GFCF Update

First off, I feel more confident, just because we’ve all become more used to it.

(GF=Gluten Free. CF=Casein Free)

I’ve learned that GF for autism is different from GF for celiac disease. For celiac it’s necessary to be extremely vigilant and watch for even the most minute traces of gluten. For autism, we’ve found that miniscule amounts don’t really make much difference one way or the other. That teeny tiny bit of  leeway makes it much easier to maintain our budget too. For instance I don’t have to buy the specialty GF cornflakes, I can but the regular ones which have some malt in them. Malt is usually derived from barley which contains some gluten. Regular cornflakes would be out of the question if we were battling Celiac, but with autism, regular cornflakes don’t appear to cause any reaction, at least in my kids. Like with all things though, Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV). I’ve also found that small amounts of soy sauce that contains wheat doesn’t seem to cause a reaction, I wonder if it’s because the soy sauce is brewed or fermented and that somehow the gluten properties are changed through the fermentation process. I have no proof or anything, just my own pondering. Since wheat-free soy sauce is cheap and widely available (Kroger Brand) I use wheat-free at home, but if we get fried rice out in public, then we don’t worry too much about where the soy sauce came from, because we know that tiny amounts won’t be any problem.

According to their labels, some foods are processed in factories that also process wheat or dairy products. There is a chance of cross contamination. For the most part, I don’t worry about cross contamination. I did once find a few milk chocolate chips in the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I simply removed them (they were a lighter color) and continued on with the rest. It wasn’t a problem. As long as the product I’m buying doesn’t contain any of the offending products in the ingredient list I trust the Lord when it comes to cross contamination. Non-Christians may find that difficult to understand, but it’s simply a normal part of the Christian lifestyle. Trust God with the stuff I can’t control, cause really He is in charge of all of it anyway. It’s a comforting way to look at the world.

We’ve developed a method for the kids to identify what they can and can’t eat, that’s pretty easy for them and I find it helpful too. We had trouble explaining to them that some foods they could eat in very small amounts and it would be still be okay, but other foods they shouldn’t eat at all, ever and then others were fine to eat in unlimited quantitites. We finally hit upon the Traffic Light: Red light, Yellow light and Green light.

Some foods are Green Light Foods. They can be eaten as much as desired and there is no need to worry about them. Fresh fruits, vegetables, Rice, Corn, Oats, plain meats, plain beans, soy milk, potatoes and others.

Some foods are Yellow Light. These can be eaten in small servings such as french fries from Fast Food stores (they often have small amounts of wheat added to them), Dark Chocolate (some has small amounts of milk and some do not. It’s not always convenient to read the label when out with friends, so choose dark chocolate, and you’re better off than eating milk chocolate.) Soy yogurt cultured with dairy based bacteria. Heavy Cream & Real Butter (they’re  mostly fat, and fat doesn’t have any protein in it, thus no casein) And lots of others.

Finally are the Red Light Foods. These are not eaten at all, ever, except on Christmas. And even then, it’s okay to refuse them. Except if you must eat them, it can only be on Christmas. These foods include flour, cheese, milk, ice cream, and the regular offenders.

This method of identifying foods has been a huge blessing on us. Asperger’s kids like everything to be in tidy boxes in their thought processes. Giving the kids 3 boxes to mentally divide thier food choices into has helped them be able to eat in the world and to make their own choices at pot lucks and family gatherings and restaurants. AS a matter of fact, the whole Traffic Light concept has made them much easier to feed and empowered them to take more control over their own diets. I find myself using it too, for high calorie and low calorie foods. Being allowed yellow light foods, in small portions makes a diet much easier to customize. Some days we don’t eat any yellow light foods, and other days, entire meals may be made up of yellow light foods (like fast food meals out with friends)

Altogether I am very satisfied with this diet and plan to stay on it forever and ever until we’re dead. I admit to not following it as faithfully as my kids have, especially over Christmas (ugh!) but day in and day out we all eat the same foods and the stress level in our home has really diminished with these dietary changes.

