Help!!! Not coping Gluten Free!

[Amaunet]

As the tread title states this gluten free business is killing me (not literally) I'm really struggling with foods I can eat, especially breakfast and lunch and I'm heartily sick of the few things I eat now

Breakfast
- omlette
- baked beans
- bacon/sausage
I can't stand gluten free bread and have even tried making my own, it's so awful I just can't do it. I am also yet to find a decent gf cereal. Most seem to taste bloody awful or have banana in them (vomit). To make matters worse, I'm now pregnant and eggs make me want to vomit too

Lunch
- gf sausage roll, chicken tenders or vege patties , but I'm soooooo sick of these
- leftovers (but this is dependent on me having cooked dinner)
- meat and steamed veges
- fried rice
-salad/steamed veges

I hate having to cook lunch, pre coeliac disease I ate a lot of sandwiches/toasties, noodles, pies etc

Can anyone offer me any ideas? Being pregnant is also making it hard, I'm craving devon sandwiches I lived on toast last pregnancies but as they think the cd is the cause of my mc I'm certainly not going there now

[sneakysparkle]

have you tried toasting the bread? Im not GF but my mum and sisters are, so I often eat GF meals! Ive found that toasting the bread makes it HEAPS better. You can also get nice GF fruit loaf - could be another option for brekky?

For lunch I often make little pizza things with GF wraps or flatbread - tastes great in the oven, and can be really quick and easy with chesse & tomato
For brekky how about fruit and yoghurt? Skippy Corn Flakes are GF too

All the best!

[black_rose]

You can get mountain bread that is gluten free, so you could have wraps as an alternative.

[Amaunet]

Thanks Ss, even toasted I find the bread awful(I've tried about a dozen brands so far) doughy and with a funny taste, the gf wraps are like cardboard, I can't believe you eat them. Maybe you have found better ones than me? I've tried the freedom foods ones at Coles and the corns tortillas (bleugh)

I'm going to sound like a whining spoilt brat here...I don't eat yoghurt (not a big dairy fan) or cornflakes...before cd I loved rice bubbles and special K but the gf rice bubbles are terrible... My pregnancy taste buds aren't helping either. I do eat a lot of fruit, but find it actually makes me hungry

[Amaunet]

You can get mountain bread that is gluten free, so you could have wraps as an alternative.

Which one? all the ones I've seen contain wheat?

[brogeybear]

Bread: get Country Life. The normal white if it is fresh is actually squishy, otherwise toast it and it's fine. You really do get used to it, but I do find the Country Life to be the best. You can get GF wraps and GF corn tortillas (just the woolies brand).

Cereal: Norganic Cornflakes, homemade GF muesli (mmmmmm)

Lunch: (well not a lot since being UTD but...) curried eggs, salads (yummy ones with chickpeas, or rice, etc.), toasted sangas, pizzas using the corn tortillas or flat bread as bases, leftovers: pasta, curry, soups, etc. Spaghetti with a quick sauce, rice cakes with spreads and salad stuff, antipasto, fruit salad, etc.
San Remo GF pasta is the bomb!

I've been doing this now for over 8 years so it's just second nature to me.

[Amaunet]

Thanks BB, I have actually found county life the worst, it has a funny taste? I think it will take a long time to "forget" what bread tastes like I like the San remo pasta but that is one of our dinner staples (at least 3 times per week) and don't want to overload.

Will try rice cakes...sigh...this gluten free business sucks!

[black_rose]

I knew you would ask that, I can't remember I had it when bf Ds as he has reactions to wheat. It's at Coles and is corn based, it was with all the other breads not the gluten free section.

[sneakysparkle]

There was one flat bread that I found tasted AWESOME as a pizza base (not so good uncooked!) Cannot for the life of me remember the brand! But it did have purpley/pinky writing on the packet!
The eskal crackers are good for putting salad etc on instead of saladas, or taste really good with vegemite.
How about Nachos?

