Waffle Face

My two oldest are now waffle fanatics ever since I discovered Van's gluten free waffles.  They eat them with maple syrup and frozen blueberries on top; needless to say this is a very sticky and messy breakfast.  They love it, and it's hard for me to say no!

Groceries

One of my constant struggles is trying to keep our grocery bill down, but now especially with three eating children and our gluten-free diet it's become higher than ever.

I've tried coupon clipping, The Grocery Game, and other similar methods of stacking and matching coupons.  I've had "success" at the stores, saving over 40% in some of my best cases, but the amount of effort it took for me to do it wasn't a prudent way to spend my time.  Then, I was buying things I wouldn't have otherwise bought.  Now, I have to be brand loyal, so it really doesn't work.

Gluten-free baking and other thoughts

teff muffins with apples and carrots

Initially, I don't think it's any secret that gluten-free cooking scared the heck out of me.  I couldn't imagine a life without bread, not being able to fall back on eating out occasionally, and I thought I was going to miss "easy" meals-like frozen pizza- for difficult nights.  I'm not going to lie, it's not all fun, but now at 2 1/2 months into the mission it's already becoming second nature.

I've become very dependent on a couple of recipes that I feel work out pretty well for us, Elizabeth's sandwich bread and pizza crust. I use a boxed muffin mix if we decide to make muffins, but I'd like that to soon change. Everything I've made so far has been very dependent on brown rice flour, which has fiber but isn't the powerhouse I was hoping for. Just scanning the aisles at the grocery store turns up some interesting flours I'd bet most people haven't heard of before- Garfarva, teff, sorghum, arrowroot, quinoa to name a few. Did you even know flours could be made from beans or nuts? Before going gluten-free, I had no idea! Bean flours are really high in fiber and protein!

So my question to the world is why don't we make healthier breads?  Why is all-purpose white flour the standard when we could be receiving nutritional benefit from using other flours?  I know the answer... It's easier and usually cheaper.  For our family, I'm glad to be introducing so many rich flavors by using different kinds of flours, and providing learning opportunities as we bake together.

I've come to the conclusion (through my own experience in addition to reading lots!) that gluten-free food is never going to taste the same as gluten-filled food.  That's okay for me.  I've stopped trying to find the perfect substitute and have embraced the different flavors and textures, and am now just trying to find what we like.  Beth and Luke devour the sandwich bread I make!  I like it fresh out of the bread machine but don't prefer it just plain out of the pantry, I like mine toasted with some peanut butter or almond butter spread on top!  There have been a couple of times when I've craved a crusty, fresh loaf of French bread but that's just not going to happen at our house.  That is also okay for me.  Since my celiac blood test came back negative and I have no symptoms, I will enjoy an occasional treat when I'm out alone without the kids. :-)

If you decide you'd like to try something new, brown rice flour is an easy taste transition, but for baking it's generally not as easy as switching a gluten-free flour for white or wheat flour.  Gluten-free flours have different textures, consistencies, blending abilities, absorption rates... Everything I've read says it's best to blend several flours to achieve the best texture. Corn starch makes breads springy, xanthan gum is the glue that keeps breads together, and various flours and other starches each have their place.  Going gluten-free won't necessarily benefit anyone other than non-celiacs or people who have wheat intolerance (although some people believe it helps lessen children's ADHD symptoms-don't ask me, I don't know much about this), but mixing in a little gluten-free foods every now and then will definitely open your taste buds up to a new realm of eating experiences.  Overall, I think it's better for us because we're getting more health benefits from the foods we eat, maybe that's why gluten-free diets have become trendy?  In any case, I have so much more to learn!  After the next 16 years of watching Mommy cook gluten-free, I expect one day Miss Beth will have her own recipes to share with you. :-)

A week of gluten-free food

In case you're wondering what our week in food looks like, here it is:

Monday: Rotisserie chicken from Sams (yes it's GF!), salad with peppers, tomatoes and red onions
Tuesday: Taco Tuesdays! Hard tacos, beans, homemade Spanish rice
Wednesday: Meatball soup, making a double batch to split with a friend!
Thursday: Grandma N.'s crockpot pinto beans, cornbread, and probably another veggie
Friday: Stuffed chicken rolls from our new GF cookbook from our friends K&M <3 and sweet potato fries
Saturday: homemade pizza!
Sunday: Red beans and rice

Adjusting to a gluten-free lifestyle hasn't been as hard as I initially thought. I do have to prepare a little more, but once I cleaned out my pantry I know that I can use everything I have in my kitchen to prepare a gluten-free meal. I'm still hammering out the details (I can't find gluten-free chicken or beef bouillon anywhere locally) but for the most part things are falling into place. Our first attempt at homemade pizza last Friday was a big fat failure, hardly edible but everyone humored me and ate it anyways! The hardest thing for me so far has been needing quick meals on nights when I reaalllly don't feel like cooking. Hopefully I'll soon make an edible pizza crust and can freeze some for a quick freezer pizza!

my first GF pizza crust. It didn't brown or bubble up, it was supposed to be like a thin-crust pizza.

