Since Lydia's diagnosis of Celiac Disease I have been reading every single food label. This has been extremely eye opening! The "fake" ingredients that are added to foods is ridiculous. I have a new attitude about what our family is consuming. I have started buying local meats and even started buying some organic produce. I would love to grow our own organic garden this year, but we are attempting to sell our house so our efforts may not be able to be enjoyed. For this reason, I decided to join a local CSA. I chose Shoestring Acres which is located in Clearville. I picked this CSA because they allow you to choose your produce. I was excited to also spend some time this week learning about freezer-to-crock pot cooking. My goal is to use some of this fresh organic vegetables to make lots of freezer meals for the winter.
On a different note, Lydia got sick yesterday. :( Because she is so young it is difficult to determine if she is actually sick or if she ingested something containing gluten. She ran a fever Friday night but then seemed fine over the weekend. While I was at work Monday I got a call that she was complaining that her stomach hurt and then she vomited. My husband picked her up and she slept for several hours in the afternoon, but then she was fine. She continues to have diarrhea and occasional stomach pains but she spent the day keeping up with her older sister. This is the second time she has had an episode like this. I obviously take every precaution possible to avoid gluten so this is very frustrating. I think about how much school she may miss someday from not feeling well. I hope that it gets easier as she gets older and she can help tell us how she feels.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Easter
Easter will be our first major holiday since Lydia was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Besides the religious aspect of Easter, it also means spending time with family and eating lots of delicious foods. My family offered to send me recipes so that I could make suggestions about making our family favorites gluten free. Because this diagnosis is still so new, I found it very difficult to trust others making Lydia's food. (I hope that as Lydia gets older that I am able to deal with this better). So, I decided that I would take Lydia her own food. Today I did a crockpot of ham, green beans, and potatos and plan to take this to my Grandma's for Sunday dinner. I also have some brownies frozen that I will probably take. I will be keeping a close eye on her this weekend lots of Easter candy. I have printed a list of GF Candy and hope that it helps. Luckily, Lydia is adjusting very well and always asks before she eats anything. I'm hoping that we can make it through this weekend without her getting sick.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Vacationing with Celiac Disease
Sorry it has been a while since my last blog. My family went to Disney World last week and had an amazing time! We were very concerned about vacationing after Lydia's recent diagnoses of Celiac Disease. We were pleasantly surprised that Lydia did not get sick! I will admit that Steve and I spent at least 2-3 hours planning our food menu and calling and asking questions to markets and restaurants to ensure that we were taking every precaution necessary.
I had packed lots of gluten free snacks for on the plane and made it through security with no issues. In the airport we found a stand that sold Oscar Meyer hotdogs. Lydia was able to have one of these and a bag of Lay's potato chips. On the way to our hotel we stopped at a Whole Food Market and bought Lydia some bread, frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, and pretzels because I wasn't sure what the grocery store at our resort would offer. The restaurants in the Orlando area were extremely accomadating! We ate at Outback, Lonestar Steak House, Bahama Breeze, and Carraba's. All of these restaurants knew about Celiac Disease. The chef at Bahama Breeze even came out to our table to help us decide what would be best for Lydia to eat. We also ate 3 meals at Disney which was incredible. Each time, the chef came to the table and discussed options for Lydia. They personally prepared her food and then THEY delivered it to our table. This momma was actually at ease watching her baby eat. :) Planning for this vacation took much more time because we had to consider Lydia's condition when considering our food options. My advice to anyone traveling is to plan ahead. Take as much as you can from home and call ahead to grocery stores or restaurants in the area and ask lots of questions. I'm not a very assertive person, but someone told me that I have to think of myself as Lydia's advocate. It is my responsibility to ask questions and inform individuals of Celiac disease and not expect others to know what it is.
