I love breakfast…

Man, I love breakfast!

I was at a wine tasting for work and we were talking about random stuff that lead to more random stuff… My office man guy was talking about a magazine that talked about different outlooks on certain subjects over large spans of time, this time the topic was food.

Recently we had to write a small bio about ourselves and one of the things he suggested was what we love to eat. I can not tell you how much I love breakfast! I think about what I want to eat before I get out of bed…

This quote came up. I have to say I rather enjoyed it because breakfast can be pretty intense, I can relate… minus the cocaine.

“Breakfast is the only meal of the day that I tend to view with the same kind of traditionalized reverence that most people associate with Lunch and Dinner. I like to eat breakfast alone, and almost never before noon; anybody with a terminally jangled lifestyle needs at least one psychic anchor every twenty-four hours, and mine is breakfast. In Hong Kong, Dallas or at home — and regardless of whether or not I have been to bed — breakfast is a personal ritual that can only be properly observed alone, and in a spirit of genuine excess. The food factor should always be massive: four Bloody Marys, two grapefruits, a pot of coffee, Rangoon crepes, a half-pound of either sausage, bacon, or corned beef hash with diced chiles, a Spanish omelette or eggs Benedict, a quart of milk, a chopped lemon for random seasoning, and something like a slice of Key lime pie, two margaritas, and six lines of the best cocaine for dessert… Right, and there should also be two or three newspapers, all mail and messages, a telephone, a notebook for planning the next twenty-four hours and at least one source of good music… All of which should be dealt with outside, in the warmth of a hot sun, and preferably stone naked.”

– Hunter S. Thompson

Green monster!

Mmm, tasty Sunday.

So I was all brave and made my first Green Monster! have you heard Green Monsters? I was scurred but I have no idea why.  Ha, actually I don’t like the blender we own and I hate washing it by hand.

My first green monster:

• 2 fists of spinach
• 3 ice cubes
• 1/2 banana
• 1 scoop amazing grass
• 1 tsp maca
• 1 squirt flax oil
• 1 tsp flax seeds
• 1 ripe ass peach
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1/2 milk
• 2 pinches of xanthan gum

Ha,I threw a lot of tasty crap in mine! Not to shabby at all! I threw in the almond butter to use it up, I wish I had used a bit less of it. I don’t like the taste roasted almond butter, I prefer the raw. The xanthan gum really made this thicken up! I totally needed a straw but had the help from a spoon instead.

I could see how this would be a great way to get in some great stuff without having to really think about it. In 16 oz I had maca, greens, spinach, flax, nut butter, 2 servings of fruit, a serving of dairy and feel pretty content. I’ll make this again but it won’t be an everyday thing because I’m kind of lazy…

I hope you all are enjoying your Sunday, working or off. I plan on hanging out in sweats, roasting veggies, doing laundry and playing dj with all the great tunes that live in our house!

Cheers!

Who doesn’t love french fries?

Sad shit.

Not all french fries are gluten free..

Gluten dreams and family that just doesn’t get it.

I had a dream last night that I ate gluten. I was at someone’s house and ate cornbread. I realized after a few bites that it was probably full of extra flours. I remember asking if it had flour in it and they said yes, but it was organic. I started to panic and get very upset. … then I woke up.

Years ago when I took soy out of my diet, it was really hard to explain it to friends and family. Especially family. Going to a brunch where there would be “tons of things for me to eat!” and only being able to eat fruit. While I know people have great intentions and really try to accommodate my food issues and intolerance, it would be helpful to get the right one. My aunt thought I was lactose intolerant so she bought me rice milk? She also pointed out to me that it was organic.

This is going to be the hardest one to explain to people. I mean really. I work in a store where people tell me they don’t want wheat flour, they want white flour. Really, what kind of grain is white flour from then? White is a color, not a grain I’ve ever heard of. I told my dad about eating gluten free, he delivers bread for a living and has for more than 30 years and he told me I should try this one they carry that is made with flax.

But I think the real problem is that most Americans, including 99.9% of my family, has no idea what their foods look like in raw form. They now know that organic is better for you… There are tons of things that I know about foods, and there are tons of things I don’t know about foods. I’m learning everyday. I wish I could encourage people to think more about their food, but it has to be their choice and not forced upon them.