I’m open for questions now. If anyone has any, please feel free to ask. I’ll answer them as best I can.

Oh, and one final note, thanks so much to everyone who is praying for my cousin Christina and special thanks for all the comments on her blog. I cannot even express my gratitude, it means so much that yall are so willing to offer your support, strength and hope. Hugs & Love all around.

Miss Maggie, Miss Maggie, where have you been?

I’ve been to my Granny’s to watch her recover from brain surgery. I’ve also had some really bazaar hormonal reactions to the GFCF diet. Good reactions, my body seems to be growing younger some how. Lost some weight without even trying, still obese, but less so. Got a new spark in my marriage and a big full load of adolescent puppy love for my hubby, have more energy than I have in years, since the PCOS set in over a decade ago, and my hair, well, it’s my favorite side effect: my hair is growing faster than it has since I was pregnant with Jamie, and so little of it’s falling out that all the birds who were using it to make their nests are fussing at me because their eggs are getting cold without my fur to keep them warm.

I had some breast pains, sort of  like when your milk comes in cause the baby cried, and the doctors did lots of tests only to discover that it was because of the hormonal changes. I’m getting closer to menopause, like the last hurrah of summer before the snow flies. And my summer is blooming brilliantly, which is sort of wonderful for a lady of almost 40 whose had some early winter years due to PCOS.

My granny had her brain surgery to remove the brain tumor which turned out to be the size of a grapefruit. It had roots that went down and around, so the surgery was a little dicey, but at 87, she recovered more quickly than women my age, and is now up and around–doing dishes, hanging laundry on the line, walking down to the mailbox, walking the dogs down to the creek, shopping at the Walmart (without the scooter cart, mind you, she pushes her own cart, under her own power). She was in the hospital for just over a week and now has a horseshoe shaped scar on the side of her head, but it’s a pretty scar as they go, healthy, healed up just as pretty as you please, and her hair is growing back nicely. I’m proud of my granny. She says she’s  feeling better than she has in 20 years, feels stronger, has better balance and is just doing so well that we sit around and praise the Lord all day long, because He is the only power that could make all of this turn out so well.

So, I’m here, I’m back at my computer, and hope to update weekly. Next time I write it will be about the boys and how they are faring on the diet, and how our family has adjusted to it.

Thanks for all the support. Hugs & Love–M

GFCF & my Hair

My hair has always been one of my best features. Long, thick, curly, brown with red highlights. My sister-in-law says I have African American hair, and she’s not far off base. Well, when I got PCOS (or rather, when it “bloomed”), my hair started thinning. Everyone said to me “Well, you’re older now, your hair is bound to fall out more than it used to.” Hearing folks say that to me always made me feel resentful–with a vain, self-righteous anger, because how dare they lump me in with all the other women my age with thinning hair! My hair’s not supposed to thin because I don’t dye it. I don’t blow dry it. I only wash it a couple of times a week, because there’s so much of it, it doesn’t get dirty very fast. I’ve done all the right things to preserve my hair, but it was still falling out. I developed a receding hairline up near my temples and the top thinned significantly. Unless you’ve known me forever you wouldn’t notice the thinning, because there was still an abundance of hair, just not as much as there used to be.

Anyway, my point is that my hair was falling out and it was making me especially sad. Then something happened. I gave up gluten and casein. And now my hair is growing back. I’m serious. The hair I’ve lost over the past 8 to 10 years, is growing back. I have scores of little baby hairs growing back on the top of my head and in my receding hairline, which is now pro-ceding, not re-ceding. Praise the Lord.

If I had known my hair would grow back, I would have done this years ago.

Thank-you God, for my new Hair. Amen.

The Cost of a GFCF Diet

We’ve been on our diet for 2 months now and we’re getting more of a comfort zone about it. We don’t go out to eat anymore, ever. Because it’s just too hard to make sure things are gluten-free and because we’re trying to limit our expenditures. All of our bills have gone up, but our income is the same. We have been able to save money in times past. But these days we’re using every dollar just to make ends meet. I know we’re not doing everything we can to reduce our costs, so I’m trying to do more every day, or every week, to use less cash.

