The Gluten and Dairy Free Lunchbox

Making lunch for yourself and your kids can be a chore when the days of slapping together a sandwich or grabbing a yogurt are no longer available. I don't miss bread very often except in Middle Eastern restaurants as I watch soft, warm pita breads bask on patrons tables in front of a plate of yummy hummus but I digress...... I realize lately that I miss the convenience of grabbing a bagel or cookie when I just need a quick bite. Being gluten free makes that an impossibility. There are some great raw food cookies/bars at natural food stores that can stand in, but those stores are not as readily available as many retail chains that have those convenience foods. I am not suggesting those foods are healthy by any stretch of the imagination. I would love for those places to have healthy, gluten free alternatives, but that is not a common place reality. Anyway no more pity party today.

Planning and Budgeting

What to make for lunch? There's always the stand in of leftovers and I specifically plan my weekly menu plan which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner with a few snack ideas for the week to avoid eating out or eating things that are not good for us. I plan some of my dinners to become planned leftovers such as Butternut Curry Squash Soup or Cobb Salad. Soup makes a great breakfast by the way!

When we think about lunch, we have to get outside of the breadbox. This means to avoid focusing on bread related foods all the time. You can of course purchase gluten free breads or make them yourself, but this can add unnecessary carbohydrates to your midsection. It can also lead you away from more exciting choices.

If you are needing frugal, but healthy choices, try to rotate the same lunch menu staples each week so that you can stock up when those items are on sale and you will have a basic idea of how much it is costing you each week.

Here is an example: Mondays, Tuna, crackers, carrots and fruit/ Tuesday, chef salad, crackers, apple/ Wednesday, Egg salad, celery, tomatoes and carrots, brown rice wraps/ Thursday Leftovers, fruit and salad/ Friday Waldorf salad, banana and cookie.

Let's say this lunch menu costs $20.00 a week for a family of 6. This is helpful to me because there is limited work and planning involved. The basic cost doesn't fluctuate too much, in fact the cost can go down because when tuna is on sale for 50 cents a can, I can stock up on that item. This is how my costs can go down in the future. I can also purchase my gluten free whole grain crackers for example from Costco and calculate the cost over the month which can reduce my weekly expenses on lunch.

This is just a basic food plan. You can put your favorites in there and rotate the menu. You can also vary the fruits and vegetables to accommodate what is in season and on sale.

Adult and Kid Friendly Ideas

Tuna salad (if you can't have mayonnaise try oil and vinegar instead)
Egg salad
Chicken salad with celery, grapes and scallions

Pair these salads with gluten free crackers or wrap in large lettuce/cabbage leaves, hold in place with a toothpick. Probably better to make these prior to eating and bring all the ingredients in separate containers. These salads can also be served on top of a bed of greens, in a tomato that has had the flesh taken out (can use in salad or save for broth, juicing, pasta sauce or soup), a zucchini boat, other squash that has been baked such as acorn filled with chicken salad or half of a red bell pepper.

Kabobs always a kid and adult favorite

Take toothpicks and thread chunks of turkey ham, chicken or any other meat (save money and avoid chemicals such as nitrites if you bake these meats yourself) alternating with fruit and vegetables. Gently cooked squash chunks, raw peppers, zucchini, grape/cherry tomatoes, onions, olives, grapes, apple chunks, cherries, berries, peaches, and celery.

To be continued next week..........

Why Should We Think Outside of the Bread box?

As a practicing nurse practitioner, I have encountered many patients experiencing various, multiple food intolerances and/or allergies. What I am finding is that it becomes increasingly difficult to give up foods that are causing physical or mental symptoms when they are reliant on replacing those very foods in a different form. For example, it is great that we can find gluten free blogs and web sites that have done an excellent job of making copy cat recipes of our favorite gluten laden favorites. There is nothing wrong with having some GF cake, cookie or bread on occasion. What is actually happening though is that GF foodies are having these items with a much higher degree of frequency. These foods contain many different forms of carbohydrates resulting in sugar addiction as well as weight gain and adverse health consequences from relatively high sugar content. These constant feedings of our desire to have foods that remind of us of our gluten laden favorites that we miss make passing up on the gluten laden goodies when we encounter them more difficult.

Another reason to avoid succumbing to these food replacements is the pocket book. I was in a womens group earlier this year and one of my friends is GF as well as 4 of her kids. She had a limited amount of grocery money for a given week and was so worried she couldn't feed her kids because she couldn't afford GF bread and other processed (boxed, bagged or canned) GF products during that week. When we rely on these processed convenience products it can really take a toll on our pocket book as noted in this article, "The Expense of Eating with Celiac Disease". In my GFCF menu planner, I strive to ensure that the foods presented in the recipes are 1. affordable, 2. simple to make, 3. nutrient dense, 4. family friendly, and 5. creative. Unfortunately, kids are being trained to desire GF processed cereals, granola bars, cookies, breads, waffles and frozen foods, all loaded with tons of sugar. A high sugar nutrition plan can cause children to have difficulty with behavior and concentration as well as packing on the pounds. Children are growing and developing, requiring critical nutrients not found in processed foods.

Processed foods that are lacking nutrients, will keep us unfulfilled and constantly hungry. And we will find ourselves in a vicious cycle of wanting the very foods that are not giving our bodies the nutrition they need to heal and be well.

