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Yeah... it's still been quiet around here.

If you ever want to turn into a cranky hermit, get yourself a wheat or gluten allergy.  It works wonders.

Made it thru Thanksgiving... even though I quizzed the hubby about the mother-in-law's "stuffing practices" with her turkey and he assured me she cooked it outside the bird... yep, we arrived at their house just in time to see my mother in law pulling stuffing out of the bird.  I didn't have a horrible reaction from it, but I knew it'd mean one night of turkey and absolutely no leftovers for me.

Yep.  When you have problems with wheat, it can be to the point where if you eat turkey that comes from a bird that was stuffed, you can have a reaction.

Luckily, we're just having ham and Polish sausage for Xmas.

In the upcoming days though, I will be doing some gluten-free baking of cookies and other delights for the holidays.  I can't go another holiday without having at least two desert options, lol.

But one of the kickers of that seems to be that a lot of gluten-free cookie recipes use almond flour.  Not really an option, since we also have a nut allergy in the extended family.  It just makes things extra fun!  Lots of internet recipe searching has been happening around here.

But, to try and be useful and actually add some information to the interwebs, I am going to throw out a few tips for those out there who, like my own family, may be very new to this whole "no wheat" thing and a bit worried when it comes to the holiday season:

• Be patient.  You are most likely to get quizzed on products, preparation details and other stuff.  It's not that we don't trust you, we know from experience that there are some products you won't trust unless you know all the brands/ingredients involved.
• We love you for trying.
• Things to avoid: Soy sauce (yep, that has wheat in it usually - find a gluten-free brand or use the Japanese sauce Tamari which is basically the same thing), anything that lists "natural flavors" in the labeling as those often contain wheat (those are the things that are killers to me), and if you're really going for it and trying to rely on things like cornmeal and oats -please read labels.  A lot of those products are processed in facilities that also process wheat and YES, that can be a problem.
• Make it simple.  Really... dumb down your dishes.  Rather than the green bean casserole (yep, those condensed soups usually contain wheat) - steam some fresh beans and toss them with some browned butter - delicious. 
• Don't be afraid to ask.  Trust me, we are more than happy to help you.

 

Oh yeah... my blog!

Yes... it's been quiet.  The wheat-free continues to bite, big time.

I actually did really good on our trip to Vegas... the only two incidents I had with wheat were one that was my own fault, and one that means I'll never get a grab&go salad from Burke in the Box again.  Our first meal we went to Hash House A Gogo and I *know* I'd seen on some food/travel thing that they cooked their chicken breasts to-order in a pan and not in the communal frier, so I thought I'd be OK with their potatoes.

We walked back to the hotel, and the hubby flipped on the Travel channel just as we watched the - at the Strip location - throw a chicken breast into the shared frier on an episode of Man vs. Food.

Ooops.

The Salad Incident made me angrier... sure, there was a sign that mentioned "shared equipment" at the Burke in the Box at the airport on the way home, and I checked ALL off the packaged salads and NONE of them appeared to have croutons in them or listed in the contents... so I got a salad.  Aaaaand then 3/4 of the way through the salad while I was on the plane, I found a flippin' crouton that managed to stay on the bottom even when I picked through it to just check and cause enough cross-contamination when I shook it up.  Yay.

Otherwise... Vegas was good.  Didn't leave all our money there, the weather was nice, and the bestest thing of all was that I couldn't even take my work laptop with me since it was getting upgraded to Windows 7 while I was on vacation.

This week (of course) starts the prep of Turkey Day items... which this year also means my attempt at a gluten-free cornbread stuffing (it's just not Turkey Day without stuffing) and an attempt to do some wheat-free crepes for a crepe cake (crepes layered with whipped cream).  Other than that, it's the same old cranberry sauce, beans and sweet potatoes that I usually bring to my mother-in-law's.

Well, that wasn't so bad

So... today was Un-Birthday (belated) party for my sister in law.

Um... she walked in wearing a sparkly thing (very cute) in her hair.  Obviously someone blew the surprise (or she just knows how to interrogate her children, ;D).

My bro was doing it at a restaurant, with one set menu for everything.  I originally told him, "don't inlclude me in the food count - I'll need to have them make me something without any bread or pasta" (it was an Italian place... Luigi's House).  They do their food family-style for parties... which basically means wheat would be touching pretty much everything.  Yay.

