The Wheat-Free Experiment- Day 1

The kitchen amid the prep for Day 1 of the Wheat-Free Experiment. It's  work I tell you, work!  The blender, the food processor, the laptop,  popsicle molds, every bowl in the house, all employed to help me get ready.  

Day one of our Wheat-Free Experiment is under our formerly wheat-bellied belt.  Whew.  Let me wipe away the sweat I built up in the kitchen.  Going wheat-free requires a lot of cooking and making from scratch.  By the end of this I will never want to see another bag of Bob's Red Mill anything.  It will be the greatest of treats to buy a loaf of premade bread.

None of this is meant to indicate that Day One was a bad day. It really wasn't, it was great.  Most of my kitchen time was actually spent the day before we started our experiment. I made a loaf of bread using the best recipe I have found so far, this Delicious Gluten Free Bread  from the Gluten-Free Goddess.  She knows her stuff on this topic.  I have made this bread several times, often substituting the sorgham flour for garbanzo bean flour, which I prefer.  While that mixed in the bread maker, I got the bright idea to pull together the dry ingredients for several other recipes since all the special supplies were out.  I now have the dry mixes for another loaf of bread, pizza dough, and banana muffins ready to go.  I also made a batch of granola bars from Smitten Kitchen.  I ground up a  cup of walnuts and used coconut oil in place of butter, and maple syrup. I added dried cranberries and pepitas.

The morning of Day One arrived and the pantry had been mysteriously swept clean of any remaining wheat-full foods.  Mostly some sandwich crackers, breadcrumbs, and graham crackers.  There were two boxes of cereal in the kids' cupboard, rice Chex and corn Chex.  Mister is a cereal addict.  He must have cereal for breakfast. Oh,and then toast about an hour later.  No complaints on my homemade bread from anyone, all day.

There were no leftovers to send with Josh to work for his lunch, but I quickly pulled together a giant Chef salad. I thanked my lucky stars that I had some hard boiled eggs and homemade dressing.  I was feeling a little frazzled already.

Petite had an apple with peanut butter for breakfast, after her usual cup of warm milk.  For mid-morning snack, I brought out the granola bars. They were absolutely delicious, in my opinion, but the dried fruit and pumpkin seeds made the oldest two turn up their noses.  Sigh.  But Petite and I enjoyed them immensely.

I had a leftover baked sweet potato for lunch.  I made the kids open faced grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.  Mid-afternoon snack was homemade juice and fruit popsicles (frozen strawberries and Concord grape juice.)

I was going out to dinner with a friend, but I still had to make everyone else supper.  For them, I made Salisbury steak patties with mushroom gravy, mashed potato and steamed pea pods. Okay, I admit, the only part of this the kids would eat is the potato. For them, nitrate free hot dogs and the usual baby carrots.  They would later have popcorn with their movie night.

My girlfriend and I went to a Mexican restaurant, which is a very easy place to be wheat-free because of the corn tortillas. Not to mention the corn chips on the table while you figure out what you want to eat. And the huge mound of guacamole we ordered to go with it.  Later we hit Target and I just can barely help going into Target without visiting that little coffee shop so often attached.  Yeah, Starbucks.  Buckies, as I fondly call it. At the checkout (where I was purchasing NutCrisp crackers and Archer Farms fruit bars) I got a printed coupon for a free bakery item with an grande or venti drink.  Ooooo, I thought. Free bakery item!  But wait. That's right.  All those bakery items have wheat in them.  So I just ordered my raspberry non-fat mocha and was happy with that. And frankly, I was still overly stuffed from all the tortilla chips and guacamole.

But it's been eye-opening just how prevalent wheat is. And how cheap it is (compared to many other grains).  And how very difficult it must be for those who must be truly gluten-free. Add on top of that dairy free.  Corn free.  Soy free.  Wow, there would be so little one could eat!  Even as I made some homemade mac n cheese (using rice past shells), I realized I couldn't thicken the sauce with the usual flour.  It's in there too.  Rice flour worked just fine, but again, eye opening.

What I have learned so far as the mastermind behind this whole experiment:

It is work. Mental and physical. It takes a thought of thought and planning to prepare meals and snacks that don't contain wheat.  It requires more time in the kitchen as I make my own bread from scratch instead of stocking up from the bread aisle.  I have to be thinking ahead and anticipating not just the food needs of today, but also tomorrow. Case in point, there was no bread this morning for Josh to have his usual toast and peanut butter. So he had oatmeal.

Lunch is the trickiest meal of the day.  Sandwiches can't be the go-to food when bread isn't cheap and as soft and fluffy as the wheat-full stuff.  It's not as challenging for Josh and I, as we eat a much wider variety of foods, but it is a challenge when it comes to feeding the kids.  I have wanted to cheat already by buying regular bread, just to make my life easier. But the research factor makes me want to keep on.

I do really like the fact that better, more wholesome foods are replacing the usual snacks around here.  Fresh fruit, cheese sticks, homemade fruit pops and granola.  And it is much harder to mindlessly east these foods than it is a box of Cheez-Its (my all time favorite cracker).

We currently have three days under our belt.  We've had homemade baked beans, mac n cheese, and made one of the many gluten-free Chex Mix recipes from their website (fun and easy snack to make with kiddos). This morning I made muffins with one of the dry mixes I made, and chili will be going in the crockpot for dinner.  Maybe I'll search out a gluten free cornbread recipe.

I'm already annoyed that life revolves around gluten.  My GF friends, you have my sympathies.