Salmon Cakes
Tag: Celiac
Philly Cheesesteak
Serves 2.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pound beef sirloin (pre-sliced or you can slice it yourself. It’s easier to slice a steak if it’s still cold!)
- 1 cup frozen peppers and onions
- 4 slices provolone cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- Tbs oil for pan (I used olive)
- Gluten free sandwich roll (I used Scharr but any roll will work!)
- Mayonnaise
Whole30 Discoveries
Well hello friends. If you can math, you know it hasn’t yet been 30 days… All of you die-hard Whole30-ers will not like the way I’m going about this, so maybe just click away from this post now…lol
When I first started Whole30, I went into it thinking that I would do exactly what the author said–follow the program to a t for 30 days and if I fell off, I’d start from the beginning. But let me tell you how that actually went down. I started on a Monday and did amazing all week! I didn’t break any rules and I wasn’t even tempted to. The first few days, I definitely felt really sleepy and the second day I had a ton of bloating. But other than that, I didn’t struggle much. As I’ve said, my eating habits aren’t that far off from the plan, so I don’t think it was a huge adjustment for my body. But by the time Friday rolled around, it was the first day where I felt clarity and energy! I got so much done during the day and I really did start to feel a difference. However, the timing of this challenge was not great as my husband is in the Army National Guard and he had his 3 week training starting at the end of this week. He was leaving on Saturday and come Friday he asked if we could go out for dinner and drinks for his last night. I MEAN, he’s gonna sleep in a tent in the woods for 3 weeks…I think I at least owed him this! So I decided to restart again after he left. I actually didn’t break THAT many rules at dinner. I got a steak with potatoes and veggies…but I had lots of alcohol lol
Fast forward to Saturday, when my girl Cassie, AKA Gluten Gossip, had her birthday celebration at a brewery. It had a gorgeous outdoor patio with all kinds of games AND they served cider/mixed drinks…so I totally could have just continued drinking, but I was actually surprised how easy it was for me to just stick to water! And then she brought out the gluten free cupcakes…and I ate one lol BUT come Sunday, I started over.
I stuck to the plan and noticed something HUGE this week–I no longer had cravings. This is a big deal for me. I’m almost ALWAYS thinking about food. Like an hour after dinner is over, I’m actively arguing with my brain about how I don’t need a snack lol All I want to do all night long is eat something…I don’t usually do anything crazy–it’s usually just popcorn, fruit, pieces of chocolate, etc…and a lot of time all of those things. It just feels so annoying to constantly be wanting to eat though! But suddenly, with all those grains off the table, I felt totally stable…which seems like a weird word to describe it, but it’s dead on! I wasn’t thinking about food at all in the evening! Even when dinner time rolled around, I didn’t feel like I was starving to death. There were one or two nights where I actually did get hungry (not just bored) and I had some watermelon or an apple with almond butter and felt totally satisfied.
It was at this point that I kind of realized I had gotten what I wanted out of Whole30. I’ve been a carb-fiend my whole life. Any time I saw a diet that cut out carbs, I didn’t even give it a thought. I’m great at not eating grains during the day, but come dinner time, I always felt like I NEEDED grains or I wouldn’t be satisfied. The thought of skipping that seemed like pure torture and something I just couldn’t sustain. But for some reason, this time around I decided to give it a go and it seriously changed everything for me. Suddenly, controlling my portions at dinner wasn’t even a big deal because I could eat SO many veggies without worrying about it! I think this is one of my biggest take-aways. Portion control is always so hard for me and when I’m eating this way, it’s not even an issue anymore! Plus it inspired me to get really creative in the kitchen and make things I wouldn’t have thought of before. Like this shrimp stir fry:
I had never used coconut aminos before, even though I always meant to try them. And I make stir-fry ALL the time, so I knew I needed to get them for this challenge. I was BLOWN AWAY at how amazing they were. The depth of flavor was insane and this was by far the best stir fry I’ve ever made (flavor-wise).
