I'm happy to say that I now realize this is all doable. Stephanie has helped immensely; I cannot thank her enough. Because of her advice and recipes she's sent my way, I have made homemade salad dressing (yet to be tried, however) and a gluten-free, egg-free, milk-free flatbread to have with our potato kale soup. The bread was decent; Kyle even claimed he liked it! She has also guided me through what flours and starches and gums I need to buy in order to be able to bake and cook. This is invaluable information, people! So is the egg substitution of 1 Tb ground flaxseed + 3 Tb water. Life Saver!
I think I've eaten more fruit in the last week than in the last month prior. But that's perfectly okay with me; I love fruit. Now I need to increase my uptake of vegetables, which the salad dressing and roasted red pepper hummus should help. I don't like eating plain fresh veggies, so I'm hoping these toppings will fancify the lettuce and baby spinach and peppers, carrots and celery sitting in my fridge. My fridge has NEVER ever been so full. Leslie, you've got to see this!
Yesterday I met up with my local contact who eats gluten-free. She let me borrow two issues of Living Without, a food magazine for people with all of the allergies/sensitivities that I have and more. I have found several helpful ideas, brands, and recipes in those issues, which is another huge encouragement. My friend also let me have some gluten-free, egg-free, milk-free cookies and gave me two boxes of cereal to try (one is a GF version of Grape Nuts! I can live again!). My assessment of all is that they weren't bad; the cereal was even good.
I spent the week eating rice chex with coconut milk for breakfast, but I was delighted to find out I can still eat corn chex. They are perhaps my all-time favorite cereal. This morning I moved on to rice milk, and I can tell I prefer it to the coconut on cereal. I never drank either plain. I can't imagine doing that.
I feel like I'm armed with information (a fantastic feeling for a Librarian to have, let me tell you) and ready to figure this out. I have a plethora of web sites and stores in the quasi-local and regional area recommended to me. I have enough recipes to get us through another week. As long as I'm home and in control of what I eat, I feel like this isn't as scary as it was last week when I found out.
However, I'm nervous about an upcoming trip that unfortunately falls in the timeline of my one-month off of everything under the sun restricted diet. Friends swear to me that the region of the South we're headed to is super friendly to gluten intolerance folks, but I imagine I'll still need to pack up a bunch of snacks and foods that I can make for myself. It's a little awkward since we'll all be staying at a bed and breakfast -- our entire huge family + others.
I can't tackle that right now, though. I've got to get going on my thesis again. A little rusty and my brain is consumed by this food issue. Now that there is some sort of solution, I'm hoping for inspiration on this project.
PRAY FOR ME! I need it. My brain is all a-jumble most days.
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