The GF Sweet Tooth

Ok, first of all, sorry for my absence! Second of all, sorry for neglecting your sweet tooth! Today I'm going to post two of our favorite sweets that we make with a GF cup for cup flour blend and two of our favorite goodies that are GF from scratch! 

WARNING: just because they're GF and mostly natural ingredients does not mean they're healthy (so don't eat too many in a short period of time unless you plan to work out while doing so)!

CUP FOR CUP RECIPES:

Zucchini Bread
3 eggs
1 cup of coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
2 cups of turbanado sugar (white sugar ok too)
2 cups grated zucchini (about 2-3 med. zucchini with skin on)
2 tsp GF vanilla extract
3 cups GF flour blend (I like Namaste or GF Creations Bakery)
3 tsp found cinnamon 
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp GF baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8x4 in loaf pans with GF flour. 
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt, nuts and cranberries, stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans. 
Bake for 60-70 min or until done. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

2 Tbsp GF All Purpose Baking Flour (I use Bob's Red Mill For this recipe)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract 
1 slightly beaten egg
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup of peanut butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients together and roll into 1 inch balls and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for approx. 8 minutes. Makes about 24 cookies. 

SCRATCH RECIPES:

Frosted Lemon Squares

1 1/2 sticks butter (we use DF butter)

3/4 cup bakers sugar (basically super fine sugar but NOT powdered sugar)

2 eggs
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)
1 1/2 tsp GF baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
Frosting Ingredients:
Freshly shredded rind and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup superfine sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put the butter, sugar, eggs, flours, baking powder, and xanthan gum in the bowl of a food processor (blenders work too!). Whiz together for a few seconds to amalgamate. Spread the mixture evenly in a well greased Swiss roll tin 10x7in, and bake for 25-35 minutes or until pale golden brown. 
Meanwhile mix all the ingredients for the frosting in a bowl. As soon as the biscuits are cooked, spoon a little of the frosting over the top at a time, allowing it to soak through before pouring on more. Leave to cool in the pan. Cut into squares. 

For the last scratch recipe check out my friend Holly's GF Vegan Apple Muffins From My Plant Based Family, they are to die for!!! While you're there, check out some of her other yummy recipes!

Well, there you have it! Enjoy, share and be blessed!!!

Swapping Sweets for Strep

Blog friends, I dislike doing this to you again, but I had a sick kiddo with strep at the beginning of the week, which is when I do my blog prep. I really wanted to give you more than two recipes this week, so I'm going to pass on posting a lame post with only one GF goody for you to try. Next week I promise (scouts honor!) to bring you my favorite GF baking tips with 4 recipes. 2 that are yummy GF cup for cup recipes and 2 "from scratch" GF recipes!!! They will be keepers!

Thanks for understanding and staying with me even though I don't post daily. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by once a week. I truly hope that being gluten free is becoming or already is a blessing in your life! See you next week, until then, be blessed!

Dinner Ideas Anyone?!

Sorry for my unexcused absence last week! I went to Williams, AZ for a Women's Retreat with my church. It was a spiritually refreshing time and physically enduring fun as I climbed to the top of a 6 1/2 story rock wall 4 times, ran 3.5 miles out in the wilderness and did a yoga class. That is my idea of a weekend away from the kids and hubby, I would honestly be bored at a spa! Lol!

Anyways, last time we met I promised some of our favorite recipes, which I will give you today. But, first I want to share with you two of my favorite blogs for GF recipes! Www.glutenfreeonashoestring.com has AMAZING and simple recipes. I also have her cookbook and have been told many times that the meals from her book are "keepers"! Also, a friend of mine has blog that is plant based but has a lot of GF versions. She has an amazing recipe for Breakfast Quinoa which has replaced instant ostmeal in our house. Not to mention tons GF baked goods! You can find her yummy goodness at www.myplantbasedfamily.wordpress.com. I have also found lots of great recipes on food networks site as well as allrecipes.com.

You'd be surprised how many meals/recipes could be modified so they are GF. It's as simple as swapping out the flour with GF all purpose baking flour or corn starch. Or brown rice spaghetti pasta instead or regular. What about grinding up the heels of your GF bread to make bread crumbs for meatloaf and meatballs. We've even crunched up corn checks to coat chicken for that country fried chicken affect.

