What we eat: gluten-free
When I first eliminated gluten from my diet, I felt deprived. Like utterly and totally deprived of all *good* food in the world. Oh how I loved that soft and fluffy french bread dipped in olive oil w/balsamic vinaigrette... Fly me to Italy and you may see me shed a tear (or 500!) as my husband and I pretty much survived on bread and cheese (and wine, oh my!) when we were there in 2009 (aka before going gluten-free).
Oh the memories...
When others find out that we are a gluten-free household, I'm often met with the response, "What on earth do you eat?!" I felt the same way in the beginning. The transition to a gluten-free lifestyle was not easy. It was a journey and it was a journey that I didn't enjoy {like, at all}. I would look at food in the grocery store and say, "I can't have this, I can't have that..." as I stumbled my way through the aisles. Now, having been gluten-free for over 2 years, I have a totally different perspective! Now I eat real food, and for the most part, I don't find myself questioning the possibility that something I ate had gluten in it {unless I'm eating outside of my own kitchen}. I'm going to give you a quick run down of what we eat, on a regular basis. The usual breakfast options:
oatmeal (Trader Joe's GF) - I like to use unsweetened coconut milk (also from TJ's) or almond milk instead of milk or water. I also add cinnamon and raisins, the kids love it.
eggs (scrambled, omelettes, fried, hard-boiled) - I like to throw in some peppers, mushrooms, spinach, and cheese when I do scrambled eggs or omelettes. I cut the vegetables up nice and small so the kids don't complain too much. ;)
protein shake - Shakeology. I like chocolate, tropical strawberry and cafe latte flavors best. I use water as a base, though sometimes use unsweetened almond milk instead and I add 1/2 of a frozen banana, lots of spinach and sometimes almond butter. There are a gazillion ways to spice up the shakes, I like to experiment from time to time.
pancakes or waffles (The Cravings Place All Purpose Pancake & Waffle Mix) - we only do pancakes/waffles if we're having eggs and the kids only get the pancakes if they eat their eggs. ;) I like this GF mix because it's so simple to make, and the pancakes taste great! I usually add some unsweetened apple sauce to the mix with water, unsweetened coconut milk, or almond milk. I don't measure, I just add liquid until I get the right consistency. Sometimes I add a little vanilla and cinnamon. The pancakes/waffles have the perfect texture - just like those gluten filled ones we used to enjoy.
The typical lunch (note: we usually have fruit and vegetables paired with one of the following items at lunch time):
Quinoa - we eat a lot of quinoa. I usually make a quinoa salad with black beans, garbanzo beans, red/orange/yellow peppers and artichokes all mixed in. Our girls love it.
Salmon patties (purchased from Costco - WARNING: read the packages, some salmon patties have gluten in them!) - I use my cast iron pan to quickly grill up salmon patties for my kids. Dip a bite of salmon patty in mayonnaise, and it's even more delicious. We usually pair the salmon with a green vegi (typically steamed broccoli)
Sandwiches (Udi's bread, or lately we use the Trader Joes GF bread) - on days I need to make something quick, my fall back is a good old fashioned PB&J, grilled cheese sandwich or a meat n'cheese sandwich (sometimes I sub hummus for mayonnaise - yum). I love panini's so I usually grill our sandwiches (I have a Cuisinart Griddler - absolutely LOVE it!).
The last-minute dinner:
Meat and vegi's. Seriously. We eat a lot of meat and vegetables for dinner. Whether it's shrimp, steak, fish or chicken (my least favorite), we eat it with a vegetable (the usual stuff in our refrigerator: asparagus, broccoli, sweet potatoes, beets, rutabaga, turnips, zucchini, peppers, and whatever else is in season).
This is a quick last-minute kind of meal at our house. I simply cut up a steak or two (or chicken), mix it with a ton of cut up vegi's, drop some olive oil in the bowl, sprinkle on some of Trader Joe's every day seasoning (great way to spice things up!), mix it up, then spread everything on a rimmed baking tray. Bake for ~15 minutes with the temp somewhere around 400-425 degrees (stirring once), and enjoy! SO SIMPLE!
When I'm being a planner, I like to use meal planning services (my go-to GF menu planning site is gfreecuisine.com). I love that they provide menus that follow seasonally available produce. They also have monthly freezer meals which are quick and easy to prepare, and taste great! So there you have it. A quick look into a typical day of eating in our gluten-free household.
