60 days...done

Okay, so I don't follow through with blogs that well. At least that didn't hold true for this diet. My 60 day sentence is over and now I am moving on to my new gluten-free lifestyle! I shouldn't call it a sentence because honestly, it was pretty easy after that first couple of weeks. Now just being gluten-free is going to be a breeze! My options have just expanded tremendously!

I'm not sure of my direction with this blog now that I'm not phase 1, and there are tons of gluten-free blogs out there already. So, for now, I'll just be putting up randomness.

Random #1...
Being here in Northwest Arkansas, we don't have a whole lot of cool, locally owned little places to eat. Don't get me wrong, they do exist and they are great places. But, there are by far more commercial restaurants here. Today, I met a friend at Mimi's Cafe for lunch. I asked if they have a gluten-free menu, and the server presented me with a red binder full of options! I think I will start a list of local places for fellow gluten-freers on places they can, and cannot go.

30 Day Update

30 days is down (actually, it's been 34 days)!! It blows my mind how fast it has gone. I never would have imagined during the first two weeks, that it would be this awesome. I have to tell you, the first two weeks are tough!!! I was warned and thought I was prepared for it. Unfortunately, there is no preparing for that kind of torture. This is probably why I didn't start my blog until the 3rd week. All my posts would have been titled, "This Sucks" or "I'm dying here!". Your body is literally fighting you for cutting out sugar. I was grumpy and ticked off. My mind was starting to play tricks on me. I actually started telling myself I was just fine the way I was before and any issues I had weren't really THAT bothersome. I just endured and I'm here to say that by the first day of my 3rd week, I felt like a whole new person! Now I said I was going to give this 30 days just to see if I can tell any difference. Well, I know I will continue on at least a couple more months. I just feel too good to stop. And when I'm done with Phase 1, I will continue to live a gluten-free lifestyle. I think that's been the bulk of my issues.

It's only gotten better! After one month, I have lost 6 pounds! Now let me remind you...I am the girl that CANNOT lose weight, no matter what I do! That is almost half way to my goal. My body is starting to take back its old shape and I'm feeling like me again. It's been about 5 years since I've felt like this. On top of that, every day on this diet (even during the 1st two weeks), I have not had one single stomach ache! It is a truly amazing feeling.

Another added bonus is the realization that I am a better wife and mother. I talk daily to my mom on the phone and one day, she commented that I haven't been yelling at the kids. Of course, I'm still getting onto them CONSTANTLY but I'm not screaming at them like I used to and I'm more patient with them. It really is true. Life in our home has been more harmonious. If you know my husband, just ask him. He's the one that called me "all smiley" a couple weeks ago!

If anyone is thinking about doing this for themselves, I would very strongly recommend it. Just imagine that only 30 days from now, you could feel like a whole new person. The next 30 days is going to pass you by regardless, so you might as well feel better on the other side of it!

Souvlaki

So, I guess with Mom here, I got a little sidetracked. Sorry! You didn't miss much, though. I basically repeated some recipes as well as ate out a few times. I did make a roast one night that turned out pretty good. Of course, I served all the potatoes for to rest of the family.

And just on a side note, you can make gravy from the pan drippings using arrowroot powder to thicken it instead of flour. You'll never tell the difference. And a special thanks to my hubby for taking a break from his Scrabble game to take a picture of my roast!

Tonight, we had Souvlaki. These are a favorite in my family. Normally, I make rice to go with it but made quinoa instead. Actually, I burned the first batch of quinoa and the second batch wasn't ready until after we were done eating. So, it was a good thing we weren't that hungry tonight. All you need to do to make it yourself is marinate the meat (beef, chicken or lamb) in olive oil, thyme, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Also use this mixture to coat onions, sweet bell peppers and tomatoes. Skewer and grill it! See, this diet is easy!

Stuffed Peppers

Today my mom drove in for a visit from Texas. This is about an 8 hour drive. So you're thinking, I need to have a nice dinner planned, right? That would be right if my mom left her house at a normal time, but since she's not one to do things normally, she left at 5:00 in the morning and arrived just in time for lunch.

