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.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
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.
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.
Friday, May 7, 2010
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.
Here's hoping!
Mel G.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
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.
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.
Here's hoping!
Mel G.
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