The first month of giving up gluten and casein I spent too much on groceries. It’s easy to do when making the transition from one way of eating to another. We’re finding new favorites and adapting some old favorites to the new diet. I made a list of shopping techniques that are helping me keep the food budget under control. One day I hope to write an entire article (or several of them) on these things. For now though, writing these out reminded me of each of them and it’s helping me follow them more faithfully. Every little bit helps.

1. Analyze the market. Compare prices. Shop the ads.
2. Shop carefully. Always carry a list. Resist supermarket tricks and impulse buys.
3. Compile a record of the least expensive staples. Build meals around these staples. 
4. Avoid convenience foods. Cook from scratch. 
5. Give up food prejudices and status foods. Adjust our comfort-zones. 
6. Substitute cheap ingredients for expensive ones. 
7. Buy in bulk when it saves money but avoid waste like the plague. 
8. Communicate with the family about what they want to eat.
9. Develop new favorites; keep them in a recipe binder.
10. Plan menus and shopping lists ahead of time.

I’ve written extensively on similar ideas in the past, but I feel like the GFCF diet has really propelled me to a level of carefulness that I haven’t always had in the past.

Numbers 5 and 6 above have been major players in my weekly planning. There are several status foods I used to buy every now and then–Frozen Chicken Nuggets for the Kids, Brie Cheese for me–and all of these are out of the picture now. This is probably for the best, but giving up old favorites is hard because at first there’s just an empty vacuum that sits like a gaping hole. Eventually new favorites rise to fill the hole, but new stuff can’t fill it, until the old stuff is chucked out. Then the transition time of waiting and being empty is uncomfortable.

I’ve been substituting cheap things for expensive ones too. This is especially true with gluten-free starches and baking. I’ve learned that Rice can be used instead of spaghetti under Tomato Sauce. Cooked rice can replace cooked pasta in casseroles. Brown Rice is 60 Cents a pound (at it’s cheapest, bulk price) and GF pasta is $3 to $4 a pound. Holy Buckets! For that much savings I gladly take 45 minutes to cook brown rice. ACtually I’ve found that if I cook up 3-cups of dry brown rice, in 6-cups of water (making 9-cups of cooked rice), at the beginning of the week, then we have rice to use as a base for quicky meals all week long. I’ve only done that one week, but it worked so good I will try to do it every week.

I’ve worked really hard on developing some gluten-free bread recipes that the family likes and that don’t cost too much either. I’ve tried to avoid using Xanthan in as many of our homemade breads as I can, and so far the results are good. Xanthan costs $10 to $12 for 8-ounces. Usually recipes just use 1 or 2 teaspoons and it really does make GF breads mimic wheat breads more closely, especially yeast breads. For many quick breads though, Xanthan isn’t necessary in the least.

I’m particularly proud of my Xanthan-Free Bread Collection [Click here]. I hope to develop some more of them in the future. Some Garlic Bread Sticks would be especially yummy. I’m working on a recipe for Xanthan-Free Pizza Crust that uses Rice Flour and Cornstarch as the only flours. The recipe still needs a little tweaking and I don’t want to share it until I get it perfect.

 

Fun Trial Menu & Jamie’s Success

I’ve read that a lot of folks are thinking about trying GFCF and thought I’d help out by providing an easy to follow, relatively inexpensive menu plan for a week. It includes a menu list, shopping list, work schedule and recipes. The only specialized gluten-free product that is used is GFCF bread, which can be found in most large supermarkets. Sometimes it’s frozen and sometimes it’s on a shelf. GFCF bread is pricey–$4 to $5 a loaf, and you’ll need 3 of them for the whole week. Everything else is easy to find, at least in my area. Soy yogurt, vegan sour cream, and vegan cheese may be hard to find for some. In any case, these are used in small quantities, mostly to give you the opportunity to try new things. The bulk of the food is made up from low-cost staples like cornmeal, rice, soymilk; ground beef; canned tuna; roasted turkey breast; fresh fruits; fresh, frozen and canned veggies. The recipes do make use of several soy products. If you are sensitive to soy, then the menus may require some tweaking, and you may feel they are not appropriate for your dietary needs. The menus include packable lunches for week-days and family-friendly meals for the most part. Snacks are included for each day.

