My first GF Thanksgiving

I did it. I cooked the entire Thanksgiving dinner and it was almost all GF. I did buy some mashed potatoes from Country Crock that may have had gluten. I didn't look because I didn't plan on eating any. I also bought a pumpkin pie for my daughter and her boyfriend.



The menu consisted of:



Honeysuckle turkey breast cooked overnight in the crock pot. I got this recipe from Gluten-free Easily. You can find the recipe here.



Corn on the Cob



Brussels Sprouts



Candied Sweet Potatoes (like my mother used to make)



Waldorf Salad



Canned gravy (I don't eat gravy)



Mashed potatoes (I took the easy way out and bought them already cooked)



Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream



It was a very good meal. I remembered why I like to cook. Good healthy food and I'm sure it's all GF.



I hope all of you enjoyed your holiday.



More later...

Fire Roasted Crisps - Not GF

The very week I was diagnosed with "possible Celiac" I received a shipment of goodies from Dr Kracker to review on my blog. For a couple of weeks I didn’t do anything with them (but want to cheat on my gluten-free status and eat them up in a hurry). I didn’t eat them. The memory of the pain was too fresh. I finally came up with a solution. I gave them to my daughter and her boyfriend and they are going to review them for me. My favorite flavor, of the ones I tried before the diagnosis, was Fire Roasted Crisps. There was a touch of jalapeno in them that really boosted the flavor and all of Dr Kracker’s products are thick and crunchy. I would have happily made this flavor my main cracker. They were so good with a nice sharp Cheddar and maybe crispy slices of a fall apple.

Here's a list of the ingredients if anyone is interested:

organic whole wheat flour, filtered water, organic wheat flour, cheddar cheese (pastuerized milk, hannilase enzyme, salt, cultures), sun dried tomato, sweet potato, red jalapenos pepper, black sesame seed, organic flaxseeds, organic quinoa, organic sunflower seeds, yeast, sea salt, fresh basil, olive oil, garlic

Contains: wheat, milk

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Blogroll

Today I did a lot of hunting for and commenting on Gluten-Free blogs. I'm kinda changing my focus since the diagnosis of Celiac. I used to love looking at recipes but some of the fun has gone out of doing so because so many I shouldn't eat. Although I could still make them for others I wanted to find things that I could eat. So, I'm finding new sources. I'm looking for recipes that are GF. So today I went looking and I found quite a few really good blogs. If you're interested take a look at my blogroll. There have been several additions. I haven't deleted any cuz I don't plan on giving up on my favorite "reads". Again, I'm adding not taking away. That seems to be a theme with me.

For lunch I had a piece of salmon, some steamed veggies, and a banana. I'm already hungry so it's a good thing I have some yogurt in the fridge.

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Some yogurts have gluten

*****RETRACTION*****

I just checked Stonyfield website and it says

that all their yogurts are gluten-free except for

Yo-Baby plus cereal. I'm going to write to the

publisher of the book I read which said that

Oikos was not gluten-free. Am glad that I

can go back to enjoying Oikos again. Thanks for the

heads up from Heather at Celiac Family.

I'm sad. I can't eat Oikos anymore because it has gluten. What is gluten doing in yogurt? Regular Stonyfield is ok thank goodness. I love their new pumpkin pie flavor. It's really pumpkiny and not all full of spices (I like spices in pumpkin but this way is good too.) I find myself eating a lot of yogurt these days. At least one container every day. I think the little active cultures help with my tummy troubles and besides - it tastes good. I'd probably eat Fage everyday but it's too expensive. It's over $2 for an individual sized container. I do love it with honey though. Believe it or not I'd never eaten honey before I discovered Fage. YUM!

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H1N1

I finally got my H1N1 shot. The hospital was only offering them to direct patient care staff right now, but since I patient sit on the weekends and evenings I convinced them to give me one. I'm sitting tonight so I'd better get going.

More tomorrow...

Monday morning

This morning I slept in and woke up to snow. It's pretty falling but I hate scraping off car windows. It's not that cold so I don't imagine any of it will stick.

Breakfast this morning was a heated Udi's Lemon Streusel muffin and a Fage's yogurt with Honey. Very satisfying.

