Followers

About Me

My photo
Hello, nice to meet you! I started going gluten free in October of 2010. It was an adventure and still is. That is why I blog. I hope you enjoy visiting with me!

Monday, September 12, 2011

I tried a new GF dish tonight

For the fun of it I tried a new gluten free dish tonight. It was a microwavable kind, and look good on the box!

The brand is evol. Which of coarse is love spelled backwards. :) I took my package home excited to be able to pop something into the microwave and not have to spend 20+ min cooking for only me. I took it out of the box, and my first thought was... this doesn't look anything like the picture on the box. To illustrate let me share some photo's.

                                                                       mmmmm
                                                                            eh?????
                                                                  more light on it.

                     So you can see that I was a little suspicious before I took a bite of this goopy meal.
                         But was really good. The blend of spices and chicken gave it a very good taste. It was also comforting to know that this brand is loyal to making their boxes and bowls from recycled paper and they take great pride in how they treat their animals. So that is a plus.
On the downside this one bowl did not fill me up. I would need 2 of these in order to fill satisfied, and at $4 a bowl, I think I would take the 20 min to make my own. It was a nice treat though and if your in a hurry for a meal, and need it to be gf, you can find it at GE on the strip in the frozen food area with the other organic and gf foods :) So over all I rate this a 3 stars product.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Who says Gluten Free has to be hard on the Wallet?

Here are some simple foods I found at Aldi's that are gluten Free.
I will add photo's as I buy/ take more :)
PopCorn: a great treat!


Tomato Sauce: Great for making sauces.

Peanut Butter: Tastes great on celery, apples, and rice cakes!


So as you can see there are a lot of foods I can eat, and aren't a substitute for the normal foods everyone else eats. 
As I find more great priced Items I will add them to this blog and post where I find them. 

Thanks for reading!
Crystal


Monday, August 22, 2011

Simply Sweet and Delicious

A regular customer of ours, came in bearing cakes and goodies the other week! I was actually absent because of the vertigo I was experiencing, but he left a special treat for me.

Gluten Free Yellow Cupcakes. The brand name is French Meadow! They were kept refrigerated until I could come in to get them. They were delicious! And so sweet. They were a little on the dry side, but that could have been because I refrigerated them. Also, I could only eat one at a time because they were very rich, but such a nice treat to have!

As most gluten free treats tend to be, these are high in calories. One cupcake is 230 calories and 80 from fat! Good thing I ate one at a time. The sugars were high too at 27g a cupcake. OH MY! That is why you should always eat treats in moderation.

Overall I would give this gluten free cupcake a 4 star rating.
Oh, these would make a good birthday treat for someone who has celiac disease and loves sweets!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Yeah Fiber

Today's blog is about fiber. In a low carb high protein diet it is very easy to miss out on your fiber. Everyone knows you need fiber because it helps to move things along. ehem. But did you know there is a ton of research going on right now about how fiber can decrease diseased and even stop some forms of cancer? I know, isn't that exciting? It seems more and more lately we have been seeing how diet has everything to do with how healthy you are. Who would have thought it?
Here is a link that talks about the differences in soluble and insoluble fiber and how both are important. 
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/p/fiberinfo.htm *

My next thought was how can I get more fiber in my diet, which I am always tweaking as a new found celiac.
So here is a link on some tasty fiber foods.
 http://online.prevention.com/getmorefiber/list/6.shtml *
Please note the last one of the 6 is not Gluten Free so if you are reading this and you have celiac, don't use wheat germ.

And because I like to have variety and choices and be creative here is a link to a chart with high fiber foods.
 http://commonsensehealth.com/Diet-and-Nutrition/List_of_High_Fiber_Foods.shtml*

Also a great way to add some fiber to your diet is by adding a powder form. I sell one that dissolves completely, has no taste and comes in a easy to tote plastic stick. I add mine to my water bottle. It is also completely organic, so I'm not getting any pesticides with my fiber, and it isn't made from chemicals. If you are interested in purchasing some you can e-mail me at cbreitenbach85@gmail.com

Thank you for joining me and hope you love your new fiber friendly foods.


*not responsible for advertisements that may show up from these sites.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Gluten Free Seasoned Potatoes

Here is another simple recipe I came up with.