I kept thinking up new recipes and was shocked again and again by how satisfying they were! These ground turkey lettuce tacos were SO good and I made enough so that I could have taco salad the following night. Plus not limiting my intake of avocado…? That’s all I’ve ever wanted in life!
I also started getting creative with coconut flour and found that I could make a lot of yummy dishes with that–like fried eggplant or “breaded”-mustard chicken.
I started really enjoying my lunches again and feeling invigorated by not having to worry about how much of each food I was eating. This way of eating really just changed my mindset. I feel like before, my mindset towards food was like a super anxious dog that’s jumping around and growling and whining….like he just can’t seem to control himself or figure out how he feels! But this way of eating has made me feel like a a dog chillin’ out in the sun haha zen.
Later that week, I went out to dinner with my parents at Outback. I was doing great! I turned down wine (easily), ate carrots and celery as an appetizer, ordered steak and potatoes plus salad, and when dessert came around I didn’t care about it at all. But I could tell my parents really wanted it and they wanted me to share it with them. Food is just such a big thing for my family–it’s really something we connect over and it’s how a lot of them show their love. So I agreed and for the first time that I can remember, I ate a few bites and put my spoon down willingly. Usually, I’m like elbow deep in there and I’m in it til the end! This time, I felt satisfied after a taste and was good to go. WHAT?!
So it was at this point that I decided I didn’t need to keep going with Whole30 fully. I had gotten the mental peace that I wanted from it and I saw how I could incorporate it into my life. Going forward, I now understand that all the grains and sugar really do make my brain feel out of control. I plan on cutting way down on them during the week so that when the weekend rolls around, or the occasional blogging dinner, I can indulge in a healthy way–in a way where I thoroughly enjoy myself, but I don’t feel frenzied or the need to eat WAY more than I need. I feel like I finally have control over food.
Deep Dish Pizza
Since being diagnosed, deep dish pizza was really the only thing on my Celiac bucket list that I just couldn’t seem to find. Understandably I guess, since gluten is pretty key in that whole thick crust thing. But being raised in the Midwest, I was dying for some deep dish. I grew up on that delicious, caramelized crust that was every bit as tasty as the sauce and cheese and New England pizza just wasn’t doing it for me. All you can get around here is super thin crust that, to me, tastes like cardboard. Even before being diagnosed, I just wasn’t a fan of any of it. My husband is from the New Haven area, which is famous for it’s thin crust pizza, so we’ve had many debates about which crust is best! I just can’t understand why you’d want your crust to taste like cardboard when you could have it taste good…? Haha You can take the girl out of the Midwest, but not the Midwest out of the girl I guess.
Anyways, it was always on my to-do list to just go ahead and try to make it. As they say, if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself. Well, as fate would have it, I was watching my favorite Food Network show–The Kitchen–and Jeff Mauro made a Detroit-Style pan pizza. I watched him make it and honestly it didn’t look too hard! I figured I’d just go ahead and give it a try. Some important things I learned from my experiment:
- I don’t know if it’s the gluten free flour or what, but my food processor could NOT handle making this dough. On the show, he just threw everything into the food processor, pressed pulse, and it formed into a little ball. Wanna know what mine did? It started smoking lol And it was the same type of food processor too! So now when I make the dough, I just make it in a bowl.
- You need a little bit more flour than his recipe calls for.
- Your dough isn’t going to rise as much as his does, but it’s all good.
So after living and learning, here is how I make it! I start by getting 3 cups of gluten-free all purpose flour into a bowl. Then I add in 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp dry active yeast. Yeast is one of those things that I think people are sometimes confused about. As long as it’s not brewer’s yeast, it’s usually gluten free! The little packet I bought said “contains no wheat or gluten” right on it just to reassure people.
Mix up all your dry ingredients until they’re combined and then slowly add in 1 cup of warm water. At that point, I just put some olive oil on my hands and get in there. I mix it all by hand and then start kneading it. Keep folding and kneading it for about 10 minutes. I find this incredibly relaxing lol But I also love all things sensory–play dough, slime, etc. Once it’s nice and kneaded, plop it into an oiled bowl and put some plastic wrap over it. Find a spot in your kitchen that’s kind of warm and leave it there for a couple of hours. It should rise a little bit, but don’t expect anything crazy. Jeff’s doubled in size, but that’s just not gonna happen for us.