I wish I had been born with all of these food intolerance and known about being gluten intolerant/or with Celiac disease earlier in life. People who have known me my whole life, mainly family, know I could eat whatever I wanted but now don’t understand why I can’t as a 30+ adult. I’m old enough to know my body and know when something isn’t right.

Betty Crocker GF Cookies

Last night I made gluten free cookies.

Not from scratch, I’m not that brave yet.. and spending $$ on flours and gums isn’t in my budget the first half of the month.

More and more companies are making gluten free products. I had seen a box of cookie mix months ago and thought it was great to see it at a mainstream place such as Fred Meyer. Who knew I might later be seeking it out..

I bought a box of the cookie mix from Betty Crocker. There was a side panel talking about how they have people who work for them that have recently found out they or one of their children have found out they had Celiac Disease. They made the mixes because life is just to great to not have the chance to celebrate the good times without a cookie after a baseball game or a year in life without cake.  (yea, totally threw the box away, but there message was good, I swear) Or the story is right here. The mixes are made in a gluten free facility.

So. I have to say, mixing the butter into the mix took a lot of elbow grease!  (I’m realizing I will need to buy a Kitchen Aid if I want to bake more GF stuff from stratch.) As with any type of commercial chocolate chip cookies, it needs more chocolate chips!

(I need to start taking more pictures of my food! Or stuff I make, find or try.)

I baked up larger cookies, using a tablespoon. It made up 24 cookies, I baked up 22. The dough was great! It tasted great on it’s own and would be super awesome mixed in with some vanilla ice cream!

They were a little more crumbly than a regular cookie. But, looked just as tasty. But, they had a weird after taste. They also left a weird dried out feeling in my mouth. Coffee went well with them, a glass of chocolate almond milk would go nicely with them. Water? Not so much.

I’ve had better gluten free chocolate chip cookies, ones made at the co-op and ones made from bakeries around town. But, if you were in a pinch and wanted cookies now.. or needed some cookies for a friend that was coming over that couldn’t have gluten.. or needed a cookie dough fix.. this works. It must, I made them last night and Kevin and I ate them up. And, I’m a total adult and ate the last 4 for breakfast.

Gluten free ice cream! Yay!

La de da.

I’m working on my gluten free world. The other day we had sushi and I was fine after. But, we sort of wanted ice cream afterward.

I bought some of the new Haagen Dazs FIVE. It was awesome. But I was also curious about it. So I sent the folks at Haagen Dazs a little email about being gluten free. And I got a response back, less than 24 hours later. They were pretty nice in their letter and sent me a PDF file about their products regarding gluten and nut allergens.

Sweet. I know who I’m getting my ice cream from next time I’m at the store!

Going gluten free…

Hello. So this is my blog right? One I don’t use as often as I could.

Here’s me being honest…

I think I might have Celiac Disease. Eep, so many of my symptoms match!

After working for a co-op for almost 8 years, you would think this information might not be to hard to take in. There are so many great options now. I have access to great resources. I’d get a discount on some of the more expensive gluten free treats. But….

This information could be another huge blow to my strange health.I took out soy 7 years ago and thought it was the answer…but not a complete one? For the past 8 years I’ve been wondering what the hell was going on. These are some of my issues….

• depression
• anemia
• anxiety
• constant stomach pain
• bloating
• really fun smelling gas
• fun time bathroom issues
• acne (I was one of those teenagers with beautiful skin)
• fatigue, constant. But, I have huge issues falling asleep.
• weight gain (I still think this is mainly due to Paxil)
• irregular periods
• unexplained food sensitivities

About 6 or so years ago I was tested for food allergies. The good old scratch test. What a disaster that was. I only wanted to be tested for foods and I ended up being tested for everything, hello pollen and dust! The results were so skewed due to the pollen and dust reaction I had to go back. The doctor made fun of me and asked why I was crying… mostly I was having a severe reaction to things I’ve been allergic to my whole life, this isn’t what I wanted and now you’re ridiculing me. Anxiety and panic attack much?! Oh western medicine, I hate you. Okay, that’s not fair, but I’ve pretty much have hated all the doctors I’ve seen in the past 10 years. All but one.

