Peace out, everyone.

I went to the farmer's market in Victoria Gardens last Friday. I tried to buy some gluten-free bakery goods at one of the stands. "We only sell good tasting bread here," the man said. Well, I would eat 'good tasting bread' if it didn't kill me.

It is true, that I have yet to find any good tasting gluten-free bread. They are all brick heavy and unpalatable. Perhaps, part of that problem is also, the no dairy and no soy issue. It makes it tough to find bakery products made with NO ingredients.

Yet, every single day, I see recipes of all these delicious foods I can never eat. Cheesy garlic bread and gooey drippy pizza. Sweet sugary caramel rolls and cream cheese taco dips. I really miss cheese! All these things from a world I am not part of anymore.

In my freezer, I have some raspberry sorbet. Milk free, of course. My fridge has some coconut milk 'yogurt', which is as bad as it sounds, olive oil 'butter' and almond milk. Yes, I am leading an alternative lifestyle. Sunflower seed butter now replaces my peanut butter and my flours are now rice, tapioca and potato.

And, even though I really loved 'just plain milk' and all of its delightfully delicious benefits, like ice cream and yogurt, I was biologically made for a relationship with almond milk. We have our own little place in the dairy section. And just to make you jealous, it doesn't even need to be refrigerated before opening. Plus, Almond Dream praline crunch ice cream is to die for.

When I go out to eat, I do get special treatment at some places. Like Blaze Pizza always changes gloves and makes my gluten-free crust on a separate surface away from their regular pizza line. Blaze Pizza is like Subway; they make your pizza to order as you walk along.

People get so annoyed at me when I slow the line down. Never mind the 'dying' with gluten part. You would think I wanted my own Gluten-free Parade, the way they suffer through the extra 30 seconds it takes to make my crust.

It reminds me of how upset some parents get that they can't send peanuts to school, anymore. Or any homemade treat, for that matter. The fact that another family's child may die seems completely irrelevant to the wants of some people.

"I have always sent my favorite homemade peanut buttery Scotch-a-roo bars, before, and if I can't now, it just isn't fair to our Jimmy Joe, cuz they're his favorite."

As I rage against this unfair world, where the gluten, dairy, soy tolerant people control my destiny, I will continue my quest for some 'tasty' gluten-free bakery products. Right now, I am comfortable with my ability to remain in anonymous obscurity, most of the time.

I just hope there will never come a time, when I will have to wear a tiny loaf of bread badge, stitched up with 'Gluten-Free', on my jacket, for all of the world to see.

Peace out, everyone.

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Allergy Medications Dangerous for People w/Food Allergies

So there's this:

A notice about milk ingredients in several popular allergy medications: For those with a dairy allergy, watch out for these medications containing dairy: Link

Zyrtec and Zyrtec-D Adult 10 mg tablets

Zyrtec Children’s Chewables (5mg & 10mg)

The Allergy/Asthma Information Association (AAIA) lists other allergy and asthma medications that contain milk:

· Singulair 4 mg granules & 10 mg tablets (not in the 4 mg or 5 mg tablets)

· Reactine, Aerius, Claritin tablets (not liquid form).

· Benadryl 50 mg pink/white capsule (not caplet, chewable tablets or liquid form)

· Prednisone tablets

These asthma medications also contain milk:

Advair

Flovent

Foradil aerolizer capsules

Oxeze turbuhaler

Spiriva capsules

Symbicort turbuhaler

Ventolin diskhaler, diskus, rotacaps

Those with food allergies typically do have environmental allergies as well and may be using these allergy medications to treat their symptoms. Treatment for a food allergy reaction is epinephrine and a Benadryl or Zyrtec. 

Seriously, let's not give someone who's having an allergic reaction to milk a medication that contains MILK. 