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Boots

I picked up my Whooga Ugg Boots from the Post Office yesterday. I was worried that they would be too small but they fit perfectly. Don't you love that new shoe smell? The packing slip caught my eye because it was hand written in Chinese. The WUB Co. is in Australia but I guess their boots are made in China because the package shipped from there. They had to go through customs and everything. I walked around the house in them for about an hour. I'm looking forward to colder weather when I'll be able to enjoy walking in the crisp air wearing them. My daughter is going to take a picture of me wearing them and when she does I'll post it.

See ya'll on Monday.

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Ouchie

Just got back from the dentist and oral surgeon. I had a bridge that the seal broke on and the tooth underneath decayed. There wasn't much left of the tooth to begin with so it had to be pulled. My general dentist separated the bridge so that the tooth could be pulled and the oral surgeon pulled it. Why this procedure required the services of two professionals I don't know.

My face is now swollen and numb. Not much pain yet. I am hungry but won't eat until the numbness goes away. I'm supposed to stick with soft, cool foods and of course - GF.

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Via's Pizzeria

Last week my daughter and I went to a pizza place which was featured in the local newspaper as having gluten-free pizza crusts. I was quite excited because I love pizza and was certain I'd never eat it again if the diagnosis came back positive for Celiac. The waitress was NEW. I asked about the crust and she told me I could get it in white or wheat. Wait a minute... wheat crust is gluten free? I ordered the veggie special 8 inch. The cost was $7.99 plus $2.50 for the special crust. I consider that to be expensive for a small pizza. The pizza was very good. The crust was all nice and crisp and the veggies and cheese were arranged artfully. I only ate half. The next night I nuked it for about 30 seconds. The crust was still good if not quite as crisp. I'll be back in spite of the comedy of errors which ensued. The waitress brought the check in one of those ubiquitous black folders. I placed my money in the folder and the waitress took it, brought me back my change and this is where it got interesting. I opened the folder, there was my change, my receipt and someone else's credit card receipt all nicely signed. I took the change without looking at it, returned the folder to the manager telling him that I'd gotten someone Else's receipt. He told me that he would give it to the correct party. When I got home I cleaned out my wallet and arranged my money. There was the $50 I had put in the folder, plus my change. I don't know why I was embarrassed but I was. I didn't want them to think I had walked out without paying so I called the restaurant and told them what had happened. Of course, the next day I returned to make it right. In spite of this craziness I will continue to patronize the establishment because I really liked their pizza.

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Amy's Kitchen

I've used Amy's products off/on for several years. There was only one store in town that carried their products back then - now there are two. One is a big Hy-Vee. The other is a good sized health food store called Akins Natural Foods. I checked out Amy's website today and they have a PDF file available listing their gluten-free products. I bought the Mexican Casserole Bowl. The box says no gluten ingredients which I'm almost certain doesn't mean 100% gluten-free. There's possibly some cross contamination going on. I ate it anyway. It tasted like the homemade tamales we bought on the street corner in New Orleans back in the day. I enjoyed eating it and will buy it again. I plan on using the PDF file to ask the stores to stock more of the gluten-free products. For example the Lentil soups. I didn't react to the Mexican Casserole Bowl. Hope that's a good sign.

More later...

More later...

With just one diagnosis...

...my life has changed. I am a Celiac and I can no longer eat foods which contain gluten. I must read labels thoroughly. Most processed food is off limits. Eating in restaurants is like walking through a mine field. It all seems a little overwhelming right now. I'm reading a book called The Gluten Free Bible. I've learned a lot. I've been referred to a local woman who is a Celiac Nurse. She was diagnosed about 30 years ago so she has lots of experience dealing with it. I have the feeling that I will be uncomfortable shopping for awhile. I'd just gotten to the point where I was getting comfortable with raw foods and fresh fruits and vegetables and now there's so much I'll need to pass on. Thanks for traveling this new road with me.

Today I tried a new flavor of Kind bars - Fruit and Nut Delight. It was quite delicious and also gluten-free. It was thick with nuts - almonds, peanuts, walnuts, and Brazil nuts - some of my favorites. It also had pieces of raisins and apricots. I will be having this one again.

This morning I had a Udi's lemon streusel muffin. The taste is divine. It's just what I wanted. I no longer feel quite so deprived. The texture isn't like a regular muffin. They're more bready than cakey. I noticed that Hy-Vee also carries the same brand in a blueberry flavor. I look forward to trying them next shopping trip.

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