I love my Naturopath. LOVE. The first time I went, I was sent paperwork proir to my visit. I thought it was sort of weird to fill out a piece of paper about the 5 things I would like to discuss. 5? Hmm. I can’t remember what I wrote. But I remember talking about my first big issue (food allergies was probably first on the list) and it took a while. We started on the next topic and I started to rush. I then asked how much time did we have left and she told me my appointment was for an hour. An hour?! I didn’t have to make another appointment or pay another co-pay to talk to you for another 40 minutes about 4 more topics?! Holy shit, I think this was my health dream come true!

Anyway, she did a blood test for food allergies, I didn’t have any. But, I do have a crazy sensitivity to soy. But, so what if this whole time I’ve had Celiac Disease and I’ve been doing all this damage to my body? What if I could ease some of my depression symptoms even more by not eating gluten? What if my stomach didn’t have some of those violent pains? What if my skin could clear up? What side of my family is this coming from?What if? What if?

I called my mom the other day after drinking a bottle of prosecco, sounds odd I know, but alcohol can be a total truth serum. My mom can be a total butthead sometimes and the complete opposite of me, but she’s still my mom. My mom is one of those people who only tells you the really great things you want to hear about yourself when you’re really down and out and or really upset. Basically she told me that she’s proud of me for really trying to conquer all my issues on my own first and only seeking out medical help when I need it or can’t figure it out on my own. She’s happy that I’ve not given up or been willing to settle for “that’s just the way it is.” There was more but I won’t go on and on to much about.

Thank you for listening and giving me encouraging feed back, mom.

But so, I need to be tested. I need to get a physical first, then have blood work done.  Today is day 3 of being totally gluten free. I feel okay, no stomach pain. The rest of the spelt bread in my freezer can sit until Kevin eats it. The flour on the counter can be poured out. Even if the answer eventually comes back that Celiac Disease isn’t the answer, I feel better without gluten.

Smallest gain possible… how is that possible?

So.

Last week we ate everything in sight. Bread. A lot of alcohol one night. At least 5 or so pieces of cheesecake over the weekend, (I had to try all 4 of the flavors, no?). We didn’t exercise a drop. We went to 2 gatherings in 2 days and came home with a sore back from so much sitting. Yep, we’re on Weight Watchers but who knew?! We count points, no way?! Last week, after using up all of my extra weekly points in something like 2 days if not less… I decided I’d take the week off and own up to what the scale said.

I was expecting a big weight gain, something like 2 or 3 pounds. I made it under 200 at the end of June and was pretty stoked about it… but I also kept in mind that I had been sick a week or so prior and not had any sort of appetite for 3 days as well.

So yesterday I got all ready to go to my weigh in… and I stepped on the scale. It said 199.4.

Um, yeah, I ate like a cow and I only gained .2 pounds? I ate all that cheese cake and only gained a tenth of a pound? How can that be?! And that was at 4:30p, after I had eatten a breakfast and some sort of lunch stuff. But, my leader said I might not have a significant gain this week but, it could show up next week instead.

We’re going to try our hardest to make sure that that doesn’t happen.

dinner time, excellent.

After a long day, I get to cook dinner. I feel so lucky.

Kevin is in the kitchen right now washing dishes! while singing along to music from his iPhone. Ugh. Our music taste can be so right on or very very opposite. Um, and his sining is rather awful.

Dinner will be some easy ass Rachel Ray recipe. Yes, she’s kind of annoying. But, some of her recipes are really easy on nights like tonight, they also leave me wishing I would have come up with something so easy.

No more meat.

I’m thinking about going back to being a vegetarian. Cut out the meat, which we rarely eat. Cut back on the cheese.

The hardest part of this will be dining with others.

steel head is fish!

I love food.

I know a lot about different types of food.

I know very little about meat.

Today I learned that steel head is a type of trout. There is a huge piece of salmon, not steel head, living in my fridge. My old roommate and our old neighbor\her husband of years, are coming over for dinner on Saturday. We’ll be awesome and make them an awesome dinner.

Go meat!

Millions of peaches, peaches for me.

I would love a giant peach, right now.
When do they come back in season?