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.