Week One Successes and Recipes

Well, we survived Week One of the UltraMind Solution's eating program, something I wasn't sure I could do when I first considered trying the program. We tried so many new products this week, that I think I will make another post after this one dedicated just to them. This post will focus on just the dinner recipes and what we thought of them. We ended up switching the menu a bit because of time constraints, so sorry that it doesn't follow exactly what we did this week.

Monday night we had Shrimp Scampi w/ Corn Spaghetti, frozen peas, and GFCF breadsticks, as originally planned. It was fantastic! We got a pound and a half of fresh, cooked shrimp from United (it was on sale last week) and it was really great.

Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1-1/2 lbs. shrimp (thawed, if frozen, and peeled)
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Recipe:

Saute garlic and olive oil for 1 minute over medium heat. Add shrimp, oregano, salt and pepper and saute an additional 4 minutes. Combine chicken broth and cornstarch in bowl with whisk; add to shrimp. Heat until thickened. Serve over pasta.

Notes:

We doubled the chicken broth and cornstarch so there would be more sauce and it turned out really well. I'm not sure where this recipe is from, it was written on a recipe card in my mom's cookbook.

Tuesday we had Sesame Honey Drumsticks with rice, frozen corn, and watermelon as planned. It turned out well too, although our drumsticks were pretty big, so they needed to be cooked a little bit longer as they weren't quite done after 30 minutes.

Honey Sesame Drumsticks

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. soy sauce (wheat free tamari)
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 8-10 chicken drumsticks, skinned
• 3 Tbsp. sesame seeds.

Recipe:

Combine the soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and ginger in a bowl, pour into zip-close plastic bag; add the chicken. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Turn to coat the chicken. Refrigerate, turning the bag occasionally for at least two hours, or overnight. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a roasting pan or shallow baking sheet with foil, and spray with non-stick spray. Spread the sesame seeds on a plate. Remove chicken from the marinade, discarding the excess marinade. Dip each drumstick in the sesame seeds to coat one side. Place chicken seeded side up in the pan. Bake until cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Notes:

Make sure to read the recipe long before it's time for dinner so that the chicken has time to marinade. (I almost learned that the hard way) I believe the recipe is from a Weight Watchers magazine, but I don't know which one because it was cut out in my mom's recipe book.

Wednesday didn't work out quite as planned, so we cooked some turkey hot dogs on the grill and wrapped them in lettuce leaves or half of a brown rice tortilla. We also cut up some cantaloupe. Not very fancy, but everyone ate and was filled.

Thursday we made the San Francisco Chops with mashed potatoes, fresh steamed broccoli and frozen corn that we had intended on making Wednesday. I started working on dinner a few hours before I was hoping to eat, but it was still not done until around 8, so I would suggest starting early and not having people come over in the middle of cooking so that you have to stop what you are doing for half an hour (like I did).

San Francisco Chops

Ingredients:

• 4 pork chops, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick, about 1-1/2 pounds
• 1 Tbsp. oil (we used olive)
• 1 clove garlic, minced

For sauce:

• 2 tsp. oil
• 4 Tbsp. broth (we used chicken)
• 4 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. water

Recipe:

Trim pork chops of fat. Heat oil in skillet. Brown chops on both sides. remove and add a little more oil if needed. Saute garlic for a minute, being careful not to burn it. Combine oil, broth, soy sauce, and honey. Place chops back in skillet. Pour sauce over them. Cover tightly. Simmer over low heat until chops are tender and cooked through; about 30 minutes. Add a little water, 1-2 tablespoons if needed to keep sauce from cooking down too much. Turn chops once while cooking. Remove chops to platter. Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Pour cornstarch mix into sauce. Cook until thickened. Pour over chops and serve.

Notes:

Make sure you have a skillet large enough to hold all of the chops if you are doubling the recipe, we didn't so I had to finish making the rest after dinner, which was a pain. The original recipe is from a Great American Recipes card, I made a few slight alterations.

Saturday we made the "Penne" with Mushroom Sauce recipe that we were supposed to have on Thursday. Dad did most of the cooking while Mom and I shopped for food and things for this week. It turned out to be delicious.