Being GF does NOT mean eating boring tasteless food. If anything it's opened us up to healthier more flavorful food. Here's two of our favorites right now...

Italian Style Turkey Meatloaf

21/2 lbs of Italian seasoned ground turkey ( read to make sure the brand used GF seasoning)
1/2 cup GF bread crumbs (throw two heals of GF bread in toaster then food processor or blender and viola! Way cheaper than buying GF bread crumbs at the store.)
1 egg
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1 clove garlic minced
1 tsp Italian seasoning ( I made my own blend from allrecipes.com to be sure it was GF, if you already have Italian seasoning in your cupboard, just be sure to read the label)

Mix all in large bowl

Spray a 9x13" pan with Pam. Form meat mixture into a loaf. Spread with an additional 1/2 cup marinara sauce.

Bake in 350 degree oven 1 hour or until internal temp is 165 degrees. Let stand 5 min before serving.

You can serve this with mashed potatoes and veggies, spaghetti squash and a little marinara on top or make the meat mixture into meatballs to serve with brown rice pasta and sauce. Delish!!!

The next is a MUST HAVE with kids...

Ultimate Chicken Fingers

3/4 cup Bisquick GF mix (I haven't tried this recipe with all purpose GF flour, but I think it'd turn out the same)
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp pepper (optional)
3 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into strips
2 eggs slightly beaten
Vegetable spray (Pam or its equivalent)

Heat oven to 450. Line cookie sheet with foil; spray with cooking spray.

Stir Bisquick mix, paprika, garlic salt and pepper in a shallow dish. Dip chicken into eggs, then coat with Bisquick mixture, place on cookie sheet; repeat until all strips are coated on both sides. Spray chicken with Pam.

Bake 12-14 min until no longer pink.

We like to eat them with Ore-Ida brand crinkle cut fries since they're GF and cheap if you buy the big bag at Costco, and of course some carrot sticks or cucumber slices to balance out the meal.

I have plenty more recipes to share but my thumb is getting tired since this entire blog post is coming directly to you from my iPhone! So how about next week I share some yummy baked goods recipes and tips? You might want a cookie near by when reading because you'll probably start craving one other wise. But, until then, as always, be blessed!

Xoxo- me!

Spring Break

Blog friends, it's spring break in our house so there will be no post this week. Next week I'll share some of our fav GF meals. So until then, Happy Easter and be blessed!

Where to Eat?!

Now that is the question... for this week!!! Last week we talked about where the big G could be found in your home. Now we're going to talk about where you won't find it when eating out! So as usual, read on, share, and be blessed!

I get asked all the time, "So are you like cooking allllllll the time? You must never eat out? Right?!" Yes and no is the answer. We do eat out a lot less and I do cook more than I used to and being GF is a part of that, but it doesn't mean we never eat out. It helps save money and I believe it also teaches our kids that eating out is a privilege and special treat, not something they should come to expect!

Here are a few tips on eating out before I share some of our favorite places.

• Be prepared to ask questions, a lot of questions! (ex: ask if the tacos your ordering come on flour or corn tortillas. Ask if the side of rice and beans are GF.) Basically when ordering, ask what's in it?, just like you'd read a label before buying it at the grocery store!
• Don't be embarrassed to ask said questions!!!
• Go online and see if the restaurant you're planning on going to has an allergy menu online to view. A lot of restaurants are doing this these days and being prepared before you go saves you any risk of being embarrassed by asking tons of questions and makes the ordering process a lot faster (and keeps the wait shorter which is helpful when eating out with kids)!
• Ask if the restaurant has a GF menu or substitutes. A lot of places have a GF equivalent so you're not having to leave a lot of things off what you would normally order. (ex: regular pasta dishes can sometimes be served with GF pasta.)
• Be prepared to pay a little extra at some places for the GF substitute.

Now here are some of our favorites:

Fast Food:

• Chick-fil-a: We order the grilled chicken nuggets and french fries. If you are sensitive to cross contamination (we're not) I would order their fruit bowl or small salad as a side instead of fries.
• In-N-Out: We order our burgers protein style (wrapped in lettuce) and they're fries are safe from cross contamination since it's the ONLY thing they fry there and they are freshly cut, so no G to preserve them.
• Wendy's: A friend who is GF orders their cup of chili. (We haven't yet, just because the kids won't eat it.)
• Chipotle: We get the burrito bowl, salad, or tacos with brown rice, black beans and all they veggies and salsa. No cheese or sour cream since we're DF too.
• Qdoba: Basically same as above.