The natural, organic and health food industry has us tricked into thinking because it is organic, natural or labeled healthy that it truly is health food. These are processed foods masquerading as health foods in an expensive store. If labels are carefully reviewed most of these products will be loaded with unnecessary sugar and calories with little to no nutrients.

We have assigned agave to be the sweet substitute of choice because it has a lower glycemic index, yet it still IS a refined sugar just as organic cane sugar, raw sugar, and honey.All may have varying degrees of positive qualities, but they will cause your blood sugar to rise, insulin to be released and increase in inflammation in the body (think of an infected wound or asthma attack as examples of inflammation). Roller coaster blood sugar levels lead to emotional upheaval as well and continued craving for the very thing that is causing the emotional distress that drives our desire for our favorite comfort foods.

This is why thinking outside the bread box is critical. Think of how to enjoy food, eat to live not live to eat and don't look for a piece of GF bread, pasta, tortilla or cookie around every corner. Once you give it up completely, you will find that only an occasional sting of the GF cookie bug will hit you and its ok to bite!

If you found this article useful, you can find more like them, with more detail in my GFCF menu planner.

P.S. Here is an article on GF foods and tax deductions.

Fall Harvest Applesauce

Just in time for fall, the aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg and apples waifs through the air. The fall air is crisp and reminds us that the seasons are changing. Fall is a time for apples, various squashes (acorn, spaghetti, pumpkin and butternut), lettuce, Brussels sprouts, beans, leeks, etc--see the list below.

My favorite fruit to get in the fall is the Jonathon apple. I love its crisp sweet taste and I will miss it once the season is over. In order to keep their wonderful taste around, I make applesauce that I freeze. Apples have health properties that make them an asset in a healthy eating plan. Apples also contain vitamin C and antioxidants. Apples range from very sweet (higher sugar concentration) to tart (lower sugar concentration). Ironically, the glycemic index, the scale that determines how quickly and how much foods will raise blood glucose (sugar). Fruits contain fructose but we don't measure blood fructose. Raw apples can help ease constipation with their fiber content. Cooked apples sooth a tummy that is suffering from diarrhea. It is best to eat an apple in its entirety and not separate the fruit from its fiber rich skin. If you are feeding children under the age of 2, please peel the apples.



Cooked Applesauce

Cut Jonathon, Honey Crisp or apples of choice into chunks. Add a few tablespoons of water and 1-2 Tablespoons of red hots. Cook over low heat for a few hours. If using a crockpot, cook on low for 5-6 hours. Gently mash with potato masher.

I then put the applesauce into glass canning jars and freeze after the mixture cools down. These will keep in the freezer for several months.


Raw Applesauce

This is a recipe I used in my Living Gluten Free Casein Free Menu Planner that can be found online at: www.livingglutenfreecaseinfree.com.


This is a nice change to cooked applesauce. If you are giving any of this to a baby, or child under the age of 2 you must peel the apples.

6 apples any kind you like, cored, washed and peeled if you like. I keep the peel as there are a lot of vitamins in it.
Juice from ½ lemon
Pinch sea salt
2 tsp. melted coconut oil (optional)

Cut the apples into wedges. Put the cut apple wedges in a food processor with the S blade. Add lemon juice, sea salt and coconut oil. Process all until apples resemble applesauce, add water if needed until desired consistency.
Serve.


Fall Produce Guide • Winter Squash • Brussels Sprouts • Cabbage • Cauliflower • Dill • Mint • Parsley • Beans • Kohlrabi • Leeks • Onions • Parnsips • Potatoes • Turnips • Rudabaga • Radishes • Potatoes • Pumpkins

Jalen, The Gluten Free Cat

We adopted this cat from the Denver Dumb Friend's League after my cat, Kitty died. We had Kitty for 14 years and we missed her. We decided to get another cat to keep our other kitty, Simba company. This cat's name was Tyler when we took him home. Since he didn't look like a Tyler we changed his name to Sammy. That was fine for the first two years we had this cat. Then I started noticing that when I called my son, Jalen, the cat always showed up. His name is now Jalen. He will still answer to Sammy but in a less than enthusiastic manner. As if he is trying to be compliant, an unusual trait in a cat.

A few years ago I made some delicious gluten free (not casein free) oatmeal raisin cookies for my husband. A few straglers were remaining in a ziploc baggie in the kitchen. I noticed they disappeared but chalked it up to my husband taking them to work. As I am vaccuuming the house, I find a familiar baggie that had been ripped open by sharp teeth and it contained half eaten oatmeal raisin cookies. Who was protecting his loot, but Jalen the cat? Mind you he has never stolen gluten laden oatmeal raisin cookies.

Last year, I left a loaf of gluten free bread on the kitchen counter. What cat would steal a loaf of bread, none that I had ever had? Of course, if it was a packet of raw meat, I wouldn't leave it unguarded, but I felt safe with bread. About 10 minutes later I hear a thud on the kitchen floor and I see the cat dragging the loaf of bread toward the basement steps. I stole his booty from him all to the disappointed he expressed with his eyes and crest fallen face.

So, now we don't leave any gluten free treats out for long or unsupervised in Jalen's presence. We do however leave gluten laden foods out on the counter that he never touches. Hmmmm.... And, yes he eats gluten free cat food.