Clean and chop up a few potatoes.
Heat up a skillet with olive oil in the pan.
Put in potatoes and sprinkle with Seasoned Salt, Salt and a little Oregano.
Fry up till golden brown.

If you are making these gluten free please check your seasonings and spices. Many contain wheat.

Helpful Hints:
I love this as a side dish to hamburgers (no bun of coarse) or fried up chicken (using gluten free Bisquick) . It is a nice carb to go with a protein diet. And I prefer the taste of Olive oil with this dish over vegetable oil or canola oil. I have tried all of them. But if you are use to the flavor of one over the other go for it!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Apple Pie/Crisp



I don’t know what to call my new creation! Apples, cinnamon, sugar, and for the crust? Gf bisquick mixed with butter and sugar. When it cools I’ll let you know how it tastes!
OOH :) It is delicious! MMM, kinda like an apple crisp! I’m sure this is like the most unhealthy gf things you could have but for a treat, which I don’t get often, it is sublime! 5 stars!!
For Thanksgiving and Christmas next year I will use this to make gf pie crust, because I haven’t found a good pie crust that I like yet. It will be awesome!


Cheesy Potatoes

Last night for dinner I made cheesy potatoes. I have been trying to make homemade cheesy potatoes for some time now, because the box kinds have wheat in them :(! So it 's been trial and error a few times, but last night they came out delicious! My husband even loved them! I am wishing now that I had taken a picture so I could post it on here for you to see. Next time I will for sure!
Well, here is my super easy and way too awesome recipe:
First I cleaned my potatoes then sliced them very thinly. I leave the skin on because it is nutritious, and helps keep them from falling apart.
Then I boiled them for about 30min or until they are soft but not falling apart.I test it with a spoon.
Then took a 2 qt pan and put 2tbs of milk in it. I sprinkled some cheese it with the milk.
Then I placed the potatoes in the pan, making sure they were spread out evenly.
Last I sprinkled cheese all over the potatoes covering all of them.
I put the oven on 375 and baked it until the milk looked more like cheese sauce and the cheese was melted. About 15min or so

I am sorry I don't have exact measurements for all of this. I kinda cook by the seat of my pants. I really don't like being cookie cutter and always allow room for improvements. Next time we are going to add bacon! mmmm

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy your cheesy potatoes :-)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Here is one of the most interesting Articles I have found recently


Click the above link to find out the differences between Celiac Disease, Gluten Sensitivity & Wheat Allergy.

This seems to me like new information. When researching in the past I always was told you wouldn't have the increase of antibodies if you didn't have Celiac Disease. But this research seem to show you could have an increase. I never had the biopsy done because we didn't have insurance and didn't really think it mattered. Mostly because when I come off my gf diet I am soooo sick. It just makes since to stay gf. The article does say that the research doesn't know if you have to stay gf forever... what does that mean? That eventually you can eat gluten? That occasionally you can eat gluten? I would like them to find out the answer. Also what difference would it make if you can't? You still have to be on a gf diet. 
I guess the highlight of this article is that if you just have the sensitivity that you don't have the scarring and damage that people do with Celiac Disease. That is interesting because all of the outward symptoms are the same. So what causes the bloating, pain, and diarrhea? I guess I am a I want answers kind of Gal. Hopefully they will post some of these answers soon. 
If you know of the answers let me know. Or if you come across an article on this topic send it to me @ cbreitenbach85@gmail.com

The Best Soup Ever!




I love this soup! I usually hate soups of all kinds so this is really saying something.
I have used this soup in several ways already and I am sure I could come up with some more.
First I heated it up and put it in tortillas for my husband and put it on a taco salad for me. MMM.
Then I cooked up some chicken, cut it into cubes and added it to the soup so it would be even more hearty. Then my husband and I ate it with chips like a dip. I also added some sour cream.
This time I baked some chicken in the oven @ 400 degrees, then drained it. Then added some soup and some corn starch to thicken it up some more. I let it heat up then added a layer of cheddar cheese to it and let it melt. Then pulled it out and served it up with some sour cream for me. Josh added some nacho chips to his. Wow, I love this soup!
I owe a big thank you to Pam Wolfe, my co-worker who bought this soup for me. You are the best!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.1

Monday, May 23, 2011

Gluten Free Chocolate Muffins YES Please!!


