Stagg chili is gluten free

Another company puts gluten free on the label. Thank you Stagg.

I’m still here. Sorta. 🙂 Since I’m gluten free for life, you won’t get rid of me that easy! I’m blogging more often at JessieGunderson.com and busy with my five Thinglets, five acres and being a home school junkie. Haha! Anyhow, if you subscribe you won’t miss it when I post. I’ll just stick to the best of the best. Thanks for being patient.

 

Gotta go gluten free?

A friend of mine was told she has irritable bowl syndrome. She wanted to try the gluten free diet to see if it relieves her symptoms. I’m no expert but I have had a five+ year struggle making gluten free, family friendly and PICKY eater friendly. 🙂 So here are some of my tips that don’t involve running out to the health food store and laying down a small fortune for a mini cart full of cardboard food. Though, I will say there are some things there I definitely splurge on from time to time that are delicious!

First things first. Write out your regular “go to” foods. What do you eat under stress? That’s a biggie because going gluten free is stressful… then replace them with something productive that actually sounds good so if for the time being it needs to be something not so good for you, give yourself some slack and go ahead and eat the ice cream! Girl, you know what I talking about. Just go easy and in time you will find a more suitable alternative. Don’t get all crazy on me now.

So, for example you eat a lot of meat and casseroles.

• Find casseroles with tortilla ingredients and tomato base instead of cream base.
• Meats are great, grill them in minimal marinade something like salt and lime instead of basting.
• Use hummus in place of creamy dressings if you need to cut out milk with gluten.
• Tempted to go for soups? Buy Amy’s broth and tomato soup in the box at Costco and use it to make home delightful home made soups.
• Are you in a time crunch? Pre-make a big batch of trail mix. Again, Costco has all kinds of nuts, berries and such. Most commercial trail mix has a large chance of being cross contaminated but if you make it yourself you can read every label.
• Chips get you into trouble? Go for corn chips or potato chips (carefully read the label for teriyaki or BBQ flavorings that might contain wheat)
• Crackers? There are some decent rice crackers available.

Having trouble reading labels? EDITED TO ADD… Here is a great post by one of my favorite Gluten Free Bloggers on this subject. Read the comments, there is a really helpful discussion going on over at Gluten Free Homemaker!

• Look first for the bold GLUTEN FREE usually located at the bottom of the ingredients box or sometimes scrolled across the front of the item near the title.
• Next check the allergen warning under the NUTRITION FACTS box. It usually says CONTAINS: egg, milk, gluten
• If that still checks out then scour the ingredients looking for hidden sources of gluten like malt or malt flavor, whole grain, spelt, barley, soy sauce, oats etc.
• Does the label say “processed in a facility that also processes wheat”? Skip it then, it’s not worth the chance.
• Remember Wheat Free is not Gluten Free

Do you have any other blind spots like… “I always cheat with a piece of toast in the morning.”

I’d say splurge on a box of gluten free frozen waffles at the health food store.

What else? I needed to remind myself of these simple ideas and get back to the “What CAN I eat” mentality instead of focusing on what I can’t eat. Thanks to my friend for this reminder.

Post those blind spots and we’ll brain storm!

Cooking Strike and Probiotics Work

I’ve been having strange dreams about ready made food and lamenting the ability that others have to just eat what they want whenever they want. With more get to gethers and being away from the home lately I’ve gotten mildly glutened on several occasions. Boy, what I’d do for a Stouffers lasagna or a cup of noodle that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. As a result I’ve been on a cooking strike. Not really, but my creative energy, my small bit of determination (when it comes to meals) is “gone with the wind”. I wish I had started out with a love of all things kitchen and then discovered the celiac. Unfortunately the kitchen, on most days, is the last place I want to be.

What have you been eating lately? Rice cakes are myfaithful friend. So are nacho’s and Tinkyada pasta. How about you. What do you do when you want a TV dinner or frozen hash browns?

As a small aside I did re-discover that probiotics can help reduce the negative effects of getting glutened. Twice in the last couple weeks I’ve had to rush home and take a couple tablets loaded with healthy bacteria and then guzzle tons of water. It seems to speed up the digestion process and while it doesn’t stop the discomfort it definitely helps!

Want another cheesy idea?

Or… how to make a grown up rice cake lunch. 🙂

Without bread, I find it amazingly difficult to come up with things for lunch. Rice cakes are one of my quick solutions to that problem. If you get tuna in the bag package, this lunch can be easily eaten on the go. Yay!

What you’ll need…

• tuna
• gluten free rice cakes
• cheese slices
• cilantro (if desired)

The drier the tuna the better because those rice cakes will desintigrate with the smallest amount of water. If you want to amp it up a bit, sprinkle red pepper flakes or paprika on top.

The cilantro and pepper flakes make this lunch all grown up! I bet this is pretty healthy too for anyone counting calories.

Best way to make pizza rice cakes.

One of the hardest things for me is coming up with lunches that are simple, fast, kid pleasers. Simple and fast rarely goes along with gluten free. Not only that but the words cheap or inexpensive are almost a joke. But I’ve got no choice. With three boys and myself all eating gluten free, budget wise is a must!

Here is one of our simple meals using regular groceries (not specialty) that also saves precious time during the middle of our school day.

It doesn’t seem that there should be a science to making rice cake pizza’s but by trial and error I have come up with some helpful tips.

