Saturday

102 Reasons You Know Your A Celiac (Sometimes we just need a laugh)

You Know your a Celiac ....


1. If you don't remember what dinner rolls are supposed to taste like.
2. If you bring "special" beer to the party, and don't share.
3. If you actually have nightmares about reading labels.
4. If you compare all of your food to "normal-people-food."
5. If you call all your relatives when you get sick. It MUST be because something you ate has been cross-contaminated.
6. If you cry when you discover a new way to make gluten-free bread.
7. If you know that Xantham Gum is not for chewing.
8. If you don't lick stamps.
9. If you a part of you dies every time your toddler puts his plate full of wheat crumbs in the cleaned dish rack
10. If people are afraid to cook for you
11. If you sit on the phone with a pharmacy for an hour to find out what type of starch they use just so that you can take a generic Tylenol and be-rid of your headache.
12. If you know that spelt is a distant cousin of wheat, but buckwheat is not related to wheat at all.
13. If the construction workers working on the house next door to you can EASILY substitute your bread for one of their bricks.
14. If your grandmother INSISTS that you don't have Celiac Disease, you're just “suffering from malabsorption”
15. If you burst into tears of relief at the sight of the words "gluten free" stamped on the corner of the Nestle hot cocoa mix.
16. If people at summer camps roll their eyes and tell you to "stop annoying the waiters with your stupid low-carb diet because you're skinny enough already"
17. If you actually KNOW what an anti-TTG and an IGA blood test are.
18. If you forget to buy bun, rolls, bread, ect. at the store for all the gluten eaters of you family.
19. If people have invited you to "The Olive Garden" on April 1st.
20. If you have accepted their invitation and as pay back you bake them brownies
21. If you sold your house to buy groceries
22. If you sold your first child to buy groceries
23. If you can find "hidden gluten" in food labels in the blink of an eye
24. If your family couldn't find them if they had a magnifying glass, dictionary, and Ph.D.
25. If you've actually suggested cardboard for dinner.
26. If you've actually eaten cardboard for dinner.
27. If you wept the first time you tried to make gluten free sugar cookies
28. If you accept that fact that cardboard probably taste better than gluten free sugar cookies anyway.
29. If you have ever made a list of everything you would eat if a magic genie could cure you.
30. If you keep this list with you at all times just incase you should come across a magical genie.
31. If you have searched for a magical genie.
32. If you now have a large collection of old lamps.
33. If you get a medical exemption out of cooking class
34. If you've been caught licking a discarded Twinkie wrapper.
35. If at Christmas, visions of guar gum dance in your head.
36. If you've had to give a doctor a crash course in Celiac 101.
37. If you weep at picnics, parties, receptions and fast food joints.
38. If you weep at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
39. If you've "brown bagged it" to an elegant dinner engagement.
40. If a 7 Course Meal is a 1 Course Meal for you. Lettuce.
41. If you've installed floor-to-ceiling bookcases in your bathroom.
42. If you've ever driven more than 40 miles to buy flour or a cookie.
43. If it takes you hours to grocery shop and your eyesight is ruined.
44. If you hyperventilate when passing by the bakery counter.
45. If you've ever deliberately rammed your cart into a Shredded Wheat
display in a fit of rage.
46. If you've ever had to take out a loan to pay the grocery bill.
47. If you'd gladly pay any price for a pretzel that doesn't taste like
sawdust, or bread that doesn't taste like an old shoe.
48. If the centerpiece on your dining room table is a bread machine with memorial candles.
49. If your bread looks like a moon rock and tastes like dried out Play-Doh.
50. If your bread weighs more than any moon rock could possibly weigh.
51. If one of your primary goals in life is to create "Fake Oreo Cookies".
52. If you've disinherited loved ones for putting their knife in your mayo.
53. If you've brought a suitcase full of food with you on a cruise.
54. If you pace and circle the store three or four times when deciding on a new product, pick it up look at the ingredients, each time. Only to leave without it, figuring why bother.
55. If your family thinks you're crazy for not tasting their new chocolate chip cookie recipe, because surely a little nibble couldn't hurt right?
56. If your financial portfolio consists of stock in two major toilet paper companies.
57. If you know that Play-Doh is NOT gluten free
58. If you can spell transglutaminase and dermatitis herpetiformis.
59. If you just discovered how to make flour out of turnips.
60. If you show up at the annual church pancake breakfast with a mask and sardine lettuce rollups
61. If having solid poop is the highlight of your day.
62. If you have actually doodled a new cartoon dog on your notes named "Sprue"
63. If you have a sign in your kitchen saying "Gluten free environment"
64. If you have actually considered using a gluten-free bagel for a hockey puck
65. If you have to buy extra memory for your Treo to be able to carry all your gluten-free food and restaurant suggestions
66. If you've mastered saying "I actually enjoy MY food" without your face twitching
67. If you know all about xanthan gum and its uses.
68. If you have ever dreamt about Wonder Bread.
69. If you hide gluten-free brownies when guests come over, so they don't eat them.
70. If you read the ingredient label on green tea - plain green tea.
71. If you know exactly when Post added barley flavoring back to the Fruity Pebbles and you're ticked.
72. If you pay relatives back east exorbitant shipping rates to send you a $12 six pack of Gluten-free beer.
73. If you cried when you saw your usually careful husband brushing the crumbs off his hands (from making a gluten-containing sandwich) RIGHT OVER the open utensil drawer
74. If you talk about your disease (not the unpleasant parts) so much to your friends and acquaintances that your husband tells you you need to get another hobby
75. If you take a list of safe drinks to the bar with you. And actually consult it before you order a drink.
76. If you see someone buying rice flour in Bulk Barn and you just have to ask them if they are gluten intolerant too!
78. If it drives you crazy when someone says they completely understand your diet, they did Atkins.
79. If people roll their eyes at you when you say "no thank you" to someone's gluten filled dessert
80. If you've refused things as "simple" as gum or sucking candies because you don't know if they're safe.
81. If you talk about endoscopy's and colonoscopy's like these are normal everyday occurences that everyone gets nearly every year.

