Sunday, April 4, 2010

Food Failures

My beloved husband attempted to make a rice penne pasta and chicken, with peas, mushroom, garlic, celery, onions and corrot dish for us last night, that left much to be desired. I am writing about it because he is a FAB! cook and it was a surprise to have such "not so good food" last evening. Usually, we do very well at finding desirable foods, flavor, textures and color play to make our food appealing to both of us. Last night, not so much.

We have found that the rice noodles for spaghetti, most of the pastas made of rice are wonderful. What have you found that works well for you?

Monday, March 15, 2010

Feast Days!

At our home, we celebrate Sabbath, on Sunday, because we a Christians. For the past 10 years we've been inviting people into our home to share, celebrate, cease, feast on and with the goodness of the Lord. This past Sabbath, we had an incredible meal, none of it planned. Everyone brings a dish for 6-8 people. Whoever hosts the meal always provides the protein source. My husband prepared a wonderful roast, someone brought coleslaw, someone else brought homemade applesauce, another brought sweet potatoes and bananas topped with sugared walnuts and brown sugar, and the dessert was a peach cobbler, which I could not have, but it looked wonderful. These days of in-gathering, ceasing from our work, fellow-shipping with fellow believers and feasting are a great oasis in our week.

Though no one avoids gluten on my behalf, there are those times when it just happens that way and the menu couldn't have been more perfect for all of us. I just wanted to share the menu with you. It was wonderful! Oh, the coleslaw was made of vinegar and sugar style. Most excellent!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Trying to be better about this blog!

I've wanted to get back to this blog for some time. Life got in the way.
Things I've noticed about being gluten free. Weight loss. I've always been thin, but being gluten free, I am thinner, but feel so good. I am finding myself eating a lot of rice. I am a life-long lover of cookies. I thought all foods should be in cookie form. I am still missing cookies, but I've found that rice crispy treats are a great cookie substitute. I am also allergic to peanuts. RATS! ..Cause I'd love to have some peanut butter on them, but I cannot!

Many people ask me about what it is that I do eat. So, I'll answer.
I eat a ton of fruit, vegetables, rice, gluten free breads (Yummiest is: Sami's Bakery Millet and Flax), eggs, meat, Teff, and hard cheeses.
I do not feel the loss of pastas or breads at all. For crackers, I use rice crackers and find them nutty and very satisfying.
A word or two about Teff. If you've not tried it, I'll encourage you to do so. At first, I was reluctant to try it. It is tiny (the tiniest grain) grown in Ethiopia. I was introduced to it by a dear friend, Nancy, who is also gluten free. I cook my teff in water in a 1:5 ratio, add a pat of butter to water teff mixture, a smidgen of sea salt and cook until the teff is creamy. I pour it into a bowl, pour a couple of tablespoons of natural maple syrup over it and get my fix of teff. The satiety level is high, the energy level is high, the taste is wonderfully nutty, and warming. I love Teff. I wish I'd known about it when my kids were small.
Most of the people I know who have gone gluten free have lost 20-35 pounds after the first 6 - 8 weeks. They are not people who suffer with celiac disease. They are people who are choosing to give up gluten in order to improve their health. For many people, that is motivation enough. For me, getting rid of migraines and MS symptoms was the call to let gluten leave my life. To this day, I remain MS symptom free as long as I stay off of gluten. If I accidentally get into gluten, WHAM! migraine, weakness, blurred vision, aching muscles, weak strength for about 24 hours. I do not regret my choices.
I'll try to be better about writing here.
Shalom,
Suzanne