Penne with Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. GFCF margarine, divided
• 1/8-1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/8 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper
• 1 (10 1/2 oz.) can beef broth
• 1 (8 oz.) package mushrooms, sliced
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 4 cups hot cooked penne pasta (8 oz. uncooked)

Recipe:

Melt 1 Tbsp. margarine in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, and carrot; saute 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 1 cup beef broth; cook 10 minutes until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in thyme, pepper, and can of beef broth. Bring to a boil; cook until reduced to 1 cup (about 3 minutes). Keep broth mixture warm. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in separate pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and saute 5 minutes. Add reserved broth mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Combine water and cornstarch in a bowl with a whisk. Add cornstarch mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute. Combine sauce and pasta, tossing to coat.

Notes:

We didn't completely follow the recipe that was originally posted in a Cooking Light magazine. The original recipe has you strain out the onion, celery, and carrot from the broth, we left it in. We also didn't reduce the liquid nearly as much as was suggested, so we had to add more cornstarch. It still tasted great though. We also used rice spirals instead of penne.

Sunday we thought we might have someone coming over to lunch that is a practicing Hindu, and we weren't entirely sure of his dietary restrictions, so we came up with a vegetarian meal, but then he didn't come over, so we just grilled burgers instead and will be having the pasta dish later this week.

Hope you enjoy the recipes as much as our family did!

Namaste,

Mel G.

Gluten Free Frenzy's Shopping Guide Book Giveaway

The Gluten Free Frenzy blog (www.glutenfreefrenzy.com) is having a great giveaway this week. It's not food this time, but a book that lists over 30,000 gluten free foods, while still being small enough to fit in a purse or shopping bag. The book is sold at Cecilia's Marketplace (http://www.ceciliasmarketplace.com/) for around $25 dollars, and we have the opportunity to win it for free! Cecilia's Marketplace also has a Gluten Free Casein Free Shopping Guide that could be very helpful on the UltraMind Solution. I encourage you to check it out if reading labels is as difficult for you as it sometimes is for me.

Good luck!
Mel G.

Week One Menu

Well, we're about to start the full UltraMind Solution program this coming Monday, so today before our weekly grocery shopping we made up a menu of what we're going to eat this week. In case anyone is interested, here is our menu...

Breakfast:

• Applesauce Pancakes w/ Apple Cinnamon Syrup and Almonds
• GFCF Granola and/or GFCF Corn Flakes w/ Almond Milk
• Eggs
• GFCF Toast (w/ protein)
• Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal w/ Almonds
• Apple Cinnamon Millet w/ Almonds
• Banana Muffins (w/ protein)
• Grits (w/ protein)

Snacks:

• Organic baby carrots w/ nuts (mixed, peanuts, or almonds)
• Trail mix - almonds, peanuts, dried wild blueberries, cashews, sunflower seeds, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds (if desired)
• Hard boiled egg
• Organic grapes or apple w/ nuts
• GFCF bars (Lara bars or Trios)

Lunch:

• Leftovers
• GFCF Veggie Burger (Sunshine Burger)
• Salmon Patties
• Turkey Hot Dogs
• Natural Lunchmeat or PB&J Sandwich

Dinner:

Monday- Shrimp scampi w/ corn spaghetti, frozen peas, GFCF breadsticks

Tuesday- Sesame Honey Drumsticks over rice w/ frozen corn & watermelon

Wednesday- San Francisco Chops (Pork) w/ mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli & corn

Thursday- "Penne" w/ Mushroom Sauce (w/ rice spirals), veggies & fruit

Friday- Lunch option/date night

Saturday- Grilled Fish w/ grilled veggies (mushrooms, onions, organic zucchini), rice

Sunday- Barbecue Crockpot Chicken w/ baked potatoes & veggies and/or fruit

Mom bought a few mixes and new items for this week, so I'll let you know what tastes good and what doesn't. Here's hoping the week goes smoothly!

Namaste,

Mel G.

Applesauce Pancakes with Apples and Cinnamon Syrup

This morning we tried Applesauce Pancakes, a recipe from the GFCF recipes yahoo group, and I made up an apple cinnamon "syrup" to go with it. They tasted really good together. The pancakes were rather plain by themselves, but with the syrup, I really enjoyed them. The recipe for the pancakes can be found here at the Recipe Circus site. The syrup I made was very simple and made the pancakes less bland when poured over them.

Apple Cinnamon Syrup
1-1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1-1/2 tsp. cornstarch

In small saucepan combine apple juice and cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Remove about 1/4 cup of liquid from saucepan into small bowl. Wisk cornstarch into liquid in bowl until all cornstarch is dissolved (this prevents cornstarch "dumplings" from being created). Add cornstarch and juice mixture to saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir until thickened to desired consistency. If needed, add more cornstarch as before.