Dine-In:

• True Food Kitchen
• Jason's Deli
• Indulge Burger
• Picazzo's
• Macaroni Grill
• PF Chang's
• Flo's
• Butterfield's (the only breakfast place we've found so far with GF pancakes!)
• Pita Jungle
• Mayo Clinic Hospital's cafeteria (they're food is good and my parents work there, so we often go for lunch dates with Gammy and Poppie)

Pizza:

• Barro's
• Domino's
• Chuck E. Cheese's
• Sauce
• Picazzo's

These are just some of the places off the top of my head that have SPECIFIC GF menu's/items. Most of the regular places you eat have GF items without knowing it. For example, if you go to a restaurant and order a steak with roasted veggies and mashed potatoes, the meal is most likely GF. Like I said before, just ask what's in it! If there's a gravy on those mashed potatoes, you'll want to ask if it's GF because gravy is made either with corn starch (GF version) or flour (not GF).So most likely, you don't have to give up eating at your favorite places!

Are you getting the picture?! When eating out, use your mouth and not just to eat, but prior to your meal arriving to ask a simple question, "Does this have gluten in it?" or "Is this Gluten Free?"

I promise that it's not as overwhelming as it sounds and that you can enjoy dining out when on a GF diet. But just in case you're not that ambitious yet, next week I'm going to share a few of our favorite and "on the reg" GF meals. So you'll definitely want to come back next week. Until then, be blessed!

The Gluten Free Pantry

This week we'll talk about what staple items in your pantry/cupboards have Gluten in them and the different names of Gluten you need to look out for when shopping for ingredients. I hope you are enjoying the different topics here and am so grateful that you have stopped by this week. Read on, share and be blessed!

There are many things in your pantry that you may not even realize have Gluten in them, but that's what I am here for, to tell you! How many of you keep soy sauce in your fridge for those nights you order Chinese take out or make your own stir fry? Well, be ware that you're most likely using a soy sauce with gluten in it. Our favorite GF soy sauce is the Low Sodium Tamari brand found at most grocers. If your soy sauce has the big G in it you can bet that your pre-made Teriyaki Sauce and Peanut Sauce have it too. If the sauce has soy sauce as an ingredient it's probably not GF, but the Tamari brand has some yummy pre-made Asian sauces that are GF.

Here's another one for you, how about taco seasoning or gravy mix, even the ever so popular french onion soup mix and bouillon cubes? Basically any of those seasoning packets, soup mixes, and even spice blends that you buy at the grocery store have gluten in them. It's used as a preservative and thickener. For gravy we make our own with corn starch or a GF flour blend. Our favorite GF taco seasoning is from Penzey's, all of the spice blends are GF and much better quality. They have great soup mixes and salad dressings as well.

That reminds me, another one is salad dressings, keep an eye out for Gluten in there as well as dairy and food coloring of course.

Who keeps marshmallows in their house on the reg? We do as special treats because we make rice krispie treats since they are (usually) GF. I say usually because some marshmallows have a light dusting of flour on the outside to preserve them, which makes them not GF (gum makers do the same thing, haven't you ever wondered what that white powder is on the gum?!). So like with everything.. READ the label!!!

So, when reading the label, what do you look for exactly? Well the first big one is WHEAT. Then you want to look for aliases like flour, bulgur, semolina, spelt, frumento, durum (also spelled duram), kamut, graham, einkorn, farina, couscous, seitan, matzoh, matzah, matzo, and cake flour. Often marketed as a “wheat alternative,” none of these is even remotely gluten-free. You need to avoid (or at least question) anything with the word wheat in it. This includes hydrolyzed wheat protein, wheat starch, wheat germ, and so on. Wheat grass, however, like all grasses, is GF. Malt, Barley and Rye are ones to avoid  as well.

A lot of labels are starting to state whether or not they contain wheat, so it's becoming easier. Another thing that gets easier is your shopping. In the beginning you will spend a lot of time reading, but once you get familiar with what products you like and know are GF, you'll be able to just grab them off the shelf and go!

