Our Gluten-Free Favorites

I've written recently of our ongoing war with the local grocery store that is slowly taking some of our favorites off the shelves. I thought I'd just let you in on what some of our favorites really are. Maybe you too will want to try some. In case I haven't said it before, I am insanely bitchy about gluten-free food. If it doesn't taste like "normal" food, I say so, and it is banned. Except for that bread from the Wedge Co-op the boy says tastes like normal bread. He's just forgotten, I think.

1) Kitchen Basics stock. We use chicken, beef, and vegetable stock from KB, depending on the recipe, at least twice a week. Recipes we use it for include risotto, stir fry dishes, and (duh) soups. This stuff is pretty fabulous. There are other GF stocks out there (Swanson's Organic, for one), but this stuff is way better than any other stocks I've tried. Someone in our household needs to watch her sodium intake and Kitchen Basics regular stock is lower in sodium than the low sodium alternatives at our grocery store. Plus, it's really delicious. Our store rarely has Kitchen Basics, it is up on a high shelf, and it seems to be stocking it fewer and fewer days of the week. But, I have gone to multiple grocery stores in search of this stock and I am a loyal Kitchen Basics fan.




Bread from Anna makes this pumpkin bread mix that is to die for. Most of the gluten-free bread mixes leave me cold, personally. The boy can either take them or leave them. But I crave this. In about July, I got excited about autumn because then I could make this. And the new KitchenAid mixer makes this the easiest thing to put together (some canned pumpkin, eggs, oil, and the mix). The first ingredient in the ingredient list for this product is crystallized honey, if that gives you any ideas as to its absolute deliciousness.

Sadly, we cannot find this mix around these parts. We stock up when we are visiting the in-laws in Iowa. Because suburban Iowa has this Hy-Vee with this selection of GF foods that is unbelievable. But, I digress.



I know I've written about Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal before somewhere on this blog. I love this stuff. We eat it most mornings. It take about 15 minutes for someone (usually the boy) to make. Add some brown sugar, walnuts, craisins, and a splash of milk and you are ready for an awesome meal. Occasionally the boy adds maple syrup instead of brown sugar. It's easy and delicious and corn-based. (We commonly refer to it as "CLM" which stands for corny love mush. That's a lot shorter than the actual name of the product.)

Our local grocery store stopped carrying CLM a few months ago. After a brief scare when we thought that perhaps the good folks at Bob's Red Mill had discontinued the product (they DIDN'T), we found it at one of the fancy grocery stores downtown. Whenever I'm downtown, I simply go to Lund's and buy four or five packages of CLM. But it's super inconvenient that I can't just go to our regular grocery store.

NutThins rule my world. I prefer these crackers to any wheat-based cracker I've ever had. They come in different flavors (we usually get Almond or Pecan). They are perfect for cheese and crackers or dipped in peanut butter. As the person who needs to avoid sodium, these are a special treat for me, but we buy at least two boxes a week for the other person in the house who doesn't need to avoid sodium.

Seriously, people. Go buy some NutThins. They are delicious and you'll never go back to Wheat Thins again.

Our grocery store does stock NutThins. If they stopped doing so, I might have a meltdown. (I would note that the Hy-Vee in suburban Iowa has more flavors of NutThins than does our grocery store, but since our store carries our preferred flavors, I will say no more!)



Bob's Red Mill comes through again with polenta (corn grits). This polenta is quick to make (okay, it takes like 45 minutes, but it's not constant stirring) and can be used in so many recipes, I don't even know where to start.

The boy's favorite is to put a thin layer in a baking dish and cool it. Then brush some olive oil on both sides, broil for four minutes on each side, then put a layer of pasta sauce and cheese on it and bake for 12 minutes. Polenta pizza! (Way better than any actual GF pizza I've ever had!)