I had packed lots of gluten free snacks for on the plane and made it through security with no issues. In the airport we found a stand that sold Oscar Meyer hotdogs. Lydia was able to have one of these and a bag of Lay's potato chips. On the way to our hotel we stopped at a Whole Food Market and bought Lydia some bread, frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, and pretzels because I wasn't sure what the grocery store at our resort would offer. The restaurants in the Orlando area were extremely accomadating! We ate at Outback, Lonestar Steak House, Bahama Breeze, and Carraba's. All of these restaurants knew about Celiac Disease. The chef at Bahama Breeze even came out to our table to help us decide what would be best for Lydia to eat. We also ate 3 meals at Disney which was incredible. Each time, the chef came to the table and discussed options for Lydia. They personally prepared her food and then THEY delivered it to our table. This momma was actually at ease watching her baby eat. :) Planning for this vacation took much more time because we had to consider Lydia's condition when considering our food options. My advice to anyone traveling is to plan ahead. Take as much as you can from home and call ahead to grocery stores or restaurants in the area and ask lots of questions. I'm not a very assertive person, but someone told me that I have to think of myself as Lydia's advocate. It is my responsibility to ask questions and inform individuals of Celiac disease and not expect others to know what it is.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Wonderful GF Bakery in Squirrel Hill
I have to share one my favorite places for GF treats - GLUUTENY! Gluuteny is a small bakery located in Squirrel Hill, PA (just outside of Pittsburgh). They offer GF, casein free baked goods and they taste AMAZING!!! Their brownies taste better than regular brownies! The best part is even if you don't travel to pittsburgh often, you can still enjoy their products. They are now accepting online orders and will ship products to you. I bought a brownie mix the last time I was out there and will be making them this week. I'll be sure to let you know how they compare to the ones in the bakery. Check out their site, you won't regret it!
Week of March 12 GF Menu
Rather than buying all new ingredients I looked at what was available in our freezer, refrigerator, and cupboard to come up with this week's menu.
Monday: Grilled Cheese and peas (My husband works late so it will just be my girls and me for dinner).
Tuesday: Pork and Sauerkraut (that we didn't have last week) with homemade mashed potatoes
Wednesday: Vension steak, baked potato, and broccoli
Thursday: TACOs with homemade refried beans
Friday: Chicken in the crockpot with a jar of homemade salsa and corn over rice
Saturday: Leftovers because we leave Sunday morning on vacation
Monday: Grilled Cheese and peas (My husband works late so it will just be my girls and me for dinner).
Tuesday: Pork and Sauerkraut (that we didn't have last week) with homemade mashed potatoes
Wednesday: Vension steak, baked potato, and broccoli
Thursday: TACOs with homemade refried beans
Friday: Chicken in the crockpot with a jar of homemade salsa and corn over rice
Saturday: Leftovers because we leave Sunday morning on vacation
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Review of Last Week's Menu
What a week! Our food menu didn't go quite according to plan because of time constraints but here is what we were able to eat.
Monday I was able to make Elisabeth Hasselbeck's chicken tenders and they were quite good. Because of where we live we were unable to get the bread crumbs that were called for in this recipe. We modified and used a package of GF bread crumbs, which tasted just fine.
Tuesday my husband and I went out to Wexford (north of Pittsburgh) to meet with a pediatric nutritionist. Most of the information that she discussed were things that we were already aware of, but it was nice to hear it from a person rather than reading it online. Some things that she suggested were to put Lydia on soy milk instead of almond because it has more protein and fat. She also recommended that we print out nutritional menus from restaurants that Lydia is able to eat at and keep them in a binder in our car. By doing that, we can give Lydia her food options before we even go into the restaurant. She stated when eating out, we should tell our server that Lydia has a severe wheat allergy rather than she has Celiac disease because most people are not familiar with this. She was able to clarify several ingredients that I have found conflicting information on including: maltodextrin, modified food starch, and caramel coloring. At the end of our session, she told us about a family run business not far from the Wexford clinic that sold gluten-free and allergy free foods called Naturally Soergel's. We stopped in and were able to get Lydia GF chicken nuggets, GF and DF pizza, Udi's bread, and GF/DF cream of mushroom soup. This store was great! If you are in the area I highly recommend stopping in. Living in a rural area definately makes eating GF a bit more challenging. :( Tuesday evening we stopped at a restaurant on the way home and my girls ate some corn spaghetti with meatballs at their Grandma's.
Wednesday my husband had to work late so I made tuna noodle casserole, which is one of my girls' favorites! I was able to use the GF/DF cream of mushroom soup that I purchased the day before. It was ok. I think next time I will try to make the homemade version instead. The girls loved it regardless and ate the leftovers on Friday for lunch. :)
Thursday is taco night at our house. My oldest daughter has dance from 5-6 so Tacos are something simple that our whole family enjoys. Our girls look forward to our Taco Thursdays. We still had a can of refried beans in our cupboard, so we used this instead. I am in the process of making the homemade refried beans now, so I'll be sure to post how they turned out.
