We started eliminating gluten from her diet just after Christmas, to see if that would help with her tummy issues. Thankfully she isn't much of a carb girl, so it wasn't as hard as it could be. Kara was a great sport and was a guinea pig to a lot of trials and errors. With my gluten free eating, we had found some good alternatives, but there were plenty of 'kid' foods that I had never tried. All of a sudden, we were searching out chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, oreos, cheese crackers, and more. The only thing I wouldn't (just couldn't) purchase was a 6 oz. can of spaghetti (to substitute for spaghetti-o's) for $4.49. Sorry, we'll eat homemade for that or just skip it altogether. Kara is as picky with gluten free foods as she is with other things - for instance, she likes almond Nut Thins (crackers) but the pecan are not acceptable. She's so funny about what she likes to eat too - we went to Sam's to get some groceries and I told her she could pick out a few snacks. She asked for lettuce and plums!
I have done more baking in the last month than I have in a year, as I've made bread to eat, bread to make into croutons, garlic cheese bread, cupcakes, soft pretzels (fail), heart cookies for school... I haven't made a homemade pizza crust yet, although I have all the ingredients. The first day I attempted bread, I went to the health food store and bought 7 different ingredients to make bread and pizza crust. I made the bread first, then wanted to make the pizza crust (find it's easier that way since everything is out). Turns out I had used almost all of one ingredient in the bread and didn't have enough left for the pizza crust. : ( So then I got smart and looked at Amazon and ordered several things for a fraction of the cost, but obviously had to wait for them to ship. We've had to reorganize the kitchen a bit, as we had to make room for all the new ingredients, and find a home for my stand mixer, since that is imperative to making breads easily. I may need to buy a food processor since that seems to be pretty useful too.
The food trial seems pretty conclusive that Kara is at least gluten intolerant. We've been able to give her a few treats here and there, and she seems to manage okay, as long as they are few and far between. The doctor may want to give her a blood test to see some official results, but we seem to be headed in the right direction. Kind of sad for her because of the things, food wise, she'll be missing in her little life. Oh, and because it would be my fault that that she's GF. We're trying to sub out some food for Cole too, because he is a carb junkie and if he should ever be diagnosed, will have a much harder time than Kara.
Sorry this is ramble-y. All this post to say that Kara is gluten free and you'll have to alter what you buy when we come to visit. : ) At least she's worth it!
YAY!!! ...I mean, I know that it is a hard life decision and change but I like having others who can share in the... "joy"... of eating gluten-free with me! I love a lot of the "kids" meals and foods out there that you mentioned and should give you pointers on MY favorites since I am a pretty picky eater with it all too.
ReplyDelete