luvs2eat

Check out Amazon gourmet foods. I order all my Pamela's bread mix and Tinkyada pasta and several kinds of cereal from them. You have to buy a "case" (6 packets of Pamela's, 7 boxes of cereal, for example) but if you order just 2 things, shipping is FREE and the price is cheaper than buying things individually!!

(ps... I live in rural Arkansas... not much gluten-free food here)

Finding wheat flour in ANYTHING doesn't surprise me anymore. Wheat in Twizzlers? Corn tortillas dusted w/ wheat flour in mexican restaurants? Finding wheat flour in sour cream? Doesn't make sense to me... but is the reason I read EVERY SINGLE LABEL... EVERY SINGLE TIME.

I bought a pack of Bob's Red Mill gluten-free 100% pure oats. The description of the growing and processing sounds perfect and they were delicious... after not having oatmeal for 6 years! They looked like kasha (buckwheat groats) and took 20 min. to cook. I didn't eat any more because I wanted to see if I'd react in any way. I didn't!

Anyone eat oats??

I cheated in the beginning thru my own ignorance. Now, years later, I'm VERY careful cause the smallest amount of gluten will reward me w/ molten lava shooting out of my butt for days, in addition to feeling horrible. Who wants that???

Out of respect for Annalise (and copyright laws), I will not post it, but I highly recommend buying the book. I got it from Amazon for about $13. It is Annalise Robert's Gluten-Free Baking Classics. Everything I have made from the book has been top-notch.

Walt

BTW, I whipped up some real cream this morning and had another piece of pie. MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm

That's my fave baking cookbook too! I made about 10 batches of her carrot cake and made my 3-tiered wedding cake a few years ago! It was DELISH!!

Bread was the first thing I missed and tried to find/recreate. Unfortunately, most of the already prepared breads aren't so good. There are some really good bread mixes on the market (Pamela's, Gluten Free Pantry) that are available in many stores and make a good bread for sandwiches. Also... look for brown rice pastas... I tasted a good many before finding it and it's closest to the old pasta I remember.

It is daunting at the start, but you'll be amazed to find what you CAN eat. Ya just gotta do things a little differently, that's all.

I don't know about a fever... I never had one when glutened. But as for the lack of reaction from eating gluten... you're pretty new to it all. When I first went gluten-free, I had many, many slips as I learned the diet and didn't have huge repercussions. I remember about a year after being gluten-free, I made two beautiful loaves of homemade bread for a party and was so upset that I couldn't eat them... I cut a thick slab, buttered it, and ate it!! I had NO symptoms!! I made this great plan... to cheat maybe once a month w/ foods I really missed... but never got to try my great plan! The longer I was gluten-free, the more sensitive I became! And now, 7 years later... I don't so much as BREATHE a crumb of gluten if I can help it!!

It takes time and practice to learn where gluten is hiding.

Both my ex and I are A+ so I assumed all our kids are too... Celiac kid surprised me... she's O+.

I don't chance it. If I don't know what the ingredients are, I don't eat it. It does become a matter of habit... but I've been doing it for years... even those who love me have become master label readers.

I still get teary when I think of real French bread and Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizza and all the things I've never tasted (Blooming Onion or a panini).

Fortunately, I like to cook. Pamela's bread mix makes awesome bread AND great burger rolls. Ya gotta learn to cook and then there's nuthin' you can't recreate.

It's a process. Let yourself be miserable for a while... then pick yourself up... dust yourself off... and you'll be okay.

I feel your pain! I had a friend who kept asking, "Can't you just eat a LITTLE??" She's a diabetic and can adjust her insulin (altho she shouldn't!!) if she eats too much of something. I found a great line here and started to reply to those people, "That's like asking if I can eat just a LITTLE rat poison!"

Now, most of my friends are very attuned to my food issues and go out of their way to help me out, but eating out is always a challenge!

btw... I grew up in Pennington, right near Lawrenceville!

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I took it with me for the 6 hour trip home on the airplane and could NOT put it down! And she has written several sequels, each as good as the first (a rarity in and of itself!). She truly is a master storyteller, playing with words in a subtle but funny way, great characters, and vivid backgrounds.

It's about Claire who travels through time to land in Scotland in the 1700s. There she meets (and is somewhat forced to marry) Jamie, a Scot who is amazing even by today's standards. They get caught up in political intrigues, war, family issues, and just life in the 1700s. It takes 76 pages to actually get going, but it's totally and completely worth it, because Gabaldon has to set the stage for the next (as of right now) 5 books to come. I can't say enough good things about this series.

Loved, loved, LOVED the Outlander series... the first book being the best!! The last few installments of the series were terrible tho... expensive, huge door stops! The first 3 or so were awesome tho!

I'm a huge fan of books on tape/celiac disease from the Library. Recently I listened to The Kite Runner, which was really good. I watched the movie after the book... it made me cry.

Now I'm listening to The Good Earth... also good.

At home I'm reading Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Folett. I read it when it was published in 1989 and am rereading it before I read the new sequel out now. Love anything Ken Folett's written.

Also love Jodi Picoult!

My hubby and I are driving from AR to PA in a few weeks. I'll hit the library for a few books on celiac disease for the 20-hour ride. There's NOTHING like being read to!

You're right hbm... the guy who's been there for years can do the route (rural) in 8.5 hours. It's now 7 pm and hubby doesn't think he'll be home for a few more hours yet... cause he's gotta finish, no matter how long it takes!