I like to do the thin layer in the baking dish and cool it. Then stir fry some mushrooms, onions, and red peppers. Place the stir fry mixture on top of the polenta and bake for four or five minutes. Either way, this is easy to work with and if you make a batch of polenta, you can keep it in the fridge for a couple of days and prepare it in a couple of different recipes.

This is always available at our grocery store, which makes me happy because we eat it a lot and it's super inexpensive!!


I just wanted to thank General Mills one more time for creating a mainstream gluten-free cereal. (Yes, Fruity Pebbles are gluten-free, but, yech!) I don't think the boy has gotten any other cereal since General Mill did the gluten-free reformulation. Maybe someday he will rotate it with another cereal, but right now, Rice Chex is our family favorite.

It does help, I suppose, that we're eating the hot cereal most mornings, so he's not overloaded with Rice Chex. Yay General Mills!! More gluten-free options would be most welcome!!

Baby Gap and Me

First of all, a baby boy was born. Not to me, mind you, because we would be forced to, you know, get real jobs and stop sleeping in. So, in excitement, I ran to Baby Gap to buy cute baby clothes the parents will probably return because they are impractical, but oh so adorable. I secretly want tiny baby boys to look like miniature Biker Boys, so these clothes are what I imagine my husband wore as a wee tyke.

Item #1: Bodysuit of practicality. Listen, I know some babies don't like onesies, but they just seem so simple. I've babysat a time or a million and I prefer babies who come to me in a bodysuit and a diaper. So, just a plain white onesie. Check.




Item #2: Green bibs. I know for a fact my husband wore green bibs as a child because the picture of him his mom always shows off is a big chubby baby (yes, my husband was a chubby baby and no one knows what happened - the family priest says he just kept getting taller without putting on any weight) wearing green bibs with a teddy bear on them. Oh, the symbolism of this. Anyway, adorable! Maybe not "practical," but I'd put my kid in them.


Item #3: Argyle sweater. Hee. Hee. Hee. These people live in New Hampshire. It gets cold there, right? Their kid will need this soon?

Item #4: Plaid pants. These pants are flannel lined people! Can't you see little baby Biker Boy toddling around in these? I can.


Item #5: Toggle coat. Okay, the truth is that BB has a coat JUST LIKE THIS right now as an adult! Minus the hood. The inside of this coat is SOOOOOO soft. And the toggles. Just like my husband's coat. Anyway, I have no idea if their kid will ever actually wear this. The parents might very well immediately head off to the nearest Gap about six hundred miles away and return this. But I will have the image of their small baby wearing a coat that looks just like something my husband is wearing!

Item #6: The plaid driving cap. I nearly peed myself laughing at this hat in the store. Dress your infant up like an old man! Of course. Who wouldn't? I love it and bought it.


I think that this might mean I'm addicted to Baby Gap, but wouldn't all this stuff just make you coo and coo and coo if you opened up a package with a plaid hat in it?!

Weekend plans

We're having a leisurely Saturday morning breakfast. I don't have to leave the house until 9:30, so we're sort of poking along, eating our Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal (or CLM, as we call it, which stands for corny love mush). The boy asks what I want to do that night.

I sort of run through the options in my head. We could watch a DVD, go for a walk, play some Mexican train dominoes...you know the regular stuff.

I sort of shrug. But he's talking!

"Well, there's this wedding we could go to. Or this guy with the classical guitar."

I am slack jawed.

"We were invited to a wedding?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's this casual wedding over by the lake."

"But it's today."

"Yeah."

"Why have I never heard about this before? Do we need to bring a gift?"

He looks sad. "Wedding, huh?"

"Yes. Someone's wedding is more important than some guy playing guitar."

"No gift. Just a dish to pass at the potluck."

"You're telling me approximately," here I do some quick math in my head, "about nine hours before the wedding that we need to find appropriate clothing and an appropriate dish. You do know that I am working for about three of those nine hours, too, don't you?"

He hangs his head. "Wedding, huh?"

Now, why do boys do this? Don't they know that the wedding is going to come out ahead in my calculus of fun things to do on the weekend?

