To The Spouse of a Celiac...

When Kate and TJ were diagnosed with Celiac I was (not-so-secretly) devastated. I was furious. I felt picked on. And I wasn't even the sick one.

To any spouse who has/is experiencing something similar, let me just say I am sorry for you. I really am. But I promise the sooner you get over it and accept it, the better you will feel. I wish I had taken no more than week to sulk, instead it was a few months! I think the hardest part was knowing this is permanent. This is going to be a large part of my life for my entire life.
Having accepted it and moving on has made it so much easier. It is a constant in our home but it's not so bad. Seeing how much better TJ feels is so worth it. He used to feel super sick until 9 AM everyday, now he's at work by 8, often earlier! Two years ago he was puking in the car on the way to work almost everyday. Should I even mention how much better Kate is? She will always be petit, but she is still the size of a normal 2&1/2 year old. She is a normal kid. I am so grateful for Gluten Free. If it hadn't been for Kate being so obviously sick, TJ would still be too. That's worth an extra 30 minutes in the kitchen everyday.
So, spouse of a Celiac, look on the bright side, you won't be disappointed.

Gluten Free Cornbread Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pies. This is more of a mix between a dumpling and a pot pie. I like using leftover chicken and whatever veggies I have around. In the pictures I have carrots, frozen peas and frozen corn. This is a fun, very basic, recipe to play around with.

Chicken 1-2 breasts, cut small
1 small onion, diced
Veggies (2 full sized carrots, 1-1/2 cup frozen peas and/or corn, or anything else you want to use up!)
Chicken broth (about 3-4 cups)
1/2 cup or so Cornstarch
Seasoning to taste (rosemary or Italian seasoning, salt and pepper)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sauté the onion in a little butter, just until translucent. Cook the chicken, if needed. Set chicken and onion aside. Cook the carrot or string beans or any other veggie that needs a little more cooking time. Potato would also be good in this dish, just saying. Carrots take about 1 minute, until it pierces easily with a fork.

Set aside veggies in same bowl as chicken. I use one or two cans of Swanson's chicken broth and some McCormick chicken base with a little water, this way I can control how much flavor I put in.

Mix 1/4 cup of the cornstarch in with about 1/2 cup of broth in a small bowl or I just pour out half the broth into the pan and put the cornstarch into the can. Whisk with a fork. This makes it so you have zero lumps. Repeat so you have all the cornstarch in. Turn up the heat to medium-high and bring to a rolling boil so it thickens.

Turn back down to medium heat and add seasoning and any other vegetables, including the frozen ones. Make sure you have a good amount of the gravy, it is better to have it more soupy than dry! If it looks too thick go ahead and add more broth.

Make the Cornbread mix.

Put the gravy mixture into a 9x13 inch glass pan. Spoon Cornbread mix on top. See below picture. Don't worry about it plopping into the gravy, as it cooks it will look like cornbread again!

Bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

McCormicks Chicken Base Gluten Free

I use McCormicks chicken base all the time. It is so great for soups or casseroles. It is great because it adds a lot of good flavor. I used to use bullion cubes all the time. When we went gluten free I was bummed that I couldn't use them anymore. Regular chicken stock just doesn't have enough flavor for some of the dishes I make. So I was very excited to find this base. Lots of flavor and it was pretty cheap. I got it at SAMs club for $4 or $5. I think it's also at Costco.

Gluten Free Cornbread

1 cup rice flour

3/4 cup cornmeal

2-3 tablespoons sugar

2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoons butter (for pan)

2 beaten eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix dry ingredients, set aside. Melt (1T) butter for 10 minutes in a. Ast iron skillet. (Or spray/grease an 8x8 glass dish).

In a small bowl combine wet ingredients (eggs, milk, and melted butter). Add to dry ingredients. Pour into hot skillet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Tips for Feeding Gluten Free People

When I had Trey four months ago lots of people asked if they could bring in a meal for our family. It was so kind. But I was very nervous about it. TJ is super sensitive to gluten, so trusting someone else to cook dinner was hard. It's not that I think they will put something in on purpose, it's just that TJ gets really sick if he has a bread crumb.

So if you want to make a meal for someone who is Gluten Free here are a few tips...

