Polenta

[Lynnie]

I am a newbie here. I don't even know whether I have Celiac Disease yet or not. But I believe in my heart that I do. If anyone is interested to know, go to the Meeting Room and you can read about what I am going through.

I am very excited to see a cooking forum here though! I love love love to cook! It is my passion. I have only been trying to eat a Gluten Free diet for the past 4 or 5 days.

Yesterday, I made my own Italian Spaghetti Sauce! I knew I was going to be making this and I thought to myself, how the heck am I going to get through this without Pasta!?

I went to the grocery store and bought a bag of corn flour. I love Polenta and I haven't had it for years. I made my very first batch of homemade Polenta. Not hard to make, plenty of recipes on the net.

I topped it off with Mozzorella Cheese and my sauce. I also had some Italian sausages on the side that had cooked for 4 hours in my sauce. They cut like butter.

It was soooo good.

All I know is, if I can keep coming up with recipe's like this I don't think it will be very hard to stick to a Gluten Free Diet.

I hope I can do it. I really am giving it my all.

[lizard00]

That's great! I read your other post, BUT I don't remember if you have other intolerances or not. So, if you can do rice, pick up some rice pasta (Tinkyada is the favorite brand around here) and voila! You have pasta again. I have given Tinkyada to quite a few people and didn't tell them that it was rice, and they never knew the difference. In fact, a few of them prefer it over regular pasta.

Gluten free food doesn't have to be boring. And since you love to cook, you're all set! Your imagination is your limit with gluten-free foods. Just look at it as a new culinary challenge!!!

[Lynnie]

Ohhh I am definitely going to be looking for the pasta. I don't care what it's made out of as long as it tastes good. So if they can come up with a really good tasting rice pasta, that's just fine with me!!

You said you read my post. Did you happen to read the very very very long one that I posted tonight? Sorry it's so long. I was in my writing and venting mood. But it really does explain everything that I have been going through and everything I am wondering about.

Hope you read it and let me know what you think!

How long have you had celiac and how are you dealing with me? I can't wait to read everyone's stories here.

[lpellegr]

I've been cooking and eating gluten-free for nearly 5 years. If you can cook, you will be fine. This is hardest for those who can't cook and depend on eating out, but those of us who can cook and have the ability to make our families cooperate usually do fine. You will make some mistakes and have to find some compromises or give some things up entirely, but you'll find ways to make your favorites gluten-free and eventually you won't miss what you can't have (much!). Thinking ahead is key to always having something to eat, so think about freezing single-serving sizes of things for lunch and dinner. I eat a lot of leftovers and salads for lunch, but on days when the fridge is bare it's good to grab some homemade rice mac and cheese or casserole out of the freezer. If you can bake you will save money over ready-made gluten-free stuff - I keep corn muffins, crumpets, and breadcrumbs in the freezer and have worked out over the years a few consistently good recipes from gluten-free cookbooks. This forum is a great place to get info and have your questions answered.

Things to consider to make your kitchen safe if you share with others who are not gluten-free:

Certain things trap gluten and are hard to clean, so have your own dedicated colander and wooden spoons.

Have your own dedicated jars of anything that can be spread on bread, like margarine, peanut butter, cream cheese, jelly, etc so you don't eat anyone's bread crumbs. They mean well, but they can't help it.

Don't share drinks with gluten-eaters.

Get some stickers and code foods as "gluten-free" or "not gluten-free" to remind both you and the others what's what.

Read labels all the time, because manufacturers change ingredients. You'll also start to realize how many ingredients go into processed foods. Read the label on a bag of flavored instant mashed potatoes and consider the food chemistry that goes into something you could easily make yourself.

Get rid of things that could be cross contaminated. I used to use the same scoop for flour and sugar, so I had to give away all my sugar.

Good luck! We're here for you.

[Lynnie]

If you have Celiac, is it really that bad about cross contamination? If you share a drink with someone who eats gluten, do you think that could really bother you? This is the first I am hearing about this.

[NYCCeliacMom]

If you have Celiac, is it really that bad about cross contamination? If you share a drink with someone who eats gluten, do you think that could really bother you? This is the first I am hearing about this.

I don't know about drinks but another area to be careful about is the bathroom. My husband and I have similar toothbrushes and we were sharing a rack. He is an enthusiastic cereal and wheat bran eater. It took me a while to catch on that this was a problem. I advise being careful and separate toothbrushes if you are living with wheat-eaters.

A nutritionist who specializes in celiac told my daughter not to worry about kissing someone who had been drinking beer. She said the amount would be very small and it was better to be concerned about a product in daily use on yourself, like a lipstick.

[Lynnie]

Is drinking beer bad if you have Celiac? Or any alcohol for that matter. Curious. First time I have thought about this one. The questions just keep on popping up!

[Juliebove]

There are all kinds of pasta out there. Not only rice, but corn, quinoa and even bean or potato. Our favorites are the first three.

You can buy shelf stable polenta already made up. It's usually on the pasta aisle, but sometimes in the refrigerated section. You can slice it and fry it or put it in a casserole, top it with tomato sauce and cheese and bake.

Yes, you do have to be concerned with cross contamination. This is probably the biggest problem when it comes to things like dining out or buying some things like prepared salads, cut up fruit, etc.

There is gluten free beer. Not sure about the other liquors. I don't drink, and my daughter isn't old enough to.

[Lynnie]

I have tried the store bought Polenta and it's pretty good. I like to cut it in about half inch slices and then fry them. Then, I top it with cheese and sauce.

When I made my first batch of Polenta the other night, it really did come out good but it wasn't firm enough for me. It wouldn't hold together like I wanted it to, so I couldn't fry it. But, it was still pretty good. Next time, I am going to put in a little less water and cook it a little bit longer.

The thing I like about it is that I made extra and I froze a bunch of it.

Anything that I make that I can freeze for later makes life a lot easier.