He asked, they said they'd be able to accommodate me food-wise.

They brought the appetizers out, bruchetta and pizza, so I was out of luck on those.  No biggie.  A waiter came by to ask me how "sensitive" my allergy to wheat was and he at first obviously thought I was being a bit of a tool about it all and I might have gotten a bit huffy trying to confirm that no, I was not being picky and I couldn't have ANYTHING that involved flour, bread or pasta or anything like that - but they did a stellar job.

They made me a chopped salad without the pasta - I was even beyond impressed that they left off the blue cheese, which can cause reactions in people with celiac but I think I can still, ha, stomach.  When they brought out the main dishes, rather than the breaded lemon chicken and chicken parm, they gave me grilled chicken in a lemon sauce and grilled chicken w/tomato sauce and mozz.  Nothing to do about the pasta - but they did give me a nice side of steamed broccoli.

And I planned ahead for desert... some wonderful gluten-free Outrageous Brownies (with Bob's Red Mill GF Baking Flour.... with a pound of butter and two pounds of chocolate in there, no one noticed any "off" flavor from weird flours) that I made ahead of time came with.  And were enjoyed even by the people who can eat wheat.

I understand how "picky eaters" can be a challenge at restaurants and that it gives a bad image to those who really have issues, but I am glad to at least know of one place where when it is made clear, they go above and beyond.

I hate food.

Yeah.... it's been quiet on the blog.

That might be because me & food are not in a very good place right now.  It is a very odd thing to deal with the fact that wheat had such a bad effect on me.  And it's just everywhere.

Not there, though!!  Apparently one of the local pizza biggies - Lou Malnati's - does a "gluten free" (wheat free is the important bit for me) pizza.  Basically... their deep-dish sausage pizza contains the sausage as one big disk.  Someone was real smart and figured out they could use that as the "crust", and then put the toppings on that.  And it is just like eating a slice of their regular stuff, sans crust.

At least when we come back from Vegas (going at the beginning of November to celebrate the hubby's big 4-0 birthday) I'll know I can order up a couple of personal pizzas (with crust for him) for us for dinner.

Our area Whole Paycheck (Foods) has a cooking class next weekend on "gluten free cooking."  After much inner debate... I'm going to skip it.  I've pretty much already figured out most stuff I need to know on my own, and this particular Whole Paycheck tends to be frequented by a lot of rich 2nd wives from the affluent 'burbs around these parts... and there is a very high chance I might get violent around someone who is doing this as a "lifestyle choice" and not because they HAVE to.  Because when they cheat or mess up, there are no consequences.  There are when I mess up (and not cheat... have no desire to cheat and make myself feel miserable). 

I used to love food.  I especially loved food prepared by other people for me.  Now I almost dread Friday night and ordering out and trying to figure out what I can eat that won't leave me hurting the next day.

Hopefully the kitchen mojo will come back soon and it'll be less of the totally bland food I've been doing lately (most things are so plain they are totally boring).  Anything on a bun or bread I usually eat "naked" pretty much because although Udi's does make a pretty decent gluten-free bread, it's expensive and I am cheap.  If I'm gonna use it... it better be worth it.

This also means I am spending more time actually in the kitchen - I gotta do my own breakfasts (usually an egg) and lunch for every day.  It's not like it is easy to just pick up something wheat-free if I don't plan ahead (although I am increasing the stockpile in my desk with things like Minute Rice, canned oil-packed tuna, jars of beans, etc.).

I might be doing some full-out meatballs with wheat-free pasta and red sauce and - gasp! - some french bread for me next weekend because I have discovered that a local area bakery - Deerfields - does GF french bread and I did pick some up,  but again.... $5 for two mini loaves - I want to do it justice.

I highly recommend NOT getting a wheat allergy

GOD this sucks.

I hate being grouped in with all the trendy people jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon.  You do it because it is trendy.  I do it because if I don't, the damned skin rash on my hands will come back and I don't like waking up at 3AM just to itch my fingers.  And my issue is not gluten (thank God, I'd be even unhappier if I had to give up beer right now) is just wheat.

I'm not missing the bread all too much, and I have discovered that some non-wheat pasta is OK.

I've learned that Rice Crispys make a very nice breadcrumb-like coating.