After a few hours, you should be good to go. Now it’s time to get it in the pan. The key to that caramelized crust is to cook the pizza on HIGH heat with LOTS of olive oil so it essentially fries. So preheat your oven to 500 degrees and drizzle a healthy amount of olive oil in an 8×8 pan.
Make sure you spread the oil up onto the sides too. You want the sides of the crust to fry and get all crispy/caramelized as well!
Then you’re just going to press your dough into the pan. Spread it out evenly. I’ve done it where you make the middle thinner and do a more defined crust and also where the whole thing is the same thickness…both work just fine! So it’s really up to you.
I used quite a bit of olive oil so it kind of overflowed into the dough. Try not to let that happen haha But it’s not the end of the world if it does. Next, you’re going to add a layer of pepperoni and diced mozzarella cheese. That’s right, I said diced! The Detroit-style uses cubes of mozzarella cheese, but really whatever you want to do is fine. I’m sure shredded would be great as well!
At this point, you’re going to drizzle a few lines of pizza sauce. I just use jarred pizza sauce–typically the Classico kind. And then you can top the sauce with a little more pepperoni if you’d like….I say the more the better.
Now you’re just going to put it in the oven on the bottom rack for 10-20 minutes. It honestly depends on your oven. My pizza is usually perfect between 15-20 minutes, but your oven might work harder than mine, so just check on it!
Not too shabby, eh?? I was super satisfied and my husband couldn’t stop raving about it!! He’s asked me to make it several times again already! WIN.
Ingredients:
- Pizza Dough
- 3 cups all purpose gluten free flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp dry active yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- Toppings
- Jarred pizza sauce (about a cup, depending on your preference)
- Block of mozzarella cheese (you’ll use about 1/2 an 8oz block)
- Pepperoni (I use Hormel or Applegate)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Add flour, salt, sugar, and yeast to a bowl. Mix together.
- Pour in warm water. Put some olive oil on your hands and then begin to mix the dough together until it’s all incorporated and cohesive.
- Knead the dough for about 10 minutes.
- Place ball of dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit in a warm spot in your kitchen for about 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Add olive oil to a metal 8×8 pan and then press dough into it, spreading evenly.
- Top with a layer of pepperoni.
- Add cubed pieces of mozzarella (about 1/2 inch cubes)
- Drizzle pizza sauce in lines down the pizza. 3-4 lines is usually good.
- Top with another layer of pepperoni (optional)
- Place on bottom rack in oven and bake for 10-20 minutes or until edges are brown and cheese is melted.
- Let cool and enjoy!!
Reactions All Celiacs Can Relate to…
Having Celiac Disease is definitely a life changing experience. Until you have it, you don’t realize how many aspects of your life involve food! And suddenly having to worry so much about every single thing you put into your mouth changes everything. So here are 10 reactions that I’m guessing all of you Celiacs can also relate to lol Feel free to add some more in the comments!
- When you’re not expecting to be able to eat anything, but someone surprises you by going out of their way to get something gluten free just for you and it hits you right in the feels
2. When friends or family decide to cook you a “gluten free” meal but you feel the need sit in the corner and watch to make sure they don’t accidentally mess up… “Hey what’s that seasoning you just used??”
3. When someone makes you a gluten free meal and you don’t get to watch them make it so you ask “So how’d you make this??” trying to pass it off like you just wanna know the recipe and not like you’re listening intently for possible gluten traps. 
4.When you ask the waiter if something is gluten free and he says “Yeah, I’m pretty sure”…but you can see in his eyes he has no freaking clue. 
5. When you’re trying to figure out where to go to dinner with a group of people and someone suggests a place that’s really not Celiac-friendly and they say “But I’m sure you can get a salad.”
6. When someone serves you something with gluten and then they ask if you can just pick it off
7. When you tell someone you’re gluten free and they say “Omg, I would die if I couldn’t have gluten.” Really…? Would you really DIE?
