Gluten Free Cooking that Was Yummy

I have been experimenting lately with a lot of pre-made boxed gluten free mixes to see what I like but mostly to see if my father in law and husband will eat whatever it is I have attempted to bake. I have to share the latest item they have enjoyed, Cherrybrook Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. I suspected they were going to be good just by tasting the batter but once they were cooked a sitting out to cool, they disappeared very quickly. I made it with my Ghee butter (caisen and gluten free), flaxseed oil, flaxseeds and added extra chocolate allergy friendly chips.  Even with all the healthy stuff those two guys couldn’t get enough of them and were even mad the next evening when they were gone because I had taken the last few to work with me.  Like Namaste, you save the proof of purchase and once you have some saved up, send them in for a free cook book.  Here is their website http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/products/gf_sugarcookie.php. Please be sure to read the contents of their products some are GF, Nut Free and Casein free and some are only Nut and casein free. I also wanted to let you know that the dairy free cheese I recently purchase is yummy and melts like regular cheese. I melted it in my husband’s eggs this morning and he couldn’t even tell the difference :0)  The brand again is Daiya.  I have only tried the mozerella but will get the cheddar next time I’m at the store to try.  I also purchased the Justin’s almond butter after my acupuncturist told me to eat almonds and walnuts for a snack. I was hesitant since I have never really liked almond butter but the Justin’s Honey Almond butter is delicious.  While making an experimentation breakfast this morning, I needed to find out if Rosarita beans are gluten free so naturally I googled on my cell phone and found a great site that lists gluten free products sold at Walmart. Yes, Rosarita refried beans are gluten free but so are the rest of the items on the list http://www.gluten-free-diet-help.com/gluten-free-products.html.

Meeting with Nutrionist & Fertiity Pointers for those with Celiacs

So for those of you who are in to free stuff (and I am) it is important that I mention once again that all vitamin cottages have in house fully trained nutrionists that you can make appointments with. I had my first appointment last Sunday and I have to say it was a very helpful and informative session so much that I made a follow up appointment for a few weeks from now. We went through a questionnaire, talked about my current lifestyle and eating habbits and discussed problems that Celiacs causes in the body. One of the issues Celiacs is behind is the big C…constipation. Yes I just said constipation. This happens because your intestine and your colon get damaged and can’t process foods. Also included in the discussion was that the colonics I had been getting were making the problem worse because my body wasn’t having to figure out how to do things on its own.  So I was spending money to get better but actually making things worse….now that is super frustrating…but so my luck these days.  The nutritionist went on to talk about how every meal needs to be balanced. It was fine that I juiced in the morning but I needed to add a little protein to my juice and make it a smoothie instead of just juice and ice.  If I had oatmeal, do not eat instant, make it from scratch on the stove and add one egg while cooking or eat an egg with your oatmeal.  For lunch and/or dinner, servings of veggies should be two fists, meat (protein) the size of your palm, whole grains the size of one fist and healthy fats such as oil the size of your thumb and that is all I can remember from portion sizes.  She handed me a meal wheal that explained portions and what is best to eat from each category and then we started discussing things she felt I needed to be taking to heal my body from the gluten damage.  I was already taking Glutenese and Digest Gold which were on her list, Vitamin D was also on her list. I had already been told by my doctor that I needed to take Vitamin D so this made it official. Coconut oil was also on her list. This is a good alternative oil to cook with and is also good for the hair and skin. Last on her list were magnesium (to help with stress and digestion) and probiotics.  She suggested trying the gluten free powder she mixed with water every night and although I was already on probiotics, she switched mine to one that restarts your digestive system (great….I was picturing myself having to run to the bathroom all day long) and then once you seem better, you can start taking regular probiotics.  Last but not least and my favorite part of the conversation….the nutritionist recommended choosing a time of day I would like to get my body to “go” at everyday and go and sit on the toilet for about 20 minutes. This would train my body to start going at the time and get things moving.  I guess I never thought about the fact that we can train our bodies to go at certain times but I find that fascinating, however I haven’t decided what would be a good time for me yet so I haven’t started the experiment. Great conversation I know but very interesting none the less. Admit it, even you are thinking about trying to train yourself to go at a different time..arent you???  I took this appointment as the perfect chance to ask about some products I could substitute dairy for. She recommened Ghee for butter. It is milk free but I have yet to hear back from the company if it is gluten free. As soon as I hear I will let you guys know. For a cheese substitute, Daiya was the recommendation. They make a sharp cheddar and mozerella. Being married to an Italian and forced to inhale yummy quinoa pasta dishes (gluten free) at least twice a week, I choose to try out the mozerella first. It is really good and it will melt without turning into what looks like a failed science project. This is the closest thing to real cheese without the dairy, I will however continue my quest to find a cheese you can’t even tell the difference with.  As my session with the nutritionist came to an end, she exused herself for a minute and reappeared with a Nature’s Plus basket of goodies I had won in a drawing at their gluten free food fair a weeks prior to this appointment. I was so excited, I never win anything and this basket was loaded with all sorts of nutritional, gluten free products. There was even a protein powder and vitamin D both were things I was going to have to buy that day.  All in all I am really glad I made the appointment and went and to me the fact that I won a basket is jut God telling me that I needed that appointment. I learned a lot of valuable information and am already seeing a different in my digestion and it has only been 6 days. Below is a list of products/diet changes the nutritionist recommended and a list of items that were in the basket. I will also post the nutrional wheel we went over at my appt. Written in pen on the wheel are ways to tell how big portions should be for each category. Also wanted to mention the website I found while trying to figure out if Heinz ketchup is gluten free. Turns out they have a website listing their gluten free products and from looking, it seems the easy squeeze it GF and the regular is not. Here is the website http://www.heinz.com/health--wellness/focus-foods/dietary-preferences/gluten-free.aspx It lists all Heinz products that are gluten free…not just ketchup. I also wanted to mention that for those of you who frequent the mexican restaraunt Rio Grande, I am about to rock your world. The marguarita mix has gluten in it.  It was a sad day when I found this out, but luckily the waiter was able to make me something else equally as strong without the gluten.