CLICK HERE FOR GFCF TRIAL MENU PLAN (pdf document, right click and save as).

My next update is that my youngest son is indeed feeling the results of the diet, apparently he was just a little slower to feel them. On Saturday they spent the night with their grandparents and went to church with them on Sunday. Jamie (my youngest), forgot his ADHD meds. His behavior was almost completely normal, even without his meds. He went to church and sunday school without his meds. He sat thorugh the sermon peacefully and thoughtfully, without his meds. No one even noticed until the late afternoon!

Only a few weeks ago he forgot to take his morning pill and the entire family noticed he was too hyper by 9 AM. Jamie’s been on Adderall since he was 5. He literally could not do anything without his meds. Couldn’t sit down, couldn’t stand still, could only manically flit about. This is a HUGE and significant change. I’ll be talking to his doctor soon about either reducing the dose or getting him off of meds all together. Something we literally never thought would be possible. The effects of a GFCF diet on my family have simply been miraculous.

Update on Status of My Family’s Diet & GFCF Bread, again

First the bread, I am trying a new recipe, will share results later today or tomorrow. The recipe is from Gluten Free [Cooking School].  It uses a flour mixture made with masa harina (a type of cornmeal) plus soy flour, cornstarch and brown rice flour, all relatively cheap in my neck of the woods. Once again, I have high hopes for it. It’s rising right now, and I’m anxious to try it.

Next, we have been on our Gluten-Free, Casein-Free (GFCF) diet for almost a week now. These are our results.

Maggie (Mom)

• Fewer headaches, down to once a week instead of daily. Haven’t had a migraine since starting GFCF.
• Much, MUCH more energy. I think I had chronic fatigue, but never bothered to get it diagnosed because, well, my schedule allows for daily naps when necessary. Since starting diet I am sleeping 5 to 6 hours a night, waking naturally, and taking a nap in the afternoons. I feel more energetic, more vital, than I have in a while. This extra energy alone is worth the dietary change.
• Haven’t gained any weight. I’ve been eating sugar and starches, and haven’t gained a single pound. Not sure why. I hope it means that weight-loss will be easier in the long run.
• No tummy troubles. Zero indigestion, zero heartburn, zero bloating, zero gas.
• A very painful rash I used to get on my hands, made up of tiny blisters that both itched and ached, has cleared up. When it used to bother me really bad, I noticed that Benadryl (an allergy medicine) would give me some relief. Doctors have told me it’s eczema, due to stress. I never agreed with that diagnosis, but did pray often for the Lord to reduce my stress level (What stress level? I have to ask) so the bumps would go away. Certain dishwashing liquids helped, but nothing alleviated it completely. Today, it is almost all gone. Amazing!
• I feel happy. It’s a simple thing, but very satisfying.

Tommy (Asperger’s Syndrome).

 Describes himself as . . .

• Feeling more energetic
• Focusing energy is easier
• Having higher self-esteem
• Being more self-confident in public
• It’s easier to concentrate

 Mom notices . . .

• Much more patience
• Kinder
• Much more talkative
• Friendlier
• More social with family members and at church
• Thinking more clearly and quickly too
• Lighter spirit, not so heavy and serious, more open
• Less repetitive behavior
• Happier. Definitely happier

Jamie (ADHD)

• No changes what so ever. None. Zippo, finito, nada.

