Monday, January 12, 2009

Gluten Free, Dairy Free eating

Finding out that Little Guy requires a diet that is gluten and dairy free sure caused us to make some changes around here. Then, hearing that Builder, Jetter and even Night Owl have the same sensitivities made me realize we needed to make major changes, not just for Little Guy. After about 2 weeks of shopping for ready made gluten and dairy free foods, I decided I needed to do something different. Many of them really don't taste all that great and they are EXPENSIVE! I guess it would be okay if it was just Little Guy, but when a $5.00 bag of gluten free pretzels disappears into the mouths of three hungry boys in minutes, it's obvious this isn't going to work. So, I ordered some gluten free cassein (dairy) free cookbooks, shopped for the special ingredients and decided to start cooking this stuff from scratch. This past weekend we had pizza on Friday and even doughnuts on Sunday. They were both made here at home and the kids loved them! I have to admit, I did say "Pretend you're in a different country and these are treats there. It might not taste exactly like what you are used to, but it will be good anyway." That must have worked. If they were expecting Pizza Hut pizza and Tim Horton's doughnuts, they would have been disappointed. But, they liked these treats that would have been forbidden and we had happy kids. (Which makes a happy mom!)
One blessing that I think has come from all of this is a renewed interest for me in cooking. I was really in a rut, making the same things over and over and really dreading that time of day when I had to cook dinner. New cookbooks, methods and ingredients have sort of sparked my enthusiasm again! It's sort of like the gourmet cooking I used to do when it was just Wes and I.
Well now it's 6:45 and time to make the smoothies! (I'm glad they all like them!!)

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