Gluten Free Review: Udi's Gluten-Free Bagels

I've been gluten-free since January 5th of this year, and one thing that I've been struggling with is breakfast. I'm just not an oatmeal in the morning type of girl. I don't have a problem with oatmeal, and I do have it for breakfast occasionally. Since going gluten-free, I'll have a bowl of oat bran with fruit some mornings, leftovers from dinner on others. One morning I totally, no lie, made myself some risotto. I was having greek yogurt with gf granola, but I've been having issues with dairy, so I'm staying away from it as much as possible. Really, I'm more of a bagel with cream cheese person. When gluten went bye-bye, so did my preferred breakfast.

I'd heard such terrible things about gluten-free breads: they taste like death, they have no taste at all, they have a metallic aftertaste, they are very expensive, they go bad very quickly, etc. I wasn't planning on every buying any pre-made gluten-free breads, especially after discovering the Bob Red Mill's Homemade Wonderful Gluten-Free Bread Mix was, in fact, rather wonderful. Plus, I never ate very much bread anyway, even when I ate gluten. But when shopping yesterday, I spied these gluten-free bagels from Udi's. They were expensive, $6 for 4 bagels, but I'm already used to gluten-free items costing more. They looked like real bagels! So we brought them home.

They look like stale bread when you split them open, and I must confess I didn't have high hopes when I put one in the toaster. When it popped up and smelled like, well, bread, I was happy. I slathered it with low-fat cream cheese flavored with sun-dried tomatoes (I make my own using tomatoes dried from my mom's garden!). It was good! Great, even! Hurray! The texture is very similar to a "real" bagel, and they toasted up very nicely.

At $6 for 4, I won't be having these daily for breakfast, but I'll definitely be having them occasionally as a treat. I bet these would be great for sandwiches, too, so I'm sure Nick will be happy about that... if I don't eat 'em all before he has a chance to find out! If you are interested in trying them yourself, you can get a $1-off coupon by visiting the Udi's website.

I was inspired to search for gluten-free bagel recipes, figuring I could probably make these myself, so I will be experimenting with bagel-making in the near future. I'll post the results here, once I've tried. Do you have a favorite gluten-free product?

Gluten Free Diet: Day 8

Well, I've been gluten-free for a whole week, and I have to say, it's not as troublesome as I expected. I think it helps that gluten-free diets seem to have gone really mainstream lately. My local Stop&Shop has a whole gluten-free section, with prices that are cheaper than Whole Foods. I actually found that surprising, since usually everything at Stop & Shop is more expensive that other places. I made a loaf of gluten-free bread that was delicious (as well as a batch of English muffins that were decidedly not so much). I made some amazing flourless peanut butter cookies for Nick (and me, let's be honest) as well as a delicious batch of gluten-free snack mix. I learned to look for hidden gluten in foods and condiments, and while I'm still working on making sure I'm getting things right, I think I'm doing alright.

And I feel good! I've had some mild stomach disturbances, but that could be because I'm healing. Or this all could be in my head... but regardless, I'm sticking with it. The true test, I think, will come when I eat something with gluten on purpose to see if it makes me sick. I'm going to wait at least another week before I try it. Another unexpected benefit is that I've lost 4 pounds. Now maybe I was bloated or something when I started, but I'm still happy about it! Believe me, with all the cold weather, I haven't exercised at all, so losing weight was a total accident.

I'm already planning long-term for being gluten-free. Today, since we're snowed in with a foot or so of snow and more expected, I'm prepping more meals based on an idea I read about here. I've already made two mini meatloafs (2 servings each) and 2 packs of meatballs. Today, I did two chicken breasts with fajita seasoning. One will be cooked up for fajitas with corn tortillas; the other will make a lovely pot of my famous tortilla soup. Next, I am making chicken enchiladas and a dish called King Ranch Chicken, which is like lasagna made with corn tortillas and a white sauce.