8. When you take a bite of something that’s gluten free, but it’s so good you can’t quite believe you’re not being poisoned.
9. When you take a chance on a restaurant and you’re not sure how they’ll be about the whole “gluten free” thing, but they end up blowing you out of the water.
10. When you meet someone else that has Celiac and you feel instantly connected/wanna talk about it for hours.
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Any reactions you would add??
Dating with Celiac Disease
For anyone without Celiac disease, this might seem like a silly post. But for anyone that’s single at the time of their diagnosis, it really does add some extra stress to your plate! You wonder what will happen if your date chooses a restaurant you can’t eat at…will you seem high maintenance? What if you get sick on the date? Not cute! What if he drinks beer and then tries to kiss me?
Yeah…these were all things I thought about. At the time of my diagnosis, I was actually in a relationship. I had been dating him for almost 5 years so I was really comfortable with him and didn’t worry about him accommodating this new challenge. He didn’t mind looking for gluten free places to eat or asking about cross contamination. However, being that I started dating him when I was 16 and I was now 20, we were growing apart. I was diagnosed in November and come February, I was single for the first time really ever in my “adult” life. I say “adult” loosely because what did I even know about adulthood at 20? lol But you get the idea.
It’s really hard to pull off the “I’m a cool girl. I’m so chill. I’m up for whatever,” when you have Celiac. I feel like I actually am pretty easy going and low key (lol), but there are just a lot of things that others don’t even think about. Like if a guy orders a random drink and he’s like “omg try this, it’s so good” and then instead of being able to be flirty and positive, you have to be like “Do you remember what’s in it…? Hm. Okay. Hang on. I just have to google that obscure brand of alcohol and read through 16 discussion threads to see if I can have it.” Life of the party, right? And if the guy wants to pick the restaurant you’re going on for your date, you have to hope he just accidentally picks a gluten-friendly place so you don’t even have to bring it up. Because boy do you feel bad saying “I appreciate that you chose somewhere for us, but I actually can’t eat there. Can you pick somewhere else? No..not there either. Try again.”
But I actually think Celiac might make the dating process easier. HEAR ME OUT. It’s a fantastic way to test out how empathetic and compassionate someone is right from the get-go! If you bring up having Celiac when you start talking and the guy/girl seems totally put out and annoyed by your AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE then honey, I have a feeling that frog has a ton of other issues as well. It almost works as a filter. It weeds out the inconsiderate, selfish assholes before you waste more time on them! Imagine the poor people out there who don’t have Celiac and have to date that guy or girl for MONTHS before finding out they’re a self-centered jerk….those poor souls. Most people only get to see how kind or rude their date is to the waiter, but you also get to see how kind they are to you and how concerned they are about you staying safe! I mean, that’s kinda awesome, right?
I actually really didn’t have any trouble dating with Celiac. Almost everyone I talked to was incredibly understanding and I often got the “Oh yeah, my cousin/brother/friend/mom has Celiac” response. It’s amazing how many people know someone that has it! Any time a guy suggested taking me out to dinner, I just responded “Absolutely, I’d love to! Just a heads up, I have Celiac Disease, so I have to avoid gluten. I’m more than happy to suggest some safe restaurants in the area!” Usually they took me up on that or asked if the place they had in mind would work. It really wasn’t a big deal. Probably takes some of the pressure off of them not having to decide on a restaurant.
So my high school sweetheart and I broke up in February and I met my now-husband in March…sometimes that’s just how life works haha We weren’t officially a couple until June, but we did a lot of dating in the mean time! From the start, the gluten thing was just never an issue. I told him all the places I usually go in the area and we’d just pick from there. I can remember one time he even invited me over for dinner and made gluten free chicken parm! He put so much work into it and made sure that everything was safe! And it was…I didn’t get sick!
He was also super protective of me when we’d go anywhere, right from the beginning. He always triple checked with waiters and waitresses. If we were at a party and they were playing flip cup, he’d secure a clean spot for me and make sure no beer entered my zone lol And when he started taking me home to his family, he’d stay in the kitchen and talk his mom through cooking gluten free so I didn’t have to be the annoying one!