Hope you enjoy a great breakfast as much as I was able to!

Namaste,
Mel G.

Moving Right Along

Preparation week has gone without a hitch so far, (*knocks on wood*) but being busy with school I've not gotten to post much about it. Today I'll attempt to remedy that.


Monday went as planned with a simple chicken stir-fry, though I almost forgot about the chicken part. I made two stir-frys, one with regular, gluten-filled soy sauce and teriyaki sauce for Dad and one with wheat free tamari for Mom and I. I also made chicken (without veggies) seasoned with garlic, soy sauce, and teriyaki for the picky kids. Our stir-fry was delicious. Dad said his was good, and when he tried a bite of ours said he liked ours as much if not better. He also said he is happy to eat whatever we eat, so we don't have to make seperate dishes for him, he just doesn't want to do the complete UltraMind Solution.



Tuesday's tostadas were even simpler than the stir-fry the night before. We just heated up some canned black beans and some corn tortillas and put whatever we wanted on them. For me that meant just a tortilla with beans and cheddar cheese. Mom also made guacamole, but I didn't try any of that this time. After my tostada, I was still hungry, so I had black bean and cheese nachos with our "natural" tortilla chips. The kids had a "whatever night" because they are boring and don't like Mexican food at all (even the very boring version that I eat).



Wednesday's dinner was absolutely delicious. My mom's Creamy Braised Chicken recipe (which I think actually came out of a Light and Tasty magazine) was a hit. We adjusted the recipe a bit so the recipe I post will be our adaptation.


Creamy Braised Chicken


Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons GFCF margarine (we used Earth Balance), divided
• 1-1/2 pounds chicken breast halves (we used ones with bones, so they took a little longer to cook than boneless would have)
• 2-1/3 cups chicken broth (we used Food Club brand as it had no sugar), divided
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 cup organic half and half
• 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, quartered

Directions:

In a dutch oven or large pot saute sliced onion, carrot and celery in 1 tablespoon of margarine until tender. Remove vegetables from pot; set aside. Add chicken to pot, brown on both sides. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm. Add 1 cup of broth to pot; simmer until reduced to 1/2 cup. Stir in rest of broth and seasonings. Return chicken to pot; cover and simmer for 5 minutes (perhaps longer if chicken has bones) or until juices run clear. Remove chicken onto serving platter; keep warm. Combine cornstarch and half and half until smooth, gradually stir into pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened (it took much less time than 2 minutes for mine to thicken). Return vegetables to pan. Remove from the heat; cover and set aside. In a non-stick skillet, saute mushrooms in remaining butter. Add mushrooms to serving platter. Discard bay leaf from sauce; spoon over chicken and vegetables.

Thursday we had lasagna that was rather delicious as well. The recipe is rather old (my mom made it for my dad when they were dating) from a box of Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles.

Lasagna

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. parsley flakes
• 1 Tbsp. basil (we used dried)
• 2 cups diced tomatoes (we used canned)
• 2 (6 oz.) cans tomato paste
• 1 (8 oz.) package whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 2 (12 oz.) package small curd cottage cheese (or one package ricotta and one package cottage)
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 Tbsp. parsley flakes
• 1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Brown meat slowly; add next 6 ingredients to meat. Simmer uncovered about 1 hour. Cook noodles until tender; drain and lay out on wax paper. Combine cottage cheese with next 5 ingredients in separate bowl. Place 1/2 noodles in 9x13 baking dish; spread 1/2 cheese mixture over noodles, add 1/2 mozzarella cheese and 1/2 meat mixture. Repeat layers. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Today's (Friday's) dinner was very simple. A bag of frozen mixed vegetables steamed in the microwave and some tilapia cooked with lemon and Parmesan cheese on top.

Trial and Error

I tried sea salt yesterday for the first time, which is what we are supposed use during the rest of the UltraMind Solution and learned that it is much saltier than regular table salt. Just thought anyone that was unaware (as I was) should know before they put way too much sea salt in a recipe.