One – NEVER EVER put the sauce directly on the rice cake. Unless of course you like soggy food. Experience has taught me that the sauce can melt a hole right throught the middle and cause quite an interesting anomoly. Donut shaped pizza!

Two – Don’t ever let the boys make their own pizza rice cakes using cheese sticks! If you haven’t ever tried to microwave a cheese stick I am here to tell you, do not attempt!

Three – Well, I guess there isn’t a three. So here is a lovely picture of one of the Thinglets’ favorite lunch meals. Enjoy!

One of the easiest meals I can come up with.

Most days I just need a no brainer when it comes to feeding myself. The Thinglet’s “go to” power meal is rice cakes and peanut butter. How is it that kids can eat PB&J until it comes out their ears and not get sick of it?

When you need something decent and have only about 10 minutes to prepare you can cook this easy, naturally gluten, milk, nut, egg and soy free meal in a snap. Even I can do it!

Steam some brown rice. Costco has a package of precooked organic brown rice that has a sweet (not earthy and dry) flavor. It is a little spendy for rice but a great quick lunch especially if you need something gluten free to take to work.

Cut up one large chicken breast, toss in balsalmic vinagrette (always double check ingredients with dressings) and cook in a skillet over medium high heat until done. Serve with the rice and a bit of cilantro. Wa-la!

For an on the go meal, refrigerate or freeze the bite size chicken in meal portions and grab the Costco rice bowls to go.

Health-ier banana split – breakfast treat

allergy free, biggest looser, food, gluten free, breakfast, banana split

Here is a yummy and somewhat healthy breakfast treat that a friend introduced me to from the Biggest Loser Club.

Biggest Loser or not, we all enjoyed it as you can see!

You need bananas, yogurt, chocolate syrup and nuts (if desired) and/or granola (for a NON-gluten free version). I left the nuts and granola out due to food allergies.

Chex Snack – puppy chow

My thinglets love this snack. With Chex now gluten free, it ‘s great to whip up when the sweet tooth hits. I snuck a batch last night after the thinglets went to bed so I didn’t have to share! Evil MOM 😉

Here is the original recipe from the Chex site.

What is your favorite 15 minute, gluten free snack. Healthy is great or not so healthy works for me too!

100 Random Gluten Free Foods

1. chex cereal
2. corn tortillas
3. apples
4. chicken
5. rice
6. coffee (is that food?)
7. chocolate (okay that’s better)
8. rice cakes
9. peanut butter
10. milk
11. cheese
12. steak
13. potatoes
14. green beans
15. salad
16. eggs (hard boiled, scrambled, omelets, green, “on a train”)
17. sunflower seeds (careful of seasonings)
18. hot dogs (read label)
19. salsa
20. corn chips
21. fruit snacks
22. nuts (but not all trail mixes)
23. ham
24. red hots 😉
25. apple sauce
26. yogurt
27. soup (some Progresso brand or homemade)
28. beef
29. Frito’s
30. cucumbers
31. jasmine rice
32. fish
33. sushi (most- but beware of soy sauce)
34. cheese sticks (definitely a different food group than plain cheese)
35. spaghetti sauce (read label, try Classico Brand)
36. ice cream
37. M&M’s
38. pears
39. bananas
40. humus
41. black beans
42. pinto beans
43. refried beans
44. carrots
45. corn
46. lettuce
47. cabbage
48. salad dressing (NOT asian dressings, most have soy sauce)
49. tapioca
50. jello
51. bacon
52. potatoes
53. turkey
54. rice noodles
55. mushrooms
56. sprouts
57. zucchini
58. Reese’s (I had to counter all those veggies)
59. pudding
60. peaches
61. melons (and I don’t mean the Hooter’s kind)
62. grits
63. onions
64. eggplant
65. french fries (if they are fried in a dedicated vat- and no it’s not the same as potatoes!)
66. non wheat flour alternatives – sorghum, rice, tapioca, corn starch, buckwheat (technically a cousin to the rhubarb family), potato starch.
67. raisins
68. popcorn
69. pepperoni
70. carrots
71. snickers
72. pop (D.P, Coke, Pepsi translation for you non Northerners)
73. fudge (some)
74. gravy (if made with corn starch and drippings)
75. Ahhh I’m stuck…  oh how about berries
76. shrimp
77. lobster
78. tartar sauce (I don’t know about all but I think so)
79. cereal that is simply the puffed grain ie. puffed rice (check label, kamut and durum are WHEAT)
80. some brands of rice cracker
81. larabars
82. nachos (okay people I’m running low on ideas)
83. peaches
84. tomatoes
85. garlic
86. chocolate chips (did I already say that?)
87. fruit smoothie drink (be careful with protein powders)
88. hamburger patty’s
89. ketchup
90. mayo
91. salt and pepper
92. crisco, butter
93. creme cheese
94. peas
95. chick peas
96. yams
97. dried fruit (ha ha, not really another food but hey)
98. alfredo sauce by classico (many have wheat as a thickener so beware)
99. craisins
100. pistachios

So call me obnoxious 🙂  It took two days to come up with this list and I’m sure I’m missing key items.  Do you have any to add?  Maybe we’ll make a secone 100 list!

More Tomato Harvest Ideas

Here is my un-recipe for home grown tomato sauce to be used for spaghetti, pizza sauce, casserole’s… anything your little heart desires!