My husband just got diagnosed with celiac disease (gluten intolerance.) For those of you that eat gluten free diets, could you share some meals that you make that are also MM? I am pretty clueless about what kinds of foods are GF. Thanks!
Post by SusanBAnthony on Dec 5, 2012 19:37:36 GMT -5
We eat mostly gluten free.
Mary's gone crackers are the best crackers IMO. They don't taste like wheat crackers, they are not trying to imitate at all. For breakfast we have oatmeal pretty much every day. You have to buy special GF oatmeal (regular can have gluten residue from processing I think). Lunches we often have a corn tostado topped with beans (could do meat if you eat meat), cheese, lettuce, salsa, and guacamole. Or we have some kind of soup. If I am making something pasta salad-like, I usually make it with a grain of some type. Burley, quinoa, etc, instead of pasta. They do make lots of GF pastas, I haven't tried most of them. One that I do like is black bean Santa (found it at our co-op, I have never seen it at regular groceries). For dinner we have rice, quinoa, or potatoes as the grain usually. Rarely pasta. We are vegetarians, so typical stuff is rice and beans, a grain-based vegetable salad, baked squash with nuts and raisins and apple chunks, baked sweet potatoes, etc.
A lot of whole foods hippy/crunchy type blogs and cookbooks will have a lot of gluten free stuff, just bc if you are trying to eat a variety of whole grains, then by default you aren't eating wheat for every meal, yk?
No soy sauce, right? You have to buy proper tamari. Tastes the same, more money, no wheat.
we're GF in our house. We use rice and rice noodles a fair amount and also do a lot of corn tortillas and popcorn. I very rarely bother with replacement products like GF waffles and breads.
I'm also going to just throw out there that you might want to try seeing a dietitian that specializes in celiac to make sure that you really have everything down. The RDs I know are good about going over cross-contamination and drugs and personal care products too.
To make it MM- you can claim the difference in food cost on your taxes.
Udi's bread Glutino pretzels and crackers Bob's red mill pancake and biscuit mixes Quinoa pasta (in an aqua box, can't remember the name)
Aside from that, we eat a lot of meals that are only protein & veggies, lots of salads, lots of Asian and Mexican foods. Honestly, breakfast has been the hardest thing so far, especially if you want to grab and go.
crockpot365.blogspot.com is entirely gluten free blog of crockpot recipes
ohsheglows.com is vegan but she has a search tab with quite a few gluten free recipes and she makes yummy desserts
glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com is vegan and gluten free, but good recipes that you could easily incorporate meat and dairy into
Gluten free bread is really some dry stuff. I use Udi's and make toast or grilled sandwiches out of it, it's much better toasted. Udi's chocolate chip cookies are good, their bagels are like eating cardboard, as is the pizza crust. They are the most widely sold gluten free brand in my area though. Out of all the gluten free pasta, I think quinoa pasta tastes the closest to regular pasta. You can pretty much find a gluten free substitute for everything these days.
Thanks for all your tips everyone! I will have to check out all these blogs. We went to whole foods last weekend and bought come cool stuff but it is pretty expensive there. I've heard that trader joe's is really good for GF stuff. Our regular grocery store is also pretty well stocked with GF things.
My sis has Celiac & eats mostly veggies, rice, potatoes & meat. She has worked dairy back in & can eat most Kraft cheeses. She eats eggs & GF bread almost every morning. Oatmeal even GF still bothers her. Her fav bread is Rudy's & she likes the crackers called Nut thins I think. She'll admit she eats more potato chips. You can make chili GF & stews. The GF mixes in the store are decent. I made a GF cake with a mix & it was good. But generally she doesn't buy much of the GF premade stuff because its pricey. This is the website my GF friend recommended her look at when she was first diagnosed & she like Elizabeth Hasslebacks cookbooks. www.elanaspantry.com/
I would try to cut back on the bread/pasta/crackers entirely before I bought a ton of the expensive processed GF junk. Focus on what you can eat, and build your recipes around that.
Thanks for all your tips everyone! I will have to check out all these blogs. We went to whole foods last weekend and bought come cool stuff but it is pretty expensive there. I've heard that trader joe's is really good for GF stuff. Our regular grocery store is also pretty well stocked with GF things.
Be careful with trader joes stuff, it is all made in same facility and same line as wheat products. Makes me (a celiac) sick. I agree udi's bread is best but Costco sells rudi's which is ok. Tinkayda pasta is my favorite. 365 crockpot site is awesome.