82.If you find yourself reading more food labels than emails
83.If you've ever driven more than 40 miles to buy flour or a cookie
84.If it takes you 4 hours to grocery shop and your eyesight is
ruined.85.If you'd gladly pay any price for a pretzel that doesn't taste like
sawdust, or bread that doesn't taste like an old shoe.86.If your family thinks you're crazy for not tasting their new chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe, because surely a little nibble couldn't hurt right?
87.If  you don't understand why gluten free food costs more but is half the size or regular food.
88.If it drives you crazy when someone says they completely understand your diet, they did Atkins.
89.If people roll their eyes at you when you say "no thank you" to someone's gluten filled dessert
90 If you see someone buying rice flour in the bulk section and you just have to ask them if they are gluten intolerant too!
91.Ifyou've ever deliberately rammed your cart into a Shredded Wheat
display in a fit of rage.92.If you read the ingredient label on green tea - plain green tea.
93.If Your friend invites you over for your birthday and want to make you a gluten free birthday cake but you plead with them not to, because although you're trying to seem like you don't want to put them through the hassle, you're secretly terrified there will be cross contamination.
94.If your 'favorites' sites are mostly celiac sites;
95.If you go to a potluck at a friends place and your dish is gluten-free. You dive into it first so that you get something to eat before others contaminate it.
96.If you have actually considered using a gluten-free bagel for a hockey puck
97.If you long to look at the contents of other people's fridges and pantries just to see what normal people eat.
100.If you hyperventilate when passing by the bakery counter.
101.If you have a sign in your kitchen saying "Gluten free environment"
102.If you cried when you saw your usually careful spouse brushing the crumbs off his hands (from making a gluten-containing sandwich) RIGHT OVER the open utensil drawer

Wednesday

Awesome Homemade Gluten Free Bread

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I make my own Gluten Free bread and I love the rewarding experience it has become.

For years I ate and accepted sub-par store bought bread. You know what I'm talking about- the frozen, tasteless brick that is dense and could break a window when thawed. I had heard the horror stories about baking Gluten Free bread at home. For a long time I had not dared to attempt it myself.

Why did I finally decide to make my own bread at home? The rising cost of food in general, not just the GF food cost increase.This gave me the boost I needed to try baking my own bread. A little bit of inspiration can go a long way.Good bye $7.99 a loaf  of bread.

On to the bread making. Being new to it I decided to try mixes instead of making the bread from scratch. The first bread mix I purchased was an epic failure and danced right into the garbage can. Disappointed I was, but not enough to give up. Round two with a new mix was slightly better but not the quality I was looking for. Instead of throwing my creation into the garbage I decided to find another purpose for it. Stuffing it became! Easily made and easily frozen for future use. This made me realize there are a few ways to re-purpose bread that does not turn out well. So if your bread ever fails, try making not only stuffing but croutons or bread crumbs.

By chance, I  stumbled upon Duinkerken White Sandwich Bread Mix.Hoping luck would be on my side this time, I purchased a box. It turned out to be a beautiful beginning.  This mix makes light and airy sandwich bread! Not only is it delicious, the texture is just like "normal" bread! Finally a bread that I don't have to "toast" to eat!


Its so easy to make! I blend this mix in my BeauMark Mixer with the dough blade. Add yeast to the mixture and give it a good blend. Then add 2 eggs (room temp), oil and water. That easy! Pour the mixture which should be fairly wet looking, into bread pan that has been greased /sprayed with cooking spray. I dip my spatula in water a few times while smoothing the top of the loaf. I then make a crease in the middle of it. After this I put the loaf in a dark place to rest for about 45 minutes. Then into the oven it goes.


***After a few tries with this bread, I decided to alter a few things. I added 2 tablespoons of honey and
1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar to the mixture. I find it adds the right amount of sweetness.

 ***I bake the bread for 1 hour instead of 45 minutes. In my oven it needs the full hour. Taking it right out of a hot oven and cooling in on the counter is a bit of a shock to the loaf. This small trick prevents the bread from sinking: when baking time is up, I turn off the oven and leave the door closed until the temperature inside cools down to  room temperature. This helps prevent the loaf from sinking.

Disclosure

This policy is valid from 23 February 2013

This is a personal blog written and edited by me. All opinions are that of my own. I am not a healthcare professional or an expert. All information presented in this blog is purely that of my own experience and or opinion. Please consult a medical professional before making any changes to your diet.

I write this blog as a hobby that I am passionate about. From time to time, I may receive monetary compensation for a sponsored post. I only work with brands that I trust and would use in my own home.

This blog accepts complimentary products for review. The opinions I have of a product will never be swayed by a company sending me an item(s) for free. I take into consideration the opinion of family members who are gluten-free due to Celiac Disease and I also value the opinions of non-gluten free family members. Taste is a matter of personal opinion so please use your own discretion and don't take my opinion as a gold standard.

Any ingredient or gluten-free claims should be verified with the restaurant/manufacturer as things can and do change.

For questions about this blog, please contact: sandra@glutenfreedoll.com

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