Friday, July 25, 2008
Starting Over Again.....
Hi I'm Hope4Grace and I'm an addict. I'm addicted to meat, potatoes, anything fried. In fact, my favorite food of all times is fried foods. Yum.....there is just something about fried catfish, or fried chicken or fried mushrooms or fried okra.....omg stop me now.However, due to some medical problems, I'm having to learn to eat another way. Gluten-free. When my doc told me this, my first response was "fine, I'll just cut out gluten", I didn't stop to ponder why he looked at me with such pity.
Now I know.....gluten-free = no wheat, rye, barley.....................
Farking great! Let me tell you. For the past month, I've been the gauntlet. I've sat at home in front of my open fridge wondering what I could eat that wouldn't make me sick. Ditto on the pantry.
For a solid week I existed only on hashbrowns I made myself and bacon. During that week, I did my homework. Then The Man and I decided the best thing to do was set up the house as mostly GF with exceptions: The Man and kids would keep regular bread for sandwiches and some quick fry foods in the freezer. Everything else, GF. I just heart him to pieces for that, that he is onboard before we even knew what the hell we're dealing with. Plus it helped that I asked him to take the girls and go out to eat someone totally not GF at least twice a month........I'll stay at home and eat a rice cake.
The Man took me to B&N and sat me down in a comfy chair in the cookbook section. Somewhere I never go, cause hello.........slutty, dirty romance novels are on the other side of the store.... But he sat me down and proceeded to bring every Gluten-Free (here on out refered to as GF) book/cookbook he could find. I had quite the stack.
I started with :
and then worked my way through cookbook after cookbook until I found three that I felt I could use. When you take the processed foods out of your diet, your cooking times get a little long. Let me tell you.
So the southern girl who loves her some fried sh*t, is starting over.........literally. I'm learning how to cook all over again. I have a learning curve though, The Man has become as fanatical about as I have. We're the scouting, cooking team.
Yesterday we spent three hours at our local grocery store looking for GF foods. I found some cereal.........thank you Rice CHEX! I heart you alot! I found oatmeal in the tiny teeny GF section (you'd be surprised at how many stores have GF sections, you'd never notice them until you needed them) so tonight I'm making oatmeal cookies. We found chicken broth, some frozen dinners, chips, salsa, non-wheat flour for baking........we literally hit the gold mine. So far, this is the most we've found and we were celebrating in the aisle!
So here is my first real all GF dinner.........
I named them chicken pockets.......so when The Man called on his way home from a class and said, "what's for dinner?" I said.......chicken pockets and he asked if he could stop at McD's....har har.......So I make a "chicken pocket" bar on my bar at home.......everyone got foil packets and they could fill it up with chicken and veggies, I had stocked up with fresh herbs so I was ready for food that had flavor. Drizzle some olive oil in there and then sit aside.......it was time to light the grill.
Now for me, the grill = The Man's territory so I never bother with it. Except I needed these babies grilled.........so I braved it
First off, what a nasty, unflattering picture of me.......moving on.......Since the backyard is in progress (okay, well it's in the very beginning stage, i.e. planning) we got a little charcoaler since we're waiting to get a natural gas grill once our deck is done. This is a project for another day. Just note that I have NO experience with fire of this nature.
Oh PRETTY! So I got a little flame going. I was so proud of myself.........
Then I had to call The Man cause, um.........do you let it burn with the lid up or lid down? How long? Did I use enough coals? Is it too close to the house? Why does my face feel red? You're how close to the house?
Turns out, he was really close......and he took over.......and in between making fun of my chicken pockets and my grilling experience, managed to get it done.
Now doesn't that look just yummy? Served with a side of corn and a salad.
Welcome to GF cooking people......it's gonna be a bumpy ride.....
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Thank god the man was close...
As for the GF food, sh*t looks good. Can't tell at all you have cut something out.
I could not help but notice we have the same plates... bff's do think alike. :)
As hard as this new lifestyle may be for you, I'm glad that it was nothing worse.
I love me some fried food too. I feel your pain. Maybe you can start posting some of your new recipes on your blog as you go along.
As for the BBQ that is so not my territory either, although I learned by trial and error during little league this year as I was in charge of the snack bar.
Hope your weekend is great and GF!!! :-)
EEK! - No fried/breaded foods ? I curl up in a ball and go hide in a corner.
I hope this works for you. You've been such a champ and never said what your tummy's doing to you so I just have to guess.
Be one with the rabbit, salad girl.
Wow....lifestyle change for you! I can't even imagine it.
The chicken pockets look great....looks like you are starting out good.
As soon as saw the G word I thought of blogger NOFO whose sister has a GF food company. http://nofo.blogspot.com/2008/03/were-in-business.html
I'm so sorry that you are going through this, but glad that you have such a great suppot system in your family.
First of all, yay for the man! But way yay for you... I would not have had a clue how to start the bbq with the coals. can barely light the gas one. ha ha ha and then, to have him all on board like that and helping you out, that is awesome! keep him around another week or so. jk
actually, my sister-in-law has to live a GF life too... not too bad, it has been four years. i will have to ask her some tricks, i know there are fast food places she can go to too. i will let you know.
ok that just sucks. I do know there is gluten free bread out there too. I've actually been contemplating a gluten free diet as it helps in so many other areas (thinking it would help Spiderman immensely). So you may just inspire me to go for it. It won't be so bad once you get used to it. Especially since you will be feeling a whole lot better. Do the cleanse girlie... I'm telling you it'll help!!
I had my daughter on a GF diet for 18 months...it was tricky to feed a 2 year old - and expensive. She ate a lot of rice, chicken and vegetables. Never did find a good bread though. I think you're on the right track with the cook book. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be cruising...and still eating a lot of McD's fries!! Ha ha, my kid loves 'em!!
so, no barley...does that mean no beer? MY GOD how do you live?!