Dinner: Honeymoon five years later

This weekend, The Husband and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary.  It’s been an amazing five years.  As part of the celebration, I recreated one of the dinners we had on our honeymoon.  I decided to share what we had so you can see that you don’t have to sacrifice what you eat to be gluten free.

Appetizer- Fish tacos

The tacos are comprised of:
-Lime baked tilapia (tilapia with lime juice and zest cooked at 375° about 12 min or until flaky)
-Sliced avacado
-Shredded cabbage (seasoned and dressed with a dash a cider vinegar)
-Mango salsa
-Greek yogurt (mixed with a dash of lime juice)
-Corn tortillas (warmed in a dry skillet)

Entree- BBQ shrimp and grits (Disclaimer: This is NOT how we usually eat in terms of fat, cholesterol, and calories.  This is like a months worth of bad eating but I think we can splurge once every five years).

Shrimp:

Ingredients
1/2 pound shrimp, shelled and deviened
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive Oil
1/4 cup chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon-ish of lemon juice
2 cups water
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/8 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup ketchup
1 Tablespoon yellow mustard
1 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup whole milk

Directions
Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large pot over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onions and garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add lemon juice, water, Worcestershire, wine, salt, and  a few turns black pepper. Stir well.  Add ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar.  Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and puree with immersion blender. Place over high heat, bring to a boil, and cook until thick, syrupy, and dark brown, for about 15 minutes to make barbecue sauce base.  Remove from heat and set aside.  This can be done in advance and refrigerated.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the seasoned shrimp and saute them, occasionally shaking the skillet, for 2 minutes. Combine milk and all of the barbecue base. Add milk/BBQ base to shrimp Stir and simmer for 3 minutes.

Adapted from: Emeril’s BBQ Rock Shrimp and Grits

Grits: Prepared with half water/half milk and a few handfuls for a four cheddar blend added at the end.

Collared Greens

Dessert:

A Texas sized gluten free cupcake similar to our wedding cake flavor from Pearl’s topped with part of our cake topper.

It was a great night of laughing and remember the last five years over delicious food.

Living with Celiac: Eating outside of the house

Tags

gluten free

At times, Celiac can feel like a sentence to eat in all the time.  In general, I would much rather be at home anyway and especially with a toddler, it is easier to stay, but sometimes it’s nice to go out.  Or at least know I have the option to go out.

I’ll never forget four years ago when friends of ours learned how to cook gluten free just so they could have us over for dinner.  It meant so much to me and we continued to do dinners with each other over the next few years.  Luckily since then, an increasing number of restaurants have started carrying gluten free menus as well.  Below is definitely not a comprehensive list of restaurants with gluten free offerings but they are some of our favorites.

Chain Restaurants

PF Changs –  Most Chinese food is a no go because of wheat in soy sauce, but PF Changs has its own gluten free menu and serves gluten free dishes on different plates so that you know you are getting the correct dish.  They also have an amazing gluten free chocolate torte for only a few dollars.  Easy takeout as well.

Outback- Outback has its own gluten free menu.  While it can be hard not to crave their tasty bread which is definitely not gluten free, their wide variety of menu selections at reasonable prices makes it a favorite.

Five Guys- Confession: I have a weakness for Five Guys.  Greasy and delicious.  Also, super gluten free friendly.  Here is why: they will make burgers without a bun (served in a tray or wrapped in lettuce instead) and also only fry potatoes in their fryer.  No breaded chicken fingers or onion rings to be found on their menu.  This means that the the fryer is not contaminated with gluten.  They also ask if it is an allergy when you order a bunless burger and the guys change their gloves to make your burger.

Chipotle- The only thing glutenous on the menu are the flour tortillas (for burritos, soft tacos, and quesadillas).  This leaves bowls, salad, and crunchy tacos full of any of the delicious toppings you desire.

Maggiano’s- They make gluten free pasta dishes.  Very delicious but they don’t have many health conscious options and is more expensive than we traditionally dine out for.

Local favorites

If you are lucky enough to live in Richmond, here are some local treats that you have to try

Pearl’s Cupcake Shoppe- I cannot describe how good these cupcakes are.  One of my students a few years ago worked at the shoppe and brought me a leftover gluten free cupcake.  I’ll be honest, I thought she made a mistake and I was going to get sick.  It was far too good to be gluten free.  Nope, it really was gluten free.  They carry a few gluten free flavors everyday and post them to their facebook page.  The husband knows that bringing home flowers is lost on me…now he brings home Pearl’s cupcakes instead.  Located at Libbie & Grove.  Get in the car and go now.

