Experiments in Gluten Free Eating

I think it runs in the family.



Looking over at my sister's blog and over at my mother's blog I found that... well... they talk a lot about food. We love good food (something kind of hard to come by on a college's meal plan...). They however, are talking about bread food. It's one of my favorite foods. And it also happens to now be a forbidden food. :(

I recently realized that I have problems eating wheat or gluten, I'm not 100% sure which. I guess it doesn't really matter because it's pretty hard to find bread that doesn't have them. Well... unless you like to eat cardboard, then there are plenty of options. I...really don't care for cardboard that much. But I love bread, pasta, FRIED CHICKEN :( , onion rings, fried shrimp (ok... I'm a southern kid, I like almost everything fried...) gravy on mashed potatoes, cheddar chips (they have some form of wheat in the flavoring, biscuits, chicken Parmesan, you name it... it probably has wheat in it.

At first I was just... bemoaning a fate of never eating fried chicken or homemade wheat bread again. But, I've found that it's not so bad. I eat healthier (I get lots and lots of remarks about how healthy and delicious my salads look at lunch. hehe) I haven't eaten fried food or pizza in THREE WEEKS! I would usually eat it at least once a day (french fries are easy foods...). The other day, I was able to buy some gluten free biscuit mix. It was ok. Not great. I wouldn't use it again. It tasted more like cornbread than biscuits. BUT I managed to redeem it:

WIth some turkey and tomato, muenster cheese and ...french onion dip (that I checked for any sort of wheat derivative in) because I am also allergic to eggs and cannot eat mayonnaise, it made a decent lunch. That is the closest thing to a sandwich I've had in a what seems like forever (since they were a staple. I ate them literally every day...). Some guy said to me the other day "make me a sammich woman!" (Catholic college guys' joke, much?) but I refuse to make any man a sandwich while I cannot eat one.

Today, I decided to cook for the week. I've been kind of just doing whatever. A lot of times I wind up eating just salads which leave me hungry. Or else, I ask one of the cooks to make me something special (I'm not the only one who does this) or if I am at work, I'll just find something and fix it myself. It gets a little annoying to eat the same things, though. So today, I started with this:

which after a while I managed to make look like this: 

so that I was able to carry it all at once to a building that has a stove.

First thing on the list was dinner: Zucchini pasta. I had a vague idea about it: I wanted something good. With mushrooms. I have no idea why, but today I really wanted mushrooms. When I got to the kitchen I decided I wanted onions and peppers in there as well. So, I sautéed some onions and peppers while I sliced the zucchini. Well, really I just peeled it to the seeds with a peeler. Easier that way. After the onions began to  caramelize, I added the zucchini and mushrooms. After about three minutes, it was ready. EXCEPT... it needed sauce. Meat sauce. So, I threw some of the beef and pork that I had browned in and added some spaghetti sauce, sprinkled some cheese on top and....

it was really good.

I also tried some tinkyada brown rice penne. I was surprised.... it tasted...almost normal. O.o Joy! 

Then there was the margarita chicken. THe other day, I was CRAVING Chili's margarita chicken... so I made my own. Complete with rice, refried beans, guacamole, and pico de gallo ...or rather, an imitation of pico de gallo. This was the finished product: 

 

Tacos and chili were the final end of the rest of the browned meat. I also made some meatballs so (with, of course, the solemn exception of Good Friday) I am good for the week!

I also made some dessert. (In anticipation of Sunday!) You know that the kid in you loves these. Going for weeks without a single cookie or cake or even pumpkin or banana bread ... built up. I caved in a bought Rice Crispies and marshmallows. (I am highly glad that I still can eat these)