Gluten. It's a funny sounding word that I couldn't draw a picture of in a game of charades — and I never thought about this word for a second until this winter. We've figured out that Dan is allergic to gluten. Of all things to have, admittedly a gluten allergy is not so bad in that there's an easy cure — cut it out of your diet. It's been amazing to see the fast and huge impact on Dan's health since he's gone gluten-free. It feels a little like an unexpected miracle. But I'm not going to lie, cooking and eating out has not been so easy. Gluten is not only in breads (including spelt breads), pastas, every kind of delicious baked treat, and flour tortillas, but there's gluten in surprising places, like soy sauce.
Thankfully, there are gluten-free aisles in many supermarkets now, and some alternatives are pretty good. We've found a couple brands of gluten-free pasta that don't turn into mush. Whole Foods carries a gluten-free bread that makes great toast and also has peanut butter cookies that are tasty as long as you zap them in the microwave for 20 seconds. I'm thinking of getting a tortilla press to start making my own corn tortillas (the packaged corn tortillas from the grocery store are always so small and taste like paper to me), and we need to start eating a lot more rice to fill in as the new starch in our meals. I'm planning to invest in a rice maker. In general, meal planning takes a lot more planning these days because our local markets don't have much in the way of gluten-free options, so I need to make strategic trips to one of the Manhattan Whole Foods and order some other ingredients, like flour, online.
I picked up this cookbook over the weekend, and I'm so excited to try out the recipes. I've been truly inspired by Dan's amazing willpower to pass on cupcakes before a movie and eat a salad instead of his favorite sandwich for lunch. And he doesn't even whine about it — I feel like I would be so grumpy if I had to change my diet so drastically. Watching how he's stepped up to this challenge motivates me to help make it easier for him to stay gluten-free and still eat well. So I'm hoping to make the best blueberry muffins and chocolate cupcakes — that also happen to be gluten-free. I've also added a new blog to my Reader and we found one spot for gluten-free pizza that is fantastic (better than most regular pizza.)
We actually haven't visited the gluten-free bakery Babycakes yet. I think that's on the list for this week. But it's comforting to know that it exists as well as ways to make sweet treats like strawberry shortcake and banana bread for D.
If you happen to have any favorite gluten-free foods, restaurants, cookbooks, blogs, or any tips, I welcome any ideas. Thank you!! And a special thanks to my friends and family who have heard me talk endlessly about gluten and my trials in gluten-free cooking for the past month.
(photographs via Babycakes)