I've learned I'll react to french fries that are cooked in the same oil as onion rings, pizza puffs and other things with flour.

I've learned I can't trust that the chicken rice soup and the spanish rice served in the cafeteria in our building at work apparently have flour in them.  Yay.

I've learned I can't eat any traditional condensed soup, even when used as part of a recipe.

I've learned that when offered the choice between gluten-free frozen pizza and a slab of cardboard... eat the cardboard.

Did you know Taco Bell uses wheat in both their taco shells AND their beef?

Did you know most fast food chicken - even in non-fried form - contains wheat and/or gluten?

"No wheat" is also a problem when you're headed off to a party - no pasta, no bread, no pizza, no fried chicken, no crackers... which is some pretty unfortunate karmic payback on me, since I usually try to even make stuff that is vegetarian-friendly when I'm bringing food to a party where I know there will be vegetarians.

Grocery shopping is taking twice as long now, since I have to read product labels on half the things I buy.

On the plus side... I've lost ten pounds in the past month.  It's pretty easy to do when you're afraid of eating anything that doesn't come with a product label.  And yes, I do mean afraid.  I don't want that painful rash back.

B.Y.O.Bread

August was an interesting month around here.

There was all the hand pain.  The very, very bad hand pain.

Then the itching started. The kind of itching that would wake up up at 3am to scratch it, on my fingers.

Along with many very easy dinners that didn't require much knife skills, I decided that one thing I should do was cut down on all the fluffy white carbs.  I did a lot of whole-wheat tortila wraps for lunches.

And my hands got a little better.

Then I figured Hey... if I'm already going the high-fiber bread product route, I might as well take a go at the South Beach diet.

One week without any wheat flour and my hands were vastly improved.  Then I ate white fluffy bread again, and the pain, itching and lovely skin rash broke out.

I went to see the doc.  His conclusion?  Lay off the wheat and apply some prescription cream to the hands.

So... apparently, I am off wheat for awhile.

And did you know wheat is in EVERYTHING???

Seriously... it is.  As I am finding out.

But I have learned some things.

A mixture of one part cornstarch to two parts rice flour gives you a very nice thickener for white sauce, very close to wheat flour.  Those are scallops in a very mish-mashed "Scallops Newburg" that I threw together one night.

And I love socca/farinata.  I just learned that one tonight.

It's basically a chickpea flour flatbread.  The stores I shop at have *very* good selection of Indian foods, so chickpea flour was easy to find and cheap as all get-out.  I finally tried a recipe for it tonight in hopes I would have something remotely bread-like to wrap around a grilled brat.  I mixed it up when I got home and let it sit until I was ready to throw it into the oven.

I think a mixture of less water (thicker) would be nice if I want something pankcake-like in texture.  More water will give a thinner batter and should turn out crispier.  But in any case... the fluffier bits were as good as the crispy bits in this stuff.  I look forward to making it again in the future.

In any case... I am off wheat and I have turned into one of those annoying people who reads the ingredient list on EVERYTHING for the time being.  Even the couple of slip-ups I have made have convinced me that right now, no way, no how do I want anything wheat.  I'm really hoping this is not as far gone as full-out celiac disease (the trendy diagnosis right now - people who cannot have ANYTHING with gluten in it) and more an intolerance brought on by a toxicity from just eating too damned much fluffy white stuff.  Because I was.  But I also do NOT want to never again be able to enjoy a loaf of no-knead bread or a burger on a bun.

Kitchen Things You Didn't Know Existed Until A Few Moments Ago But You Cannot Live Without

So... I've been watching old Julia Child on the new "Cooking Channel" (which is a lot like Food Network was when it started... they actually show COOKING SHOWS).

Today was an episode All About Eve... no wait, that's not right.... All About Breakfast.  That sounds better!

While going through the instructions on how to poach eggs, Julia showed an egg poacher much like the one pictured above.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE, EGG POACHERS????

I love poached eggs.  I'd rather poach an egg than fry an egg (because I always overcook them when I fry).  It's easy to do, but boy, going freeform I'm known to get some funky shaped eggs.  The only bad thing about poaching eggs is trying to get them in nice shapes.

My mission for next weekend... hit the foodservice supply place nearby to see if they have them.  It looks like Crate & Barrel might carry them also... but I'd rather check the foodservice place since I wanna get like six of them.

NEEEEEEED!!!