We took some gluten-free cookies made from scratch. They were quite tasty.

P.S. Our KitchenAid mixer really rocks. I know I went all crazy debating whether or not it even needed to be on our wedding registry, but it made baking so much easier. No wonder people go crazy for those things.

The Annoyingness of Shopping

Look, I've bitched about this before. Our local grocery store has become unreliable about carrying some items that we consider staples in our household. Just last week, it didn't have any yellow bananas, which is pretty standard for this particular store, or yellow onions. Onions. Could we be asking for anything more basic than that? It didn't have any single yellow onions, let alone a bag of onions we would have been happier to have. It also appears that the store has decided to stop stocking the gluten-free hot cereal we enjoy, the only gluten-free chicken and vegetable stock that doesn't taste like ass (Kitchen Basics), and my favorite popcorn.

So I have become that person. I remember going to a party filled with grad students a couple of years ago and rolling my eyes at a group of people who were discussing how they went to a several grocery stores every week to get everything they wanted. I remember thinking how pretentious these people were - what did it matter one brand of mozzarella cheese or another? What's wrong with these people? Why do they have so much time to devote to grocery shopping?

I just spent two hours of my precious Sunday time, not watching football, but going from pretentious grocery store to pretentious grocery store, buying things I consider necessary (oh, and, shhhh, don't tell the boy, but I also bought a big stick of wheat-filled bread and demolished it on the way home in the car...oh, my god, bread from a bakery...it was indescribably amazing). I have become that person.

I also found myself panicking a little bit as I thought about what would happen to us if we ever left this city. Our options here are not limited. We have co-ops, we have the fancy stores, the big box stores, and farmers markets. We have it all. It is time consuming for us to get what we need (maybe need is too strong a word - want is perhaps more appropriate), but we can get it. What will happen to us when we have to move elsewhere? I shudder at this thought.

Into the Silence

We went running this morning. My throat is a bit sore and I got a stitch in my side before we started to run. When the alarm went off, I seriously considered going back to sleep. But we went. And he said he was proud of me.

When I came home, the dishes were done, the bed was made, and I can smell a whiff of Murphy's oil soap, as if he has cleaned up.

He has taken to working Friday nights and Sunday during the day. I find myself doing little during these times. Everything is quiet. I read. I sleep. I write. I sleep some more. I may occasionally cook something.

It's disgustingly sweet how much I adore this man. I understand the silliness of it, but he's my everything. We laugh together. We dance together. We watch Wipeout together. We root against each other's teams while we watch football. We work together, both of our heads bent over computers.

But can I just say that I look forward to these Fridays and Sundays more than I could have ever dreamed possible? Being alone for just these few hours is fan-freaking-tastic.

C25K - Weeks 6 and 7

Soooo...you probably thought we gave up on that running bit, didn't you? Well, we haven't. We've been going strong at it and two weeks have passed by.

Basically, the last two weeks we've been running for 25 minutes at a time after a brisk warm-up walk. I don't have much to say about it, which is why I haven't been writing about it, but I will say that it has been a lot easier than I thought it would be. When we first started training, I thought I was going to vomit after just three minutes. When we first started training, every single stitch in my side seemed like the most painful thing ever. But now, it's doable. After 25 minutes, I'm tired, I'm breathing slightly heavier than normal, but I can do it. A stitch in my side is an irritation, but definitely no reason to stop running.

It totally helps that BB runs with me. There are many mornings when the alarm goes off that I really want to just hit snooze and forget the running. But when he rolls out of bed and grabs his running shorts, I know that we're doing it no matter what. He's also great motivation on the run, always checking in, chastising me when I get down about it, and getting super excited about the end of the run.

This marriage thing? It's really working out.

NFL Rankings

So, hey, week two of football season is over and it hasn't been a very good year for my teams so far. I am pretty sure no one but me cares about my football team rankings, except for my patient husband, but I'm going to rank them for you anyway.

