My nephew has some kind of wheat intolerance or allergy, so he’s been on a wheat-free diet for most of his life. I’d never given all that much thought to it — beyond “poor kid can’t have doughnuts” — until his dad decided to try it out, too. He’s been wheat-free for a month or two (or three, maybe), and he’s lost something like 20 pounds. So I thought I’d try it. And then we got home, and I tried it for a day, and we had dinner with friends and they made pasta and that was the end of that.
We visited the Poppins household again this weekend, and it renewed my desire to try the wheat-free diet. I’m not going to be hard-core about checking sauces, etc., but I am going to try to avoid the Very Obviously Wheaty things. Here’s my first wheat-free menu.
Kung Pao Scallops
After a long, long drought, I finally got to go to PF Changs again over the weekend. The kids were so hungry and tired when we got there; I was pretty sure it was going to be a disaster. Once they got a little food in them, though, they were fine. Poppy at a crab wonton and a plate of sweet and sour chicken. I had the Kung Pao scallops. And while they were great, they reminded me that I’ve made Kung Pao before. So I thought I’d try it again.
Veggie migas
When I was pregnant, I thought it would be a good idea to throw some cheese and salsa onto a plate of scrambled eggs. It was a good instinct, and I’ve since added tortilla chips and veggie sausages to the mix. I’ve come to learn that there’s a real way to make migas. I’ve never tried to follow a recipe, but it’s easier to call my version “veggie migas” than “scrambled eggs with Tex-Mexy flava.”
Pizza
I found a wheat-free crust mix to try. I might still make some dough for Rockford and the kids, because I don’t think the mix will make a very large pizza.
My Ma has been wheat free since the summer and a co-worker of mine has Celiac so I can understand why you would want to go GF. Unfortunately for me, unless I really have to stop eating wheat I never will. I love it too much.
That said, mom’s been playing with her GF recipes and has found that mixing her own flours (rice, potato, etc) is far better than any of the mixes. The mixes are usually pretty heavy with bean flours and they can have a wicked gritty texture. (ie: ew)
I’ll see if I can find out which cookbooks she’s been using and also see if I can nab her cornbread and pineapple upside down cake recipes for you. They are yummy and you’d never know they were GF…
My FIL is gluten free…funny, he never lost weight on it. LOL. Must be all the OTHER food he eats.
Thanks for visiting my blog on Wednesday…YES, I’ve had a busy week and JUST now getting back to you.
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I love PF Chang but haven’t been there forever! Considering I could eat a bagel for every meal of the day so it wouldn’t hurt me to be wheat-free either. But then what would I eat my cream cheese with??
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Lots of interesting comments-
For pizza recipes, mixes are ok but try searching for Carol Fenster’s excellent pizza recipe. You can use some pretty simple wheat free flours and it’s terrific. you can also double or triple recipe so don’t have to be baking with wheat at same time as wheat-free… definitely a good thing if there is a medical issue at hand, and also just simplifies things.
Bean flour does not make a GF mix heavy unless it has too much bean flour and not enough other things. The key is to find a well balanced recipe. Bette hagman has great flour blends incorporating bean flour (among other things like sorghum and starches) that turns out amazingly fluffy, yeasty breads. Love them. Bean flour does make for disgusting RAW batter so never taste anything with raw batter in it… probably a good idea.
Amy- you would have your cream cheese on a gluten-free bagel like from Kinnikinnick. 😉
That being said, I’m gluten-free for medical reasons (celiac) and don’t know that it is necessarily useful as a weight loss plan. Eating less processed starchy things is one possible reason that some people can lose weight on a wheat or gluten-free diet- a diet focusing on healthy proteins, lots of vegetables and fruits etc. is probably an easier way to go. People that rely on processed GF or WF products are likely to gain, not lose, anyway. A plan like Weight Watchers or other can work even better- it’s more about calories than specific ingredients or cutting things out. By itself, wheat (especially in its healthier forms) is a fine thing to have in your diet, as long as you don’t have allergies or medical conditions that make it a bad thing for your health. *shrug*
-Sea
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Vegetarian sausages are a crime against nature.
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So… how’s the GF diet going? I wasn’t sure you were going to try it. Have you had to give it up yet??
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