Here is our dinner menu for our 1st 2 weeks starting gluten free:
1. BLT salad with hard-boiled egg, roasted potato wedges, sliced fruit
2. Chicken alfredo on twice baked potatoes, steamed broccoli
3. Chicken Divan (chicken & broccoli layered dish), with rice (made extra into a freezer meal)
4. Pancakes (I bought a gf mix at the store and made the whole bag; froze the leftover pancakes in single layers with wax paper in between), scrambled eggs, bacon, oj
5. Taco salad with shredded beef, tomatoes, homemade salsa, guacamole, cheese, tortilla chips
6. Pork Verde, salad, tortilla chips, black beans
7. Pina Colada Shrimp and Rice
8. English Muffin Pizzas, salad, cantaloupe
9. Hot Dogs (bunless), baked beans, corn, fruit salad
10. Rotisserie chicken, potato wedges, mixed berries
11. Cheese Enchiladas (red for g-free hubby, tomato/spag sauce for kids), refried beans, corn, salad (made 3 pans extra for freezer meals)
12. Waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, oj
13. Maple glazed chicken, sweet potatoes, celery sticks
14. Chef Salads, banana bread
I started with only a pancake mix, and Pamela's Baking Mix. On Sunday after church, I made a batch of banana muffins that I filled with a dab of natural honey-roasted peanut butter, and a loaf of banana bread/loaf cake and added some semi sweet chocolate chips too. I froze what the kids didn't eat that day, into individual portions and have been taking them out as needed.
I can't even eat what my family eats, so after making and preparing every breakfast, lunch and dinner the first week by myself, I added a few things that I didn't have to make from scratch or chop up(hot dogs, french fries, etc.,). For the most part, I have been altering what my family eats, so that I can make something that fits with Phase 1 Ideal Protein (I ate scrambled eggs with my 2 cups of veggies and salad, when my family ate pancakes and eggs. I had a chicken breast with a tiny little drizzling of enchiliada sauce on it and made my own "enchilada" salad with all my veggies on it when my family had enchiladas). Since I can't even taste any of the g-free stuff yet, I just resorted to buying Pamela's Baking and Bread Mix, instead of buying a whole bunch of different types of flours.
Since we started a g-free diet, this also meant no quick snacks for my kids' lunches (I hadn't made it to our g-free local store yet, just our regular grocery store and I have been trying to cut out sugary/high carb snacks that have no nutritional value. I didn't want to replace sugary gluten filled snacks, with gluten free sugary snacks.). Anyways, here are some of my school lunch ideas that we've done the last two weeks:
1. Rice Cakes Sandwiches (chocolate with PB or PB and Nutella, apple cinnamon with PB, sprinkle of cinnamon and apple slices, or Caramel Corn with PB and banana)
2. frozen string cheese
3. frozen simply gogurts
4. sliced fruit (whatever coordinated with the RC Sandwiches above, or grapes, cantaloupe, etc.,)
5. prepackaged carrots with g-f ranch
6. PB (Jif makes the small individual sizes, although I'd prefer the amount to be a little less b/c my kids never eat the whole thing and just throw some of it away, atleast that's what they have done before going g-free when we tried them at home) with anything you could dip into the PB: bananas, celery, apples, mini rice cakes
7. trail mix
8. dried fruit
9. applesauce/fruit cups/jello cups
10. pudding
11. any of the homemade items that I mentioned above
12. Nacho bar (baggy of chips, with cheese, beans, salsa, etc., in a container)
Speaking of lunch, our breakfasts have been affected too. Here are a few ideas of what we have done for breakfast, and snacks:
1. fruit smoothie (flax seed added)
2. gf yogurt (Brown Cow is a great option b/c of the high protein). My #1 daughter wouldn't eat the honey vanilla by itself the first time (although the switch from yoplait to a greek style, high protein/low carb is a shock and I could understand her reaction). I made the rest of what she wouldn't eat into a strawberry smoothie and it was fine. My attempt at getting #2 to eat the yogurt was a little different....I added maybe a teaspoon of homemade strawberry jam and a chopped up strawberry and she practically liked the container clean.