Also, I have been reading “Making Babies” which is a great book for those of you who are trying to conceive. There is a section that discusses Immune System Issues and gives women recommendations on how to improve their fertility with immune system issues some of them are:

• Accupucture to clear heat and move Qi
• Adopt stress management routin
• Avoid alcohol and smoking
• Load up on antioxidants
• Consider taking Zinc or PABA supplements
• Make sure you are getting enough folic acid

Thought this might be helpful to some of you lovely women out there after all, Celiacs is an autoimmune disease. Also don’t forget the powerful of Vitamin D which for all of us who live in cold weather states we are typically deficient in this anyway. I recently received a post on my other blog regarding infertility and celiacs. The book "The Gluten Effect" discusses this link in great detail. I will have to check it out and share with you  :0)

Products in the Nature Plus Basket: Havent tried all of them but I like the vitamin, calcium and D3 because they are chewables and they taste yummy and are gluten free.

UltraZyme Digestive Enzyme

Vitamin E Soap

Burst of Energy liquid

Sprutien High Protein

Hyperzine RX - Brain

Red yeast Rice supplement

Calcium

Exotic red Super fruits multi vitamin

Childrens vitamin

D3

Vitamin holder

Products I purchased after nutritionist recommened it:

Natural Vitality Organic Raspberry Lemon Flavor Relaxing Magnesium Supplement

Natural Factors D3 drops

Nutritionist wanted me to take protein in my smoothies in the morning so I am using the vanilla flavored one I won in the basket.