Speaking of "grab and go", many of you have asked what our favorite GF fast food and restaurants are? So stop by next week and I will share where we go to eat when eating out and what we like to order! Until then, get to reading those labels, cleaning out the spice rack and as always, be blessed!!!

The Good Stuff

Sorry for the semi-tease last week, but I'm Finally going to reveal our favorites! Keep in mind we don't buy a lot of these things on a regular basis (mostly in the beginning just to get the kids buy in). The starred (*) items are a regular in our house!!! So, read on, share and be blessed!

I'm going to break things down into categories and even though this blog is mostly about being GF, I'll share our fav DF stuff too.

Store Bought Bread/Pastry/Muffins:
*Rudi's Multi-Grain Bread: Costco sells 2 loafs for $6.99 (call your local one first to see if they carry it), 1 loaf typically costs $5.99 at any regular/healthy grocery store.


Rudi's Cinnamon Raisin Bread


Glutino English  Muffins


Kinnikinnick English Muffins
Kinnikinnick Donuts



Snacks:
Glutino Pretzels


*Crunchmaster Multi-grain/seed crackers (also found at Costco with 4 bags in a box for $10.00)



Enviro Kids Organic Cereal/Granola Bars (all of the flavors are yummy)


Pirates Booty (if you're not dairy free the white cheddar flavor is the best!)
*Corn Tortilla Chips
*Organic Popcorn (we pop our own in coconut oil and top it off with sea salt)
*Hummus (be sure to read the ingredients because not all brands are dairy free)

Cookies:
Kinnikinnick Graham Crackers



Kinnikinnick "Oreos"

Kinnikinnick Animal Crackers



Pamela's Cookies (most flavors)


Flour Blends/Mixes:

Note: I have tried Bob's Red Mill, Namaste, Glutino, Pamela's, Gluten Free Creations Bakery and serveral other brands "all purpose, cup for cup" flour blends and liked most of them. The following are ones that I use on a regular basis and mostly for specific recipes. I also by my own brown rice flour in bulk and other flours (ex. tapioca, potatoe, arrowroot, garfava) and make my own blends for some "scratch" recipes.

*Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour


*Bob's Red Mill Cornbread Mix



*Bisquick GF Mix (I make the breaded chicken strip recipe on the side of the box and is a fav of our family!!!)


Namaste Italian Coating Mix


Namaste Brownie Mix



Dairy Products:

Amande yogurt


*Silk Almonde Milk (3 1/2 gallons at Costco fo $6.29)

Daiya Shredded "Cheese"


So Delicious Coconut Yogurt
So Delicious Ice Cream Products
Almond Dream Ice Cream Products
Rice Dream Ice Cream Products

I'm probably forgetting a few things and am always finding new things, so I will post favs again in the future. Just remember that any productyou buy, you MUST read the ingredients label!!! Next week we'll talk about the staple items in your kitchen that may have gluten in them and what to replace them with. We will also share the different names of ingredients that are Gluten so when you're reading the labels, you know what to look for! Until then, be blessed!

What'sTo Eat?!

Two weeks ago I shared with you how to do an Elimination Diet. This week I'm going to talk about what common items our family ate and what we replaced them with. So, read on, share, and be blessed!

When we did the Elimination Diet, we wanted it to be as seamless as possible knowing that "change" was always difficult for our daughter. So to do that, we simply tried to replace common foods we ate with the GF and DF version. For breakfast our kids ate cereal, yogurt, oatmeal, waffles, toast, eggs and fruit. At lunch they most commonly had a sandwich or hot dog with a veggie, fruit and cracker/chip of some sort. Snack time consisted of chips/salsa, crackers/hummus, a rare sweet treat, veggies or fruit. Dinner was usually a pretty balanced meal as well with a protein, veggie and starch such as, potatoes or rice.

We bought familiar foods such as GF pretzels, GF graham crackers and animal crackers, GF cookies, GF granola bars, GF waffles, GF cereal, GF oatmeal, GF bread, GF pasta, GF crackers, DF yogurt, DF cheese slices, GF/DF ice cream and Popsicles.