Ok so I got gutsy with this one and went out on my own. I made gluten free muffins from this recipe. I just substituted the flour with Namaste's Gluten Free flour. It was Fantastic!! They make just the right snack with no after taste or funny taste at all. They are great with a cup of milk or just by themselves. It made about 24 muffins for me and I froze the extra's for other day's and kept about 10 in the refrigerator.


I got the recipe from this website    http://www.muffinrecipes.net/


The only thing that is confusing about the recipe is that it doesn't tell you what to do with that 1/3 cup of vegetable oil. I added it to the wet ingredients. It came out fine so hopefully that is what it was for. :) I hope you try this out for yourself and love them!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

2/3 cup of baking cocoa.
2 large eggs.
2 cups of flour. (substitute Namaste's Gluten Free Flour)
1 cup of chocolate chips.
1/2 cup of sugar.
2 teaspoons of baking soda.
1 1/3 cups of milk.
1/3 cup of vegetable oil.
1 teaspoon of vanilla.
1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400°F.

Coat muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and vanilla.

Stir in half a cup of chocolate chips.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs and milk. (I added the oil in too???)

Add the egg/milk mixtute to the other ingredients until moistened.

Scoop the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips.

Bake for about twenty minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack before removing from the pan.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Going Gluten free

So I wanted to blog today about my journey and first steps of going gluten free.
In case you are wondering how easy it is to go gluten free, it isn't. Sure it's easy to walk down the gluten free isle of your local grocery store and purchase some items, eat them and figure out which ones are great, and which ones, well, should have never reached the shelf. That's not what I'm talking about here.


What I'm talking about is everyday life. Filled with choices and temptations. Yeah, like when I go to work and in the break room is a huge box of a variety of donuts. And cakes because someone had a birthday, or just because. Don't get me wrong. I am not one of those people who thinks everyone should suffer because I do. I'm not posting a "I hate you normal people" blog. I'm just saying, dang, smell that fresh donut smell, hmmm, chocolate cake and icing, mmmm. Smell the cookies.... oohhhh. And standing there with the thought racing in the back of your mind that no one is going to say anything to you if you eat one. Heck no one will know. Then the other thought comes, till an hour later when your curling over in pain because you shouldn't have ate it. Ugh. So you have to make that choice right then and there of what you're going to do. Now, let me pause to vent a little more here, I am all for you healthy choice people who are going gluten free because of a free choice. But you don't know any of what it feels like to know you will have terrible consequences if you do eat it. You may have guilt and a wish that you had been stronger. We who have celiac, do not have guilt. We have pain and headaches and nausea, diarrhea, or constipation...for days. So please the next time you lightly eat a piece of bread and then complain about going gluten free and how you shouldn't have... just remember that for some people it isn't a diet. It truly is a way of life. And that way of life isn't easy and we want to give in all the time.


Ok so now that I got that out of my system, let me just say if you are going gluten free, whether because of a diet, a choice, a way of life, you need to know somethings about doing it. You need to know that as you wean yourself off of wheat, which is what I recommend, not going cold turkey, you are going to face some awful mood swings. As your body adjusts to less and less bad carbs it is like a detox. You will find yourself angry, sad, upset, and crying for no reason. And it's not P.M.S. I broke down so many times in my first month of going gluten free. It was hard. You need to know that this is normal, and your body is just adjusting. Also, you may loose weight. I am a small person already, and getting smaller. I am in the process of balancing my diet so I can maintain a healthy weight. I know that for me it is because I didn't replace wheat with gf wheat. In other words my diet is cheaper. lol I eat a lot more protein, eggs, cheese, veggies, and some fruit. Way healthier I know. But I now need to incorporate more carbs before my pants fall off while I walk. lol


So I guess this blog is more about what to expect about going gluten free. It's choices, all the time, on a daily basis. It's mood swings/detox. It's weight loss for some. I recommend having good friends who love you, who can sympathize with you and who can keep you accountable. (Amanda, Shawn, Cindy, Ryan, Bob, David) When I am starring down those donuts and my friend Ryan comes in and says your going to hurt later. That helps. I know he says it because he doesn't want me to regret making a bad choice, and he's my friend. Thanks I need the help.


