14 months later

Clearly this blogging thing is not my forte, but I thought I would put up here what a wonderful experience our gluten free journey has been. We started all of this for Zane on the recommendation of his Dr and it has worked miracles. He is happier, calmer, healthier than ever, as are the rest of us. My husband went from having monthly sinus infections to only 1 in the last year. I no longer have the digestion issues that have plagued me since I was pregnant with my boys. And although when we started it seemed it would be impossible to find food happiness in this gluten filled world, we were surprised at how easy it has been. When we began the changes last year, it was almost impossible to find a place to eat out, that was the most miserable part, how inconvenient being gluten-free was. Now, almost all of our favorite restaraunts serve a gluten free option. We can now go out for burgers, pizza, mexican, chick-fil-a, and yes, even italian. There are so many gluten free options its mind boggling. We went from 2 bread choices, to 10 in the past year. So join the "fad" and feel the difference. I dare you.

The taste test

I was really worried when we first embarked on this adventure, that my kids (and husband), who am I kidding...and myself, would hate the gluten free food.  To the contrary, we have loved it. I have a few extra pounds I'm carrying around right now to prove it. But I was curious if others would notice a difference in their food, if we didn't tell them it was gluten-free.  In walks my lab rats, aka, my step kids.  My step children are 12 and 11 and we don't get to see them nearly enough. They came for a quick visit this weekend, and we didn't really say anything, at first, about our new diet. We have always eaten far healthier than in their Moms house, so more fruits and veggies didn't catch them off guard. Then I threw in some mac and cheese to see what they would say. They loved it, all they knew was it was homemade, nothing else, but they devoured it. Then I tried some pizza, also homemade, and they couldn't get enough of it.  Pancakes, "thirds please." The only comments I got was that they loved all the home cooking and they wanted more, more, more.  I'd say, based on this very scientific finding, that the gluten free was not only undetectable, but a big hit. When we did finally tell them about the gluten free, they shrugged their shoulders and had no idea what I was even talking about. 

Lots of people have been asking me about recipes and what I have been using to make this a success.  I have tried to keep things pretty normal as far as making sure that we are eating a lot of comfort foods, probably too many. Now I am going to start branching out a little more and delve further into my cookbooks.

Here is a picture of the staples that I have acquired so far:

These are all kid, friend, adult, tested and approved.  If you are looking to go gluten free, you need these.  If you plan to make your own bread, which I highly recommend for both taste and cost, then you must buy a bread machine with a gluten free setting. Like this one....

I have also found some help on the internet using places like pintrest. Amazon has some great cookbooks to download, and I have acquired a few gluten free cookbooks for my kitchen, none of which I love enough to share quite yet.  I don't want to spout recommendations without standing behind them 100%. But I'll keep testing out the recipes and make some recommendations soon. I am looking for some great baking recipes, especially for cakes and cupcakes. With Ryder's birthday around the corner, I am getting nervous I won't find one that tastes great. I do have a couple of boxed cake mixes that are good, but like most people, I prefer to make it from scratch if I can.

My Sweet Boy

2 weeks down....and what a HUGE difference we have seen in Zane.  We really started to notice a difference last Wednesday, but a few days of good behavior doesn't warrant a victory dance.  I'm not even sure that a week of it does. But, we take our blessings as they come.  This past week has been amazing. Zane was up and ready for school 15 minutes ahead of schedule 2 days last week. Considering there is usually a lot of rushing, and often times yelling, this was a big, big, deal.  Twice Zane has gotten in trouble for bad behavior, and instead of going into a 2 hour tantrum, he cried, as a normal kid would, and then got over it. Over and done with in under 10 minutes.  Let me repeat that for greater effect. We went from 2 hour meltdowns to 10 minute tears. What will I do with all this extra time? Zane has been focusing for longer on his projects and homework.  Yesterday he took it upon himself to make Valentines cards for his classmates. He cut, colored, addressed, taped, and bagged, 22 Valentines. It took him over an hour to complete his project, and the whole time he stayed at the table and focused. He completed the entire project 100% by himself.  AMAZING!!!!  He has also started to become a bit more thoughtful, maybe even affectionate.  Although I'm not sure if that's just me paying closer attention to all the good things he does, or if that's really the case, more time will tell. These are just a few glaring examples of the changes we have seen so far.  I am starting to think that it actually is the gluten free that is making the difference. I'm giving it 2 more weeks of this diet change before I give all the credit to the gluten free, but so far, it's looking like we may have found, and conquered, the major player in Zanes behavior. My challenge for this week....making heart shaped gluten free cookies for Zanes Valentines party so that he doesn't feel left out from the cookie decorating.  So glad that this fact dawned on me last night in the middle of the night, and not when I was standing in his classroom next week totally unprepared. 