[brogeybear]

Really? Yeah I guess there is a "taste" to it, but honestly, you need to get used to it. Taste isn't what you want to worry about with GF bread, it is texture. Put lots of yummies on the bread and that is what you will be tasting. The wraps I am thinking of are organic and they have green and pink on the packet. Freedom foods do wraps but they break, and there are also True Foods wraps. The Mountain Bread range all contain wheat flour, make sure you always double check your ingredients.

[LionsandBears]

I know it sucks. I'm not coeliac but I am gluten intolerant. My concern is getting the nutrients I need whilst staying gluten free. I also hate cooking and find most GF bread awful, though some is OK as toast. The best I've found is an Italian brand at health shops. Their rolls are great, though they do need to be heated.

We're making lots of soups and casseroles atm and I'm taking some to work for lunch. I'm hoping we can soon get a Thermomix, as that should make bread making and other cooking easier. The other thing I was thinking if was seeing a dietician to get ideas. The hospital may have a nutritionist you can consult to help with meal planning.

I havent yet done this but I need to review the Brewer diet, which is great for pregnancy, and find healthy GF alternatives. Otherwise I find I munch on GF biscuits, which isnt good.

Do you like the Basco cereal? I also prefer Orgran pasta, it's so yummy.

[OceanPrincess]

One thing my coeliac mum loves for brekkie is buckwheat pancakes mmmm!

She buys a pancake shake thing from Coles and only makes one or two at a time.

[MrsBexie]

Ooh the orgran itsy bitsy bears (tiny teddies) are awesome! Also the woolies brand gf timtams (health food section) are yummy, so is crunchola blueberry cereal.
Try the orgran pizza dough mix (not the pastry n dough flour) it is te best pizza dough ever!!!!!
Make sushi? Its quite easy and you can put chicken or tuna in it, whatever you want! And cause its fresh n raw fish free it is safe in pg.
Basco cake mixes are good!
Do you like muffins?? I have an awesome gf muffin recipe and it totslly doesnt taste different!!

I had to go off wheat while breastfeeding cause dd was reacting to it and most times i just replaced flour with gf flour! (just plain n self raising, not weird random flours) and the only thing tht failed was scones! Lol.

I know it sucks... But you will get used to it! Took me a cpuple of weeks to adjust.

Good luck hun!! PM me if you want some yummy recipes!!


Sent from my iPhone so sorry for the spelling and punctuation!!

[feeb]

My friend who is a Coeliac eats a lot of salads, rice paper rolls, baked potatoes.
She does cook a lot and has leftovers for lunch as well.

[LionsandBears]

How are you going with GF adjustments.

I've finally found a GF bread recipe that tastes good. I got it off the Quirky Cooking blog. She got it off somewhre else and adjusted it for the TMX. I was really intimidated by it but when I finally made it, it was easy. She has a link to the original non-TMX recipe in the blog.

Btw-did you know most bacon & other smallgoods contain gluten? I didn't i'm now having a hell of a time trying to source GF, nitrite or nitrate* free bacon. I also didnt realise normal cornflakes contain gluten. Learnt that when I reacted.

I've had a few fails trying to do a direct substitute with GF flour when baking but I'm reading more about different flours. I now have loads of different GF flours taking up a shelf in the laundry as the pantry is full. At least I can make things like rice flour myself but I can't make potato starch or sorghum flour.

I have a great recipe for bircher museli. I make a big batch and store it:
1cup each of quinoa, amaranth & buckwheat
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/3 cup rice bran

When I want to make some I spoon out about 3-4 tablespoons, add some sesame & linseeds, cranberries or other dried fruit or fresh berries, cover with apple juice. Had about 1/2 cup of natural yoghurt. Cover and leave overnight in fridge. I then might add a spoonful of honey or maple syrup before eating. It's really yummy and so nourishing. A great source of protein and other goodies.