So, I have talked with Fred (who admits to seeing some changes, but not as many as I do) and to my Mom (who sees the same changes I do and others besides) and the boys. We have decided to be a GFCF family. Outside of the house if Jamie wants to eat “regular” food then that’s fine. In the house though I’m keeping everything and everyone on the same diet. Tom is very happy about the changes he feels and wants to continue the diet. He explains it like this “I’m autistic, so I have to eat a special diet. No gluten. No dairy.” This is the very first time he has actually said the words “I’m autisitc.” So that in and of itself is HUGE progress. It’s sort of like he’s blooming. Slow and steady, a little more every day.

In all honesty I really thought that the GFCF diet for autism was probably a bunch of wishful thinking on the part of the parents. It seemed like “New Age Mumbo Jumbo” to me. Before “resorting” to the diet we tried several different meds, none of them worked and some made things worse. We tried psychiatrists, psychologists, and a handful of doctors. I took him out of public school, in part because I could see that it was nearly killing him to go there everday. I saw how much he was hurting. We also have religious beliefs that made us take the boys from public school and teach them at home, but a big part was that the school could not treat Asperger’s Syndrome with any effectiveness. If anything their so called “treatment” made it worse.

I’d heard about a GFCF diet helping kids with autism for a few years. I read things online, but never really researched it in any depth. In fact I think I ignored and even avoided any information on it because I thought it was pointless. I was also terribly reluctant to even think about changing our diet. It would be too expensive, it would be too hard, too limiting, too different.

Finally I reasoned that if there was anything to the diet, that my kids at least deserved a shot at it. Praise God I finally did it. I think He had a lot to do with guiding me in this direction. So we tried it and I am now a True Believer. I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong, and I was wrong about this diet. It really does make a difference, and I’m seeing that for us (a family who cooks most things from scratch) the changes in our diet are pretty minor. I have to switch some of my formulas for baking. I have to use cornstarch for thickening instead of flour. I have to use non-dairy products instead of dairy. For the most part though, I’m still cooking normal food. Our grocery bill will go up. I can see that. But I will simply do what I do best, and that is learn cheaper ways to create the stuff we want to eat. I mean, God gave me that skill for a reason, so I might as well use it.

So, I will be making a few changes to my website (Frugal Abundance) as I sort out this GFCF thing. I will update recipes. Add more recipes. Maybe even write new articles.

We are now a GFCF family, and we will be here on out.

Fried Rice Recipe & Interesting Blog: Gluten Free Frugal

Gluten Free Frugal–a blog I stumbled upon today. It’s not dairy free, but the information is good. Thought some other folks might be interested in it too.

Includes an interesting article My 5 Basic Rules for Eating Gluten Free On A Budget.

 

KID FRIENDLY FRIED RICE RECIPE

• 4 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 cups cold, cooked rice (1-cup dry makes 3-cups cooked)
• 1-1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables or peas and carrots
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or 1 or 2 tablespoons GF soy sauce or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• Optional: 2 eggs-beaten, tofu, chicken, beef, pork, ham, sliced hot dogs etc., about 1-cup chopped into bite-sized pieces.

Cut the bacon into small pieces. Place in a very large skillet or wok. Add onion. Fry until the onion and bacon are both lightly browned. Add the rice, frozen veggies and black pepper. Stir-fry until the rice is coated with the bacon fat and the veggies are thawed. Add salt or soy sauce and if desired any combination of the optional ingredients. We usually add 6 to 8-ounces of cubed tofu because the kids both like it. (I don’t know why my kids like tofu, but they do.) Adding the eggs is traditional, but we don’t always do it. If you do add the eggs then move the rice mixture to one side of the pan. Pour the eggs into the empty side of the pan and scramble as desired. After cooking them a minute or two, stir them in with the rice and veggies.

Continue to fry everything together until piping hot. Serve in bowls with chopsticks or a spoon. If you’re kids are veggie-friendly then a pound of frozen stir-fry veggies may be substituted for the mixed veggies. This isn’t as popular at our house, so I usually use mixed veggies instead. If you’re avoiding bacon then feel free to omit it and use 3-tablespoons of vegetable oil instead.