1. Always ask, never assume! Double check ingredients. Google is the best. I love having a smart phone so I can check ingredients. Wal-Mart brands clearly label a few products as "gluten free"(like olive oil). However, there are loads of their products that should be gf, but because they are processed in a facility that also processes wheat, they are not gf (like their non-stick cooking spray). These are listed right on the product.
Ask the gluten free person questions. I feel much more comfortable eating food from someone who asks questions and tries to understand, than from someone who doesn't ask at all.

2. Make sure they don't have any other food sensitivities. Like dairy or yeast. (Luckily we don't)

3. When cooking be sure to keep it totally separate from any other food.
When we stayed with my sister she made us a yummy salad. She did her own vinaigrette, and without realizing it dipped her french bread right into the dressing. Luckily it was after we had finished eating, so it wasn't a problem. But she was surprised to know that something so small could potentially cause a lot of harm.

4. Clean dishes and work surfaces really well before preparing any food. Make sure there is no flour dust or bread crumbs. Often my mom's kitchen mixer catches a little flour dust from just sitting on the counter in between uses, and she is a very clean person.

5. When using condiments like mayonnaise, peanut butter, jelly, butter, honey, etc. make sure you haven't used them for bread before. Bridget Loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so we have separate PB and J jars just for her so she can eat sandwiches with her not gluten free bread. Saves us a lot of money. But we can never use butter, or the other above items at other people's houses unless it's a new package.

6. Mexican food is great because a lot of it is naturally gluten free. Simple tacos. Rice and beans. Chips and salsa. Enchiladas.
One of my favorite quick casseroles is rice, beans, corn, chicken and a can of tomatoes and chilies. Cook the rice and chicken separately then throw it all together (with some chili powder, cumin, coriander, garlic salt, etc.) in a casserole dish and top with cheese. Bake at 350 until cheese on top looks good. Serve with warm corn tortillas or chips. Do fruit on the side and it is a complete, delicious meal!

7. If you are having a big get-together with lots of people who aren't gf and just a few who are gf...Talk to the gf people about what exactly you are serving. If having Burgers, ask if they'd like to bring their own buns, or let them know if you pick some up especially for them. If mixing foods that are and are not Gluten free, make sure to label clearly and keep separate.

Gluten Free at Red Robin!

We love Red Robin. I love it even more tonight. The location in Mesa closest to us now has gluten free buns for their burgers! And their season salt is now gf as well. TJ and I both agree the bun is really good. It is $1 extra, but so worth it. Thank you Red Robin for making my night!

Update:
The buns were really good for gluten free. They are comparable to Udi's hamburger buns, but bigger. It was really great to have a "normal" hamburger instead of the usual salad- burger.

The season salt is now gluten free too. I love the extra flavor. Red Robins' French fries are gluten free if you ask them to cook them in a separate fryer. Every time we've gone I have been impressed with how accommodating and friendly the staff always is.

The Ranch at Red Robins is NOT gluten free. Neither is their cowboy sauce ( I think it's ranch and BBQ). We stick with ketchup and honey mustard (TJ's very favorite!).

Product Review San-J Orange sauce

We poured this over some rice, veggies, and chicken I had cooked earlier in the crock pot. Everyone really enjoyed it. The girls both scarfed it.

It does not taste very "orangey". It's definitely different from Panda Express orange chicken. But it was still really yummy. It had a little more of a teriyaki-citrus flavor, instead of just an orange flavor like I expected.

So as long as you don't expect Panda Express flavor, it is very good.

Two Thumbs up!

New to Gluten Free

When we first started Gluten Free diets we were shocked at a lot of the items that have gluten in them. Including...

Soy sauce
Campbell's cream of (anything) soup
Onion soup mix
Taco seasoning packets
Lots of Generic Wal-mart brand items
Lots of Peanut Butter brands
Oatmeal
Rice crispies (they do have a "gluten free" version now)
Rice Crispy treats
some Corn tortillas
some potato chips
some baby formulas
seasoning mixes
teriyaki sauce
chicken and beef bullion
El Pato sauce (spicy tomato sauce)
Hidden Valley ranch dressing (the packets are fine)
licorice
frozen french fries


And the list continues to grow.

Gluten Free Fast Food

We used to eat fast food all the time. Obviously our choices are very limited since going gluten free. Here are a few of our favorite places to go while out and about...

Chick-fil-A. Grilled nuggets and salad. The salad is pretty good, simple green with grilled chicken. They also offer grilled chicken nuggets for kids meals. Although the nuggets are disappointingly small. You can eat the ranch and also the Fries! They also have some yummy sauces like the honey mustard and Polynesian.