Cheese Roll Shop- A truly hidden gem.  It is in an alley to the left of Richmond Camera on Patterson.  They make Brazilian cheese rolls which are naturally gluten free.  I can eat handfuls of them hot out of the oven.  They don’t keep well, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem around here

Baker’s Crust; Short Pump- Baker’s Crust in Short Pump has gluten free bread for sandwiches and delicious salad offerings.  I enjoy a half gluten free sandwich and half salad or soup.  It really does hit the spot and is perfect for lunch or dinner with the girls.

Buz and Ned’s Barbecue- Such delicious BBQ and conveniently located with their new place.  Their manager even took time to email me a list of everything that contains gluten since they do not have a published gluten free menu.  Safe to eat items include: pork, chicken, beef barbecue and ribs; bourbon apples; baked beans; coleslaw; cuke & onion salad; country greens

Hopefully for those eating gluten free this will give you some more ideas of places to go.  Again, it is definitely not an exhaustive list, but plenty of yummy, gluten free healthy goodness.

Now go get a Pearl’s Cupcake and have your life changed!

Living with Celiac: Where gluten hides

Wow.  I have been overwhelmed by all the kind emails and feedback I have received this week about sharing my gluten free lifestyle.  I am glad so many of you are finding it helpful.  I will try to make a concerted effort to share some of my dinner recipes from time to time, too.

Yesterday, I shared what I typically eat.  Things that are naturally gluten free and a few special gluten foods.  Today, I want to share some places that gluten hides.  Unexpected things that have gluten in them.

Some things are obviously off limits for those eating gluten free: pasta, bread, pizza, anything with wheat/all purpose flour.  Other things however seem like they should be safe, but are gluten laden.  It’s always a bummer to get glutened on these things.  I mean, really, if I’m going to spend a few weeks recovering from ingesting gluten I want it to be because of something delicious like Papa John’s pizza or a Jersey Mike’s sub or a Panera Cinnamon Crunch Bagel not one of the lame-os below.

Unexpected gluten is found in:

1. Soy Sauce.  I know, right?  Sneaky.  Most soy sauces are made with wheat.  It’s one of the first few ingredients listed.  I believe La Choy is still make without wheat.  Always check the labels though.  There definitely are gluten free soy sauces, but you have to make sure to read the label.
2. Fat free sour cream.  First of all, I would never eat fat free sour cream to start with.  Ick. If you opt for fat free or low fat produces in general, make sure to read the label even if you know the full fat ingredient is gluten free.  The reason is that when they take the fat out, they have to replace it with something to keep the consistency thick.
3. Malt. Malt comes from barely which means anything that is “malted” is out.
4. Canned soups and broths.   First of all, have you ever actually read the ingredients of condensed soups in a can?  You can’t pronounce half of them as they are processed until they are almost not food.  …but they also have wheat in them to help thicken them.   Some vegetable/beef/chicken broths have also snuck gluten into them so read the label.  I use Swanson Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth.  FYI the ingredient “yeast” does not contain gluten.
5. Licorice and other similar candy.  This is a major boooooo for me.  I love black licorice but it is made with wheat.  So are many of the stripe candies like Twizzlers, Sour Straws, and Sour Strips.
6. The mayonnaise, jelly, and peanut butter jars.  Mayo, jelly, and peanut butter themselves are gluten free but if others have made glutenous sandwiches with them and placed the knife back in the jar, they are no good.  Crumbs get in the jar and make the whole thing glutenous.
7. Spice mixes, dressings, marinades.  Flour is often used and a filler or anti-caking agent or to thicken dressing and marinades.  Save yourself cost and concern and make your own

My biggest suggestion is to read to the label.  Gluten can be hiding where you don’t expect it and also companies change their recipes from time to time.
The less processed the food, the less chance gluten has slipped in.  Again, I advocate eating fresh, unprocessed foods even if you aren’t concerned about gluten.

Master Bath: Adding the sass

Tags

master bathroom, painting, progress

Well it was a grey room.  Clearly you must have been anticipating some color and sass.

Remember where we started.  We added function and now we are adding fashion.

The shower curtain needs to be ironed, hemmed an inch-ish, and will probably get some handsome stripes.

The vanity area is my favorite.  It already got reorganized which has transformed our lives.  Here is the previous progress:

Here is the current progress.  I can’t help but smile when I get ready in the morning.