Thanks for reading guys and keep me on track. <3 Crystal

Monday, April 18, 2011

Eating At Eat'n Park

So last week a small group of business partners and I went out to Eat'n Park for a late night dinner. I had recently had a conversation with someone who works there about their gluten free choices. I learned of their gluten free bread rolls and wanted to try them. As most gluten free breads do not taste very good my expectations were low.
The waitress was very friendly in helping me order a gluten free choice and told me how they could prepare the rolls for me with my choice of toppings. The first thing I noticed was they are very big! There was no way I could bite into that sandwich! So I used my knife and fork to cut it up to eat it. The roll was very crumbly, and literally fell apart as I tried to use my fork to eat it. So I used my spoon to scoop it up.
The gluten free roll actually tasted pretty good. And I think wouldn't have been so dry if I put mayo or butter on it. I did notice a little after taste, and I knew that not having bread of any kind in such a long time may have skewed my favor for the rolls. So I had my friend try a piece. She said it tasted pretty good, that there was a little bit of a different taste to it, and didn't favor the aftertaste.
Over all I would rate this gluten free bread roll at a 4. Not so bad and a tasty treat to what I normally get at a restaurant.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Gluten Free Mac n Cheese

This is a post about three kinds of gluten free Mac n Cheeses I have tried. 


The first one is Annie's. It is a rice pasta with a Parmesan cheese mix. The first thing I noticed about this pasta was that it took a little longer to cook than the box recommended which didn't surprise me because most gluten free pastas do. The mac n cheese was a mild flavor and was a little bland. This pasta isn't too expensive and you get the mix with it so over all I think I would rate this product at 3 stars.


The next pasta I have tried was De Boles gluten free Mac n Cheese. It was also a rice based pasta. It came with a cheese sauce mix and was Cheddar. This pasta took the amount of time on the box to soften and as soon as I poured in the mix, milk, and butter, I knew this was going to be a tasty dinner. Unlike Annie's, De Boles has lots of flavor and is very satisfying. I rate this gluten free pasta at 5 stars as the best I have tasted so far! It is also a little cheaper than Annie's.


The last pasta is still De Bole's, but just the elbow noodles. I went to a different store in search of the De Boles Mac n Cheese I had found before but only found the elbow noodles. It was the same price as the De Boles Mac n Cheese with the mix included. But since I was short on time I decided to pick it up anyways. I had cheese at home that I could use to make up mac n cheese with. There is a difference with the noodles though, they are corn noodles. And they cook up at the time said on the box: 8 Min. They can be over cooked and become mush so watch your noodles and don't let them sit in the hot water! Also since they are corn they taste a little different. They were better than most noodles I have tasted so I didn't count it a loss at all. Plus I got more meals out of the box than I did from the De Boles Mac n Cheese with mix, So over all I give it a 4 star rating.

Thanks for reading. I hope this has given you some options to try for yourself! Let me know if you have tried these pastas and what you think!

Friday, January 28, 2011

5 Minute Cakes!




Thanks to my Mother in Love who sent me this awesome recipe for 5 minuet cakes you can bake in your microwave! I'll share the recipe she gave me with you. These awesome cakes are great for snacking and for dressing up for desserts and really only takes 5 minuets to put together.
I have to say I was a little leery at first. Cakes you can bake in a mug in the mircrowave. Really? But they turned out awesome!

Here it is:
Ingredients:
4 TBSP all-purpose gluten free flour (I used Namaste gluten free flour)
4 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP cocoa
1 egg
3 TBSP milk
3 TBSP oil (I used butter bc we ran out of oil)
3 TBSP chocolate chips (maybe next time, I'm leaving tomorrow morning and don't have time to shop)
2-3 DROPS vanilla extract
1 coffee mug

Directions:
Add dry ingredients to the mug, and mix well with a fork.  Add the egg
and mix thoroughly.  Pour in the milk, oil and vanilla and mix well,
being sure to scrape the edges of the cup to incorporate all the dry
ingredients.  Add the chocolate chips and mix again.

Place the mug in the microwave and cook for 4 minutes (900 watts) on
high.  3 minutes (1000 watts) on high

The cake will rise over the top of the mug and then sink down when the
microwave turns off.  Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a
place.  Run a knife around the edge if it doesn’t slide out easily.