In-N-Out Burger. Burger and fries. Very good for cheap, quick, classic fast food. Just ask for your burger "protein style" ( no bun). Their fries are great since they are fresh cut potatoes and they do not fry anything else with them. The "animal fries" are delicious, not exactly healthy though!

Wendy's. Baked potato, chili, and salad. They have 4 different salads to choose from, some come with croutons you obviously need to throw. The ranch is okay to eat. And who doesn't love an occasional frosty?

Those are our usual picks for gluten free fast food.

Glutened

We visited my parents for the Holiday weekend. My mom is really amazing when it comes to helping out with gluten free. Before we came up she bought a gf biscuit mix and made rice noodles just for us. She really goes out of her way to make sure we eat good up here and especially make Kate feel normal. But accidents still happen. Kate got a hold of some Ritz crackers. From the crumbs on her shirt I know she ate at least one, but I have no idea if it was more. She denied it at first but later admitted to having one, so we'll just have to wait and see how sick she is.

About 3 hours after finding the evidence Kate said her tummy hurt. But it hasn't been anymore than just that. At least so far. Once she threw up after eating a handful of pretzels. Most of the time she has a tummy ache and then diarrhea the next day. TJ is usually doubled over in pain and stuck on the toilet for at least an hour (often in the middle of the night) if he has a gluten attack.

I guess Kate didn't eat much of the cracker because she slept through the night and just had some light diarrhea the next day, not bad at all!!

Fogo De Chao Gluten Free

I am so excited to go to Fogo De Chao for Valentine's day tomorrow! I've been dying to go ever since TJ went a few months ago.

Nearly everything is Gluten Free. Including some amazing Brazilian cheese bread. (We have made some at home a few times, but we're still trying to find the perfect recipe for it. Once I find it I will be sure to share!)

I have heard the staff is super helpful when it comes to Gluten free and will tell you the few items that you cannot have. ( this includes the chicken (marinated in beer) and all but one salad dressing). They do not have a gluten free menu on their site but feedback from others who have gone is really great. I am excited to report my experience tomorrow.

Gluten Free vacations

We have gone on a few vacations over the last year since being very strict about being Gluten Free. It always makes me nervous when we go out to eat, especially when we are away from home. Here are a few tips on making a vacation a little easier on the (cheap) Gluten free traveler...

#1 Stay in a place with a Kitchen! We went to San Diego in August and stayed in a nice little hotel that had a small kitchen. It was totally worth a little extra money for the hotel. We cooked every meal and brought sandwiches to the beach for lunch every day. We actually saved money by not eating out the entire time. We live in Mesa, AZ so we drove to San Diego and just brought a lot of gluten free basics with us (Bread, noodles, mixes, Chex cereal, Lara and Soyjoy bars, pretzels, you know, the stuff that can be super expensive if you don't buy it on sale). We bought the rest of the food there. We had spaghetti, steak and potatoes, tacos, and a lot of sandwiches. What we cooked was simple and quick, it is not a vacation if I am cooking and cleaning all day! The best part about staying in a hotel is maid service. Someone else does all the cleaning, including the dishes!

#2 Research restaurants and stores. TJ and I went to New York in May. He went for work and I went to play with my sister who lives there. We stayed at her place so we were able to cook a lot of the meals. But we really wanted to be out sightseeing, not inside cooking. Lucky for us we looked up a few Gluten Free restaurants beforehand. Our very favorite place was Risoterria's. The bread sticks are amazing! We also went to Babycakes and had some delicious treats. We went to a Yankees game too. They had a concession stand that was specifically for Gluten Free, but it was out of food?! when we got there. I was not very pleased about that. We were able to find gluten free stuff at the regular grocery stores, such as pancake mix, brownie mix and soy sauce (we had to try out the sushi!). TJ got a little sick here and there when we didn't do proper research and look stuff up. Thank goodness for smart phones! I am constantly googling gluten free menus and products.

#3 Snacks. We buy snacks in bulk! Having a 4 and 1/2 and a 2 and 1/2 year old and me nursing means someone is constantly eating! Our favorite is apples, they are so easy, and cheap, and I feel good about giving them to the girls. Pretzels are a special treat because they cost more. The same with Soyjoy and Lara bars. The applesauce in a tube-thing is great. I feel kind of funny eating them in front of people though! Dole has some yummy ones, nice and tart instead of sugary.