I've been cooking almost every day, which is great when I'm not working, but since I start classes again on Jan. 24 (yay!), I figured I'd try this food prep method to make it easier when I'm busier. I'm trying to stay far away from overly processed foods, and if I do the prep, at least I know for sure what's in it. We haven't tried any frozen gluten-free meals just yet, and I'm sure there are some available, but I'm not rushing to fill my house with expensive processed foods when I can just as easily make it myself. I worked as a cook for many years, and I love to do it. All of these frozen items (which should keep for 2 - 3 months) will be for those inevitable days when I just don't feel like cooking.

Day Four: Gluten Free Diet

Well, it's the fourth day of me being totally gluten-free, and I have to say that I'm feeling pretty good! Considering that yesterday was the first day I hadn't had a stomach-ache since before the holidays, I'm pretty happy so far with the results of my gluten-free experiment. I'm definitely still not 100%, but I feel better today than I have in at least a month. It might just be a mental thing, since I'm doing something that theoretically will help, or I'm just really gluten-intolerant. Regardless, I'm sticking to the new way of eating. And I'm serious about it, too!

For one thing, our kitchen is now entirely gluten-free! I decided that in order for this test to be worthwhile, I had to be hardcore. Sure, I could have boxed up my gluten-free pantry staples and hid them away for the month... or just tried to ignore all that yummy pasta I couldn't eat... but I decided to get rid of it. Why tempt myself? Plus, I'd need the limited kitchen cupboard space for gluten-free items.

I'd noticed a "Feed Your Neighbors" box about a mile from here a few months back. It's just a wooden box, about 3 foot wide by 2 feet high, sort of like a rabbit hutch. In the summer, I'd see fresh produce, mostly just a few things here and there, but then it started to have more items. And, since the items weren't always the same, I figured people were actually using the box. I never took anything from the box, because I didn't need anything what with my farmer's market basket every week, but I've been meaning to add to the box ever since I noticed it. Well, we just filled it up! I had boxes of cereal, pasta, and grains, all unopened, and canned goods with pastas. Nick just went with the last of our gluten foods, everything from the fridge or freezer that we thought someone might want to use. We saved a couple goodies for Nick's mom and my friend, Jen, but other than those few things, our house is free of gluten.

Secondly, I hosted my very first Bling Bling birthday party last night. It was for one of my "Bling Bling graduates" and her friends/family. We made buttons, magnet rings, and bottle caps. I set up a table in their living room and the kids were surprised and delighted to be making crafts with me. Most of the kids were younger, too, which was a new experience. But it went so well! I had a blast, the kids had a blast, and even the grown-ups loved it, since the kids made cute jewelry as gifts for them. I definitely hope to host lots more parties in the future! One thing that I anticipated was birthday cake.

I knew I'd be offered food at the party, and I also knew that I'd have to refuse it. I thought about it in advance. I could have said I wasn't hungry or made up an excuse, but I decided to be straight up and explain that I was gluten-free. I made a joke of it, saying I couldn't eat anything good, and I'm pretty sure no one was offended. The cupcake table was so pretty I took a picture of it, and I was so sad not to be able to eat one of the guava filled delicacies. And, sure, since this is an experiment, for now, I could have ate a cake to be polite (and to satisfy my sweet tooth), but I know that this experiment will be useless if I'm not a total nazi about every single thing I put in my mouth. In a way, I feel like I passed a test by saying no to the cake and the amazing empanadas I was offered. Especially since I was HUNGRY! Still, I stayed to sing happy birthday, of course!

In the realm of gluten-free, I have discovered a yummy snack: Blue Diamond almond Nut-Thins. They are pricy, at $3 for a 4 oz box, but I'll just eat them occasionally. I'm pretty sure I have to get used to lots of stuff being pricey if I'm sticking gluten-free. Nick's friend, Rose, said one of the hardest things about the gluten-free diet is getting used to paying a lot for bread. Speaking of, today I am making gluten-free bread in the bread machine my mom gave me over the holidays. I'm using a mix from Bob's Red Mills. I'll confess that I don't have high hopes for the bread, but my mom gave me the mix so I figured I'd try it.