3. bananas with PB and Nutella to dip
4. Babybel Cheese and sliced apples (my kids would polish off an entire Costco sized pkg of this cheese in one day, if I let them)
5. Chex cereal/EnviroKids Cereal (Winco had the two kinds of EnviroKids on sale for $1.98/box. Much better than the almost $5 I spent at the GF store)
5. hard boiled or deviled eggs
Friday, September 3, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Easy Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
1 c peanut butter
1 c sugar
1 egg white
Mix all ingredients and bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.
1 c sugar
1 egg white
Mix all ingredients and bake at 350 for 8 minutes. Let cool and enjoy.
Our Story
It all started years ago. I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis....a fancy way of saying underactive thyroid (basically mine wasn't working at all...just that story is drawn out in and of itself ). Although my thyroid was removed, along with a humongous cyst (yes it was so big I got to be in a medical journal for it), I am still considered to have Hashimoto's. That all happened after I had my first baby. That was almost 8 years ago. Well, 3 babies and several rollercoasters of thyroid hormone doses later and my levels are where they are supposed to be? Or were they? So, why would I still be experiencing symptoms like fatigue, after having a good night sleep, and my tummy hurting every day (and at night severe stomach pains). I also gained 10+ lbs in two months, while eating between 1200-1400 calories, and exercising for 4-5 days/week???
I felt like I was in a twilight zone of existence of just surviving every day, not feeling really good. Well, I went to my doctor and they had no explanation of why I was having all of these issues, when my levels were all in range. So, they referred back to my specialist. Before I actually made it to my appointment (they were booked out for over a month), I started a new "diet". I just cringed when typing this up because I don't believe in "diets". I believe in new ways of eating, and lifelong eating habits, but i don't believe "diets" work. Just the word makes you think that you are giving up something, or just eating a certain way for a little bit (and then what happens after that? the weight comes back). Well, so I really mean a new way of eating. Ok, so I started on Ideal Protein http://www.idealprotein.com/ipcl_usen.asp?no=21
and I started feeling really good. I felt like a new person. My stomach didn't hurt at all any more, I didn't feel like I was walking around in a fog, I was happier and more patient with my children (not as grouchy), and don't get me wrong, by 10:30pm I was nodding off on the couch with the hubby as we watched tv, but I didn't feel like taking a nap an hour after waking up, woo hoo!
It was about that same time that I was talking to a lady at school dropping off her grandkids. Her grandkids have been in my kids' classes at school for the last couple of years. Anyways, she happened to mention something about her daughter, and how she had Celiac Disease. I was curious to know a little more about it, so I went home and looked it up on the internet.
My jaw dropped and I sat statuesque while I read the symptoms (remembering in the back of my mind my own experience, and that my two oldest girls had been having health issues). With #2 we'd been through months and months of blood tests about a year ago, since she would be crouched in the fetal posistion screaming out and crying that her tummy hurt. Without definitive blood tests, we had no idea what was wrong and the allergy tests came back with nothing, so we just brushed it off. I also remembered that my #4 (boy), while I was nursing, was barfing all the time, not just spitting up, but barfing. He also, to this day, will not touch bread, tortillas, snacks, etc., What little kid doesn't like fishies?
I quickly looked up the nutritional stats for the food I was eating and saw all the items I had picked for the last few weeks were gluten free and aha! Realizing that Celiac Disease is not diagnosed because it mimics thyroid symptoms and that is was hereditary, I was convinced! Everything made sense...no wonder #2 insisted on not eating breakfast...everything we have from cereal, to toast, to occasional things like pop tarts, breakfast bars, and oatmeal* all have gluten, (*maybe by cross contamination)! My #1 daughter has been saying for a few weeks that her tummy hurt after she ate anything, and generally hasn't had much energy. You know the boy who cried wolf, well that sums up #1 so I never really knew what to believe.
Now I knew why every sandwich from #2 came back in the lunch bag, just at neatly tucked in there as the previous night. I also remembered one night that we had tacos for dinner. #1 she said she didn't want the tortilla because it hurt her tummy. Maybe #1's health issues (migraines, no energy, tummy hurting) and #2's health issues (migraines, grouchiness, extreme tummy pain), were all symptoms of Celiac or Gluten Intolerance. Oh my goodness...I was on to something.
