Being Gluten Free

Recipes Gluten Free

Dec 13 2017

I’m still figuring out this blog thing so I hope that I can organize it so that it is easy to find different types of posts.  I have been doing a lot of gluten-free cooking lately because of the holidays so it has been on my mind.  Many years ago I had lots of very weird bizarre GI problems that cropped up that took more than 2 years to figure out.  As soon as I stopped eating wheat-containing products, the problem went away in less than 36 hrs.  This is apparently very common for people with a gluten allergy.  However, being gluten free is not without its frustrations.  Others automatically assume you are celiac and then want to counsel you about your own diet.  Celiac disease is certainly very awful and I cannot imagine having severe reactions over just a micrograms of gluten.  And, honestly, people just like to tell many others about how to manage their health conditions has been my experience.  I have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis for more than 10 years and I still occasionally get incredulous reactions that I cannot have MS because I have not gone blind in one eye (optic neuritis) or I don’t have some other commonly held myth about MS.  Anyway, back to being gluten free.

Yesterday after returning to the airport, I stopped at a grocery store that is on the way home.  The gentleman in front of me at the cash register was talking about his family and it sounds as if at least one if not more than one person in his household was celiac.  He said the hardest thing is the bread.  I tend to agree, but told him that I think Schar is perhaps the best bread out there for being gluten free.  It is also expensive and normally about $5 a loaf.  I don’t use this very often because I think the cost is ridiculous and I make my own bread now.  I have found that Glutino is terrible tasting and Udi’s is even worse.  Don’t subject any of your gluten-free friends to these awful products.  There are plenty of gluten-free waffles available in the grocery store and at our local co-op market.  Vans and Nature’s Bounty are all just fine.  They work well as bread substitutes when I eat eggs over easy and want something to sop up the yolks. 

Many people comment to me about how it must be so hard to be gluten-free.  Well, for me it really is not.  If you are celiac, then you have to be much more careful, but I think that most of the things I eat that are gluten-free probably a celiac could also eat as well.  There is a treasure trove of different recipes online that I have compiled.  At some point I may organize these into a single volume.  I remember that for the first few days figuring out breakfast was a bit of a challenge.  I think I ate eggs and black beans for breakfast the first few days.  Some interesting recipes were found using “Paleo” breakfast since folks on Paleo diets don’t eat any grains.  My favorite out of that list was a simple smoothie with avocado and frozen raspberries.  I think it includes orange juice as well, but that makes it too sweet for me.  Easy - take a bag of frozen raspberries and one avocado (scooped out …of course).  Put in a blender.  Add some water if it is too thick.  Easy.  These days you can get avocado in packages in the produce section if you don’t want an avocado to go bad on you in the house. 

This morning I made an easy egg frittata.  Just take 4 eggs and some egg white (3/4 to 1 cup) and mix together.  Add in your favorite chopped vegetables.  I usually use peppers and tomatoes and onions.  The original recipe used mushrooms, but I dislike mushrooms.  Put into a greased Al-foil lined skillet (I have cast iron - about 8-9 inch skillet).  Toss some cheese on top and cook at 375°F for 45 minutes.  Easy.  Just wrap the remaining pieces in the Al foil and keep in fridge.  Wrapping it in the foil actually keeps it better than putting into plastic containers I have found. 

My favorite “show” on public radio used to be America’s Test Kitchen which has now turned into Christopher Kimball’s MilkStreet.  In any case, I have their Gluten Free cookbooks and the Paleo cookbook (Gluten Free 1, Gluten Free 2 and Paleo) on my “Kindle” on my iPad.  They were worth the investment.  I like how they go through all the science and mistakes they made while perfecting their recipes.  It is far easier now to get good gluten-free ideas now than ever before.  I have a friend whose son had a weird gluten allergy more than 10 years ago.  It was not so easy for her since the gluten-free and paleo ‘revolution’ had not started yet.