I painted the old black mirrors.  In order to paint the mirrors, I was going to tape off the glass.  About 30 seconds into taping the oval mirror with linear tape, I realized this wasn’t going to be pretty.  Husband standing behind me pointing out all the gaps wasn’t helping.  Then I remember screws on the back of the mirror!  After removing them, the mirror came out and I was just left with the frame.  Note to self: always looks for screws first.

I previously told you about my color matching fail trying to spray the mirrors.  I narrowed my color choice down to Pantone Emerald or Pool Green trying to match the Threshold rug from Target.
While Emerald was a slightly better match, I wanted the mirrors to read more turquoise and less green on first glance.  You can see the subtle difference in color between the spray paint and new color but it really made a big difference in the room.

I still may antique the mirrors to bring out the detail but will leave them as is for now.

The window wall got towel hooks to frame out the window and fresh white towels.  I opted against colored towels because I couldn’t decide what I want.  I pulled out the white guest towels and LOVE how fresh and clean they look.  Plus, I’ve decided it’s time to use the nice towels instead of leaving them in the closet for the guests we never have.

We love how our bathroom is coming along.  The grey is cozy and calming while the turquoise is happy and sassy.  The white is crisp and clean.  I’ll add charcoal while will be handsome and ground the space.

Still on the to dos:
-Hem and add stripes to the shower curtain
-Figure out what to do with the vanity (paint, stain, just clean?, new knobs)
-Change out 80s ceramic toilet paper holder (should have done this BEFORE the drywall repair and painting.  Fail)
-Make art for over the toilet

Welcome to our calming, sassy bathroom.  It makes us so happy.

Living with Celiac: Umm…what do you eat?

Whenever anyone first hears I can’t eat gluten (wheat, rye, barley), their first response is “What do you eat?”  (except for my high school students who would reply, “Wait.  Does that mean you can’t drink beer?”  Sigh.).

Learning to eat gluten free was a big adjustment but is not difficult now.  As a family, we mostly eat the perimeter of the grocery store (produce, meat, dairy).  We eat very few processed foods which I think is how everyone should be eating gluten free or not.

They are making a lot of gluten free products now.  Some are good.  Some are terrible.  Almost all are expensive.  In general. with the exception of pasta, I do not buy a lot of special gluten free products.  So what do I eat?  I’ll break it down to some of my favorites:

Breakfast
-Udi’s Bagels with cream cheese (This is one of my exceptions to not buying specific gluten free foods.  It is so easy for me to take one on the go.  Although they are about $6 for 4, I eat half of one a day so it breaks down to not too bad).
-Rice Chex (General Mills Chex are all gluten free except Wheat Chex.  They are in the regular cereal aisle and priced like regular cereal).
-Kellogg’s Gluten Free Rice Krispies: Found next to and priced the same as regular Rice Krispies and are in a yellow box.  The only difference is they are made from brown rice and without malt.
-Eggs and Omelets

Lunch
Lunch is tough.  I usually eat leftovers from dinner the night before.

Dinner

This possibilities are endless!
Meats: All unprocessed meats are gluten free.  Boar’s Head deli is also gluten free.
Produce: All fruits and vegetables are gluten free including potatoes.
Dairy: Most diary (milk, cheese, yogurt) is all gluten free.  A few of the only exceptions are flavored yogurts that are usually pretty obvious (like Key Lime Pie) and some of the reduced/fat free sour creams, etc.
Grains: Rice (brown and white), Quinoa (what? You haven’t tried this superfood.  Go buy some now), corn tortillas (yummo Mexican food)

Do you know how many hundreds of yummy, healthy, cost conscious things you can make with the above?  No, you don’t because you can’t count that high.  Fresh ingredients, unprocessed, no crazy components you can’t pronounce, all gluten free.

Pasta: Tinkyada.  I can’t say enough good things about this brown rice pasta.  It doesn’t taste gluten free.  My only word of wisdom is not to follow the directions on the package.  Check it around 10 minutes.

Bread: Whole Foods Sweet White in their freezer section.  Like most gluten free bread it is best toasted, but it makes a pretty good hot sandwich/club sandwich.  Yum.

Dessert

I make some pretty wicked good gluten free desserts like flourless chocolate cake, ice cream, baked/stuffed apples, and fudge.  I also have a favorite local bakery that is ah.maze.ing.
Off the shelf though, I have a weakness for chocolate (chocolate chips, Dove, Hershey’s are all good) and raspberry sorbet.