It sounds like we fed them a lot of snacky/junk in the beginning and I'm not gonna lie, we kinda did (in moderation of course)! We also bought lots of our favorite fruits and veggies. But, like I said, it was to make this transition as seamless as possible. We needed their buy in! We needed to convince them that being GF/DF wasn't a bad thing, it was actually a really good and TASTY thing!

I only recommend doing this for the first two weeks or so because it gets pricey if you by all the snacky type stuff on a regular basis. Once we determined we were going to be GF/DF/FCF permanently, we faded out the snacky stuff with more fruits and veggies, hummus, mixed nuts and other naturally GF/DF foods. We would have a few of the cheaper snacks on hand and every now and then as special treats, buy the more expensive things.

I also fired up the oven and got baking! Making our own GF/DF treats proved to be cheaper AND healthier. We try our best to maintain a low sugar diet for our kids and found that a lot of the GF/DF stuff on the shelf were HIGH in sugar just to make them taste better (I'm talking 20+g of sugar in one square shaped GF nutrigrain bar no bigger than the palm of my hand)! When I bake my own treats I can cut back the sugar if needed and can also make the items smaller to help cut how much sugar is in each treat. I baked my own bread almost daily because it was cheaper too (at first)!

When you head to the store, you will notice that GF/DF products are a bit more expensive than the latter. There are a few reasons for this...1. The ingredients they use are a bit more rare (ex. arrowroot flour, garfava flour, sweet brown rice flour) 2. Most GF/DF products are also CERTIFIED, which means they are made in a dedicated facility to ensure there is no cross contamination and it costs more to manufacture and maintain those facilities 3.They are often times made from Organic, Non-GMO, and all natural ingredients. So you are definitely getting what you pay for, in my opinion.

At this point you're probably just DYING to know what products in fact I am speaking of, right?! Well, I'm going to be a bit harsh and save that for next weeks post. I've gotta give you a reason to come back, but mostly it's because I have way too many favorites too share and if I don't, it'll take you a couple hours to read this one post! I will also share some pics and where I have found some really good deals for everyone (local or not)!

So be sure to bring your pen and paper next week because you are definitely going to want to make a shopping list! Until then, be blessed!

Calling In Sick

Blog friends, I'm taking this week off due to illness, but next week I'll be posting about the food we ate during our elimination diet. Sorry to make you wait an extra week, but I promise it'll be worth it! Be blessed!

The Elimination Diet

This week I'll be talking about the illusive "Elimination Diet" that I've mentioned in my previous posts, so read, share, and be blessed!

In last weeks post I shared that we waited until after school got out for summer break to start the Elimination Diet because of a couple different reasons...

1. Our daughter was used to eating the school lunch every day and we were concerned that the change in routine would cause issues. We were worried she wouldn't eat. We were also concerned that she would eat the school food anyways and we had no way to control that.

2. We wanted to use up as much of the stuff we had in our pantry that had gluten in it, so it wasn't wasted.

3. If there were going to be any protests, disagreements or flat out meltdowns over what we were or were NOT eating, we wanted them to happen at home.

This decision worked out really well for our family and believe it or not, we really didn't have many protests and not one meltdown!

You're probably thinking, "Well that's all fine and dandy, but what the heck is this Elimination Diet thing anyways and why do it?" Well, I'll fill you in on that right now...

The name "Elimination Diet" is pretty self explanatory, you eliminate something from your diet. Basically you eliminate whatever you think you may be allergic to. In our case we eliminated all gluten, wheat, dairy and food coloring.

So, for 2 weeks you completely cut out the type of food your testing for. You have to be very strict or else your results may not be accurate.

During the 2 weeks of elimination I encourage you to notice how you feel. The first week you may feel a little run down, tired, not 100% yourself because you're basically detoxing your body. But pay special attention to how you feel week two. Keep a journal to monitor how you're feeling. For my family in week two, we all felt that we had more energy, we were all in better moods, we felt less sluggish and bloated after eating, and we had seen improvements in skin conditions we all possessed.

Once week two of going "cold turkey" is over, (get the journal out because you're going to need it for this part) slowly add things back in and document how you feel. The key word in that sentence is SLOWLY. Try one thing the first day that has whatever you cut out and give your body time to react. Write down how you feel. The next day, do it again. Do it until you feel convinced your body either reacts to it or doesn't.