Local Finds/Tips and Tricks

I found some more Full Circle brand chicken drumsticks in the 40% off section this morning at United. Also, they have completely organic Full Circle chicken at Market Street. It helps to look at what day the chicken will expire to know where you should go on which day if you don't have time to go everywhere (as I often don't). I also went to Vitamins Plus yesterday to look at their organic produce (which they get every Thursday) and found some great deals. First, I got about one and a half to two pounds of organic green grapes for only $1.81. There were also one pound packages of organic baby carrots for 94 cents. I also got a five pound bag of organic russet potatoes for $3.69, which I didn't feel was too bad, especially since they seemed very fresh and I haven't seen organic potatoes everywhere. It also looks like they are expanding Vitamins Plus as well, as there seemed to be many more gluten free items in particular.

Gluten Free Frenzy Chips/Crackers Giveaway

Gluten Free Frenzy's "Food Should Taste Good" Chips/Crackers giveaway is ending tomorrow. The yellow corn chips look like they are a possibility while on the UltraMind Solution. You can find all the information you need at www.glutenfreefrenzy.com.

Here's hoping!
Mel G.

Preparation Week Phase

Well, it's finally here. I can hardly believe it's time to start the UltraMind Solution and its seven week program. This week is Preparation Week and we spent quite a while this morning coming up with this week's plan of action food wise.

Weekly Menu:

Breakfasts:

• Enjoy Life Granola with Milk and Fruit
• Cottage Cheese with Fruit
• Banana Muffins (the Banana Quinoa Muffins that we altered to not include quinoa)
• Applesauce Pancakes
• Eggs
• Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
• ?Grits?*
• ?Yogurts?

Snacks:

• Carrot Sticks and whole wheat homemade bread^ with almond butter
• Trail mix - almonds, dried blueberries, cashews, walnuts, pecans, ?raisins?, ?sunflower seeds?, add pumpkin seeds the day of
• Hard Boiled Egg
• Cheese Stick w/ Fruit
• Cottage Cheese and Fruit
• Snack bars (Trios, Lara Bars)

Lunches:

• Leftovers
• Sandwiches - almond butter and jam (no sugar), cheese, or lunchmeat and cheese on homemade whole wheat bread

Dinners:

Monday:

• Chicken Stir Fry - bagged stir fry veggies, carrots, chicken, wheat free tamari, sesame oil, ?teriyaki sauce?, ?pineapple chunks? w/ brown rice

Tuesday:

• Mexican Night - Tostadas (corn tortillas, black beans, cilantro, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, homemade guacamole, salsa, ?corn?), baked tortilla chips, rice

Wednesday:

• Creamy Braised Chicken w/ mashed potatoes and frozen corn

Thursday:

• Lasagna w/ spinach and strawberry salad (baby spinach, sliced strawberries, toasted walnuts, shredded mozzarella cheese)

Friday:

• Fish w/ potatoes or rice for Mel, date night for Mom

Saturday:

• Turkey burgers for Mom and Mel, regular burgers for rest of the family, fruit, baked potato chips

Sunday:

• Honey Pecan Chicken**, Baked Potatoes/Sweet Potatoes, Fruit and Veggies, homemade whole wheat bread

*Anything with question marks around it means we have to check into it and try to make sure it is free of what it needs to be or it's something we may or may not add.

^We are only eliminating white flour this week flour-wise, so we are still eating whole wheat stuff until next week, the book and guide were a little confusing, so that is how we're interpreting it. We are also not starting to eat all organic fruits and veggies until next week.

**We are interpreting that it is okay to use honey sparingly, as some of the recipes Dr. Hyman has in the guide include honey or agave nectar

I will try and post the recipes we use and like as we use them, as well as what we find and where at the stores here in Lubbock.

Tips and Tricks/Local Finds:

So far one thing we have found is that the local United Supermarkets and Market Streets have a brand of chicken called "Full Circle" that is all natural (no added hormones, antibiotics, vegetarian fed and some is free range). It is fairly expensive regularly, but this week we found some in the 40% off bin. The only thing that is important to know about United's chicken, though, is that all of it is previously frozen, so if you don't find some that is still frozen, you need to eat it very quickly. Supposedly they set out the meats in the 40% off bin from 8-9 each morning, so that is a prime time to look for specialty items that tend to be rather expensive. Also, Market Street has some grass-fed, organic beef that you may be able to find in the 40% off bins on occasion. We found two packages of Full Circle drumsticks that were still frozen this week for about $3 apiece.

I think that is about all we have to update at this point. UltraMind Solution here we come!

Namaste,

Mel G.

Gluten-Free Lunch Success!

