The Gluten Challenge

Like neon legwarmers, "Gluten Free" products have become more prevalent and more and more of us are opting to decrease our intake or cut it out altogether.  Many of you who order our gluten free version of meals tell us that it's a preference versus a health necessity, for reasons of weight loss, less gastric distress, improvements in digestion, or more energy.  This week, eight of our nine menu items are naturally gluten free.  

Here is our Gluten Challenge for you:  Try going entirely Gluten Free this week.  Note how you feel and see if any of these benefits might seek you out.  Seriously...you will hardly notice a difference between the organic whole wheat and the organic brown rice pastas.

Here are some quick, easy, delicious Gluten Free breakfast and snack ideas:

Breakfast:

Cereal alternatives:  gluten free oats, quinoa flakes, rice krispy cereal, or Barbara's Puffins cereal (kid-friendly)

Cooked hot breakfast ideas:  scrambled tofu with veggies and hash browns, chocolate chip breakfast bars, or Lightlife smokey tempeh strips on Food for Life brown rice toast with some Daiya cheddar melted on top

Snacks:

Popcorn:  step away from the microwave...if you don't want to or know how to pop your own, try Trader Joe'sbrand of air-popped popcorn 

Nuts:  make your own trail mix blend (walnuts, cashews, raisins, dark chocolate chips, or whatever may be in your cabinet)

Bars:  we like Raw Revolution, Glutino, or Envirokidz

Juices/Smoothies:  if you don't have your own juicer or high powered blender, visit the Woodside Earth barto be blown away by the variety, quality, and convenience

Gluten Free Baking (Lessons Learned)

If Going Gluten-Free was an Olympic event, I Was Ready to Take Home the Gold

  

~Brownie massacre from approximately 2 years ago.  

Finding out that Brian could not eat gluten only challenged my inner athlete and sparked a fierce competitiveness to defeat this Goliath (hear Eye of the Tiger playing in the background).  It had been 14 years since I'd competed in any athletic arena, and I'd forgotten how important training and preparation were.  I did the equivalent of walking out onto the basketball court in stilettos and a mini skirt.  I walked into the health food store with nothing but a desire to prove I could make chocolate brownies without using gluten, dairy, or soy (an keep the sugar low).  No list.  No research.  No knowledge of baking (which I would later find out is like chemistry).  Totally unarmed.  As one would expect, I tanked.  I practically got booed out of the kitchen, because chocolate brownies (just like sports) are all about the bottom line.

Lessons Learned:

1. All flours are not made the same.  You cannot simply substitute "all-purpose" flour with spelt flour...or oat flour...or rice flour...Whoever named it "all-purpose" wasn't really thinking.

2. Stevia does not substitute 1 for 1 with sugar.  If a recipe calls for a cup of sugar, you only really need about a teaspoon of Stevia.  That's why they can charge $10 for a box of individually wrapped Stevia packets.  Ripping open each and every packet in the box and dumping into a brownie recipe will be a waste of 10 minutes and you might as well dump a package of Fun Dip into your bowl (including the sugar dipping stick).

3. When no one in your family eats said brownies, don't freeze in Ziplocs thinking they'll taste differently in a few days or weeks when the Stevia mellows out.  And give up the guilt and regret for spending $25 on a batch of brownies.  This can be a cheap lesson about life if you choose to get over financial investments made into failed kitchen experiments.

4. Stop creating a goal to 'defeat,' 'battle,' or 'fight' this beast (ours was named Candida).  Hosting a war between your mind and body is like playing tug of war between your right and left legs.  Lots of pain and scars and it will rarely produce a winner.  I mean, really, who would you want to 'win' anyway?  Either way, you're sacrificing one of your legs.  Let go and start walking instead.

For those of you just starting your journey of going gluten-free ~ whether for yourself,  your spouse, your children, or your parents... we applaud your efforts to make a change.  You never know what that failed batch of brownies may lead to...For us, it has led to this great platform of service called Conveniently Natural.  Who would have guessed after those horrible hockey puck brownies?