I need to give a shout out to my friend, Lindsey (Hey Lindsey!) for giving me the recipe to these stuffed bell peppers. They were amazing! Real comfort food on a cloudy day. I paired the peppers with some carrot "fries" that I roasted with olive oil and rosemary. Even pre-schoolers gobbled them up!

After lunch, my 4 year-old helped me out with a little project. You may have seen last week that I dehydrated some fruits and veggies. Those, by the way, turned out great. My favorite thing out of that whole random batch was the green apples that I sprinkled with cinnamon. I decided to do an entire bag of apples this time. Thanks to my grandmother, I had a handy dandy apple peeler, corer, slicer doohickey that got all the apples cranked out in about 10 minutes (with the help on my daughter). In no time, those slices were layed out on all 8 trays and sprinkled with cinnamon. I can't wait!

Italian Chili?

It was one of those, "what am I going to do for dinner?" moments at around 4:30 p.m. (2 nights ago). Uh, dunno. So I grabbed some meat and thawed it, looked in the pantry and saw some cans of tomatoes. Okay, I'll make spaghetti. Although, that sucks for me as I can't have spaghetti noodles. Oh well, the family needed to be fed. I do actually make the best meat sauce ever. Ah, familiar food. I put the sauce together in no time and put on some water to boil. During that time, I racked my brain trying to come up with something I could have under my sauce. Brilliant"!", I use almond flour for everything else, why not make my own noodles with it?! I was so quick and efficient, I had my own almond spaghetti ready by the time the family's noodles were done cooking!Impressive, huh? Although, I actually DON'T recommend this. Once I dropped it in the water, it broke apart in a million tiny pieces and only tasted like mushy almonds. Gross. No wonder I haven't been able to find any recipes for noodles. Dang it. Then I started thinking. Some people put chili on spaghetti noodles so why not do it backwards. I'll have spaghetti sauce like a regular bowl of chili. Basically, I gave up...but it was still sooo satisfying!

Quick & Easy Taco

I haved a couple comments lately asking how I the time to do all this cooking and baking. The truth is, I don't. At least most days anyhow. Today, for instance, was no different.

The family went to the movies late this afternoon and by the time we got home, it was past 6:00. I had no clue what was for dinner and had no real ambition to make a serious dinner. Besides, the kids had to be fed, bathed and in bed by 8:00. Lucky me, I remembered I had made up a dozen of those yummy tortillas the other day (the day I had time). So, with that in mind, I grabbed the eggs, bacon, guacamole, fresh tomatoes and cilantro. Dinner was made within 15 minutes and everyone gobbled it up! If only I had time the other day to have made some more homemade salsa. Maybe next time.

breakfast taco

Tortillas y Enchiladas!!

So, like I said, busy day. I tried out a new tortilla recipe that consists of flax, almond and buckwheat flour. Super easy to put the batter together but tedious to make...unless you have my handy dandy 3-in-1 waffle maker! The grill plates flip over for a nice, flat surface. All I had to do was brush some oil on the plates, drop a ball of dough in the middle, press and 30 seconds later, there it was. Hot delicious tortilla!

This will really open up some doors to meal options. Like tonight's dinner, for instance, ENCHILADAS! I have to admit, every time I have ever made enchiladas, I have used a can of enchilada sauce. Unfortunately, for this diet, I have yet to find sauce that is approved for this Phase 1 diet, so I was on my own. The result was nothing short of the greatest enchiladas I have ever made! Granted, some cheesy mess in it would have been nice but these babies held their own, even without the cheese.

I used the fresh stock from the chicken breasts that I had just boiled, to make the sauce. The sauce was easily thickened with some arrowroot powder. I seasoned the shredded chicken breasts with onion, cumin, garlic, fresh cilantro and a few green chilies, then tossed it in some sour cream. I added a small can of green chilies and some fresh tomatoes to the sauce and topped the enchiladas with it. After 15 minutes in the oven, the tortillas crisped up and were ready to give thanks!