Well you could have fooled me, but gluten-free lunch at the G. house was a success! Of course, the picky kids wouldn't eat the gluten-free noodles, so we made egg noodles for them, but everyone loved the chicken. Thank you "A Year of Slow Cooking"! (http://crockpot365.blogspot.com) Dad, who has stated on multiple occasions that he has no desire to do anything gluten-free or UltraMind Solution related along with us, even tried the brown rice spirals with his chicken and liked them! We also had two guests over for lunch that tried the gluten-free noodles and liked them. I'm so excited! When I first tried one of the noodles to see if it the pasta was done, I was very sad because it tasted a lot like brown rice (go figure since that's what it's made out of), and really didn't remind me of pasta. But when I put the chicken and its sauce on top of it, it didn't have a lot of flavor, but the texture was very similar to pasta and the overall effect was the same as eating pasta. I was thrilled! If I can find good recipes like this one that fit the UltraMind Solution guidelines, I'm set. The gluten free noodles weren't terribly hard to find either, we got them at the United Supermarkets, which are all over town. And they weren't astronomically expensive either, I don't think, which was nice as well. The brand we used was De Boles (gluten-free rice spirals), the pasta came in a blue box and was located in the pasta aisle next to the gluten-filled pasta, so it was even easy to find. My only suggestions with these noodles are to follow the package instructions (cook for 7 minutes and then rinse with cold water) and eat them with some sort of sauce. I know doing that, my family was very happy and satisfied. Positive experiences like this make me feel that gluten-free living, though at first a bit difficult, is very possible. Now if I can just master cutting out dairy and trans/hydrogenated fats and sugar.... Luckily I don't have to jump into that quite yet.

Your happy camper,
Mel G.

Gluten-Free Weekend

Because May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month, the Gluten Intolerance Group and Pamela's Products held a Gluten-Free Challenge, which consisted of going gluten-free this weekend. Though it was certainly not as intense as the UltraMind Solution will be, it was a good taste of what lies ahead and has given me the opportunity to try a few items I might not have otherwise tried.

Trial and Error
Yesterday I didn't eat much of anything that will be allowed on the UltraMind solution, but it was all gluten free. (I ate things like yogurt, Parmesan tilapia, and a creamy potato soup, which of course all had dairy.) This morning though, I decided to give quinoa another try, hoping that my previous experience was due to flour that had been on the shelf too long, rather than the quinoa itself. I made Dr. Hyman's "Peach Quinoa with Flax and Nuts" from the downloadable guide, but instead of using soy milk, I used regular skim milk. When I bought the quinoa about a week and a half ago, I smelled it and didn't think it smelled much like the quinoa flour which smelled very "green" much like echinacea or freshly cut grass. Today when I pulled it out the fridge, it smelled slightly more "green", but not nearly as strong as the flour. When I added milk and started cooking it, though, it turned out smelling much like the quinoa flour (aka gross! IMHO). I had hoped the allspice and peaches would help, but in the end when I tried it, I had no desire to eat any more. I didn't put the flax seed or nuts on it, so that might have made the recipe slightly more edible, but I doubt it. The flavor of the quinoa is very strong and just not agreeable to me in the slightest. So I guess as they say, fooled me once shame on you, fooled me twice shame on me. I shan't be fooled again!

This afternoon I plan to try some rice pasta with a gluten-free crockpot cream cheese chicken recipe that I found on a blog called "A Year of Slow Cooking". The chicken smells really good, so hopefully it will taste good and I pray the pasta tastes good, as that is one of my all time favorite foods and I would be very sad going six weeks without it. I've got my fingers crossed, and will report back when we've eaten.

Namaste,
Mel G.

Gluten Free, Dairy Free (and other junk free) Banana Muffins

Trial and Error
We had some over ripe bananas, so I figured it was the perfect time to try the banana muffin recipe again, this time without the quinoa flour. Instead of the 1/2 cup of quinoa flour, I followed what the person that posted the recipe said that they had used (1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour and 1/4 cup brown rice flour), and like before, I used 1/2 cup of Gluten Free oats instead of quinoa flakes. The result was soooooo much better than before! They reminded me a bit of a bran muffin as they were not terribly sweet, but they tasted quite good with some margarine (I didn't open the casein free margarine yet, but I am quite confident that would have tasted good on the muffins). I think I went into the experience expecting them to be sweeter than they ended up being (as the typical banana muffins we make in our family are extremely sweet (they even have chocolate chips in them)), but since they only have 2 tablespoons of honey in them, that was a silly expectation. It is because they only have 2 tablespoons of honey though, that I believe they are UltraMind Solution friendly (even some of Dr. Hyman's recipes have honey in them after all). They also have no oil, so there isn't a concern about trans or hydrogenated fats and they have no milk or milk substitutes. The recipe is quite simple and the result is very edible. Thank goodness! Even the 12 year old liked them! The recipe makes 11 muffins if you fill the muffin cups about 2/3 full, which I would suggest as they don't rise a ridiculous amount or anything. I personally used eggs rather than the flax replacer the original poster used, so I can't say how they would taste egg free. If you'd like to try the recipe as well, just click here.