#4 Research airlines for long flights. If you are flying make sure you plan ahead for meals! We were able to go to Hawaii in December with my family (so much fun!). Before getting on the plane back we had to toss our apples, oranges and bananas! Something about a specific fruit fly they didn't want carried over to the Mainland. The food they offered on the plane wasn't gluten free. Their complementary peanuts are OK though. But DO NOT eat Southwest Peanuts, they have wheat in the ingredients! Also the chance of finding a vendor in the airport that offers gluten free is slim. There were a few places that have gluten free at their regular restaurants but of course do not at the airport restaurant. Example there was a California pizza kitchen-no gluten free, and also a Cafe that usually offers different soups that are gluten free, but they didn't have it. Once again, we made sandwiches beforehand and packed some pretzels and chips. Occasionally TJ flies for work. If he didn't pack food or can't find a vendor he can usually find a salad with gf dressing, but it's hit or miss. And it's ridiculously expensive.

Gluten Free Apple Ring Pancakes

I got this idea here. I didn't even read the recipe, I just made a pancake mix and dipped apples in it! But it was so yummy. Made me feel a little better about pouring syrup on top! Plus it makes the batter go farther.

I really like to sneak healthy stuff into food without my husband or kids noticing, it's kind of a weird kick, I know. I added GF quick cooking oats, and some ground flax seed to the pancake mix. I also added a little extra milk and an egg white so it wouldn't be too thick. A little ground cinnamon in the mix is really delicious!

I think Bob's Redmill pancake mix is my current favorite. It tastes the most like original pancakes. The GF bisquick is too grainy for pancakes.

Simple Lunch Pasta

This made for a quick, yummy lunch.

I had some leftover grilled chicken from the other night (like 1/4 of a breast). I cooked up 3 different types of pasta because I just wanted to finish them off! I used some Quinoa spirals, rice flour spirals, and even rice flour spaghetti! Just in case you were wondering about the random noodle mix!)

I drained the noodles and diced up the chicken and set both aside. I just rinsed out the pasta pot and kept using it, I hate cleaning more dishes than I absolutely have to! Put some olive oil (about 2-3 tsp. and 1 tsp. garlic (I have a jar of the diced up garlic that makes my life a little easier). Cook garlic about 2 minutes to give the oil a good flavor. Add pasta and chicken. If they are sticking to the pan add more oil. I had frozen peas that looked good to me. If I had had some fresh green beans, or zuchini, or sno peas or asparagus you can bet I would have used them too! Pretty much anything can be added into this. I put on Italian seasonings, and salt and pepper to taste. I also had fresh parmesan cheese on hand, so grated some on top. It was light and fresh and fast. A perfect lunch!

Basic ingredients-
chicken
cooked pasta
olive oil 2-3 tsp
galric 1 tsp
frozen peas
Italian seasonings 1/2tsp
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan on top

Having a small child with Celiac

Kate and Trey

Kate will be 3 in April. She does a great job of not whining when she can't have something other people are eating. We say "It will make your tummy hurt" and almost always she will be happy with a substitute (which is key).

Here is my frustration...the other night she woke up over and over. She complained that her tummy hurt. Unless she snuck into something hidden around the house, there is no way it was from eating gluten. She may have had a bug or something, but no one else was/is displaying anything similar. Which makes me wonder if she has figured out it works for a great excuse (like to be able to sleep in my bed). She has said it on occassion during the day lately like when we are cleaning up her toys, or she doesn't want to finish dinner, or just when she wants some more attention. She definitely gets one-on-one time, but maybe she is craving some more? How do I differentiate between a real tummy ache and her just avoiding chores or wanting attention? I don't want her to be treated any different from other kids. Not extra special and not neglected, just normal.

Any parent of young kids out there with a similar problem?

Explaining Celiac Disease

While Celiac Disease is definitely becoming more known, there are still a lot of people who haven't heard of it. I had never heard of it before Kate got sick one and a half years ago. I feel like I am constantly describing it to people, even family.

The easiest thing for me to do is to describe it like this...

Celiac disease is sort of like a not-life-threatening peanut allergy. Even trace amounts make TJ and Kate very sick. It is an autoimmune disease, so the body attacks itself in their intestine. There is no cure or treatment other than a completely gluten free diet.


This is the best way for me to tell people in a few words how important gluten free is for us. You can certainly go into more depth than this, but i have found launching into more than this just overwhelms people. Keep it simple.