Note: sometimes when adding something back in, we wouldn't notice a reaction until days later or sometimes not at all. So for us we decided that since we felt better and noticed huge improvements in our daughter by cutting it out, that that decision was better than having it and hoping we wouldn't have a reaction to it. I think it's better to be safe than sorry. It's kind of like playing Russian Roulette, but with food, nooooo thank you!!!!

Our family felt so good and had seen such a HUGE difference in our daughters emotional/behavioral health from being off of it for two weeks that we didn't even feel we needed the evidence of what would happen when added back in, but we did, ONCE!

My husbands work had an event and sent the employees home with the left over churros (a BIG stick of gluten!), so we figured, why not, let's see what happens... Within a few minutes of eating it, a category 5 meltdown had struck our daughter, the rest of us felt extremely bloated, and for the rest of the day we felt tired and run down.

That was huge proof for us that we all had a reaction to gluten, some more sever than others, but still a reaction. One of our son's had such a severe reation to dairy that within hours of eating it he had diarreah and a bloody diaper rash (sorry for the gross details).

We had a similar meltdown after allowing frosting from a birthday cake that had been artificially colored, as well as allowing just a few Halloween candies, confirmed the reaction to food coloring.

So, for us, the proof was in the "gluten, dairy, and food-coloring" puddding (yes, the punn was intended! Just humor me and laugh)!

I encourage you to try it, the only thing it takes really is 2 weeks of commitment. That's about how long most people last with their New Year's Resolution so, I know you can do it!

I'll write soon on what we ate during the 2 weeks and things we gave up (I never knew until then how many things, gluten was in!). If you are interested in trying the Elimination Diet, let me know and I'll help in any way I can.

Until next time, blessings!

Why We Went Gluten-Free

Many of the questions I get from people (and you might be asking yourself) about being Gluten-Free (which I will now refer to as GF) is, "WHY?!?!" Well, I'm glad you and everyone else asked because that is this week's topic. So, read on and I hope you are blessed...

We moved back to the Sunshine State from a very WET Portland, Oregon in November of 2011 after living there for about 2 years to help some good friends plant a church. Our kids we very excited to be moving back "home" and to live at Gammy and Poppie's house (again) until we could get a place of our own. Although this was a positive change and a familiar move, the transition still posed as a struggle for our daughter. Any type of change in her life, good or bad, has been something she has a hard time with. We had been struggling for awhile to handle some of her emotional and behavioral issues, but this move really seemed to affect her quite drastically. After a few months of trying several differnt things on our own and no success, we decided to seek professional help.

In February of 2012, we started seeing a counselor to help us better understand our daughter, so we could help her better understand herself and her emotions. Through that process we learned that our daughter was more than just "Strong Willed". We learned that she suffers from severe anxiety, she has some PTSD that is attached to any change in her lifestyle and routine, she has some OCD/perfectionism traits, she struggles with how to filter her emotions and can be overly sensitive, as well as having a "Strong-Willed" nature. It was a huge eye-opener to see that she's not just out to make our lives difficult and to challenge us on everything! Some times her behavior and response to different things can be due to these other factors, which is OK because that's how God wired her.

Commonly in today's psychiatric world, the "symptoms" and behaviors our daughter was exhibiting can be diagnosed as ADHD. Our counselor encouraged us to have her tested, but not to rush to medication treatment if diagnosed. She highly recommended researching different dietary changes.

We weren't too surprised that our counselor thought our daughter might be ADHD. When she was 21/2 yrs. old we saw a Psychiatrist because of her exhibiting some extreme emotional and behavioral difficulties. She was tested and labeled AT-RISK for ADHD. We were told that once she was school aged and if she was still struggling with the emotional and behavioral challenges, that she would most likely be tested again and could very well test positive.

So, we continued forward on this journey and started the ADHD testing and research of dietary changes to help ADHD children. While in the testing process and researching, I learned a lot about how different food allergies can present themselves in emotional and behavioral ways and not just physical. The ADHD test results were inconclusive due to testing positive in the home environment, but not the school environment. Most kids exhibit the behaviors both at school and home.

We were relieved when we found out she didn't have ADHD, but knew that something wasn't right and were determined to find a solution for our daughter.

