently had pasta. Pasta was one of my favorite easy and quick lunches to make on school days.  I had tried some low carb pasta a few years ago when I was on the Atkin's diet.  I did not much like the pasta and have been happy not to try it again.  However, being a pasta fanatic, I couldn't stay away. This time I bought some quinoa pasta.  I tried it the other night and wasn't too impressed.  It was rather tasteless. It did, however, have a good texture and wasn't bitter at all.  I may try it again with a different sauce or in a dish with a lot of taste.

For the most part, I find it easiest (and cheapest) to just stay away from any bread-type products.  It is nice, though, to be able to add a few items to our menu that are "bready."  It is especially helpful to see that the grocery stores are starting to add more and more GF products.

So long Gluten, I won't miss ya

I have a story to tell you. It's kind of long... but then, I am long-winded. I like to tell stories from the beginning.

In the beginning, God... (oops, you probably know that part) let me skip ahead a little...

About 7 months after having Brittany, I started experiencing excruciating pain in my hips and extreme weakness in my hands and ankles. After some testing, the doctor diagnosed me with Rheumatoid Arthritis and put me on medicine to help me. After the medicine ate a hole in my stomach, doctors determined I shouldn't be on it anymore and were trying to figure out how to help me. Somewhere around this time, my mom said I should look into food allergies. I researched and decided to do an elimination diet to see if that was the issue. Soon I was able to figure out that wheat was the culprit. I had a test for celiac disease and came up with what they considered a borderline case of celiac. I stopped having gluten for a while and my symptoms all disappeared, including some bonus symptoms like eczema and acne.


At some point, my doctor thought it was okay to try gluten again so I added it back in and didn't experience symptoms. I thought I was home-free.

Fast forward a few years. Once again, I was having the same symptoms so I, again, cut out gluten. After a few months I started eating regularly again. I repeated this pattern one or two more times. I wasn't seeing the same doctor anymore because I had moved to a different state. I was not consulting with a new doctor about it because, honestly, I thought I had it all under control. I didn't do much research into it (which is unusual for me) but, as far as I could tell, my system was working....there wasn't anything to fix.

That is, besides a persistent pain in my left side. (I have a funny story about that. I will have to tell you later.) Anyway, I have been tested for thing after thing after thing and they even took my gall bladder out but the pain never went away.

Now we are up to the present. Since my fall off a ladder in June, I haven't quite been the same. I have had a whole myriad of lovely things happening: everything from horrendous headaches to muscle spasms to stomach problems. My doctor said it would take "quite a while" for my body to get back to "normal." Recently things having been going even more awry! Terrible acne, pain in my stomach so bad I haven't wanted to eat, problems with elimination (won't gross you out with THAT story), and I gained about 20 pounds in a month, all round my belly. Craziness. Couldn't figure out what was going wrong. Then, my darling husband said a magic word...."celiac?"

DUH!!! (Sorry for the "bad word" as my kids call it, but really...where WAS my brain??)

I went gluten free about 3 weeks ago. What an improvement! ALL of my symptoms have gotten better! ALL OF THEM! The headaches, muscles aches, stomach problems, acne, eczema, etc etc. Now I am not 100% cured. I understand it will take awhile. However, I am doing SO much better. And researching. Researching like crazy.

I WILL NOT add gluten back in. I can't even tell you how much I WANT to stay away from it now. I DO NOT want the pain and the symptoms. My darling oldest daughter made Michael a beautiful Pioneer Woman Chocolate Sheet Cake for his birthday yesterday and I was NOT EVEN TEMPTED to taste it! instead I had the (naturally gluten free) frosting over some sliced bananas and was happy as a lark. :-)

So I am beginning an old/new journey. Old because I have been on it before. New because I am not thinking about it as a small vacation from gluten but a "So long, goodbye, don't let the door hit you in the butt" absolute break-up.

And my tummy agrees. I have gotten trace elements of gluten a few times in the last 3 weeks and my tummy has IMMEDIATELY let me know. Brittany says I am now a human radar for gluten. I think my body finally had enough. It has gone into full out rebellion and I am finally listening.

I am sorry body.
Please forgive me.
I will treat you better.

I will feed you things like this:
Brownies
Polenta Vegetable Lasagna
Crepes

And we will be very happy.