Maggie’s First GFCF Homemade Yeast Bread

UPDATE Thursday, May 15, 2008. I feel it’s only fair to share that my Mom and Fred both call this bread “only edible”. Neither of them are GFCF, but they are in agreement that this bread doesn’t taste “normal”. The boys and I both like it, but I admit to being on the lookout for new recipes. I want something that meets my high standards of pleasing all, not just GFCF folks. On the other hand, the muffins from the previous post are magnificent no matter who you’re cooking for, so that’s at least 1 big success. CLOSE UPDATE

 

First off I want to give Tom all the credit for the recent photographs. He’s getting really good at it and has been unbelievably cooperative. Praise God! And thank-you Tom.

Next, we’ve tried 2 types of store-bought GFCF bread, both by Ener-G–White Rice Loaf & Brown Rice Loaf. Both of them are best toasted, but for the most part the guys said “Yuck! too dry.”

My bread however, has been met with much approval. It’s dense, like homemade whole-grain bread, but still velvety and moist. The flavor and texture are divine. It’s easy to slice thinly after it cools completely. I baked it in a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan and it didn’t get as tall as we like for sandwiches. Next time I will bake it in an 8 by 4-inch pan for a taller slice of bread.

This bread is good enough (especially after trying the store-bought stuff) that we can eat it every day and not feel deprived. It doesn’t taste exactly like wheat bread, but it doesn’t taste like it’s not wheat bread either.

First you must prepare the flour mixture.

MAGGIE’S FIRST GF FLOUR MIX

• 24 ounces or 4-1/2 cups white rice flour
• 1 cup soybean flour
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes

Combine all together. Makes about 7 cups. Store on the pantry shelf in a clearly labeled, resealable container. This recipe uses ingredients that are inexpensive in my local stores, assuming I grind my own rice flour. If I have to buy pre-ground rice flour, then it’s cheaper to order it off of the Internet. I haven’t tried it with brown rice flour yet, but hope to soon.

Now you can prepare the bread. It is loosely based upon the True Yeast Bread recipe in The Gluten Free Gourmet by Bette Hagman.

MAGGIE’S FIRST GF YEAST BREAD

• 1-3/4 cups soymilk, heated to luke warm
• 1/4 cup melted butter-flavored shortening or vegan margarine
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 cups GF Flour Mix (above)
• 1 tablespoon Xanthan Gum
• 1-1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Up to 1/4 cup water, as necessary
• Coconut Oil or Solid Shortening for greasing the pan

In a large stand mixer combine the soymilk, butter and eggs. Beat with regular beaters (not dough hooks) until well mixed. Add the brown sugar, flour, xanthan, yeast and salt. Beat with beaters until you have a stiff dough. If the beaters are laboring and the dough is crawling up the beaters out of the bowl then gradually add a little water until the dough stops crawling. The beaters may strain a little bit, but the dough shouldn’t crawl. Beat for 3 minutes. Remove the beaters from the bowl and scrape any dough back into the bowl.

Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1-1/2 hours. It will get puffier, but won’t exactly double in bulk. After rising smash the dough down with hands that have been well coated with oil or shortening. Generously rub a bread pan with solid shortening, it works better for keeping bread from sticking than anything else. Scrape the dough into the pan and coax the top into as smooth a surface as you can manage. As you can see from my picture my surface was not smooth in the least, but it still tastes good.

Lightly grease the plastic wrap and place it loosely over the bread dough. Let rise for 1 to 1-1/4 hours, or until risen slightly higher than the top of the pan. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes. The bread will be golden brown and crusty. Allow the bread to cool for an hour and then place in a plastic bag or wrap in plastic wrap. When completely cooled the crust will be softer and the bread will be gloriously easy to slice.

I have stored the bread in the pantry at room temperature because we have gone through it quickly. If I were keeping it more than a few days I would store it in the fridge. Since it’s easy to slice thin, it seems to provide more slices than conventional bread.

