A Day in the "Gluten-Free" Life

My two year old has almost completed week #2 of a gluten-free experiment.
I am pleased to say that we are actually noticing some changes! Praise the Lord.
It will never cease to amaze me how strongly food effects our bodies.
Not only does it have the power to nourish and heal us,
but it also can curse our bodies with a wide range of unpleasant symptoms.

We are trying to find a balance: NOURISHMENT & HEALING... without the symptoms.
The whole family is actually joining him this month!
Nathan and I have "messed up" a couple of times. Sigh.
Gluten is sneaky! And so hard to avoid when out in public!

Here's a few things we've been eating over here...

BREAKFAST or "FECKIS" as the little man says!

rice flour blueberry pancakes

I've just been using a basic recipe that uses rice flour. Still tweaking. I don't like to use eggs - and not using eggs with gluten free recipes is tough! These are still great though! Just a little crumbly. Working on that.
But coconut spread? Hold the phone. Go get some right now! Thank me later.

green smoothies & mango nectar with fresh squeezed O.J. - frozen in cubes

My boys INHALE smoothies.
My sneaky way of getting extra vegetables down them!
Kale and carrots for breakfast? Yes, sir.

paleo cereal

Raw goodness! I like mine with strawberries, flaked coconut, sliced almonds, and dried bananas with rice milk. ...good with chocolate chips too! Not like I've tried it before or anything. Ha!

LUNCH-TIME

long grain brown rice with mango salsa & bananas

salsa:
ripe mango
tomato
onion
corn
cilantro

This is not only g-free, but vegan too! VERY satisfying. Everyone enjoyed this!

DINNER-TIME

g-free pizza crust with the works

We needed some "comfort food" to console us along the way!
Topped with g-free tomato sauce, lots of fresh spinach, banana peppers, roasted red peppers, fresh pineapple, cilantro, a little bit of ham, and... I am proud of myself for this... only TWO cups of shredded cheese! TWO.
I will confess to using 4-6 cups in my past life. *hangs head in shame.* Cheese is so addicting. So it is not my fault.

This crust was epic. I could tell the difference (because I'm a snob like that), but my family was blinded by the awesomeness of the whole sha-bang!

I doubled this to have enough dough to cover my largest cookie sheet that I believe is 14X17.
Too lazy to measure it.

crust:
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar
3/4 C. warm water

*mix and let sit for 5 minutes then pour over...*

1 1/2 C. g-free all purpose flour (I've been using Bob's Red Mill)
1 tbls. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. xantham gum
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 egg
(Next time I'm letting the egg sit out.
Flaxseed meal and honey ought to do the trick.)

This dough is not going to rise like "normal" pizza dough. At least mine didn't.
I let it rest for about 10 minutes and then spread it out with my "EVOO-ed" hands.

Put the goods on top - and baked at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. PERFECTO.

SNACK-TIME

We used gluten and animal free products to make "puppy chow!"
Oh how I love that stuff!
My kids do too. That's why I wanted to make it of course! For them. Ahem.

rice Chex cereal
chocolate chips
peanut butter
non-dairy butter
BAD BAD BAD powdered sugar... it's just not the same without it!

Here are the boys snacking on some homemade fruit roll-ups
and watching Sesame Street while momma cleans the kitchen!
The roll-ups are a great, not to mention HEALTHIER, snack for the average day.

Will keep you posted on any other yummy things we discover along the way :-)

P.S. Don't worry, mom. When we come for Christmas I'll help you cook. This food allergy deal is tough business!