Lactose Containing Asthma/Allergy Meds

• Singulair 4 mg granules & 10 mg tabs (but not 4 & 5 mg tabs)
• Reactine, Aerius, Claritin tabs (but not liquid forms). Allegra is lactose free
• Benadryl 50 mg pink/white capsule (not caplet, chewable tabs or liquid)
• Prednisone tabs but not Pediapred

Lactose Containing Asthma Inhalers

Lactose containing dry powder inhalers	Lactose-Free DPIs
Advair diskus	Bricanyl
Flovent diskus	Pulmicort
Foradil aerolizer capsules
Oxeze turbuhaler
Spiriva capsules
Symbicort turbuhaler
Ventolin diskhaler, diskus, rotacaps

All pressurized spray asthma inhalers (MDIs) are lactose free.  Link

Differences between Milk Allergy and Lactose Intolerance

Milk allergy should not be confused with lactose intolerance. A food allergy is an overreaction of the immune system to a specific food protein. When the food protein is ingested, in can trigger an allergic reaction that may include a range of symptoms from mild symptoms (rashes, hives, itching, swelling, etc.) to severe symptoms (trouble breathing, wheezing, loss of consciousness, etc.). A food allergy can be potentially fatal.

Unlike food allergies, food intolerances do not involve the immune system.  People who are lactose intolerant are missing the enzyme lactose, which breaks down lactose, a sugar found in milk and dairy products. As a result, lactose-intolerant patients are unable to digest these foods, and may experience symptoms such as nausea, cramps, gas, bloating and diarrhea. While lactose intolerance can cause great discomfort, it is not life-threatening. link

A milk allergy is commonly mistaken for lactose intolerance, which is a different condition that causes digestive symptoms. If you have a milk allergy, a common symptom is a skin rash. Hives and eczema are also common rashes associated with a milk allergy. link

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Flour Garden

It's not simple to say

Entering into the second calendar month of allergy life, things seem to be getting more confusing. While we try to traverse the world of allergen free foods, the first thing we are discovering is how cost prohibitive everything is. Two gluten free pizza crusts cost $8.00. A loaf of bread, with six slices, is $5.00. Plus, living in California, everything is taxed. 

The obvious answer is to bake our own. We have already started some baking with our previous Sunflower Butter Cookies. With those cookies, we purposely avoided flour. Gluten-free, wheat-free, definitely not stress-free flour! First off, gluten-free flours costs 10 billion dollars. AND, comes in bags the size of a thimble!

Weeks in, we still haven't sorted through the many different types of flour in order to actually bake anything with gluten-free flour. Having bought bananas to make banana bread, this is the second time they are ready to either be used or thrown. Since we have a random selection of rice and coconut and other flours, none of which add up to 'All Purpose'' gluten-free flour, I tried another flourless recipe I found on google. 

The banana-oat cookies with chocolate chips, pictured below, are just awful.* Even after 15 minutes in a 350 degree oven, they just taste like mushed up banana and oats mixed together. The semi-sweet chocolate chips just made them bitter. So far, I am failing in my quest for great recipes, or foods, for that matter.

*It is a 100% consensus, nobody likes these cookies. Even my husband, who,eats anything, took one bite and put the cookie down. Where do people come up with these recipes? I swear, just because it is gluten-free or dairy free, doesn't suddenly mean you can call it tasty or delicious, thinking 'health food people' don't care what it tastes like!  Blah.

She's imperfect 

December 2015

We have found many different flours. Right now I have oat flour, barley flour, white rice and brown rice flour and coconut flour. Many of these flours we found at a local store: Honeyville Farms. They also have a blog, In the Kitchen with Honeyville, which I definitely have to start following. 

When we chose the flours, we decided to buy the coconut flour instead of almond flour because it was $12.99 instead of $31.99 a bag. I should have paid a lot more attention to the recipes I was looking at before we went shopping. 