Adult Beverage

Sweet sweet wine.  There are some gluten free beers that are pretty good and many cocktails are gluten free, but I find wine to be the easiest for me.  …and not to mention delicious

So there is what I eat.  When it is listed out, it is obvious that there are so many more things that I can eat than not eat.  Eating gluten free is not a curse; it’s a life style change.
Tomorrow I’ll give you some hints on unexpected places that gluten hides.  Thursday, I’ll give you some ideas on how to eat gluten free out and about.
Friday, gluten free tips for a toddler.

Celiac Awareness: My Story

Tags

gluten free

May is Celiac awareness month.  I thought I would take a few days this week to share my story about being diagnosed with Celiac and living gluten free.  Since Celiac can be genetic, we are keep Bradley gluten free too which brings in a new set of challenges.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder triggered by the ingestion of gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.  An estimated 1 in 141 Americans has celiac disease, yet 83% of those who have it are either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. (from the National Foundation for Celiac awareness).
It makes your body unable to properly absorb nutrients.

I found out that I had Celiac in the fall of 2007.  My mom had been insisting that something just wasn’t right since the end of the summer, but I brushed it off as me recovering from an entire summer of not sleeping (I had been a PASSPORT youth camp counselor all summer).  That fall I was doing a placement teaching middle school as part of my graduate school program.  I started getting excruciating migraines and, although I was painfully exhausted, I couldn’t sleep at night.  Middle school + migraines = unbearable.  I finally gave in that something was wrong.

I went to a whole health specialist.  Within a few minutes of talking to me, she was fairly certain she knew what I had.  Some medical tests later, it was confirmed that I have Celiac.

I felt like my world was turned around.  90% of my diet (no joke) was pasta and bread.  What was I going to eat?  I was discouraged and realized that trying to start eating gluten free during the holidays was a ridiculous idea so I waited until the new year.  I cut out all gluten focusing my meals on produce, meats, dairy, and rice.  And then something amazing happened.  I felt like a new person.  I had been sick so long, I didn’t know what it was to be well.  I thought how I was feeling was normal because I didn’t know anything else.  Once I became healthy, I couldn’t believe that I dealt with being sick for so long.  In hindsight, the symptoms are obvious.  So how did my doctors miss it for so many years?

Here are what I think are the contributing factors to missing my diagnosis:

1. Discontinuity of care.   Sporadic visits to the pediatrician, then leaving for college and even more sporadic visits to a general physician  then moving again for graduate school.
2. Being an non-advocate   I didn’t know what it was to feel healthy, so I couldn’t advocate for myself that I was sick.
3. Atypical symptoms.  Really my symptoms aren’t atypical at all they just didn’t include what used to be considered the most prevalent symptom.  I didn’t have any of the nausea or IBS typically associated with Celiac.   Now people are becoming more educated about Celiac and they are realizing not to over look diagnosing those without those “classic symptoms”.  Here is a great graphic that displays now what are being recognized as some of the most common symptoms which could be present in any combination.
   
4. Treating the symptoms.  Our healthcare culture is too quick to treat the symptoms.  Growing up, I would occasionally faint but was told that I would out grow it when I “put some meat on my bones”.  I got used to having headaches most days but if they were too painful some Advil would help.  My depression in high school was medicated.  My low iron was attributed to diet.
   By individually treating all the symptoms, the cause was missed.  All of the above can be attributed to Celiac in addition to things that I didn’t even know were wrong until I was healthy like: chronically achy joints, anxiety attacks, extreme fatigue

Going gluten free has changed my life.  While it does make logistics more difficult, it is a small price to pay for a transformation in my health.

This week I will share some of my tips for eating gluten free both at home and out.

Master Bath: Color Fail

Tags

master bathroom, painting

Let’s rewind to the original color palate idea.  Originally I was going to match the master bedroom colors just utilized differently than the bedroom with grey walls, yellow accents, and a splash of blue.
Here the only picture of the bedroom I can find (it’s from 4 years ago and is grainy.  Whoops).

I found this rug for the bathroom at Homegoods and got super excited…

…then the excitement quickly dissipated and I realized that I am going to get tired of this color scheme.  Fast.

I saw a geometric aqua indoor/outdoor rug at Target and waffled about if it was right for the space.  The next day it was feature on one of my favorite blogs Teal & Lime.  I took it as a sign and searched the city’s Targets with a friend to find one in stock.

Although he had mixed reviews about the wall color, Bradley loves the rug and exclaims, “wooooooow every time I roll it out”.

So where is the failure?

The wall color (Sherwin Williams Silverplate) is still a major win.

Rug choice number two is also still a win.

