I know but.....GF really?

A line I have said so many times I cannot count is:

I know it will make me sick but I am going to eat it anyway - because it tastes so good!


My longest memory for that comment is associated with Chicken Fried Steak.  I LOVE chicken fried steak - my mom would make it growing up (not enough I might add).  We ate it after basketball games, ate it at Tarleton - Jake & Dorothy's, and then there is Mary's in Strawn.  For those of you who grew up in my "neck of the woods" - you get it.  Those places are some of the best for good ole Chicken Fried Steak.  But I did not have to wait until I went to those places - I have found wonderful Chicken Fried Steak at the best of places all over Texas. (heavens I just remembered when I was 14 I worked at the cafe in Perrin one summer - I learned how to make the best CFS while working there!)

Sad to say - I cannot remember the last time I had Chicken Fried Steak - and if I have ventured out to try it I have since switched to ketchup instead of the gravy.  It just became too much.  I was getting too sick - felt too yucky to justify how wonderful I knew it would taste before I attempted to digest it!  I have pretty much given up white gravy all together.

But you know it wasn't until recently that I really put all the pieces together.  I thought it was potatoes too.  I thought I needed to give up eating potatoes because like the CFS I seemed to be getting sick each time I ate them.  Then there was the chocolate chip cookie.  I have the best recipe from a friend that is so good - and my family loves them too.

When they ruled out Celiac Disease - I ruled in Gluten Intolerance.  I won't list all the physical things that were going on with my body that made me try this route.  It was the doctor that suggested we test for Celiac when I mentioned the chocolate chip cookie making me sick.  But as I have learned the test for Celiac is quite sensitive and just because it is negative now doesn't really mean it will always be negative AND there is not really a good test for Gluten Intolerance.

I know what to look for.

So I am trying out a new way of eating.  Oh and my family gives me grief.  But they love me so it is okay.  I feel so much better - and the potatoes....  It was my mom who figured that out - so many times when I had potatoes I had bread and many times gravy.  I have been eating potatoes now - and they are wonderful.  As for chocolate chip cookies - I have a GF (gluten free) recipe for them.  It isn't quite the same - but I add a lot of chocolate chips and nuts and it is just pretty good.  It works to  make me think I am having a chocolate chip cookie.  I still make the wonderful ones for my boys.

It just doesn't seem very intelligent to continue eating stuff that makes me feel horrible.  Without a medical history - it is such a shot in the dark to figure out all of these details.  But for now this GF approach to life is working quite well.

The other fun thing going on is the produce I am picking up in Weatherford every other Saturday.  I am participating in a co-op with Your Health Source (www.yourhealthsource.org).  Another absolutely wonderful way to have quality fruits & vegetables.  I recently realized that all those years growing up - I ate organic vegetables.... from my parents garden!  These are the next best things (with less work on my part!).

Kale (something in my co-op share this week), sweet peppers (from the share), organic onion (from United) and brown rice.  Sauted the peppers & onion with some fresh garlic, add rice & water and cooked until rice was done.  Then added bite size torn pieces of Kale - steamed then added Parmesan cheese.  Yum!

Uncle Chris' Chicken with my Kale-Rice Creation.  The chicken is tenders dipped in butter and GF instant potatoes mixed with Parmesan & garlic salt.  Bake at 400 until crunchy. 

Perfectly wonderful GF meal!  

Always, May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14.