lpellegr

I'm coming up on two years of gluten-free life on 9/13, and as I look back I see it was worth it. The moment the doctor suggested that it might be celiac disease, a light bulb went off as all the symptoms fell into place. I thought it was irritable bowel, but he got it right. Here's what I haven't had in two years:

No more waking up in the middle of the night to lie on the bathroom floor trying to decide which end of my GI tract to hang over the toilet, waiting for the nausea to pass.

No more cold urticaria (exposed skin would itch and get hives from being even slightly cold or wet)

No more gut cramps and aching

No more constant copious foul gas that could repulse a hyena - no more hoping I wouldn't have to expel when it was just me and one other person, no more running out into the hall to try to leave the stench somewhere other than my lab, no more trying desperately to hold it in to avoid killing the people around me

No more sitting on the toilet feeling like an elephant was trying to pass, only to have a slow pasty ribbon that took forever (I know this is gross, but I'll bet some of you know exactly what I'm talking about)

I do miss some things - I liked making bread and pizza dough, but I don't do that for the rest of the family any more to avoid contaminating my kitchen. I was hoping this big round belly would flatten out once my intestines were healed, but no luck so far. I miss the freedom of eating whatever I wanted wherever I was. But I wouldn't trade all the soft pretzels, pizza, Triscuits, Cheerios (3 bowls every day!), and homemade cookies from my grandmother's recipes for my original symptoms. I've gotten comfortable with what I can eat and can manage to figure out food to take along when I travel (I have one big honkin' fanny pack), so mostly I'm content. If you're new to this, be strong, be vigiliant and careful, be persistent, and you'll really appreciate the improvements. And use this forum a lot! It's the best!

After seeing what I go through to eliminate or replace items in my diet, I'm pretty sure my family would rather suffer their symptoms than be healthy but have to be so careful about what they eat! They admire me for my fortitude of character and unbreakable resistance to gluten-y goodies, but they don't want to BE me.

If you want less gritty rice flour, get it from an Asian grocery store - theirs is very fine, and cheap! I stock up at 3 lbs for $1. They also carry tapioca, potato starch flour, etc.

I mostly bake gluten-free bread to get the bread crumbs, although some recipes give me nice slices. But yesterday I had to laugh at my bread. I doubled the recipe for Bette Hagman's 4-flour bread - I made one loaf last time (for the first time) and it was beautiful, but after a few slices I made the rest into crumbs. Yesterday's loaves - when I opened the oven after 10 minutes to cover them with foil, they had risen like something out of a horror movie - at least 2" over the top of the pan, and they weren't even at the top to start. So I finished baking them and let them cool, and took a slice off the end of one - looked good. But then came the second slice, and the third, and by then I was laughing - it looked like a colony of massive termites had been working on them . Holes, tunnels - too ugly for slices. So I cubed it all, baked at 250 until dry, and today I sacrificed them all in the food processor for one full quart ziploc bag of fine dry bread crumbs for cutlets and meatballs. All that work (and I was low on cornstarch and had to go get some because I was low on the 4-flour blend and had to make more) for about 4 cups of crumbs. Oh well. It's cheaper than buying gluten-free crumbs and I have time.

I think sometimes about my late grandparents - my Italian grandfather was a professional baker and his wife made all the family's bread (wonderful bread it was, too), and my maternal grandmother made the most wonderful homemade bread for her family from a very old recipe - she taught me a lot about kneading (well, I don't need to know that anymore) and rising time and how it affects the bread. I have her old pans, and I think of her every time I bake, but I wonder what they would all have to say about this bread? Bean flour? Sorghum flour? Xanthan gum? Then again, I don't think I would ever be able to make them believe that bread could make anybody sick.

I wondered about this too - I noticed a few years ago when I first had fresh beets that it turned my urine pink for a while. Now that I have been gluten-free two years I don't see much in my urine anymore, but I noticed some in my stool - maybe my intestine is less permeable to the color now that it's had time to heal.

La Choy soy sauce and teriyaki sauce are gluten free and should be available in any grocery store.

No specifically gluten-free restaurants on LBI or in Wildwood that I've found - I just stock up on gluten-free groceries and cook in the apartment, otherwise you just have to do the same things you would do anywhere else in restaurants and carefully pick gluten-free foods. There are always the chains - Wendy's, Dairy Queen, etc. If you go to a boardwalk that has Curley's Fries (like Wildwood), the last time I was there they cooked nothing but potatoes in the oil and they were the greatest french fries I've had in a long time. The Harvey Cedars Shellfish Company has great seafood, but I haven't been there in a while and you would want to make sure they don't steam anything in beer. Also try here: www.geocities.com/seashoreceliacs/ for a local chapter of a celiac support group - they might know.