His poor butt is killing him from trying to drive on the wrong side of the road (no mail trucks here)... I see a hiney rub in my future... haha.

We go to a potluck every other month. I take a dish I know I can eat and I ask if I may serve myself first so I can avoid CC by my serving spoon touching other peep's food as they're dishing my dish on to their partially filled plates. No problems! No seconds... but no problems!

Does anyone know where to get a rigatoni pasta shape? I have an amazing recipe I'd love to try but it requires rigatoni... penne will NOT work.

I usually only use Tinkyada, but would try any brand once to see if this recipe would work!!

We recently moved to rural Arkansas and today is hubby's first day as the Saturday relief carrier. It's been a ridiculous hiring process and trust me... he is so stressed right now, he's wondering about keeping the job at all!

The hiring process involved:

An Interview

Testing

3... count 'em... 3 trips to the state capitol (a 4-hour drive each way) for a physical, driving test, and 2 orienations that were 4 days each.

On the job training, for which he worked 2 8-hour days but will only get paid for 4 hours.

They told him there that about 75% bail on the job within the first few months.

He's gone in to the post office several times on his own time (no pay) to learn the process cause he wants to do a good job!

His route today is an 8.5 hour route... when he left this morning, he said, "I hope I'm home by 7 pm... which will be 12 hours. He'll get paid for 8.5.

I know it'll get easier, but it's anything but relaxing at the moment. The guy who does the regular route is a great guy who hubby is happy to help out w/ any days off, etc., but hubby says the postmaster is a real jerk.

FINALLY... a bagel!! I followed the directions on the side of the Pamela's bread mix and got the closest thing to a bagel I've had in 5 years!! It's the boiling for 25 seconds that makes the crust just like a bagel. I only had cream cheese to enjoy on it. If I'd had a nice slice of smoked salmon, I'd have died and gone to heaven!!

Gotta order me some more Pamela's mix! I live so rurally that you can't find much gluten-free stuff here, but you can find anything you ever wanted at Amazon Gourmet Foods and if you order a few things... shipping is FREE!!

First of all I have CRIED over stupid things like sandwiches I understand that frustration

Second I am a chronic sniffer. It started at Christmas, I sniff all the food everyone else is going to eat and then I am totally fine!

Be well!

sickchick

I am a sniffer too!! I pick up rolls and bisquits and bring that smell DEEP into my nose/lungs!

It takes time. I've actually bawled over what I'll never have again and what I've never tasted and never will.

Then I remember that people die of terrible things and I have to be on a stupid diet. My life is easy.

Ya just gotta learn to cook differently. I don't feel deprived nearly as often as I did in the beginning.

And take your time. I was gluten-free for an entire year before my bowels returned to anything I'd consider normal... w/ lapses at any time!

There are plenty of gluten-free foods in your every day diet ... you don't have to go looking for pre-packaged convenience food.

Check out the bread threads... that's always an issue. I don't have a bread machine but make a loaf a week of either Anna's bread mix or Pamela's. They are awesome.

I'm still looking for a gluten-free bagel... haven't had one in more than 5 years!!

Both Anna's and Pam's bread mixes are my faves. I don't have a bread machine but do have a Kitchen Aide mixer. I make a loaf a week and they are as good as any wheat bread I remember.

Early in my gluten-free days, I think I tried one of the Ener G loaves... first and last. Anna's and Pam's mixes are all I use now!

ps... Anna's can be ordered here and Pam's can be ordered on Amazon Gourmet.com. Enjoy

Mr. Ritts in Philadelphia had a really good gluten-free rye bread. I think you could google 'em and find some!

My ONLY symptom was unrelenting diahrrea... and I must admit... it took an entire year for my bowels to get back to what I considered normal. So... in the last 3 responses... you can see how individualized celiac disease really is!

Good luck!!

I am so sorry. I like my doggie better than my kids... j/k obviously, but not totally. Dunno if the Rainbow Bridge is too hokey for you... I always thought it was for me... till I lost my 10+ year old Boxer Boy, Boozer. Then I asked someone to post it for me and cried like a baby!!

Okay... I'm the stupid one who vacation smoked and got hooked after almost 14 years smoke free. I went to my doctor and asked for Lame Advertisement. That stuff works! I quit after smoking for one year after that 14 year smoke free stint.

I can't recommend it enough. It really works!!

Megsbaby, I read about behavior like this in a book called Toxic Parents. It's a very good book for anyone who has to deal with controlling or abusive parents, whether they're yours or not. Even if it doesn't change anything, it helps you understand what's going on so you can be less bothered by it.

Sorry to hijack... but I bought 4 copies of this book when I separated from my husband... I gave one to each of my kids and told them there was a chapter in there w/ their father's name on it and another w/ their grandmother's name on it... and gave one to my young friend and told her there was a chapter w/ her mom's name on it!!

Back to the subject at hand... So... his parents get mad at you for questioning how they feed their son... and the BBQ sauce has wheat in it?? They're doing a great job there.

Plus... I love the analogy I've read on here many times when people say, "Oh just a LITTLE wheat won't hurt you." Tell them to substitute rat poison (which is what wheat might as well be for us) for wheat and let's all have just a little!!

My mouth is watering at all these recipes and I don't DARE make them... I am SUCH a carb addict and love rice in any way, shape, or form... which is fine when you can limit yourself to the recommended serving size and not the ENTIRE POT.

I love risotto... again, in any way, shape, or form. What's better than hot, sticky, cheesy rice?