Fruity Pebbles

Another cereal that is gluten free is Fruity Pebbles. Yum. I also found some crackers from Costco that are very good and are gluten free.

White Bread Mix

Yesterday I made a loaf of bread using Bob's Red Mill bread mix. It turned out great. Today for lunch, I was so excited and ate 1/2 peanut butter and jelly - and - 1/2 ham and cheese sandwich. Both tasted so good on the bread. It was light and soft (better than frozen bread). It just takes some time to make but was pretty easy.

Dr. Oz

I have really enjoyed watching Dr. Oz. I have learned a lot from his show.

On one of his shows he talked about Chia Seeds. They have 5g of Fiber, 3g of Protein and 2.4g Omega-3. We put these in our smoothies, on our cereal or any food that we can sprinkle them on. They help you feel full faster. We bought them at the Vitamin Shoppe. But I also saw them at Costco.

Last week, Elisabeth Hasselbeck author of "The G-Free Diet" was on talking about her book. If you are interested in seeing it, I am sure utube has a clip of the show.

The G Free Diet

A friend of mine told me about Elisabeth Hasselbeck (she is on The View) She wrote a book called "The G Free Diet." She was sick for many years and could not figure out what was wrong with her. She ended up as a contestant on the show "Survivor" and had to live off the land in the Australian Outback and finally figured out what was causing her sickness...gluten. You get to "hear" her story and how her life has changed. This book is very good for those who have a gluten intolerance or for those with Celiac disease. It has a lot of good info to get you started on the right track to become gluten free. I bought it on Amazon for about $5.

Pasta No More?

I really miss eating my favorite pasta meals and salads! I am a huge pasta salad fan! My favorite is to eat at D'Amico & Sons. I used to get the sampler plate. My mouth is drooling just thinking about it. Last night I made a pasta salad using my brown rice noodles. It's a salad that I used to make all the time during the summer (I got the recipe from a friend) It's just not the same...I don't know if I will be able to get used to the taste.

Maybe it's a good thing that I don't eat pasta anymore.

I am still doing Zumba and like it a lot. I have maintained my 2 inch loss on my waist, but would love to lose about 2 more inches. 

Big Bowl

Last night I had dinner with a friend at Big Bowl in Rosedale Mall. They had a gluten free menu! They actually had a lot of options to choose from - I was very impressed...a lot better than the options provided from the Applebee's gluten free menu. I ordered the chicken pad thai and my friend ended up ordering the 2 appetizer gluten free options and we share our meals. It was a delicious dinner!

This morning for breakfast, I had an egg and then had some millet bread that I toasted. This was the first time eating millet bread - it was very good and tasted like "real" bread. Millet Chai bread Udi's brand (of course). It has omega 3/6/9 and 5 grams of fiber. Good for you!

Too Much Work

Tonight I made a gluten free pizza. I used "King Arthur Flour" Gluten Free pizza crust mix. My friend, Rachel, told me that this is her favorite mix because it is closest to a "real" pizza crust. I am sorry Rachel, but I thought it was too much work to make and it didn't work out as I thought it would. It definitely did not look like the photo on the box! I probably just did something wrong.

I didn't tell Ben at first that it was a gluten free crust. He actually ate 3 pizzas and said it was fine, but thought the crust was too thick.

For Ben and the boys, it is just easier to order a pizza from  5 Dollar Pizza and I can make my own using the Udi's brand premade crust that I have used in the past.

New Year's Resolution

Not cheating during Christmas was very difficult. There were so many yummy "glutenised" foods. I didn't eat a lot...just took some nibbles here and there. And in the end...still got sick and bloated. It is just not worth eating those tastey treats!

I told my husband, Ben, that my New Year's Resolution was to "actually be good" about what I eat and not nibble cheat here and there. I really want to feel good and be healthy! I also want to be fit. I am not getting any younger and it will just get harder and harder to lose weight or even maintain a good weight.

Been Busy

Yes, I haven't written in such a long time. It has been busy with Lia's 1st birthday party and Christmas with my brother and his family visiting from CA.

Lia's birthday was great - but I cheated and ate cake and ice cream. I regretted it the next day. After not eating anything with gluten in it - eating the cake tasted different to me...a different taste - so weird.

Oh Christmas and those cookies and other sweets. My first Christmas eating gluten free. Besides the cookies, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would have been. My mom even made an egg dish that I could enjoy and it was delicious.

A friend from college was visiting back in MN from CA with his family and he had a friendly get together.  I met 2 other people who are gluten free and even dairy free. It has become more common...I worry about Lia and if she had inherited any digestion problems from me. I haven't noticed...but it is hard to tell. I do feed her some gluten free items. I don't want her to go what I have experienced my whole life.

More Gluten Free Finds

I found gluten free Fish Sticks from Target. Blue Horizon Wild. They were pretty good. I never really eat fish sticks, but just wanted to try them.

At Costco besides the meatballs, I found Gluten Free Chicken Patties - Sabatino's flame broiled Spinach with Aged White Cheddar Chicken Patties. I ate one for lunch today. They are really good. I haven't bought or eaten lunch meat in a very long time.These patties are a good alternative for lunch. They have 21g of protein, but 9 g of fat...I am surprised to find so many gluten free items at Costco.

Chicken Meatballs

I bought some premade chicken meatballs from Costco "Chef Bruce Aidells". They are fully cooked, gluten free and pork free. There are two different kinds...caramelized onion and spicy mango & jalapeno. Both very yummy! I brought them to my BSF fellowship get together that I tonight. They were a big hit.