I think Mr. Ritt's bakery in Philadelphia will ship you an undecorated cake. You can find them on the web.

Yup, you just scatter the dry cake mix over the fruit filling. The butter and the fruit juices will combine to make a sweet, crispy, crumbly crumb topping. Jeez, now my stomach is rumbling.

I tried the Comfy Cuisine ravioli and thought it was really good.

Yup, that's an old goin-to-the-beach-house-for-vacation treat, sometimes called "dump cake" because you just dump the ingredients together in a pan. Also good with apple pie filling. You could also cut the butter up into little pieces and scatter it across the top instead of melting it.

I'm glad that pie crust recipe is working for people, but the credit goes to Bette Hagman, and to my grandmother for teaching me how to make a good crust! I want to try it one of these days to make something like meat pies to put in the freezer - I used to love Amy's spinach and feta pocket sandwiches, and something like Hot Pockets would be nice. Mmmm, crust.

I was diagnosed at age 45. I met a woman who was diagnosed at 80, after 8 years of trying to get a diagnosis for her symptoms. Yup, it can happen at any age, and either you had the symptoms all along and just didn't know what they were or thought it was something else and now they are finally bad enough to cause a problem (like anemia, vitamin deficiency, etc), or some illness triggered your immune system to target gluten and it's new. Either way, be religious with your diet! Your diet is your friend or your enemy for the rest of your life, so get used to it. Think of all those weird symptoms as your drill sergeant chewing you out when you screw up!

Could you tell me where you find "Utz" chips? I'm on the East Coast. Thanks!

lisa

You're probably going to be able to find Utz chips in New Jersey and PA - I believe they're made in PA. The Russet Dark chips are unbelieveable - dark brown and folded over so they're nice and crunchy.

The simplest thing is to eat stuff that isn't bread-like anyway - stick to meat, eggs, vegetables, rice, potatoes, fruit, cheese. Instead of searching out expensive and elusive gluten-free substitutes for cereal and bagels switch to cottage cheese and fruit or ham and cheese omelets for breakfast. Roll up your sandwich fillings (lunchmeat and cheese, look up gluten-free brands like Kraft and Oscar Mayer) and eat them without bread, or put tuna salad or peanut butter on celery or in a bowl. Have a bowl of Bush beans for lunch with some fruit. Have a baked potato with broccoli and cheese for dinner. Have a hamburger with no bun. Eat like you're on South Beach or Atkins while you're starting to find out what's safe and where all the bread substitutes are in your area. You might actually eat healthier if you leave out all the bread-type things anyway. This forum is a great place to get information - you can look up almost anything and if you ask a question about a food, someone almost always has an answer. In time this will get easier - still frustrating and annoying, but easier. Don't expect things in your grocery store to be labeled gluten-free. Don't expect your doctor or nutritionist to give you correct info. Go to the bookstore or library and find cookbooks like the Gluten-Free Gourmet series and authors like Connie Sarros, Jax Peters Lowell, and Shelley Case - that's where you'll find the best information on what to avoid and what to look for on labels. And from what I've seen on this forum, don't eat the Quaker rice cakes - they will have cross-contamination. Use Mission corn tortillas for sandwiches or spreads. Nuts are good, just check the labels for things to avoid (like soy sauce - almost all soy sauces used to season foods have wheat in them). In the US, you can safely use Hellman's mayo, Heinz ketchup, Gulden's brown mustard. Search this forum - lots of suggestions. And there are lists here on Celiac.com of things to avoid - start with that. Good luck. We're here to help you.

Boar's Head bacon says gluten-free right on the label!

I don't use any of the premade mixes, but I can give advice on making your own. For the graham cracker crust, find any good gluten-free cookies and crush them. I used Pamela's pecan shortbread for a cheesecake and it was really good. As far as real pie crust, are you used to making your own, so you understand how to cut the shortening into the flour and then add water a little at a time to pull it together? If you can do that, this will work for you. The best gluten-free crust recipe I found that actually compares well with a normal pie crust is the Vinegar Pastry (Revised) from the Gluten Free Gourmet by Bette Hagman, with my version of the instructions below.

1c white rice flour (I recommend the fine kind you get at Asian markets)

3/4c tapioca flour

3/4c cornstarch

Note: you could probably substitute a commercial gluten-free flour mix for the above.