I keep meaning to see if Alton Brown has a show where he's focused on gluten-free cooking. He does such a wonderful job of explaining the mechanics behind why food does what it does, how different ingredients react, and when it's okay to substitute items and when it's not. I'm learning about the chemistry of baking with gluten-free flours, and if you don't know I absolutely hate chemistry. It's not as easy as taking your favorite cookie recipe and replacing regular flour with a type of gluten-free flour, because different flours have different protien contents, absorb water at different rates, and need an addition like xanthan gum to keep the cookie together. It's real science! Oh no!

On strike

I'm on a mental blog strike. It's just a bump in the road, I'm sure I'll be over it soon. I've had this blog since my second trimester pregnant with Beth (over 4 years now!) and this is the first time I've felt sort of... sick of it. Just feeling like it's one more thing for me to do, and one more thing I don't want to do. Upload pictures to computer... Go through pictures... Edit pictures... Upload pictures to blog... Come up with witty commentary on the pictures...

So I've had sort of a rough mommy week. The kids seem to acting mostly normal, although Jack's sleeping habits seem to be undergoing a rough transition. He's crying a LOT as we're putting him to sleep, which is very unusual for him since he's really not a cryer. My happy, smiley, silly baby (who usually gives baby fever to the women who hold him!) is now a grumpy guy. :-( It really makes an impact on who I am as a mom. I've been really fortunate not to experience any "baby blues" this time, probably because Jack has been such a mellow and easy baby. Beth and Luke were very high-needs compared to this dude, and I can definitely see how that's impacted me as a mother. I am very thankful that I got my easy baby as my third, I can't even imagine life with a high-needs baby right now, in addition to two very active older siblings!

Every day I go back and forth about our family size, and I am so thankful that we've chosen to our family size to God because it's one less thing for me to worry about! There are days I'm certain that three children is all I'd ever be able to handle, but then I think, only three? Only three souls for God? Only three in diapers? Only three teenagers? Only three families to visit Ryan and me when we're older, or even less if one (or more!) enters the religious life? It doesn't seem like enough either. I'm so blessed to even be able to have babies, to have relatively easy pregnancies and deliveries, and to have healthy easy kiddos. It's a life I don't deserve, even on days when I'm ready to ship them all off to live with someone else!

In the mean time, we always get through the day, most days we learn something new, and there are even days that we thrive!

Beth, ever-so-hesitant to take the first bite of her gluten-free bread. She liked it.

Here's what the loaf looked like. Pretty much like regular sandwich bread with a bit of an artisan touch, right?

A funny picture of Luke I took at a little friend's birthday party. He was waiting for cake, plus I think it was after bedtime. A unique combination of emotions, hehe.

Bread!

This morning we made our first loaf of gluten free bread using our new toy, a Zojirushi bread machine. We bought the bread machine a few weeks ago anticipating the need for it, but today was our first time to use it. Last night I prepped for this by having a handful of different flours ready to go, xanthan gum, yeast and all sorts of other supplies, but wouldn't you know I didn't have a 1/8 measuring cup? I used two tablespoons instead and it seemed to work out...


Beth and Luke "helped" by closely observing, dumping the cups into the bowls, and whisking things together. I want Beth to be as much a part of this as I am, watching me and learning together as we go. This is her new way of life. We'll be doing a LOT of baking (pizza crusts, hamburger/hot dog buns, breads, muffins, biscuits, rolls, cinnamon rolls, croissants...the list could go on for quite awhile), can you imagine what a good gluten-free baker she'll be as an adult?

The bread smelled delicious as it cooked, and came out of the machine pretty easily. I let it cool before I sliced it and let Beth have the first bite. She declared she didn't like the "skin" (the crust) but that she liked the white part! She ate a couple of pieces and then asked for Halloween candy. ;-)

Personally, I thought the bread had a funky after taste, but the texture and consistency was pretty perfect. It looked just like regular bread! It was made using chickpea flour, tapioca starch, and cornstarch in addition to regular bread ingredients. I'd say overall our first gluten-free baking experience was a success!

My pantry is also finished. Here it is, fully stocked and ready to go. The top shelf is for items that contain gluten (oatmeal for Luke, chips for Daddy, wheat Chex for me). The shelf below is breakfast items, canned items and broths (oh yes, and some gluten-free Halloween candy). Next shelf is snack items, dry beans and pastas, and the shelf below is my baking supplies and extra items. The bottoms shelf is for pantry vegetables, Daddy's Dr. Pepper, and all of the extras I ordered from Amazon to keep us stalked up on some more gluten-free items.

My fridge and freezer are a different story though, it's so empty that it's making a rattling noise from not having enough weight. We'd gone through all the frozen foods in the freezer so that I could make new foods to stock up (homemade pizza crusts and premade foods for nights when I'd usually get takeout for an easy dinner), but I haven't put anything in there so there's just some lonely frozen fruits and veggies. I don't know why the fridge is so empty, probably because I haven't been cooking enough lately to create leftovers!