During my research I came upon the "Elimination Diet" method to test for food allergies (more on that in another weeks post). Since so many of her symptoms mirrored those of different food allergies such as Gluten, Food Coloring, and Dairy, we decided to try it.

We waited until May when school would be out so, the changes in her food wouldn't cause any issues at school (we were being sensitive to the new things we learned about her PTSD to change and severe anxiety). Over the course of the 2 weeks that we completed the "Elimination Diet", we saw such a significant change in our daughters over all behavior and mood as well as specific behaviors during times that would normally trigger meltdowns and extreme behavior reactions, that we were sold! The best way to describe how gluten effected her is that it clouded her brain so, she couldn't think and process emotional and behavioral things clearly. After the diet she was able to think much more clearly.

We took all of the information and our findings from the diet to our Pediatrician. He was very supportive (since he administered the ADHD test himself) and could see the difference in her after the dietary changes. He agrees with us, that the best thing for her health is to be GF/dairy-free/coloring-free and low sugar.

Because we all did the "Elimination Diet" together so our daughter didn't feel singled out, we found some food allergies and sensitivities in each of us. With those findings, it made the decision simple for us to ALL be GF/DF/CF and low sugar.

Now that the "Gluten Fog" has been lifted, we get to enjoy who God made our daughter to really be. She still has her moments (being GF doesn't cure the strong willed nature!)but, don't we all?! We are now able to work through those moments a little bit easier. She sees a difference in herself and knows that she likes the person she is GF over the latter.

Going GF has been life changing to say the least, but most of all it's been a HUGE blessing!!!

The Gluten-Free Blessing

You might be asking yourself how being gluten-free can be a blessing? "The Gluten-Free Blessing" seems like an oxymoron, doesn't it?! Most people assume that a gluten-free diet is a huge inconvenience, not tasty and extremely limiting, but I'm here to tell you differently!

Going gluten-free has been a huge blessing to my family. I will save the story of why we went gluten-free and specific examples of how we went gluten-free for another weeks post.

Basically today I'm just here to tell you why I have started this blog...

I have had several family, friends and just plain strangers ask me about being gluten-free. Most of them have the same questions as you probably have or had. "Isn't it hard (especially with kids)?" "You must not get to eat much variety?" "Isn't it expensive?" and on and on they go.

I too had many questions when we first embarked on this journey, so I tapped into my Military Police Investigation training and got to work (you can call me PI Kelli!) I started by doing LOTS of research on the Internet about what Gluten was in the first place. I read many medical research studies from reputable sources such as, The Mayo Clinic Hospital, and learned what the different symptoms/reactions to an allergy/intolerance of gluten are. I also talked with family and friends that have made the switch, taking away what I could from their experience. I then compared what they said to the medical research just to see how they matched up. I also watched A LOT of food documentaries to learn more about the food we put into our bodies.

I then put what I learned into action. There was a lot of trial and error, but now I feel pretty confident in what information/knowledge I have. I'm constantly striving to learn more and know that I don't know it all!

I was able to put that knowledge into use as I recently coached a friend in going Gluten-Free. I basically shared with her my story of why we went Gluten-free and as we spent more time together, she saw what we ate and became more intrigued. She asked questions here and there and along the way, she began to identify some symptoms in her family that could benefit from going gluten-free. She asked more questions, which I answered and I encouraged her along the way. Finally she decided to take me up on doing an elimination diet for 2 weeks (more on that in another post). So I immediately called her up and said let's go shopping! We went to the store to get the basics, my favorite transitions for kids and adults, and I shared easy meal ideas (do you see some post topics in the making?!).

But back to those questions you and many others have and why I started my blog...

It was suggested of me to start a blog to help others learn how to make the switch since I'm not able to personally coach and shop with everyone who asks (I am a wife and mother of 3)! I'm here to answer the questions as best as I can and to share with you how to go Gluten-Free! I will have weekly topics that are derived from the most common questions I get asked, questions that I've asked, and many more, i.e. favorite products and places to eat Gluten-Free.

Having the opportunity to share my experience is a blessing in itself and I know if you take the leap of faith, going Gluten-Free may be a blessing to you as well.

So join with me in experiencing...The Gluten-Free Blessing!