Mexican Spaghetti

One of my favorite cookbooks is Cooking Light's "5 Ingredient 15 Minute Cookbook". Nate and I got this book for our wedding almost 6 years ago. Ever since we have loved many of the recipes in this book! Who wouldn't love, just 5 ingredients in only 15 minutes that's full of flavor?

Luckily, having Celiac doesn't mean that you have to toss out all of your favorite recipes! All you need to do is tweak and you can still enjoy all the recipes that you have loved for so long! Below is a recipe from the Cooking Light cookbook that I have tweaked to be g-free.

Mexican Spaghetti

Ingredients

1. 1 pound ground turkey

2. 4 oz. uncooked rice pasta

3. 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained

4. 1 (8.75 oz.) can whole kernel corn, undrained

5. 1 package taco seasoning mix

Directions

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. While the pasta cooks, fry the ground turkey in a skillet with a little olive oil over medium high heat. Once the turkey is cooked, add the tomatoes, corn and taco seasoning. Mix together and add the pasta. Cook together for 5 minutes.

Tips

There are many different things you can do to this recipe and still keep if g-free even though it may not be "light". Instead of the turkey you can use ground beef. You can also add black olives or cheddar cheese as a topping. I usually always add an onion to the meat while it's cooking because I think everything needs a little onion or garlic! The rice pasta that you buy can be any type: spaghetti, penne, elbow macaroni, etc. Always check the labels on the cans of tomatoes and corn. Some companies will add junk (gluten) to it. Some safe brands of canned foods are Woodstocks and Natural Directions. Also, when buying the taco seasoning, check the label. I buy McCormick's seasoning which is gluten free and I stay away from Lawry's which is NOT gluten free.

Enjoy your spaghetti!

PF Changs China Bistro

A couple days after I found out the the good news and the bad news, I discovered PF Chang's gluten free menu! The good news was that I now knew what has been wrong with me for so long and the bad news was that I thought I could never go out to eat again. Well, I quickly discovered that I really could go out to eat again.

A couple days after I was diagnosed my mom came into town and we had a girls night at PF Chang's. I quickly realized that I had a large menu to choose from! We started with wine (yes, all wine is g-free!) and lettuce wraps. We then had lemon scallops and shrimp with lobster sauce. My attitude about my diagnosis quickly changed after this night. Maybe this would be so bad after all?

Since then, my husband and I frequent this establishment ALOT! The manager, who we have come to know well, is always making sure that we have everything we need. She really cares about those of us that are g-free! She told us that on March 8th they would be rolling out a new g-free menu. So, guess where we went for Date Night this week? You're right, PF Changs!

We had an awesome dinner that night! They probably doubled their selection of g-free items which took the menu from large to huge! They also added some beef options. The best part is that the g-free menu is on their regular menu! I love not having to ask for a separate menu. I have only come across 2 restaurants that do this!

I would highly recommend this restaurant! Below is the link to their NEW gluten free menu!

http://www.pfchangs.com/Menu/Menu.aspx?menu=14

"Going Gluten Free" On KMTR

This is a great story that was on a local news station this morning.

G-Free In Eugene

When I found out that I had to eat gluten free I was not a very happy girl and I thought that life would down right suck. Well, I was wrong, it is completely doable and enjoyable. I quickly came to realize that the nurse at my doctor's office was right when she told me that Eugene was the best place to be for a g-free diet!

This weekend my husband and I found 2 new local g-free restaurants that we had not been to before. On Saturday night we went to a restaurant that is new to town, Cafe 440. It is in a great location, on Coburg Road, near the Oakway Center. They don't have a strictly gluten free menu but the servers are knowledgeable! They are planning on developing a separate menu for the g-free population. The waiter we had recommended the bacon wrapped pork with mashed potatoes topped with a marionberry wine sauce, so that is what I got, and I loved it! I think next time I go I will try the salmon with risotto. As you can see, eating gluten free is not always bland and boring!

