It's Great to Be Gluten-Free

When people find out that I am gluten-intolerant, I generally get a reaction like, “Oh you poor thing,” or “That must suck.” Well, I’m here to tell you that it does not, in fact, suck. In reality, I look at it as a really great thing. Sure, I can’t eat what everyone else is eating all the time, but is that really a bad thing? Let’s discuss…

1. It makes me more health conscious- When I first became GF, I did a heck of a lot of research trying to figure it all out. In doing so, I learned about health-related things outside of what it means to be gluten-free.

2. I’ve become an awesome cook, if I do say so myself.- Being gluten-free means steering clear of a lot of processed foods because of fillers, thickeners, etc. Because I can’t eat those quick and easy foods any more, I have learned how to cook, and do it well. I’ve also become really good at improvisating (or “improvising” if you want to be all correct about it…). Resourcefulness is as must for a gluten-free eater.

3. I don’t consume a lot of chemicals- This goes with my last point about processed foods. Now that I cook for myself, I find that I don’t consume ingredients that my grandmother wouldn’t recognize on a label… very often.

4. I’m more in-tune with my body- Now that I have this allergy (although they think I’ve always had it and was simply unaware that my body was hating me for stuffing it with gluten), I pay much closer attention to how my body is feeling all the time. Now, I can feel a gluten attack coming a mile away, which gives me time to pop half a bottle of enzymes at an attempt to soften the blow. For those of you who aren’t gluten-free, there is no pill that you can take for gluten-intolerance/Celiac. Nothing makes me more angry than when people say, “Well don’t you have medicine for it,” like I’m gonna whip out an epee pen and suddenly my face rash and painfully bloated stomach with magically go away. Not happening.

5. It has opened the world of new foods/desserts- I’ve always been one to try new things food-wise, but now more than ever, I am always searching for fun new foods that I can incorporate into my diet. Now, I think, why would I settle for something like this:

…when I can have this?

6. I eat bread. All. The. Time.- Before I found out I was gluten-intolerant, I was on every diet you can think of. Throughout this dieting process, I realized that I always lost weight when I stopped eating carbs, especially breads and pasta. Well, it really wasn’t the carbs, it was the gluten. Now that I have GF options I eat a heck of a lot of bread- at least once a day- and there is no bloated tummy to follow. It’s fantastic.

7. It keeps me healthier all around- Being GF has been enlightening for me in so many ways. I pay attention to my food, my body, and my fitness these days, and I attribute it all to my (relatively) new lifestyle. I see my “problem” as a blessing in disguise.

I’ve realized how important it is to take care of your body and how what you put in it affects every aspect of your life. I know that without this “problem” as people like to call it, I would still be eating crap food and not taking care of myself. Luckily, I can’t put gluten in my body, unless I want to risk death... Well, close enough.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hi snicker doodles! Monday was the second Valentine’s Day in a row that I have spent without Miguel. It’s sad, but it makes me super happy to think that the next one will be spent together!

I decided that I wasn’t going to let the distance between my Valentine and I get me down. I couldn’t afford to have another emotional day, so I woke up and went straight to working. I got so much done in only an hour and a half. Once I got to a stopping place, I rewarded myself with some scrumptious eats.

Blueberry pancakes and banana.

Pancakes are God’s gift to the world.

Fueled on blueberry goodness, I accomplished still more homework. Great success.

More homework completion was followed by more food.

Not sure why my lunch looks so yellow... Rutabaga, spaghetti squash with onions and tomatoes, and toast with Cheddar cheese.

 In an effort to keep up the momentum on my feel-good day, I did some Valentine’s Day good deeds. As requested, I sang at the assisted living where my mama is a beautician and made some old folks smile. Why not spread joy when you can? Sadly, no pictures or videos were taken from this event. L Just trust me when I say it was good.

After the Valentine’s Day performance, the fam exchanged gifties.

Beer and flowers. Gigantor knows the way to my heart.

I have been dying to taste New Grist gluten-free beer. I’ve never tried GF beer before, but I haven’t heard very nice things. However, I was pleasantly surprised with this refreshingly cold beverage. It’s pale in color and is not strong smelling. Because it’s made out of rice and sorghum, it’s super light and crisp. Kinda tangy with a little bit of a bite at the end.

 It was a perfect accompaniment to my dinner.

Pot roast and quinoa snuggling in my bowl.

 I followed it up with some V-Day chocolate from my mama. My Valentine’s Day was significantly better than I had hoped. I can sleep happy. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.

Pastries from Hell

After finding a GF recipe, I went to bed Tuesday night thinking about croissants. Craving croissants. I dreamt about croissants (this is not a joke). I woke up to a puking dog at 3 am Wednesday morning, and thought about croissants. Cleaning puke quickly wiped the reverie from my brain. I went back to bed, and then woke up for the final time at 7:30 am. Guess what I was thinking about.