I haven’t tried it, but suspect this recipe could also be mixed and risen in a 1-1/2 or 2 pound bread machine on the dough cycle. Then it can be punched down, shaped into a pan, risen and baked in a regular oven. I do not know how it would perform when baked in a bread machine, but if anyone tries, please let me know your results. If your bread machine has been used for wheat-breads in the past be certain to clean it fastidiously before making gluten-free bread. This will eliminate cross-contamination.

I think it will make great rolls and may even try it for pizza another time. Next time I make it I’ll double the recipe for 1-loaf of bread and about a dozen hamburger buns.

I found the bread easy to mix and easy to prepare. Since I didn’t know exactly what would happen while it was rising, that was definitly a learning experience, but similar enough to conventional wheat-bread that I wasn’t too surprised by anything.

Any questions feel free to ask.

GFCF Day 3

I’m happy to report that so far everything is going just fine. No terrible breakdowns or tantrums from the guys, although they were kind of goofy for a couple of days. We’ve found things they can eat and they have been cooperative about trying new things. Not lots of new things all at once, but one or two new things a day.

Some things are definitely in my favor. For one, they are used to me experimenting in the kitchen, so all the new stuff is not so weird. It’s just Mom on one of her kicks. Also, we’ve got the whole family cooperating with us, no one saying bad stuff about it, and that is tremendous help. I believe I’m seeing changes in behavior, but it may be my imagination. Not exactly certain one way or the other yet.

We’ve tried Vegan Gourmet Cheddar Cheese and it is superb. The texture is not the exact same as dairy cheese, but it’s still pleasant. And the flavor is as good as expensive aged cheddar. I will definitely be using this more often. Most folks say it tastes good melted and I would have to concur on this point.

I made my first GF flour mixture today. I’ve read about a dozen different ones from different cookbook authors, and they all have some similarities and some differences. A commenter was kind enough to share an article titled Solving the GF Flour Mix Mystery. It’s a good article and I recommend reading it.

Anyway, after looking at the combinations I thought I might try my own. I used flours that are less expensive than those suggested in some GF Flour Mixes. The recipe is easy enough–

MAGGIE’S FIRST GF FLOUR MIX

• 24 ounces or 4-1/2 cups white rice flour
• 1 cup soybean flour
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes

Combine all together. Store on the pantry shelf in a clearly labeled, resealable container.

So after making the flour mix I tried a muffin recipe. They turned out very nice. The kids liked them, Fred loved them. The texture is very similar to conventional muffins.

MAGGIE’S FIRST GFCF MUFFIN RECIPE

• 2/3 cup soymilk
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vinegar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup GF Flour Mix
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

In a medium-sized bowl beat together the soymilk, vinegar, egg and oil. Mix well. Add the flour mix, salt, sugar and baking powder. Beat again until everything is well moistened but a few small lumps remain.

Turn the batter into well oiled muffin cups. I used extra-large muffin cups and filled them about half full. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. These muffins do not rise as high as wheat-muffins. Mine turned out short and wide, perfect for cutting in half and using instead of a biscuit for ham or bacon. They were also good spread with margarine and topped with jam. I got 6 muffins. I will make these again for a quick dinner bread or for breakfast sandwiches.

AT the moment I have a batch of bread made from this Flour Mix rising in the oven. I’ll share how it turns out later.

Another quick note, I have realized that a GFCF diet is based upon rice and soy, whereas a standard American diet is based upon wheat and dairy. It could be lots of people already figured this out, but it was a “Eureka Moment” for me. 🙂

GFCF Day 1

We’ve been 24 hours without gluten or casein now. My oldest son is showing a little bit of response this morning. Youngest Son is not enjoying the dietary changes but is still being a relatively good sport. Oldest Son seems to like the new food, especially Oriental Rice Noodles. They are the new favorite. So at least there is food he can eat. He won’t starve. Phew! That was one of my fears.

I learned a few lessons at the supermarket yesterday. First is that my nearest Kroger has the largest GF selection in the Valley. That’s good to know, and convenient for me too. I met the manager of the Special Diet Section yesterday and he showed off his area. Nice young man, who obviously takes pride in his work. I think his mom has Celiac, or at least some family member, so he has the inside scoop on all the GF products.