Bunless Burger

Tonight I did not feel like making dinner so we got food from Bennigans. On Wednesday's, they have $5.50 burgers. I asked them if they did a gluten free option, but they did not...so I ordered a burger without the bun. It tasted so good. It was the first time not eating a burger without the bun. It is very doable.

Un Sandwich

Today, I took Owen and Landen to my friend's daughter, Violet's birthday party. For food, they had Jimmy John sandwiches. My friend, Tona - her sister-in-law has been gluten free for years now and she said that you can order an "Un Sandwich" from Jimmy Johns. They make a normal sandwich but instead of using their yummy bread, they wrap it up using lettuce - like a lettuce wrap. She also told me that at Red Robin, they will do the same thing with their burgers.

I continue to learn something new everyday.

Beef & Lentil Soup

Tonight for dinner I made a very yummy and healthy soup. Lia ate a whole bowl of it.

Beef and Lentil Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb beef chuck, cut into 1 inch pieces
salt and pepper to taste
2 stalks celery chopped
2 carrots chopped
1 large onion chopped
6 cloves garlic chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried cilantro or handful chopped fresh
1 tsp dried oregano
2 (32 oz) cartons beef stock
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups dried lentils
1/4 c parsley chopped (optional)
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Heat oil in large pan. Season meat and brown on all sides - remove from pan set aside
Add onion, celery, carrots, garlic, cilantro and oregano and cook until onion is translucent about 8 minutes.

Pour beef broth, tomatoes and beef into pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer covered for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, add lentils and recover simmer for 40 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and then stir in parsley. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese to serve.

I Slipped - oops

We were coming back from Ben's home town for Thanksgiving and we were snacking in the car and we needed something "better" to eat. So we stopped at Jimmy John's. Remember, I love Jimmy John's and I miss it so much! ha. I slipped and ate about 1/4 of a sandwich. It tasted so good. I miss good bread.

We also stopped at a store called Weaver's. It is outside of Eau Claire. It is a bulk foods store and I found all the "flours" I use (ex. brown rice flour) and I also bought a gluten free pizza. This store also has everything from cereal, candy to spices and pre-made mixes and organic eggs, meat and cheeses.

Happy Thanksgiving

My first Thanksgiving eating gluten free...

My favorite thing on Thanksgiving to eat is the stuffing. I could just eat stuffing and mashed potatoes and that is fine with me. This time I cheated and had a couple of bites of stuffing. It was so worth it. To make up for my loss of stuffing, I ate more turkey.

I made a pumpkin pie using the gluten free crust from the Whole Foods store. It turned out great and no one could tell that it was gluten free. Lia loved the pie and almost ate like 2 pieces! Not really, but it seemed like it.

Now, onto the next holiday - Christmas - all of those Christmas cookies. I promise to be good!

Pheasant is Pleasant

A month ago or so, Ben and his dad went pheasant hunting and shot some birds. Ben cooked the meat up tonight for dinner. He dipped them in rice flour and other seasonings and browned them up in a pan and then added cream of mushroom soup. (I know the soup has gluten in it - oh-well) It was very good!

For lunch today, I didn't want to make anything, so I took the kids to Panera Bread - one of my favorite places. I ate a salad and french onion soup - it was hard not to eat the soaked up yummy croutons, but I was good. The kids shared a M&M cookie for dessert. I was also good and didn't eat that either. I was very tempted to buy the chocolate krinkle cookie though (my favorite cookie)...but again, I resisted!

Puppy Chow

Last night we went out with friends for dinner. It is so nice to be out with adults and be able to enjoy my food instead of feeding Lia and yelling at the boys to eat their food. We ate at The Local. It was very good. I got a grilled chicken pear salad. Yummy!

Today...craving chocolate - so I made Puppy Chow. I used the gluten free Chex. I have used Crispex in the past.

Puppy Chow

9 cups rice or corn chex
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 cups powdered sugar

In a saucepan, melt choc. chips, peanut butter, butter and vanilla. Pour over chex cereal and mix. Then add the powdered sugar. I put everything into a big container and shake everything together. I also put it into the freezer - I think it tastes better cold.

Stress (TMD)

Back to The Maker's Diet book. Chapter 9 talks about Stress.

Emotional stress causes or worsens the following health problems:
     Digestive system disorders
     Circulatory system disorders
     Genito-urinary system disorders
     Nervous system disorders
     Glandular disorders
     Allergies and immune system disorders
     Inflammation of muscles and joints
     Infections
     Inflammatory and skin diseases
     Cancer

Now...I probably take on about 6 of these...not good. It makes complete sense though. It is very depressing. Everyone takes on stress in different ways. My body, especially my digestive system, takes on stress even when I don't think that I am stressed. 

He talks about removing your negative thinking. Great advice! Right now I have a bad cold and if you keep telling yourself that you feel awful and don't feel like you are getting better, then you will probably stay that way...but today I told myself - I feel great - I am going to get better and I did feel better and I changed my way of thinking. You can do this with any kind of situation. I am going to try my best to have the most positive way of thinking in any situation.

"Laughter, happiness and joy are the perfect antidotes for stress."

Pad Thai Mix

So, I go through my pantry often and see what I have that I should use up. I found a Pad Thai season mix that I wanted to use. I made it tonight - I used rice noodles for myself and regular spaghetti noodles for Ben and the boys...and then realized that I should have just used rice noodles for everyone - since that is what you are supposed to use...mine tasted better.

I am still feeling bloated - I need to figure out why that is!!!...maybe my period is coming...ha