Here is the hierarchy of teams I root for. This has nothing to do with talent of teams, understand, but simple blind loyalty on my part, mostly of geographic areas.

1) Detroit Lions - Hands down the winners on my list of loved teams. I always root for them to win, but so far this year they are 0-2 and that has made life for me sad.
2) Minnesota Vikings - I can't help it now that Culpepper and Moss are gone, I root for the home team. The Vikes are also 0-2 and how could things go so badly for me?
3) Indianapolis Colts - I have a crush on Tony Dungy. 1-1 this year.
4) Cleveland Browns - I used to live in Ohio, so they were the home team there. Also 0-2 this year. Did I mention it hasn't been a good year for me so far?
5) Pittsburgh Steelers - It's cute how Hines Ward smiles hugely whenever he messes up. Pittsburgh is 2-0, but sadly, one of those games was a hard loss for my Cleveland Browns (ranked above the Steelers, you see).
6) New York Giants - The Manning brothers deserve love.
7) Green Bay Packers - A super duper community owned team and I think they made the correct decision re: Favre.
8) Baltimore Ravens - A football team with a literary name is a team to root for.
9) New Orleans Saints - This is the only football team on my list below the Mason-Dixon line and I have to admit it's because I have a giant love for their quarterback, Drew Brees.
10) Denver Broncos - Their mascot is a horse and at games there's this horse and I love it.
11) Chicago Bears - My father's favorite team, so it's gotta be pretty far down the list of mine.

I despise the Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals, and Philadelphia Eagles. I actually hate the Eagles because they use mostly a passing game, which I think is boring. It has nothing to do with Philadelphia, a most lovely city.

I am sort of confused about my feelings about the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. They are northern teams and I should like them, but I don't think Bills games ever get played around here on networks and the Jets took Favre, which is a problem for me. So....confusion.

Most other teams I just don't care about. The Chargers, the Seahawks, the Chiefs, the Dolphins, the whatevers. I usually root for the northernmost team. Or the team with the better mascot, which is strangely how the Broncos even ended up on the list.

So, how's that for lots of thoughts on things most you don't care about?

Blog Roll

Updated: April 11, 2010

Stolen Moments
The Denora
ello, love
Underblog Rides Again
Julia {here be hippogriffs}
Nothing But Bonfires
Definitely RA
The Stiletto Mom
Jennster
A Daily Prayer from the Lab
Bright Yellow World
Clothed Much
La Petite Chic
Heels
Mimi Smartypants
Sweet. Southern. Spirited.
Her Bad Mother's Basement
The Queen of Shake Shake
She Likes Purple
Jonniker
Princess Nebraska

A List of Non-Important Items

1) I would like to reiterate my demands from last year that Monday night football be on a non-cable network. There is nothing more annoying than not being able to watch a football game everyone will be talking about tomorrow just because it is on ESPN. Stupid ESPN. (And, in interest of full disclosure, I was able to watch the Vikings/Packers game tonight because the Vikings are a local team. But from this week on, I will be one pissed off chick every Monday night. And, although I hate to root for the Packers, I think they made the right choice passing on Favre and sticking with Rodgers.)

2) It appears that my engagement ring is the source of the irritation on my finger and not my wedding ring. This was determined by cleverly wearing only one ring at a time and watching my finger turn red and puffy with my engagement ring. Huh. I swapped out my navel bar with a titanium bar and that has made it feel slightly better, although it's still pretty tender to the touch. It is no longer oozing pussy stuff when I do my salt water soak, so I'm taking it as progress.

3) Sarah Palin is a nutjob. I was on the fence about maybe voting for a third-party candidate because the Obama/Biden ticket isn't really my style, but as soon as I heard her speech, I became a diehard Obama supporter. I may even send money to Obama/Biden because I am scared of her.

4) One of my friends had a baby last week. This means a trip to Baby Gap in my future! Huzzah!

5) I parted my hair on the opposite side today. This made me feel like a different person.