Happy cooking!
Mel G.

New Food Finds and More Supplements

Trying to find Gluten Free, Casein Free, Sugars Free, and Trans/Hydrogenated Fats Free Foods can be a challenge anywhere, especially for an affordable price. I have found this to particularly be the case here in West Texas. Lubbock does not have a Whole Foods store, and while we do have a few health food stores that do make life easier when it comes to finding GF, CF, organic, etc. options, they tend to be a bit pricey.
To try and find the best prices and see exactly what Lubbock has to offer, I have been comparison shopping. In doing so, I have found that Vitamins Plus (close to Slide and 82nd, inside of Drug Emporium) has pretty good prices. For example, they have two brands of almond flour, one that is made from blanched almonds (Bob's Red Mill) and one that is not (WOW (I think)). The Bob's Red Mill was slightly more expensive (about 7 cents per ounce more), but it was significantly less expensive there than at the other health food stores in Lubbock, such as Alternative Food Company, Natural Health Market, or Well Body where it was typically at least $10 if not $11 or more. They also have sales (for instance, Almond Breeze is currently only $1.69 for a carton (and if you have the coupon for a dollar off that was in the Sunday paper a few weeks back, you can get it for 69 cents! that is two dollars cheaper than United Supermarkets' prices). They also get organic produce each Thursday, although it's pretty expensive. The only downsides to Vitamins Plus are that they don't have student discounts and they don't have everything that I'm looking for.
Both meat and nut flour tend to be expensive everywhere, though. Casein free margarine has also been pretty expensive everywhere, especially the stick kind (yes I finally found it, Well Body carries Earth Balance brand stick margarine, which I'm thankful for when it comes to baking). One pound of margarine was over $5, ouch! United Supermarkets has a brand (I think it's fairly new) called Full Circle that has natural, no antibiotics/hormones, vegetarian fed chicken and natural, freshly caught fish. At the moment, some of it is the cheapest I've found (the only fish I've found, not surprising since we live in the middle of the desert). The free range stuff, which is my preference, is still expensive, some just as expensive as the stuff at other stores, but I think for the most part it is cheaper. I'm still investigating.

Tips and Tricks
Pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS tend to have vitamin sales from time to time, when this happens, it can be good to stock up. This week for example, Walgreens had some of their brands of vitamins on sale buy one, get one free. With this sale I got 150 tablets of 2000IUs of D3 for essentially $6 (it was $11.99 for one bottle of 150 tablets). Since you only take D3 once a day, that is 150 days worth, which is really great in my opinion.

I plan to try either banana muffins (not quinoa this time) or banana raisin bread this weekend, so I will let you know how that turns out.

Namaste,
Mel G.

More Cookies

Gluten Free Frenzy is doing another giveaway of cookies! This time they are from Liz Lovely. They do have evaporated cane juice, so they are not UltraMind Solution friendly, but the are gluten free and vegan (therefore casein free), plus they use organic ingredients, so if you have trouble with both of those at the end of the program and want a treat, perhaps they can be an option.

Here's hoping!
Mel G.

New Recipe Success and Vitamins

The past few days I have been trying out different health food stores and slowly building up my stock of gluten free, casein free, sugar free, and trans/hydrogenated fats free foods which are required on the UltraMind Solution program. So far I have found almost everything I have been looking for with the exception of soy yogurt and stick casein free "margarine" (I have found a couple different brands of tub "margarine" though, which is good). I've even found some veggie burgers I can have, score! And according to the clerk at the store, their really good too. Thank heavens! Dairy free cheese was an issue at first, but I was able to find a couple different brands (though sadly not the brand that most on the groups suggest), supposedly they melt like real cheese, we shall see once I try them. Sprouted corn tortillas were also a bit tricky to find at first, but I found them the other day at one of the stores. I think I will probably have to go to a variety of stores to find everything I need each week or so, partially because some places have better prices than others, and partially because of selection. I think meats and nut items (flour, butter, etc) are going to be some of the most expensive things (at least food wise), but hopefully it will all be worth it.