Thanks for all your tips everyone! I will have to check out all these blogs. We went to whole foods last weekend and bought come cool stuff but it is pretty expensive there. .
We did the same thing when DS diagnosed 2 years ago. We were on a bit of a fog at the time! I found TJs hard to navigate, personally.
We like tinkyada pasta. It's good and the most reasonably priced and sold in normal quantities.
A HUGE lesson - Betty Crocker GF brownies (for example) and Quinoa pasta is more expensive for a SMALLER product.
I have some recipes on an old blog, including a really excellent bread recipe: eatmeallergies.blogspot.com
My Pinterest is also mostly GF, including lots of desserts. Pinterest/ech77
I find it pretty easy actually. I get burgers without the bun or lettuce wrapped, Asian food and Mexican food tend to be pretty safe bets (be careful about soy sauce though). We eat a lot of protein and vegetable meals.
I bake with coconut flour. Or King Arthur makes a GF mix now. I use cornstarch for thickening.
Good luck. It definitely takes some getting used to, but its very doable.
I would also try not to replace his food with GF versions (I.e GF crackers, pasta, cookies etc). A lot of people (myself included) go out to whole foods or health food stores and stock up on these types of food and end up spending a lot of money and gain weight from the processed foods.
His intestines need time to heal. I recommend going back to basic foods: protein, fruits and veggies.
The G Free Book by Elizabeth Hesselbeck is a good book for both you and your husband to read. Celiac.com also has good info and message boards too. The hardest part for me being diagnosed is the mental component of constantly thinking about your next meal and thinking things out in advance. I had complete breakdowns especially early on but luckily my DH was very supportive.
Post by pacificrules on Dec 5, 2012 23:20:24 GMT -5
My son is gluten free and I've been very thankful at how easy it has been to modify what we eat to make it safe for him. There are tons of gluten free substitutes for bread, bagels, pretzels, pizza crust, etc. Udi's is our favorite brand. Bob's Red Mill and Hodgson's Mill both have flour, pancake mix, etc. that are great. We do a lot of rice, potatoes, corn tortillas, and gf pasta for our carbs.
Post by pacificrules on Dec 6, 2012 0:33:49 GMT -5
Ok, I've read the other responses now, and totally agree with those who said just stick to a naturally gluten free diet rather than jump to a bunch of substitutes. We've definitely taken the easy way out in some things because we've got to have similar snacks/meals for DD as what kids around her eat. And, there are some good tasting alternatives (which has surprised me). But, just focusing on what unprocessed foods your H can eat is the best way to go. I love all of the links/resources PPs mentioned. I've bookmarked this thread so that I can keep all of those. Good luck to you and your H!
I very much agree with others about not trying to substitute things you can't eat. Focus on what you can. Being GF is honestly not that big of a deal if you shift your focus.
In addition to soy, keep in mind that a LOT of premade sauces and condiments can have gluten in them. So, just be very aware when you're buying any kind of packaged food. Labels are always worth checking when in doubt.
I eat gluten/grain free by choice as it seems most optimal for my health. I do not use replacement products as those are expensive, typically loaded with sugars and other grains and rarely taste like what you are trying to replace. I follow a paleo way of eating, which I mention to say that you may also seek out some paleo websites or books to help with menu ideas (they won't discuss cross contamination, etc so you still need to get a basic celiac foundation somewhere else). Our library has plenty of paleo and celiac cookbooks and books which is very MM. My favorite blogs are:
My favorite inspiration site for recipes is Pinterest. Just search for paleo.
I eat meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, eggs, seafood. I buy almost all fresh foods and typically the only processed things are items like olives, tea, coffee, canned tomatoes. You may also want to explore GAPS diet which is gluten free. It tends to focus a lot on homemade bone broths for gut healing and general wellness. I make my own broth and it's super tasty and MM.
Oh...and I typically cook once per week and package everything in 2 cup containers so I always have something ready to grab and go. This week I made:
Hamburgers with bacon and mushrooms (no bun) Steaks Chicken salad with paleo mayo Chicken broth (from the bones of the whole chicken used above) Chili Roasted cauliflower soup Grilled ham with pineapple Grilled brussel sprouts Sauteed green beans Sweet potatoes Sauteed squash, zucchini and sundries tomatoes
I eat eggs and bacon almost every day for breakfast.
I also at lunch out one day. I had the grilled chicken nuggets at chickfila (which are GF) with a fruit cup.
I bought the cookbook below and it has a lot of great gluten-free recipes (though it is a little bit crunchy . I've been eating more quinoa as well. And ditto on Udi's bread.