Apparently, almond flour can be swapped at a one to one ratio in most recipes, where as coconut flour is a strange entity that absorbs all moisture from recipes. Thus, though it doesn't need much flour, it requires eggs, many eggs, for each recipe. I found one recipe that called for 12 eggs for one dozen biscuits. Since, I can only use egg yolks, we have been using 2 egg yolks for every egg in the recipes. The means, the biscuit recipe would require us to use up two dozen eggs!

 the girl that I knew

Mostly though, the recipes just ask for All Purpose Gluten Free Flour. I have found many recipes to create my own from the multiple flours I already have. What I can't find is tapioca flour/starch. Every single blend I have found, no matter which different flours, whether almond flour, oat or bean, always includes tapioca. Honeyville Farms does have potato flour, another starch included in most of these all purpose blends. I just have to buy fifty pounds. FIFTY POUNDS! That is the same size bags we used to buy for whole kernel corn to feed my father's cows! 

So many of our lifelong memories wind themselves around food. The traditions of Holiday meals, family recipes passed from generation to generation. Perhaps it is just me, but it is hard not feel as if a part of who I am is disappearing.

I am very fortunate to have my daughter here helping me frustrate through this process. Today, we are looking for success, so we are baking Betty Crocker Gluten Free cookies. Like everything else, we have to adjust the recipe by removing the egg white and adding an extra egg yolk and replacing the butter. We used Smart Balance with extra virgin olive oil. 

Since we are still testing things out, we split the box in half and made the other half with coconut oil. We also doubled the vanilla, putting a full teaspoon into each half. This was accidental, but it ended up being a happy accident. These cookies are still a bit grittier than full gluten cookies, but they held together well and the ones made with butter alternative Smart Balance had a very pleasant taste. We would definitely make them again. 

With the coconut oil, we should have used the hardened oil from the refrigerator, instead of the melted oil from the cabinet. The cookies did not hold together well for the baking process. We added an extra yolk and a bit more oil but still not great. Next time we will stick with the Smart Balance for all of the cookies. We only tried both because of $$$$.

August 2016

As we head into the Labor Day weekend, we are supposed to be preparing for Laborgiving, an annual tradition we began years ago, when the children started school the day after Labor Day. We would create a full Thanksgiving style meal early in the weekend, and then eat off the leftovers, as we got ready for the upcoming school year. 

Now, I just get sad thinking about it. I know it will get better than this. Once we work through most of the frustrations. All in all, of things that can go wrong, this barely make a blip.

Used to be mine

SARA BAREILLES LYRICS

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sarabareilles/sheusedtobemine.html

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Eating Out/Ordering In

Choosing meals has always been difficult. Is it that way for everyone? While we could decide on movies, games and other activities, deciding on a singular food destination has always been practically impossible. 

Now, we seldom even try to do anything other than eat at home. 

Still, we have already found a few places that are gluten-free friendly. And, while this diet is not strictly gluten free, it is the easiest thing to look for, when searching for a place to eat.

https://www.facebook.com/freakinwings/

The wings at Freakin' Wings are gluten-free and dairy free. Some of the fries are dairy-free, like the regular fries and the sweet potato fries, which are my favorite. The garlic fries and chili cheese fries, not so much. I am not even going to try and guess on the soy in the different sauces for the chicken. Personally, I am going with the fact I can eat without getting sick as my litmus test, for now.

https://www.dominos.com/en/pages/content/customer-service/glutenfreecrust.jsp



Gluten free pizza, without cheese, from Dominos Pizza.  I never would have even considered this before, but it is actually really good. Definitely, a win on any pizza scale!

https://www.facebook.com/zaitbistro/

I have always loved the plain humus from Zait Bistro. I was very sad I wouldn't be able to eat it anymore since I couldn't have their wonderful fresh pita bread to go with it. But, honestly, their humus is just as good straight off of a fork. Tasty! Rice and beef kabobs. Or lamb or chicken, too. Zait Bistro is absolutely a winner for gluten free eating.

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The Beginning

Mary Gibbons Opatz feeling heartbroken.