So I think the moral to the story is, if someone isn’t understanding about your disease or they don’t make an effort to accommodate you, they’re just not the one. That’s my personal opinion. If someone sees you for you and understands how special you are, they’re going to do anything and everything to make sure you’re safe, healthy, and happy. So if you’re newly diagnosed and terrified that Celiac is gonna scare away all your potentials suitors, don’t be. If anything, it’s going to make it easier to see who’s truly special and worth your time.
Here we are “back when we were dating”…I love saying that now lol it still sounds funny.
And here we are enjoying our gluten free wedding cake together <3 Don’t worry guys, you can have your gluten free cake and eat it too!
So You’ve Got Celiac….Now What?
So maybe you’ve been miserable for weeks, months, or years and you finally found out what was wrong! Or maybe you had no symptoms and just happened to get some blood work done. Either way, you now know you have Celiac Disease and you’re completely overwhelmed. Yeah, don’t worry, we’ve all been there. If you’re anything like I was, you probably barely even know what gluten is. I had so many thoughts racing through my head…”What is gluten in other than bread?” “Can I drink alcohol?” “Will anything ever taste good?” “How hard is this going to be?”
Listen, it’s a lot to take in. And in my experience, there aren’t a lot of clear and concise articles out there to help you. When I was diagnosed, I wanted an article to be like okay, you have Celiac, here’s what to do right now…but I couldn’t find one. Everything seemed to ramble on and it all felt so over my head. I don’t want you to feel that way, so I’m gonna give you what I didn’t have–a game plan. Follow the plan and you’ll be off to a great start! More importantly though, be patient with yourself. There’s a lot to learn! You’re going to mess up. But trust me, in a year or two, you’ll be a gluten-free expert ready to help other newbies! Okay so here we go…
1. Figure out what the heck gluten even is.
So, if you haven’t heard by now, gluten is wheat, barley, and rye. Often you’ll hear people talk about wheat, but not always the barley and rye. As far as wheat goes, think anything that’s made with flour. Bread, flour tortillas, cake, cookies, pasta, crackers, orzo, pizza dough, etc. DON’T PANIC YET. As for barley and rye, I don’t run into it a ton. Barley is used to make beer and it’s also sometimes an ingredient in chocolate or chips (it’ll read “barley malt”). Honestly the only place I’ve ever seen rye is in rye bread. When you’re looking at labels, most will call out wheat as an ingredient at the bottom, but many will not call out barley. So really that’s the only thing I’ve found I really need to pay attention to. Here’s an example:
As you can see, the Lindt Chocolate truffles do not list wheat, barley, or rye in the allergen statement (“May contain….”). But if you look at the ingredients, barley malt powder is the second to last one. Wheat is considered more of an “allergen”, so that’s the one most companies identify. On the Cheese-It’s, you can see it clearly calls out wheat in it’s allergen statement.
Lindt Chocolate Truffle
Cheese-Its
2. Clear all the obvious gluten out of your house!
You’re going to need to get your kitchen in the gluten-free spirit, so just go for it. Throw away or give away your bread, pasta, crackers, cookies, beer, etc. Something you may not think to do but you need to is to throw away all your jarred condiments! This means your mayo, peanut butter, tub of butter, jelly, etc. Anything you’ve dipped a knife into, spread onto a piece of gluteny bread, and then dipped your knife back in. Those jars are super contaminated with gluten crumbs and yes, crumbs matter.
Check the spices in your spice cabinet. I’ve found wheat hiding in the ingredients of a lot of them! Especially the pepper. McCormick is a great brand because they bold any allergens in their ingredient list (including barley!). If you’re not sure if something has gluten in it, it’s okay. Hang tight and we’ll get there.
Throw out your soy sauce. Nearly all of them contain wheat as the second ingredient, unless you happen to always buy La Choy.
If you have a toaster where the bread pops up, you’re going to need to get rid of that and replace it with a new one that will be exclusively gluten free. If you have a toaster oven, you can just put tin foil down every time you toast something! It just depends if you’re sharing a household with someone and what-not.