In the crockpot for dinner, I have a weird dish: Groaty pudding made with salmon and cream cheese. If you don't know what Groaty Pudding is, well, it's probably best described as beefy oatmeal. And if that doesn't sound appealing, you aren't alone in that sentiment. Nick wasn't excited about it either, when I made it over the holidays. He agreed with me though: it is delicious on a cold and snowy day like today. Sometimes I make it vegetarian and sometimes I use beef, but today, I decided to see what would happen if I used salmon, since I found an ancient packet of fish in my freezer, and cream cheese, since I won't be using it on bagels anytime soon (or ever... nooooo!). I'll update with how it turns out.

UPDATE: Wow! The Bob's Red Mill bread is AWESOME. It smelled great, looked like "real" bread, and tastes fantastic. I was worried because of the bean flour, but really, this stuff is good. I had some hot out of the bread oven smeared with red pepper jelly then served nice thick slices with our dinner, which I'm calling Scandinavian Groaty Pudding. It was delicious!

Day Two: Gluten Free Diet

Ugh. Today is day two of my gluten free diet, and I'm miserable. I woke up with a splitting headache, one so bad that I wasn't able to fall back to sleep and felt sick to my stomach. (And, no, I'm not suffering from a hangover; I hardly ever drink these days.) I emailed to reschedule my lunch time appointment, popped two headache pills, drank as much water as I could stomach, and crawled back into bed. Not that it helped, because I couldn't sleep.

Still, the pills kicked in eventually, so I got up to make my first gluten-free bread: English muffins. They came together easily, looked and smelled great hot out of the oven, but the taste? Not so hot. Plain, they tasted alternately bland and chemically. No wonder Nick pulled a face... haha! An hour later, I tried one lightly toasted and smeared with yummy red pepper jelly. They were better, mostly because the strong flavor of the jelly covered the nastiness, but they still left an aftertaste that stayed in my mouth for a while. I'd give 'em an "okay" at best. Maybe I'll try a different flour combination next time.

For lunch, I made a vegan caesar salad with eggplant bacon from Isa Chandra-Moskovitz's newest cookbook, Appetite For Reduction. The eggplant bacon was good enough that I ate a whole serving of it just snacking, but the dressing wasn't the best. It's probably because just a few days ago I had a "real" caesar salad at Red Lobster, so the taste is fresh. Also, I didn't have capers so I used olives instead. Maybe those capers really make a difference.  At least it didn't have tofu in it?

I just finished making dinner, and I have to say, it's not appealing. Nick assures me that it tastes better than it looks, but it looks, well, disgusting. I made eggplant and chickpea curry and a cranberry and cashew biryani, again from Appetite for Reduction. The biryani looks okay, but smells kind of burnt, while the curry looks like, well I'll just say it, feces. Yuck. I can't even bring myself to eat it. I'll probably get hungry enough soon to at least try the biryani, but I think Nick's going to be eating curry leftovers for a few days.

Oh well, I'm not all that surprised. Despite my British heritage, me and curry don't mix very well. I like the idea of curry. I like the smell of curry. But I don't really like eating curry. I've had a mango chicken curry in a restaurant that was nice, and my aunt made an awesome chicken tikka (I think?) that I loved. Oh, and I love Chana masala from Trader Joe's, and even then, only with chutney, but that's the limit of my curry tastes. Anything remotely tongue-burning and I won't be eating it. And now that I'm gluten-free, at least for the month, I can't eat Na'an bread either. Blah.

I was going to try making a GF flatbread using a recipe online, but after the English muffins, I was kind of scared to try it. Maybe tomorrow I'll be more adventurous, but I think tonight's dinner will be Greek yogurt and a banana.