Friday was movie night at my oldest daughters preschool so we ate meatloaf muffins that were in our freezer. I made homemade DF mashed potatoes, which were quite good. My favorite part of Friday's nights meal was the cooked carrots. I boiled the carrots and poured a melted mixture of DF butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. They were delicious!
Tonight we ate my Mom's sweet chili which is a family favorite. I also made a 9x9 pan of Bob's Red Mill cornbread for the first time. We all enjoyed it. The next time I make it I think I would add some sugar before I bake it because the sweeter the better! I was able to freeze half of the bread and half of the chili so now some night dinner will be extra easy.
Tomorrow we will have leftovers. If you would like any of the above mentioned recipes please message me on my facebook page Loving Gluten Free Mom.
Monday I was able to make Elisabeth Hasselbeck's chicken tenders and they were quite good. Because of where we live we were unable to get the bread crumbs that were called for in this recipe. We modified and used a package of GF bread crumbs, which tasted just fine.
Tuesday my husband and I went out to Wexford (north of Pittsburgh) to meet with a pediatric nutritionist. Most of the information that she discussed were things that we were already aware of, but it was nice to hear it from a person rather than reading it online. Some things that she suggested were to put Lydia on soy milk instead of almond because it has more protein and fat. She also recommended that we print out nutritional menus from restaurants that Lydia is able to eat at and keep them in a binder in our car. By doing that, we can give Lydia her food options before we even go into the restaurant. She stated when eating out, we should tell our server that Lydia has a severe wheat allergy rather than she has Celiac disease because most people are not familiar with this. She was able to clarify several ingredients that I have found conflicting information on including: maltodextrin, modified food starch, and caramel coloring. At the end of our session, she told us about a family run business not far from the Wexford clinic that sold gluten-free and allergy free foods called Naturally Soergel's. We stopped in and were able to get Lydia GF chicken nuggets, GF and DF pizza, Udi's bread, and GF/DF cream of mushroom soup. This store was great! If you are in the area I highly recommend stopping in. Living in a rural area definately makes eating GF a bit more challenging. :( Tuesday evening we stopped at a restaurant on the way home and my girls ate some corn spaghetti with meatballs at their Grandma's.
Wednesday my husband had to work late so I made tuna noodle casserole, which is one of my girls' favorites! I was able to use the GF/DF cream of mushroom soup that I purchased the day before. It was ok. I think next time I will try to make the homemade version instead. The girls loved it regardless and ate the leftovers on Friday for lunch. :)
Thursday is taco night at our house. My oldest daughter has dance from 5-6 so Tacos are something simple that our whole family enjoys. Our girls look forward to our Taco Thursdays. We still had a can of refried beans in our cupboard, so we used this instead. I am in the process of making the homemade refried beans now, so I'll be sure to post how they turned out.
Friday was movie night at my oldest daughters preschool so we ate meatloaf muffins that were in our freezer. I made homemade DF mashed potatoes, which were quite good. My favorite part of Friday's nights meal was the cooked carrots. I boiled the carrots and poured a melted mixture of DF butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. They were delicious!
Tonight we ate my Mom's sweet chili which is a family favorite. I also made a 9x9 pan of Bob's Red Mill cornbread for the first time. We all enjoyed it. The next time I make it I think I would add some sugar before I bake it because the sweeter the better! I was able to freeze half of the bread and half of the chili so now some night dinner will be extra easy.
Tomorrow we will have leftovers. If you would like any of the above mentioned recipes please message me on my facebook page Loving Gluten Free Mom.
Monday, March 5, 2012
$10 off Gluten Free Food
Have you heard about Vitacost.com?
They have over 30,000 health and wellness products, including vitamins, supplements, herbs, personal care products, organic foods and more; and it's all way cheaper than the health food store!
If you decide to check it out, please register through my link so we can both get a $10 off coupon!
They have over 30,000 health and wellness products, including vitamins, supplements, herbs, personal care products, organic foods and more; and it's all way cheaper than the health food store!
If you decide to check it out, please register through my link so we can both get a $10 off coupon!
$10 coupon for first time registers
Glutino Pretzels are marked down 51%, so that means you can order 3 bags for less than $7 including shipping!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)