Is the gluten free diet working.....

If I had to make a call today as to whether or not to stick with, or ditch, the diet, hands down I would stick with it. Not only for Zane, but for all of us. Have I noticed a difference in Zane?  Absolutely!!!! The past few days have been really great. He still has his moments, but they are fewer, less intense bouts of "going to the dark side." He has also been able to sit still a little longer while reading books with us. That's probably the biggest difference, is his desire and ability to sit and read. I'm not claiming victory, as I have learned through lots of trial and error that this could be a fluke, and that we may see a set back in the near future. I am, however, hopeful that this is the beginning of a permanent change. As for the rest of us, we have all noticed a difference. I don't know how to explain it, but I am feeling better. My body feels lighter (not in the lbs sense) and healthier. I have definitely noticed a better over all feeling.  Right now, things just feel good, for me, my family, for all of us.  So we are sticking with the diet with great diligence and commitment. I am excited to see where this takes us and how it helps us. 10 days down and we are hooked. I would say for anyone out there that has a child, or themselves, that has signs of ADHD, Autism, or any kind of behavioral issue, cut the gluten out. I have spoken to a lot of MD's and therapists, and read a lot of articles and books lately, and they all say to start with making changes to the diet. For many it's gluten, dairy is also a big culprit in behavior. It takes 30 days for all of it to get out of your system, so you have to be commited to a full 4-6 weeks to see if it will work for you, but it's worth it. Doing what is best for you and your family, no matter how hard, is always worth it.

Mom scored big for dinner.....

Tonight I made a new dish. Eggplant Parmesan. I used Quinoa linguini, with Classico pasta sauce.  I breaded the eggplant with gluten free bread crumbs, and the bread is our very own, yummy in our tummy, gluten free bread (we toasted it and added some garlic butter). This was a huge, HUGE, hit with all the boys. Even Ryder, the little one, at it, and he usually opts to go to bed rather than eat dinner.  Delicious!!! Everyone left the table full and happy tonight. 

Gluten free bread

Just an FYI, the gluten free bread we made last night was a HUGE hit.  The boys, all three, asked for seconds.  Score one (more) for team gluten free. Here is the "secret" to our delicious bread.....

We made it with butter and Milk.  The boys can't get enough of it.  We added garlic butter to it tonight to make garlic bread. Yum, yum.

One week down.....

Here we are, one week down, and a lifetime of learning and changing to go.  We had a great weekend, lots of gluten free adventures, some good, some OK, but fortunately, none of them were bad.  We made gluten free pancakes for the first time this weekend. They were delicious.  We tried the Bob's Red Mill gluten free pancake mix.  Hit the spot. We are, admittedly, pancake/waffle snobs. My husband normally makes them from scratch with whole wheat, apples, bananas, sometimes cranberries and orange, or any other strange a delicious combination you can think of.  We were a bit scared to try just plain, gluten free pancakes, but either our expectations were really low, or they were actually quite good.  We all devoured them.  Next stop is to try to add some fruit to them, I'll let you know how that goes.  We also made our first frozen, gluten free, pizza.  It was.....OK, we all ate it, but it by no means knocked out taste buds socks off.  I am now on a mission to find a pizza, frozen or not, that we can't get enough of.  I did have a frustrating moment yesterday when we got to ice skating rink, and my almost 4 year old decided he was hungry. (This after having had lunch less than an hour before). I was pretty proud of myself as I walked to the car to get the snacks that I had packed in there a week ago for just this very scenario, only to find that my stash of Gluten Free snacks was GONE!!!! I freaked out!!! Believe me when i tell you that there was NOTHING on the menu at the snack bar that the boys could eat, or that I would allow them to eat (yes, starburst are gluten free).  Turn's out that Zane had taken my treat box inside in an effort to help keep the car clean.  I ended up having to drive 20 minutes to Jason's Deli and picked up 3 more lunches (since I knew that skating for 2 hours would make for a starving boy) and it cost me $20.  UGH! Oh well, another bump in the road.  Our final gluten free adventure was making our first loaf of bread in our new bread machine.  I made my husband do it, for 2 reasons. The first, the directions were like reading an aeronautics book in Japanese, I just stared at it in disbelief that I was supposed to understand this.  The second was, secretly, if it tastes horrible, I can somehow blame him.  I bet your all wondering how it turned out......I'll have to let you know. It finished about 10:00 last night, and we haven't cut into it yet. 

Keep checking the restaurant guide. I am adding new listings almost daily.