Day One: Gluten Free Diet

http://glutenfreeeasily.com/july-go-ahead-honey-its-gluten-free/

So, anyone who knows me probably knows that I'm not feeling well a lot. Sure, I get a regular run-of-the-mill cold or flu now and again, but most of the time when I'm sick it's a general malaise and/or stomach and digestive issues. And headaches, ugh. I'm frequently missing events, meetings, and gatherings because I'm not feeling up to it. About a year ago, I went to the doctor and had a run of tests, all of which were inconclusive. I was getting frustrated with having all this problems, the most prominent being a persistent and nagging pain in my left side just under my ribs, and when my doctor suggested, I kid you not, that I might be suffering from anxiety and hypochondria, let's just say, I never went back.

Hypochondria? Was she kidding me? I HATE being sick, I HATE going to see a doctor, and, in general, I'm pretty healthy. For me to be going to a doctor regularly and having all these tests done told me that I must have something wrong, because the number of doctor's visits I had in that 6 month period was definitely more visits that I'd had over the course of the previous 6 years. I started thinking about all the med-school students who had been my dorm mates at YSU, the ones who'd partied all hours of the night, puked all over the bathrooms, and squeaked by in their classes, and I thought, you know what, there are probably just as many, if not more, bad doctors out there as there are good ones. My doctor was a very nice person, I suppose, but I just don't think she was a good doctor.

Am I saying that I'm smarter than my doctor? No, not exactly, but I also don't think that the answer to every problem is a prescription, which is what my doctor when I was a teenager seemed to think. He never told me what was wrong with me, just wrote a prescription for antibiotics every single visit. I stopped going to see him, too, except when I needed a note to excuse an absence from work. My most recent doctor insisted my problem was heartburn. Yeah, I know that that feels like lady, and this wasn't it. And, if a patient has a persistent complaint about abdominal problems, and only abdominal problems, why wouldn't you investigate all possible causes before accusing said patient of making it up? Grr. The only time we talked about my diet was when she gave me a diagram of a plate showing proportions of food, because, you know, if I'm overweight, I'm obviously stuffing my face full of Big Macs all day long. (I'm not.) When I suggested that the weight gain might be a symptom, she laughed. Really.

So, I'm still having problems, have been having issues for a good two years, possibly longer. I've altered my diet in different ways, trying to find a possible food source for my issues, but one thing I haven't tried, until now, was a gluten-free diet. I think I figured that if I was gluten intolerant, I'd have figured it out by now. But then I started researching gluten intolerance, and I realized that many people who are diagnosed with gluten intolerance, gluten allergies or celiac disease frequently have a 10 year period of suffering through it before getting a diagnosis. TEN YEARS!

I'd looked at the symptoms of gluten intolerance before and some of them fit, many, really, except one noticeable one: unexplained weight loss. Yup, that doesn't fit me. If anything, I'm the exact opposite: I've gained much too much weight in the past few years. It doesn't seem to matter what or how little I eat, every time I step on the scale, the numbers go up. So I figured no way could I be gluten intolerant. Last month, I decided to research again and found a number of sites listing weight gain as a symptom of gluten sensitivity. Hmm. Combine that will everything else and there's a good chance that's my problem. And since I eat a lot of whole grains and pasta, if I am gluten sensitive, I've been basically poisoning myself every time I eat. Yikes!

So, since gluten free diets also have benefits for people with autism, like my fabulous boyfriend, Nick, who has Asperger's, we are both trying out a gluten-free diet for the next month. We tried vegan and that didn't really work out, but I'm committed to really being a stickler about gluten-free, because I know if I am gluten sensitive, even the smallest amount of gluten will give me symptoms. So I bought a bunch of gluten-free pastas, made from corn, quinoa, and brown rice, plus an assortment of gluten-free flour so I can try making my own bread and other things.

Also, I'm planning on using a lot of recipes from Appetite for Reduction, the newest cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskovitz, since a lot of them are already gluten-free, and I made a meal plan for the first week so I don't have to have a mini-panic attack like I did last night when we got home from driving 10 hours. I was hungry and I didn't know what I could or couldn't eat yet. I ended up finishing my non-gluten-free sandwich from lunchtime and promising to start fresh today using the meal plan I made.

Wish me luck! Any one have any favorite gluten free resources or recipes they want to share?