A Hard Time Eating Out

Life without gluten is starting to be a pain in my side!! I recently went out to lunch with a couple of coworkers for a farewell celebration since one of them was leaving our company.  We went out for sushi which I assumed would be farely easy to eat on my gluten free diet….well like most of the time…I was wrong.  I couldn’t have any of the sauces or dressings except for the gluten free soy sauce, had to have special rice and could only order a few things that were not marinated.  I was already feeling frustrated about my meal choices when one of the women in the group started asking me questions about my diet and nutrition. As I was explaining how I preferred not to load up on supplements and was therefore eating foods that would give me the same vitamins…she just looked at me and said “you are weird.”  A little embarrassed I asked why I was weird and she replied “why wouldn’t you just take a pill and not go through the hassle and just eat whatever you want?” As she finished talking she shoved in a deep fried tempura role into her mouth and followed it with a swig of sake and I thought …spoken like a true junk food queen.  It is just sad that people who try to be healthy, avoid harmful chemicals, processed foods and practice things like yoga and acupuncture are considered weird. When did it become weird to take care of yourself and supplement your body with things that it may be running low on? When did popping pills to cure you ailments become the accepted method of healing our bodies instead of resting, eating properly and fighting things off with proper vitamins?  I just get so annoyed with people like this woman at my recent lunch, open your eyes. By eating a deep friend sushi roll, you are taking what could be a very nutritious snack and turning it into nothing but something that will ultimately be stored as sugar/fat in your body. If it makes me weird that I prefer to not eat trans fat and don’t eat gluten then I guess I am….just call me the gluten free freak :0)  After this lunch I really wanted to give sushi another try since it is one of my favorite meals so a few days later I treated my mom to a lunch at our favorite sushi place. This was our first time to eat at this place since going on a strict gluten free diet but again I assumed we would be able to eat most of what was on the menu. We walked in and sat down at the sushi bar and the waitress brought over a seafood salad. As we started to stick in our chopsticks and go to town on the salad I asked the waitress if there was gluten in it expecting her to say that it was fine. She didn’t though, she immediately took the bowls away and said she would return with a salad without the sauce. My mom and I just looked at each other, then at our empty chopsticks we just started to laugh.  It turns out that not only could we not have the seafood salad sauce but we also couldn’t have the ginger house dressing which by the way we were told we could eat during the last visit!! We were still able to eat a lot on the menu but it is funny how little people really know about gluten. In the past two months, I have gone to over a handful of restaurants and have been told that something is gluten free only to return a few weeks later and be told that it isn’t gluten free. I think that the gluten allergic/intolerance is getting to be pretty common and that restaurants should start informing their servers on gluten. I am not saying they need to be able to list all the items in the restaurant that has it (even though that would be nice), I am saying just knowing what it is and that food can’t be cross contaminated. Knowledge is power right???  I have to say I have noticed a lot of restaurants are chiming in to the gluten free lifestyle. I have eaten off the Outback, The Keg and Rialto Café gluten free menu in the past couple of weeks. All choices looked very yummy and my selections were so good you couldn’t even tell they were gluten free.

I was recently walking around downtown Denver on my way to a baseball game when a guy carrying a large box asked if I wanted to try a nutrition bar. Now usually I wouldn’t accept food from a strange person on the street but as I started to hesitate he said the words “they are gluten free” and then he had my interest. I grabbed two of them and kept walking.  The bars were made my Bora Bora and were Native Acai Walnut bars and the slogan on the front says “the feel great superfood.” Not bad for good I accepted from a stranger on the street. My husband wasn’t happy with me for not only accepting food from the man but then eating it. I have to admit not a very smart move usually but this guy was just promoting his product and I needed a snack. Here is their website http://www.boraborafoods.com/homepage.aspx.  I also recently tried Enjoy Life Cinnamon Crunch Granola from a sample I got at vitamin cottage. This was also very tasty and would be great with some gluten free oatmeal. It is allergy friendly and contains no wheat, dairy, peanuts, treat nuts, egg, soy, fish or shellfish. It is also made in a dedicated bakery and contains flaxseed among other healthy ingredients.  The sample had a coupon on the back so I plan on buying some for my oatmeal mornings next time I go to the store. Here is the site for Enjoy Life, they have all kinds of allergy friendly products this is just the only one I have tried so far http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/. They even have a cookbook you can get from their site.