After church, on Sunday, we met friends at Studio One Cafe near the UofO Campus. As you walk in the front "door" you walk through beads and I figured that any place that has beads for a door has got to understand what gluten is! Again, they did not have a strictly g-free menu but the servers were very knowledgeable! I had the "Beverly Hillbilly" scramble with a mimosa!

http://cafe440eugene.com

http://studioonecafe.com

Don't Worry It's Sourdough Bread

For Valentines Day my husband and I went to a cute little dinner theatre. We had tickets for brunch and the the play "Cats". Well, I immediately was skeptical about whether or not the employees would know exactly what g-free is. When I tell people it's in everything, I'm not exaggerating. It can be in lunch meat, cheese, sauces, etc. I decided to be on the safe side and eat before I went to the show. When I have the choice to, or I am able to, I would rather be safe than sorry and eat at home or somewhere that guarantees their food to be g-free.

While we were there and enjoying my hot tea, I overheard the waitress talking to the table next to us. As soon as I hear someone say "Is there gluten in that?" my ears quickly go up like a dog hearing someone at the door. So, I began to ignore my husband and listen to this conversation. The woman wanted to order the eggs benedict but didn't want the bread because she is allergic to wheat. To my absolute surprise the waitress said "Don't worry, they put it on sourdough bread, not wheat bread". At that point, I was so glad that my husband took me to one of my favorite g-free restaurants in Eugene before the play. (I will write a different blog post about g-free restaurants.)

This is a great example of how people don't understand exactly what gluten is or what it is in. I don't blame people for not understanding. I never understood what it was until I had to understand what it was. If people don't know someone that can't eat gluten then they have no reason to understand what it is. My annoyance kicks in only when I am at a food establishment and they are clueless. I feel as though you should be knowledgeable about the food you are serving. Just like I am knowledgeable about the curriculum I am teaching my students. It's your job!

Why a Gluten Free Blog?

In the past 6 months, I have been asked many questions............What is Celiac Disease? What is Gluten? Why can't you eat it? I only used 1/4 of a cup, can't you eat it? I can just scrape off the seasoning, right? Cant you just pick off the croutons? What will you eat for Thanksgiving? It's Christmas, can't you fudge just for the holidays? You can drink milk, right? Can't you have a chef salad? It just marinated in it, that's all. Did you go shopping? How long do you have to do this? Can I just order you a sub on white instead of wheat?

After hearing these questions, and I'm sure there are more, I realized that maybe I should start a blog. I've been thinking about doing this for a few months and in that time a thought of why I wanted to write this blog (other than the the obvious above!)

1. To help my friends and family understand me better.

2. To help others that may have Celiac Disease or are wondering if they do.

3. To answer the many questions that people have.

One of my main goals in writing this blog is to help my friends and family understand me better. This is a lifestyle that was chosen for me, I did not choose it. I'm not doing this because I think I'm fat for because I've been in Eugene long enough to turn into a hippie. I'm doing this because in August, after about 6 months of wondering what was wrong with me, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. To solve this problem, I simply cut out gluten from my diet. Well, it sounds simple but in all actuality it's not. It takes a lot of learning to understand it. That is why I started this blog.

The second goal I had with this blog is to possibly help others. I was medically diagnosed by a doctor but she, or the 4 other docs I went to, are not the ones that thought I could have Celiac Disease, she just ordered the tests. I am very thankful to my sister-in-law, Sabrina, for mentioning a gluten allergy to me. One day she told me about a co-workers husband that had arthritis and got a lot of relief from eating gluten free. Hmmm, I thought, this sounds really familiar. To make a long story short, I looked into it online, and then called my doctors office. In the end, it was other people that helped me, so I would like to maybe help someone else that may have Celiac Disease or the symptoms. Pass along this blog to anyone you know that may have the symptoms but doesn't have a diagnosis yet. I would love to help someone else know what is going on with them because I know what it's like to not know.

Lastly, I want to be able to answer any questions that my friends and family may have. There are obviously a lot of questions that I've gotten already and maybe you have more questions after reading this post. Sometimes it can be hard to explain multiple times why I brought my own food, why I can't eat or why a chef salad doesn't exactly solve the problem. In the next blog post I plan on answering the questions I've gotten above but if you have another question, please send it to me and you could see the answer on the next post!

Thanks for following my blog! I'm excited about the posts that will be coming soon!