I got ready and jetted over to the grocery store for some baking supplies. I couldn’t find xanthan gum (What grocer doesn’t have xanthan gum?), but I read that gelatin can be a substitute for it. I figured it would be fine.  I got home, and went straight to work on my fluffy pastries of the French gods. I then came to the shocking realization that the cream cheese was MIA. This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing- we ALWAYS have cream cheese.

Substitutions and recipe tweaks are my specialty, so and used cottage cheese in place of the cream cheese. Maybe I was blinded with hope, but I really thought they would turn out. After letting the dough cool, I took to rolling. To my dismay, it started sticking to the parchment paper, tearing, crumbling, and doing everything else that can screw up dough. I rolled it, added flour, added and egg, added more flour, which seemed to add some cohesiveness to the mixture.

Dough refusing to be rolled

So sad. 

I rolled it out again for the millionth time, and made my little croissants. They were the saddest looking things I have ever seen.

Observe: cracked, gooey, lumpy. 

I cooked them and they smelled delish (at least). When they emerged, my disappointment turned to frustration. 

Ugly, dense piles of crap.

No fluffiness. I didn’t expect it, but nevertheless. I ate two small ones. They tasted great, but I was disgusted. They were crunchy bread rolls parading around as croissants. Gah. I refused to eat any more. My family raved over the little imposters, but I was angry with them. I disowned them. I no longer claimed them as my creations.

It was a major fail on my part. Baking is clearly not my forte. I have major issues with following directions. I bring my cooking creativity and free-spiritedness to the baking which, apparently, doesn't go over well. I plan on trying to make these things again using a different recipe and following directions to a T. I am too depressed to try any time soon…

I’ll probably get more ingredients tomorrow… 

Food Lover On-the-Go

Hiya Pals! The past few weeks have been extremely slow, save for my hoppin’ holidays.

Tuesday, however, was cray (zay). I had several to-do’s planned for the day, so I woke up bright and early at 7 am.  I headed straight for the kitch (I am feeling the abbrevs). It made me realize how unfit for diets I am…

Egg on toast. Yog with pap (Let me clarify for my South African family..."papaya")

Best egg seasoning ever.

 I had my coffee and breakfast and cleaned a little. I realize I say I clean a lot. If you must know, “clean” means tidy, wipe, down, and otherwise “nicer” up the house. When I say, “I spent 2 hours cleaning,” or “I spent a large portion of my day scrubbing,” you know I mean business.

After my food digested, Lucy was literally nudging me toward the door and showcasing her extraordinary ability of whining in the most annoying possible way while managing to still be cute. I decided to bring Max-er with is. What a sucker I am.

I opted for an early lunch. On Monday, I received a package from Gillian's GF foods. 

Gillian's Food

 I tried out the Penne pasta for lunch. Gluten-free pasta is often fragile and doesn't cook very evenly. This pasta, on the other hand, cooked perfectly. It had a great taste, unlike some GF pastas. The only problem I found with this penne was a starchy coating after it was cooked making it stick together. But, it was easy to break the noodles apart and they did not tear or crumble. Super. I give them a 6 out of 10.

Brown Rice Penne

Chicken salad, carrots, and chilled penne with Italian dressing.

Berry tea and vanilla tea. Perfect combo.

 Then I packed some snackies since I knew I would be on the go all day.

Snackies.

Dogs in the background.

Broken New Year's Resolution. Fashion Faux Pas in action. Tea in hand. Hot. 

After lunch, I headed out to college-ville to see one of my besties.

This is Flo-Rida. She is my 83-yr-old bestie/adopted grandmother.

 My other poopers were super excited to see me, since I haven’t been to Journey’s End Animal Sanctuary in about a week (I usually go 2-3 times a week).  Flo-Rida told me I would be accompanying her on some errands. I love hangin’ with her, so I was totally ok with it. We spent the next few hours out on the town, looking for some home-improvement stuffs. Afterward, she bought me some coffee and coffee ice cream. Did I mention how much I love her? I tried to pay for my own treat but harsh words were exchanged. Who knew an 83-yr-old woman could say such things…  

I went to the bank, made some clothing exchanges for Flo-Rida, and headed back to home base. As soon as I got back, I went straight for the Wii Zumba for some supplemental workout. Fast. Fun. Fantastic.

Feeling the need for something fresh, I made myself a hearty salad.

Lettuce, carrots, quinoa, cucumbers, tomatoes, banana peppers, a spritz of Italian dressing, and apple cider vinegar.