He also has sales and a bargain basket of reduced products. The bargain basket had saving of 70% to 80% so I chose a lot of things from it, to try out. Specifically some baking mixes. Cornbread, chocolate cake, yellow cake, pancake and waffle mix etc. I did the calculating and the mixes were much cheaper than some of the ingredients that go into them. I praised the Lord the whole time, for providing such abundance.

The biggest money-saving lesson I learned is that anything labeled Gluten-Freein large letters costs at least twice as much as a similar gluten-free product that doesn’t proclaim it on the box in giant-sized print. For instance, GF chocolate chips that shout their status from the label cost $4.59 for 10-ounces–or about 46¢/oz.  After reading the label to make sure they were dairy-free too, I decided they were way outside of my budget, and resolved to find cheaper alternatives. In the regular baking section of the market I looked over the chocolate chips and was happy to see a wide variety. I picked up the most expensive ones and read the label. They contained milk, so were out of the question. Next I picked up the cheapest ones and read their label. Their list of ingredients was the exact same a the expensive GF variety. A quick check of their price told me they cost $1.29 for 12-ounces–or about 11¢/oz. Obviously this is a wiser use of limited funds. (BTW, the brand is Kroger’s discount VALUE brand, for anyone who might be interested.)

Then a funny thing happened in my brain. For a moment I considered paying$4.59 just for the peace of mind that those big letters GLUTEN-FREE gave me. For a split second, I waswilling to pay extra for that reassuring package label. Then I came back to myself and re-read the cheap chocolate chips label to be sure it truly was GFCF. I’m happy to report that it still was, and that they taste just like regular chocolate chips, which in fact, they are.

So my first lesson is that if I’m willing to read lables myself, and trust my own ability to interpret them, then I can save a bundle. How cool is that?! I admit that at first I didn’t really want to trust myself in this regard. As a fully mortal woman, I will make mistakes now and then, missing some of the sneaky words like malt, which comes from barley, and whey, which is dairy. The large quantities of money I save though, will make up for these occasional mistakes, and still provide big savings. After some prayer I decided that I may not always read labels perfectly, but I’m willing to take that chance in exchange for lower prices. At home I can always read the labels again before  I prepare anything, as a stop-gap before any offending foods make it into the kid’s diet.

One of the greatest bargains I found was rice noodles in the Oriental Section of the market. They’re less than half the price of special GF rice spaghetti and have an excellent texture. They’ll work for spaghetti, Lo Mein, and noodle stir-fries. Plus the kids love them! I’ll bet their even cheaper at my local Oriental market.

The next big lesson I learned is that most of the grains and starches I will be using are over-priced in my local area. I bought small quantities of some things, like Amaranth and Quinoa, Potato Starch and Tapioca Starch, Brown Rice Flour & White Rice flour, just to use them for the next 2 weeks. If we decide to stay with this way of eating, then I will definitely look for cheaper alternatives on-line. Whole grains are often cheaper than flours, so I’ll buy the grains and grind them myself in the future. I have a magnificent Oriental Food Store nearby that has giant sacks of brown rice for very little per pound. And parboiled rice (my favorite white variety) for very little too. So that is where I’ll get my rice for grinding into flour. It will cost as little as 15¢/lb instead of $1.50/lb, which was the price of the most expensive rice flour I saw yesterday. Eeep! That is expensive flour!

As for menu planning and meals, the cooking is much the same as we do already. Prepare foods from scratch using the most basic and inexpensive ingredients. I’m looking forward to learning some more about baking with GF grains. I’ve always enjoyed baking and it will be fun to expand my horizons.

To help the boys feel a little more secure about meals, I’ve written menus up on the white board, so they know what they’re eating next. It alleviates anxiety that is a normal part of changing one’s diet. My oldest, Tom, is happy with the changes. My youngest is tolerating them with a cooperative spirit. So far, so good.