6) My dad is a crazy psycho and if I weren’t so embarrassed about his behavior I’d tell you all about it. I spent 20 minutes on the phone today with Bestest Friend and she made me feel all better about it.

7) I am going to have a 5 x 7 of one of our wedding pictures made for my desk at work. I know that I promised you no more wedding related matter, but I lied a little bit. I have narrowed it down to these choices - I will post them tomorrow after mulling them over and ask for opinions. I would post them tonight, but I just spent an hour trying to do it and blogger blew up and took my hard earned downloaded pictures with it and my head hurts and so now I'm going to just go to bed.

C25K - Week 5

You can find week one here, week two here, week three here, and week four here. The Couch to 5K program has really kicked into high gear this week and I'm very excited about some of the progress I've made. Last week was tough, but things are better now.

Running Day 1 - We ran for five minutes, walked for three, ran for five, walked for three, then ran for five. This was okay. I thought it would be impossible for me, but really it wasn't more running time than last week, just spread out a bit differently. Plus, it was like 6:30 in the morning and quite lovely out.

Next Day - My left leg was a little cantankerous. I blame it on the running, BB blames it on the fact that I sit on that leg when I'm on my computer. Whatever.

Running Day 2 - This day we had to run for eight minutes, walk for five, then run for another eight. I was scared! We were in exotic Bloomington, Illinois for the holiday weekend and I learned a few interesting tidbits. 1) It is A LOT hotter there than it is here. We ran at about 8:30 and it was already about a million degrees. 2) Everyone says hello to everyone else on the path. When you're running here, you're lucky if someone even looks at you, let alone speaks to you. It was nice and friendly and I couldn't say hello back because I was gasping for air like a maniac. BB's cousin, who is from Chicago and ran the Chicago Marathon last year (she's out of my league), also commented on the niceness of the locals on the running path. Clearly the midwestern big cities need to learn friendliness!! 3) Eight minutes is a long time.

Actually, this went a bit quicker than I had anticipated. It was nice not having to do rotation after rotation of something. The boy and I did enjoy the change of scenery, though, so maybe we will have to start changing up our running routes around here.

Next Day - Dude, at Biker Boy's family's family reunion, there is so much food. I can't even talk about how much I ate. All the running for the last five weeks has been negated by the food I ingested at this shinding.

Running Day 3 - Oh, man, it is cold in the mornings now. Okay, chilly. Delightful. I have goosebumps when we leave the house, but am quite comfortable once we get moving. Today we have to run for twenty minutes. Remember just a few short days ago when I was bitching about eight minutes?! This is a giant leap and it went really well.

BB had told me when we first started this program that the stopping and starting was really hard for him because he never found a running rhythm. Well, I scoffed at him because I had no idea what he was talking about. Every minute of running was torture and I was counting them down. But after the first three or four minutes of this run, I stopped thinking about the running (shoulders back, head up, breath in, breath out, stand up straight, breath in) and started just thinking. About other things.

I started thinking about how sad I was that I couldn't wear my rings. I started thinking about solutions to this problem (new rings? rhodium plating inside?). I started thinking about creative teaching tricks. I started thinking about how adorable that chocolate lab puppy was. Before I knew it, BB told me it was the halfway mark and we had to turn around. I was comfortable - not gasping, not hobbling along. I am certainly not going to win any awards for speed, but it was not bad.

I finished the run in the rhythm and it was good and successful and pleasant. We had originally hoped this program might improve our flexibility some and it hasn't really done that, so in the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to do yoga more frequently (what? once every other week doesn't count?) to work on that area of my physical fitness.

Next week more intervals at first building toward a twenty-five minute run. Wish me luck!

Bad News

Okay, it's not bad news like oh no, I am not married and not old enough to vote yet and my mom is a crazy conservative with a little bit of power in a state with hardly any power and I accidentally got pregnant and oh no, what's that guy doing here, oh my God my mom is running for vice-president and did I tell you that I am not married and pregnant and now everyone is looking at me and...