I wanted to paint the existing mirror frames to match the rug.  I raced between the rain this weekend to do so and was so excited to bring them inside.  I sprayed them Rustoleum Seaspray.

They are beautiful and sassy and awesome…..and totally not the same color.  I thought I might be able to pull it off since they are separated until The Husband came in and complemented my color choice saying, “Oh, I’m so glad you brought in a different color.  The rug is green and the mirrors are blue.  Good choice”   Color match fail.

I went to Lowe’s today to grab some paint squares and am going to have to paint them by hand instead of spray.  Still trying to decide which color matches best.

Later this week I will try try try again.  Because failure….especially color failure…is not an option.

Master Bath: GreyDay, GreyDay!

Tags

master bathroom, painting, progress

Finally.  The yellow is finally gone.

I think it looks fabulous, but Bradley still needs some convincing.  When he got up from his nap, I took him to see the new color.  When I opened the door to the bathroom, he stood in the doorway and exclaimed “oooooh no!”.
I chose Sherwin Williams’ Silverplate which is a neutral grey (not blue, not greige).  It’s a great, calming backdrop from the room.

Our painter is so fabulous.  We could have never done nearly as good of a job with the vaulted ceiling.  ….and Mason LOVED coming home to it just being done.  I think it is his favorite way to paint

Unfortunately, it’s been raining all day so I haven’t been able to do my spray painting projects to make more progress in there. But they are coming  :)

Master Bath: Onto fashion

Tags

master bathroom, painting, progress

We fixed all of our functional concerns: cold showers, lack of organization, and leaky faucets.  We replaced the builder grade ones that were original to the house 30 years ago with Delta Nura faucets like we put in B’s bathroom.  
The husband even got in on the action and helped

We’re finally getting kicking on the “making it pretty” part.  After much, much debate, we decided to hire out the painting.  The vaulted ceiling was just not going to look good if we tried to DIY.  Also, thirty years of excessive moisture left some drywall repair needing to be done.  Our guy does drywall and painting.  Check.

I’m so excited.  He did the drywall repair today and will be back to paint later this week once the mud thoroughly dries.

I decided to go with Sherwin Williams “Silverplate”.  The skylight makes each wall look extremely different and I found many of the other colors looking more light blue than soft grey. Silverplate is a soft, neutral grey.  Silverplate is on the far right.

Eeeek.  So excited.

I’ve also changed my mind on the accent colors about eleventy times.  I have returned multiple rugs going back and forth.  I think I’ve decided on them though…at least for now…..

Mission Organization: Kitchen Desk

Tags

kitchen, organization

Hello long lost blog.  I didn’t forget about you.  Life has just been crazy busy teaching Saturday workshops, welcoming new family members, preparing to say goodbye to others, the husband traveling, and a stomach bug taking us all out of commission for a week.  During all the craziness, we have been in survival mode and the house has gotten buried.  After a few weeks of digging out, I finally feel like I can breathe.  Unfortunately, there are a few places that continuously need to be dugout including…

The kitchen desk.  Ugh.  It is just a catchall of junk.  When the junk piles too high, it overflows to the kitchen table.  It’s terrible.  The husband and I both hate it.  Bradley, on the other hand, loves it because it is an endless supply of “treasures” for him to pull down and play with.

The wire folder holder just holds things that never get seen.  Mail is a mess here so we need a system.

I decided to use over-sized clothespins for the mail.  One for mail to be read; the other for mail to be dealt with.  Outgoing mail goes by the front door.  The clothespins are from Hobby Lobby and came unfinished.  After a few coats of acrylic paint and a spray clearcoat, they are ready to go.

Before reassembling them from painting, I drill a hole in the back half.  I put some tape on the pin before drilling because I’ve had problems with the cheap wood cracking in the past.  To help prevent cracking, I drilled a small pilot hole and then a larger 1/8″ hole.

I nailed the back half of the clothes pin to the wall, then assembled the rest of the pin to the half already attached to the wall.

I took the wire file holder and mounted it to the cabinet.  Hanging organization has worked really well for us in our master bath, so I am hopeful here.  There is just something about less touching the counter top that encourages me from piling things on the counter top   The polka dot folders were a gift from a sweet student my first year teaching in Richmond and lived in my classroom for years.  Now they have a happy home in my happy kitchen.
The M&M on the bookcase were the cake toppers at our wedding and the box to the right are all my Grandmother’s recipes.  I love the special memories <3

Hopefully The Husband will be excited about this surprise.  This is one of the ways we say, “I love you” around here.

What are your tips for keeping a handle on the mail/kitchen clutter?