I hope you enjoy this fun recipe and get to have a nice sweet treat for a change. Thank you Deni Breitenbach. These will make a perfect snack for our trip tomorrow!
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Cookie let down

So my husband found a recipe for Trefoils cookies. I thought I would try to make them with gluten free flour. The recipe was simple and easy:
2 sticks of butter
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of ginger
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest/ optional
2 cups all-purpose flour

I followed the directions closely and mixed the ingredients just substituting with gluten free flour. The dough looked great! I thought to myself these cookies will be great! I rolled out the dough and cut them with a cookie cutter and placed them on a greased cookie sheet. I put them in the properly heated oven and set the timer. 10 minuets later I checked on them and they were not browning yet. So I left them in there for 2 more minuets. When I came back to check on them they looked like 4 inch flattened piles. I took them out and tried to scoop them off with a spatula and they crumbled badly. They looked like a pile of sand. At this point I am thinking, I know how to bake. I know how to make cookies. What went wrong! Why are these cookies nothing more than crumbs!
Perhaps I didn't make them thick enough I thought so this time I just rolled the dough into 1 inch thick balls and placed them on the sheet and popped them into the oven. I left them in the oven a little longer to cook as well. About 15 min. They came out looking great! I thought yes, finally some good cookies. I took my spatula and started to take the cookie off the sheet..... crumble...crumble...crumble... Ah! What in the world. I managed to get about 5 cookies in tack onto a plate. I thought getting them off the cookie sheet was a challenge,  then I tried to eat one. Oh, boy!

The best I can figure is that flour has gluten, which holds and binds the goopy mess we call dough. Yes gluten, the very thing that makes pasta elasticy, and streatchy so you can make the pasta. Yeah, the very thing I am allergic to. It isn't in the flour I used. And then there's eggs. They help to bind as well. There were no eggs in this recipe. So taking out the only factors that would have held these cookies together, made them turn to sand as soon as I touched them.

Oh man, what a let down.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Tasty/Not so Tasty

Here are some of the gluten free foods that I got to try over the Holiday's as my awesome family came into town and bought me many different brands to try. Some were awesome... and some were awful. = (

Namaste
 is a brand that has many gluten free mixes. These are awesome because you can make a lot of variety of things with out buying all the extras in order to make it! Cookies, cakes, biscuits, and pie crusts. It does have a little bit of a different taste, but not one that makes you gag or screams Gluten Free! My family had some of the  Cake made with this brand and they loved it as well! I give this brand 4 stars.

Almond Dream
An ice cream made from Almonds and has different flavors. I had a coffee flavored one that was amazing! It is dairy free and gluten free, which made my stomach feel awesome as dairy has a tendency to make me feel horrible. I give this brand 4 stars

Gluten Free Bisquick
Great product. It tastes just like the regular kind of Bisquick and leaves no after taste. I give this product 5 stars.

Julies
I had their gluten free Ice Cream Cookies. These have an after taste. If you can get beyond the taste they are ok. I would give this brand 2 stars.

Van's Waffles
These are ok. They have a somewhat whole grain taste. They taste better with a little jam on them. I give them 3 stars.

I will follow up with some more brands I got to try a little later. These are the best that I have tried so far.

Thank you for joining me on my journey.

Gluten Free Mania

Since I found out that I have Celiac disease, my life, and my eating habits have changed. Anyone who has been down this road can relate to the bombardment of suddenly realizing that nearly everything in your diet has some wheat product in it. How frustrating just the realization was, that everything had to change and as quickly as possible. And then the flooding of information on gluten free materials, blogs, recipes, and sympathizers with their support groups come rushing to your aid out of nowhere. After about a month you find yourself eating things that taste like they came straight from the barn floor, and wondering if this is what you're stuck with for the rest of your life. Then with renewed strength and resolve you decide to forget the gluten free mania, and eat only veggies and protein, only to realize your mood swings, irritability, and fatigue are from not getting enough nutrients. Because lets face it, it's a heck of a lot easier to eat a burger with no bun, than down spinach and turnips.

And so the birth of yet another blog has come to pass! And I'm writing it. Ironic yes. Helpful... I hope.
I plan to record some of the tasty and not so tasty gluten free products in order to help other despaired Celiac souls.

Thanks for coming along on my Adventure!