No, it's not like that.

(But poor child, right?)

We're doing more research, but it appears I have developed a sudden allergy to nickel. You know, not nickels like I don't need to save my money, but nickel the metal.

Which means that wearing my engagement and wedding rings causes a horrid itchy thing on my hand.

Which also means that my navel ring is...disgusting.

I'm out!

Shame

When she was born, we raced to the store to buy the pink Polo dress and teddy bear. It seemed so appropriate that we be the ones to give her that first teddy bear. We held the baby, we enjoyed the time with family, and we were grateful to have been able to see her during that first week of life. Uncle BB and Aunt NGS were so happy.
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Six months later, something has changed. Every phone call is about the baby. We got engaged and his mom was happy, but later on in the same phone call, we were told all about how the baby had her half-birthday and there was a big party. Apparently everyone (but us) was at this party. Later that week, the baby's mother sent us a link via email to pictures from the party. The pictures were all of the baby. Where were the grandparents? The great-grandparents? The aunts and uncles?
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With every passing month, we get more and more pictures of the baby. Just of the baby. The calls home become more and more focused. We ask after the siblings. We get cursory responses before the conversation morphs into stories about the baby.

The siblings are split down the middle. Half are just as gaga as the grandparents. The other half realize that it is ridiculous. The family is not about the child. There has been no attempt to have the child sleep through the night or stay with a babysitter.
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We're visiting. We barely walk in the door and they ask, "don't you want to go visit the baby now?" Uh...no? We'd like to go to the bathroom and drink some water first.
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Wedding planning turns nightmarish after we realize that not having children means that the baby can't come. BB's mom cries. We relent to allow her to be there for pictures. We are the bad guys. The family is whispering behind our backs that we hate her. We don't hate her. We don't want her to be the center of attention.
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A routine doctor's visit leaves BB's mom in the hospital. We rearrange our schedules and go to be there pre- and post-surgery. The sibs do the same. An even dozen of us crowd into this small hospital room. She gets out of surgery; it has gone well.

We can hear the baby squealing down the hall. "Ahh..." says the grandfather, "here comes who she really wants to see."

I see BB exchange a look with his youngest sister. The pain and shock going through their faces hurts my heart. I squeeze his hand. He looks off, into the distance. I don't know what he's thinking, but my heart hurts for him. I look at his sister. Tears are streaming down her face. She quickly wipes them away and as the baby comes into the room, we all but forgotten.
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BB starts deleting the baby pictures. We get them every week now, it seems.

We aren't going back to visit until the wedding. We decided that maybe they were just seeing too much of us. The child is over at the house during a phone call one night and we had to get off the phone because she is screaming so loud. The rumor among the sane members of the family is that she is brat. The rumor among the less rational members of the family are that she is adorable.
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Even the grandparents start describing her has stubborn and willful.
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At our wedding, she was allowed for pictures. The mother was forced to leave immediately after the ceremony because the child wouldn't stop screaming in the hotel room.
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This past weekend was a big family reunion. The baby and her parents couldn't make it. I put together a big album of wedding pictures. We went through it, discussing how adorable some of the aunts and uncles look in the dancing pictures. Literally, as soon as we closed the album, she says, "you want to see something really cute?" and pulls out pictures of this child. Who is now fanged with two pointy teeth and has an unfortunate hair growth pattern. I smile, say nothing, and quietly pass them on to BB. He smiles, says nothing, and quietly passes them back. She notices, of course, and continues waxing on about how adorable this child is.
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We are resentful of this child. She made our wedding tense and she has made my husband angry with his family. We are deeply ashamed that we are resentful of an eighteen month old child. But with every family gathering, it gets worse.

We made a decision on our six hour drive back today that we are going to let this go. We will try to enjoy the time with the child because she is at a fun age and she should be fun. We are going to be optimistic and enjoy her. This is my purge of the anger and bad feelings and I will never speak of it again.
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