3. Replace your gluten staples with gluten free ones!
So many times when people get diagnosed with Celiac, they think they need to start cooking in an entirely new way. They look up gluten-free recipes and are terrified. So many have like 6 different kinds of flour you’ve never heard of and it sounds impossible. Ignore that!! It’s so much simpler than that. I didn’t change the way I cooked at all….all I did was swap out the gluten ingredients in my normal recipes for gluten-free alternatives.
Get yourself some gluten-free bread (I love Udi’s or BFree), gluten free pasta (Barilla makes gluten free penne that tastes like regular pasta), certified gluten free oatmeal, and gluten free all purpose flour. At least for me, that’s mainly what I need to shift all my recipes into gluten free recipes! I also buy gluten free bread crumbs, gluten free pancake mix, and sometimes gluten free cereal. But just decide what you eat the most or cook with the most, and buy the gluten free version! I remember the day I got diagnosed, I went to the gluten free section of the store and bought crackers, pretzels, and all kinds of random snacks. The thing is…I never even ate pretzels or crackers as snacks when I did eat gluten…so why do I need them now? lol Just because they’re gluten free? No…don’t change your whole life!
4. Download this gluten free app
There are tons of apps out there and I’ve tried several over the years! However, I really only ever end up using 1 and I use it a lot!
Find Me Gluten Free. This one is a LIFE SAVER. Put in your address and it’ll show you all the restaurants around you that have gluten free options and how good they are! Lots of other gluten-free people rate them and you can see what their experiences were like. This is what I use every time I’m traveling and need to find somewhere safe or even just to see if any new restaurants around me got added! You’ll find some serious gems on there.
5. Stock up on some gluten free snacks to take on the go
I’ll be straight up with you, you’re gonna find yourself in situations where there’s nothing you can eat. Whether it’s a birthday party, a work function, a wedding, a food court….where ever. Sometimes there’s just nothing that’s safe. And I’ll be honest, this might be upsetting to you for the first few years. I literally cried at a food court once because I couldn’t find anything to eat….my family was a little taken aback and went to talk to Subway about making me something haha I wasn’t crying about that one moment of not getting anything to eat, I was crying because I realized this was my life now…I was going to face this a lot. But trust me when I say it gets better. I cried over nachos in 2014 and I’m happy to say that was the last time I cried over gluten lol I don’t get upset like that anymore because I’m just used to it and I prepare for it. Get lots of Larabars and Kind Bars. I have at least one in my purse almost always. Situations where gluten free options aren’t around feel MUCH better when you’re not totally starving haha I also bring bananas with me as well!
6. Join a Celiac Support group on Facebook
I waited a long time to do this and I wish I hadn’t! It’s a great group to belong to and you get a lot of your random questions answered! Plus it makes you not feel so alone. This past Christmas, our group did a Gluten Free Secret Santa and it was awesome!!
7. Find some people to follow on Instagram
Just search #glutenfreeliving or #celiac and you’ll find TONS of people that are living gluten free. You’ll get awesome tips, recipes, and you’ll probably meet some awesome new people!
8. Discover all the things that are naturally gluten free!
There’s actually a ton that is already gluten free that you probably don’t even realize! Meat, fruit, vegetables, rice, quinoa, cheese, milk, yogurt, lots of ice creams, sushi, etc. I promise you there’s plenty to eat!
There are even lots of other products that are gluten free as well!
Reese’s peanut butter cups, Cool Ranch Doritos, Haagan Dazs Ice Cream, Tostitos tortilla chips, Lay’s potato chips, Cheerios, Lucky Charms, the list goes on and on…
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In the beginning, focus on the big things and get comfortable with those! There are lots of little tidbits of info that you’ll learn along the way, but just give yourself time. You’ll learn that gluten hides in chicken stock, holiday shaped Reese’s, dried beans, and random crap like that. But trust me, you WILL learn it all in time. Be patient, take a deep breath, and take it one meal at a time! I promise you can do it.
If you ever have any questions or just want to talk, feel free to contact me!