1 rounded teaspoon xanthan gum (check to see if this is included if you use a mix)

3/4t salt

1T sugar

Mix all the dry ingredients above in a medium bowl. Cut in with a pastry blender:

3/4c shortening (like Crisco) until crumbs are like rice in size, maybe a little smaller.

Mix together:

1 egg lightly beaten

1T vinegar

Add these to the flour/Crisco until blended. Then sprinkle in, 1T at a time, 2-3 T ice water. It may take more or less, the goal is to add just enough that you can gather the dough in a ball that doesn't break apart into dry crumbs and isn't wet and slimy. After adding 2 or 3T, gather the dough with your hands and decide if it needs more. It's okay to squeeze it a little. When all the dry crumbs are incorporated, you're done. Divide it in two and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 min to firm it up. When ready to use, roll each out between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap dusted with gluten-free flour. Peel off the top sheet, lay your pie pan on the dough, upside down and centered, then put your hand underneath and flip it over so the dough is in the pan. Pat it into place, then peel off the plastic. Now you can shape the edge and follow your recipe for the filling of choice. If you're going to prebake it, use 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. You can also freeze the balls of dough and thaw them later - they still work fine. All the gluten-eaters proclaimed this pie crust as good as my old ones at the last two Thanksgivings. Hope this helps!

And for all you Easy-Bake Oven fans, there's a cookbook: the Easy-Bake Oven Gourmet, by David Hoffman, with recipes from people like Bobby Flay, Caprial Pence, Mollie Katzen, etc. It's a hoot.

I got it at a small store that just opened up near me in NJ - they specialize in foods for special diets. The other place I saw them advertised was on one of the e-mail updates from this website - looks like you can get them somewhere online. Anyone in NJ who would like to know, the store is DeLiteful Foods on Quakerbridge Road near the Quakerbridge Mall in Lawrenceville between Princeton and Trenton. Lots of gluten-free stuff I haven't found in any local stores, even Whole Foods.

Okay, the storm has passed. Here's the website of a CSA chapter that seems to be active at the Jersey Shore - they may be able to help you. Or me, next time I go down the shore.

www.geocities.com/seashoreceliacs/

The only other things I found gluten-free in the Wildwood area were the chains (and that peanut buster parfait from the Dairy Queen on the boardwalk was wonderful) with the exception of one Italian restaurant where our server had celiac disease and could tell me what to have! I'm sorry I don't remember the name of it. In general I just ate things like salad and bunless burgers and kept my fingers crossed. Since I don't have strong, immediate reactions to gluten I must have done okay because I don't remember any problems, but it's a pain to eat out for a week. We had a suite with a kitchen, so we went to the local SuperFresh and got stuff to cook and I made sure to bring gluten-free stuff like pasta and Kozy Shack puddings. Take a bottle of gluten-free salad dressing with you. On LBI I used to love the Harvey Cedars Shellfish Company for my once-a-year lobster/clam/potato/corn combo, but now I'd have to make sure to ask what it's steamed in (sometimes they use beer!) and what seasonings are on it. Ooooh, big thunder, time to unplug the computer!

I wouldn't count on finding much except the chain restaurants. We used to spend a lot of time there before my diagnosis, but going back over my memories I can't think of anything. As usual you'll just have to ask at each restaurant. If you go somewhere else like Wildwood look for Curley's Fries - they do french fries, and nothing but french fries in peanut oil, so they are superb and gluten-free. Good luck.

Okay, it looks more like segments of crepes or manicotti than ravioli, but Comfy Cuisine Spinach Ravioli is really good! I got it for $5.79 for one serving, but when you don't feel like cooking and haven't had ravioli in two years, it can be worth it.

When my breasts went up a cup size and were mightily sore my first month gluten-free, AND I had a period two weeks after the last one started, I wasn't sure I could connect it to the diet, but after reading all this, that's probably what it was. Eventually they went back to normal (or at least one of the normals, since the size has varied with pregnancies, etc), but the periods are still sometimes a surprise (I think one ovary has lost its mind ). Must be some change in either the production or the use of hormones due to improvements in intestinal absorption. Somebody ought to do a PhD thesis on this.

I've seen this little guy used when people are being sneaky or mysterious. I haven't been able to come up with just the right occasion to use it yet!

I hear they are building a PF Chang's near me - I hope so, there aren't enough choices for a decent dinner out around here!!!!