At first I really resented having to be GF. It makes eating out a bit more difficult. But eating gluten products just isnt worth it to me. I've also found loads of cafes etc have GF bread or I go without when having brunch or whatever.

I hope you're adjusting better.

*can't remember which is the bad one

[Sopdet]

Mountain bread - go to the website and order from there - cheaper than in the shops

I'm currently on a insulin resistant diet and I have no bread (or a majority of carbs).

it is a shame you can't eat eggs because I've got some brilliant recipes that don't have wheat/gluten in them.

I make a walnut flat bread that is basically a cup of walnuts (chopped as fine as possible) and then add 1 egg, this makes a dough and you lightly fry it on a lightly oiled (with olive oil) cast iron pan. This amount makes two and I have an open sandwich on this for lunch.

I also have a quiche recipe (sorry again eggs), that has 4 eggs, 1 medium onion, 1/2 cup zucchini, 1/2 cup broccoli (I put these three into my tupperware speedy chopper) until they're all finely chopped, then add 1/2 cup of grated cheese, then 1/2 cup of bacon bits or chicken strips (into the tupperware speedy chopper), then add the eggs into the chopper until all blended, then put into muffin pans (perfect size for lunch), then bake in moderate oven until cooked (about 15-20 mins). This recipe makes 4 muffins.

[organic-girl]

Ok without reading everyones posts google 'Lola workman' she has a beautiful recipe book and we use her recipes everyday amongst raw food. Hubby and girls have GF muesli with yoghurt for breakie while I have a smoothie, maybe you can start your day with a yummy fruit smoothie. I also have a gorgeous banana and blueberry bread recipe I created myself tht is also sugar and dairy free with good oils so having it everyday is doing more good than harm. We eat A LOT of nuts, I crumb everything like fish, chicken (on the odd occasion we have it) veggie burgers with almond meal.

You poor Hun, we have been GF for 2yrs now amongst other 'free' things. It is extremely expensive if you dnt do it right and I really encourage you to get back to basics, get away from westernized norm and start cooking. Also look at a Thermomix, you take so much time trying to cook things GF and it is heart breaking wen they dnt work! A Thermomix will take the stress away!! Unfortunately, say goodbye to white, processed sugary bread, it is hard and you truly TRULY miss it, but at the end of the day your healthy without it!!!

A few things to google:

Gluten free goddess
Sensitive pantry
Adventures of a gluten free mom
Gluten free Gigi

They're all on FB and twitter and are constantly posting awesome recipes!!!

Gluten free goddess' dark choc brownie IS TO DIE FOR!

Your taste buds will take a while but they WILL change!


---------
Leah and Dan
Lucy 5
Minnie 2
Pippi due 29 sept

YOU are what YOU eat!

[Amaunet]

Thanks for checking on me T I'm actually doing much better, maybe just adjusting to my "new life". the fact I just feel so much better than i have for YEARS is probably a big part of that.

As for foods, have found an AWESOME bread!!! It's "Schars" brand and when toasted tastes like real bread! They have white and wholemeal bread, rolls and baugettes! BUT it comes from ITALTY! It is "long life" type bread, vacuum packed and is imported by a Melbourne company and I order online from them. It costs a fortune, but I feel a bit more "normal" and less deprived iykwim. I am also able to eat eggs again (thanks 2nd trimester) and have been making a yummy zucchini slice recipe, but varying the fillings. I have also been making choc brownies (the Melinda's packet ones) and have some others to try. I find the White Wings branded GF plain and SR flours great and make most recipes really well. I found some of my new foods at the GLuten Free Expo a month ago, it was a great way to "try" new things without having to pay for a whole packet.

So overall, I AM coping now and feeling awesome which makes the things I can't eat worth missing out on. It is more expensive but we're adjusting to that too. The other upside is that at 25 weeks pregnant I've only gained 2kgs overall cos I'm losing weight still due to my healthy diet and still weigh less than I did a year ago!