 I caught up on my favorite blogs and a sudden urge for croissants. Croissants are possibly one of my favorite foods, but I haven’t had one in over 3 years. I discovered a recipe using rice flour, which is super convenient, considering I just got some from Ener-G. Then I read this post “How to Eat Like a French Woman” from I Made Dinner.  It’s fate! I am beyond excited. Wednesday’s post will tell the tale!

I plan on spending the rest of my night watching Clinton Kelly and Stacey London bash the wardrobes of innocent people. It’s fantastic. Then I will go to bed dreaming of croissants.

 2 days 'til Giveaway!

PureFit Nutrition Bars

I am always on the lookout for new gluten-free stuff, and when saw an advertisement for PureFit Nutrition Bars, I wanted to try them! These soy protein bars were awarded #1 Bar of the Year for 2010.

PureFit bars are super high in protein, gluten-free, wheat free, and vegan!

They are:

• Low sugar
• Non-GMO
• All Natural
• Kosher
• Nondairy
• No trans fats
• No hydrogenated oils

And they don’t melt!!! This is fantastic, because you can throw them in your gym bag, keep one in your purse, or toss one in the car before you head to work.

Basically, they’re super bars.

This awesome company sent me all 5 of their product flavors!

• Chocolate Brownie
• Peanut Butter Crunch
• Berry Almond Crunch
• Granola Crunch
• Almond Crunch

Package Contents: Informational materials and Meal plan!

To my delight, I received them on Wednesday. I knew that I wasn’t going to be doing the review until Thursday, but since I am such and sucker for anything chocolate, I had to try the Chocolate Brownie flavor.

Chocolate Brownie:

Calories-210

Protein- 18g

Carbs- 24g

Fat- 6g

Sugar- 15g

 It was so delicious. The bar was very chewy, but didn’t stick to my teeth (which I HATE). If a bar makes me feel like a dog with peanut butter on the roof of my mouth, that automatically makes me like the bar less. I do not need my teeth pulled out while eating a protein bar.

The Chocolate Brownie bar had the “typical” protein bar texture at first, but as I chewed it, the texture turned brownie-like in my mouth. I know this sounds crazy, but it was magical. I automatically attribute anything inexplicable to magic (or God, but in this case, I am fairly certain that God would not care to turn my bar to brownie mid-bite). This protein packed pseudo-brownie also had little crunchies in it, which I assume were the soy nuts. Love.

When I got to lunch-time on Thursday, I couldn’t wait any longer to try these beauties. I cut a bit-sized piece off of each bar for taste testing. They all vary a little bit in color, but this pic makes them look uniform.

Clockwise from left: Peanut Butter Crunch, Berry Almond Crunch, Granola Crunch, Almond Crunch

Peanut Butter Crunch:

Calories- 220

Protein- 18g

Carbs- 23g

Fat- 7g

Sugar- 15g

This had a drier consistency than I first expected (not in a bad way). It was almost like a soft cookie. Super delicious.  My sister Mons swore she could not finish a whole one of these bars. It’s a hefty snack for sure.

Berry Almond Crunch:

Calories-220

Protein- 18g

Carbs- 24g

Fat- 7g

Sugar-16g

This bar was much gooier than the Peanut Butter Crunch, sort of like a Fruit Roll Up- sans the teeth sticking! And again with the crunchies. I think that the mixture of textures is what makes these bars so awesome.

Granola Crunch:

Calories- 210

Protein- 18g

Carbs- 25g

Fat- 6g

Sugar-13g

This bar was my favorite, hands down. And that is saying a lot since I am slightly completely obsessed with chocolate. 

Me with my Granola Goodness

 I have missed granola bars since I have gone gluten-free, and these are the perfect substitute. I have tried gluten-free granola bars before, but they are never crunchy enough for me. These have gluten-free oats and taste like cinnamon and raisins (without whole raisins in it). This is perfect for raisin-haters. New favorite treat.

Almond Crunch:

Calories- 220

Protein- 18g

Carbs- 23g

Fat- 7g

Sugar- 15g

My email buddy from PureFit told me that these were his favorite. I really liked them, but Granola Cruch trumps them. I do, however, love the fact that the almond flavor is incredibly strong in these. It’s like an almond dessert. If you are an almond-lover, you will fall in love with this bar. It was the softest of all the bars. Almost melt-in-your-mouth soft. Now that I think about it, I would have to say this is my second favorite. This was scrumdidallyumptious.

Overall, these bars were awesome. Like I said before though, if you are a small eater, you will probably not finish a whole bar in one sitting. These are not meant to be a meal replacement.

Thanks so much to PureFit for letting my try their awesome product! Go out and get one for yourself. You won’t be sorry!

For more information about these bars and how to order, or where to buy, go to www.PureFit.com. You can also visit their blog at purefitblog.com.