Tips and Tricks
One of the biggest challenges has been finding vitamins and supplements that follow the guidelines given in the UltraMind Solution Book (pg.306-312). I personally would rather not pay $243 for two months worth of the basics that he suggests (not to mention all the additional supplements I will need to take because of my quiz scores). I just don't have that kind of money, especially if this works and I need to continue this for the rest of my life. So, with the help of a woman at one of the health stores and some diligent searching on the part of my dad and myself, I was finally able to come up with a few options that seem reasonable.
One of the hardest things to find is a vitamin with mixed carotenes, especially in the amount of 15,000-25,000IUs, so to get around this, we decided to take a mixed carotene supplement on top of the daily vitamin, so that we get the mixed carotenes but don't have to buy extremely expensive vitamins. We were able to find a good vitamin that has just about everything needed (it has D2 instead of D3, but you have to take additional D3 anyway, so I plan to supplement that) for about $40 for two months worth. The mixed carotene was around $20, but there are 250 tablets and you only need one a day, so that will last a nice long time. Now all we need are Calcium/Magnesium supplements, D3 supplements, Methylation supplements, Probiotics, and Omega-3 (which we already have a brand we like that runs for about $25 for two months worth). I really believe that we will manage to get all the vitamins and supplements for much cheaper than $243.

Trial and Error
I am very pleased to report that I tried another recipe today that fulfills all the requirements and it actually tasted pretty good! On top of that it was very simple and easy and didn't require any random ingredients that could be hard to find or rather expensive. The recipe was a suggestion from the book A Complete Idiot's Guide to Gluten Free Eating and consisted of cutting chicken and fish into strips, dipping them in egg whites, then in a sesame seed and cornmeal mixture, and then baking them. It ended up tasting quite good, especially the chicken. The fish seemed a little gritty, but was still very edible. We had the chicken and fish with homemade french fries (cut up potatoes baked in the oven) and some fresh fruit. Everyone enjoyed the meal, even my very skeptical younger siblings. Yes, the fact that we had contraband such as ketchup, honey, and barbecue sauce helped, but hopefully we'll be able to find substitutes or something (I know I've seen organic unsweetened ketchup). Even without the condiments though, it was all edible, though a bit plain (the recipe calls for chili powder, but I'm a wimp when it comes to anything spicy, so we passed on that part). The meal gave me more hope that this will really be possible and not miserable.

Well, it is after midnight and I have an exam tomorrow, so I'd best call it a night.

Namaste,
Mel G.

Pre-Preparation Phase

Currently trying to gather as many recipes, non-perishable products, and information as possible to help prepare for the 7 week (including preparation week) journey.

Tips and Tricks:
I have found the yahoo groups GFCFrecipies and Vegan-and-Gluten-Free to be very helpful as well as VGF (vegetarian gluten free).

Trial and Error:
I've only tried one recipe thus far and really didn't like it, which was sad. The recipe was "quinoa banana muffins". It used quinoa flour which I have decided is not my favorite flour in the world :-P. Since then I have bought a number of other flours and have my fingers crossed that they will taste better. It was also supposed to use quinoa flakes, but I couldn't find those so I substituted gluten free oats instead, sadly they didn't help the taste much. I'm willing to try the recipe again with another flour mixture, but if it tastes gross twice, I'm unlikely to continue messing with it.

There is still much to do to prepare, but luckily school ends soon and we aren't starting preparation week until mid-June so I should be able to adequately prepare. I'll try to keep any successes, failures, and useful information posted regularly.

Namaste,
Mel G.

Cookies

There is a giveaway at gluten free frenzy right now for Nana's Cookie Company. The cookies look like they fit within the guidelines for the UltraMind Solution (at least the Berry Vanilla Gluten Free Cookie Bars that I looked at). They are gluten free (not all, so double check) and dairy free, plus they are sweetened with fruit juice rather than any sort of refined sugar and have not trans or hydrogenated fats. I'm very excited about this! The link to gluten free frenzy (the blog with information about the giveaway) is http://www.glutenfreefrenzy.com/ or you can simply click on the gluten free frenzy button on the right side of the blog.

Here's hoping!
Mel G.