So, #1 and #2 and I were all just tested this past week. After reading all the info on Celiac not actually showing up until major damage was done, and because I have already been on a G-Free diet for awhile, it makes me nervous that nothing will show up. But guess what? I can put 2 and 2 together and we are all (myself, the hubby, and the four kids) starting on out gluten free journey! And not to mention, I don't want to feel like I did. I want to feel good, so no matter what, we're on our way!
I will post info on recipes and things that we have tried along this journey. Thanks to a good friend with lost of suggestions to get started!
I felt like I was in a twilight zone of existence of just surviving every day, not feeling really good. Well, I went to my doctor and they had no explanation of why I was having all of these issues, when my levels were all in range. So, they referred back to my specialist. Before I actually made it to my appointment (they were booked out for over a month), I started a new "diet". I just cringed when typing this up because I don't believe in "diets". I believe in new ways of eating, and lifelong eating habits, but i don't believe "diets" work. Just the word makes you think that you are giving up something, or just eating a certain way for a little bit (and then what happens after that? the weight comes back). Well, so I really mean a new way of eating. Ok, so I started on Ideal Protein http://www.idealprotein.com/ipcl_usen.asp?no=21
and I started feeling really good. I felt like a new person. My stomach didn't hurt at all any more, I didn't feel like I was walking around in a fog, I was happier and more patient with my children (not as grouchy), and don't get me wrong, by 10:30pm I was nodding off on the couch with the hubby as we watched tv, but I didn't feel like taking a nap an hour after waking up, woo hoo!
It was about that same time that I was talking to a lady at school dropping off her grandkids. Her grandkids have been in my kids' classes at school for the last couple of years. Anyways, she happened to mention something about her daughter, and how she had Celiac Disease. I was curious to know a little more about it, so I went home and looked it up on the internet.
My jaw dropped and I sat statuesque while I read the symptoms (remembering in the back of my mind my own experience, and that my two oldest girls had been having health issues). With #2 we'd been through months and months of blood tests about a year ago, since she would be crouched in the fetal posistion screaming out and crying that her tummy hurt. Without definitive blood tests, we had no idea what was wrong and the allergy tests came back with nothing, so we just brushed it off. I also remembered that my #4 (boy), while I was nursing, was barfing all the time, not just spitting up, but barfing. He also, to this day, will not touch bread, tortillas, snacks, etc., What little kid doesn't like fishies?
I quickly looked up the nutritional stats for the food I was eating and saw all the items I had picked for the last few weeks were gluten free and aha! Realizing that Celiac Disease is not diagnosed because it mimics thyroid symptoms and that is was hereditary, I was convinced! Everything made sense...no wonder #2 insisted on not eating breakfast...everything we have from cereal, to toast, to occasional things like pop tarts, breakfast bars, and oatmeal* all have gluten, (*maybe by cross contamination)! My #1 daughter has been saying for a few weeks that her tummy hurt after she ate anything, and generally hasn't had much energy. You know the boy who cried wolf, well that sums up #1 so I never really knew what to believe.
Now I knew why every sandwich from #2 came back in the lunch bag, just at neatly tucked in there as the previous night. I also remembered one night that we had tacos for dinner. #1 she said she didn't want the tortilla because it hurt her tummy. Maybe #1's health issues (migraines, no energy, tummy hurting) and #2's health issues (migraines, grouchiness, extreme tummy pain), were all symptoms of Celiac or Gluten Intolerance. Oh my goodness...I was on to something.
So, #1 and #2 and I were all just tested this past week. After reading all the info on Celiac not actually showing up until major damage was done, and because I have already been on a G-Free diet for awhile, it makes me nervous that nothing will show up. But guess what? I can put 2 and 2 together and we are all (myself, the hubby, and the four kids) starting on out gluten free journey! And not to mention, I don't want to feel like I did. I want to feel good, so no matter what, we're on our way!
I will post info on recipes and things that we have tried along this journey. Thanks to a good friend with lost of suggestions to get started!
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