August 19 at 3:32pm · 

Apparently, I am allergic to wheat, eggs, milk, soy, peanuts, corn, shrimp and other things. Sigh. Goodbye food, it's been a good run. Please feel free to send me any recipes made with rice, broccoli, and cardboard.

22Jim Elliott, Luanne DeLuca Peek and 20 others

Comments

Diane Vasquez You can do it ! Internet is a great help.
Your family might not like the change in the daily menu though.
Get them "on board" with you. Hugs ❤️

Like · Reply · 1 · August 19 at 3:46pm

Sherri Flannigan Well crud:'(

Like · Reply · August 19 at 3:50pm

Margaret Weisbrod I have a good recipe for ice cubes.

Like · Reply · 3 · August 19 at 4:09pm

Lily Vasquez Look at Indian and Asian recipes

Like · Reply · 2 · August 19 at 4:12pm

Tammy Opatz So sorry, Mary! On the bright side you have your own partial aisle at the grocery store!

Like · Reply · 1 · August 19 at 4:56pm

Katrina Anderson They have veggie based noodles and such. There'd have to be a list to cross reference with what you can have since that seems the shorter list. Also I'd look into seeing a nutritionist for help.

Like · Reply · 1 · August 19 at 5:43pm

Cindy Blesener Maybe you just need to move back to Minnesota! Miss you!

Like · Reply · August 19 at 6:38pm

Preston Torre What else is there to eat???????

Like · Reply · August 19 at 6:39pm

Katy Cecilia Opatz Gluten free labeling is your new best friend. Most of it is rice based alternitves.

Like · Reply · 2 · August 19 at 7:05pm

Katy Cecilia Opatz Bananas can replace eggs in almost all baked goods

Like · Reply · 1 · August 19 at 7:06pm

Laura Smith Oh man!

Like · Reply · August 19 at 7:23pm

Mary Vasquez I'm told ground flax seeds (flax meal) works for egg replacement, too.

Like · Reply · August 19 at 9:35pm

Colleen Hecklinger I'd go for a second opinion!

Like · Reply · 1 · August 20 at 6:08am

Jack Gibbons Spaghetti squash... lots of great meals with that..

Like · Reply · 1 · August 20 at 9:06am

Jim Elliott Yep! Some great recipes there!

Like · Reply · August 20 at 9:29pm

Write a reply...

Amy DeLuca Thought I was the only one in the family that had food allergies to everything

Like · Reply · 1 · August 20 at 9:23am

Pam Gauger Schweisthal How does that happen

Like · Reply · August 20 at 10:38am

Veronica Irivne Shell fish I cant have at all it miss up my chest, lungs, hives cover all though my body please be careful face wash, face lotion carry stuff to, if you have pets you need to read everything you give them. I dont go out to eat ,if they deep fired anyth...See More

Like · Reply · August 20 at 11:13am

Jim Elliott I'll have Maggie send you some good vegan recipes. I never thought I could possibly go vegan .... But after watching cook all her fabulously delicious foods, I've reconsidered. Don't despair! It is not the end of the world. I even made her vegan bacon last year from mushrooms... Believe it or not, you'd be hard pressed to tell it from real bacon.

Like · Reply · August 20 at 9:28pm

Jim Elliott I retread your post... Are you good with chicken and meat? The labels on foods has gotten way better for dealing with allergens..... Going can be a challenge with going out for dinner but my experience with non gluten vegans has been that it isn't impossible. Good luck! (Also.. I agree with the previous post about getting ak second opinion...)

Like · Reply · August 20 at 9:35pm

Susan Wile Jackson Sounds very "paleo diet" Check it out. Went on it for 30 days. I felt great. Only missed the wine.

Like · Reply · August 21 at 4:46am

Mary Gibbons Opatz Thanks for all of the comments and advice, everyone. I will be scheduled to see an allergy specialist soon. The past few days have already been filled with some hits and misses, but, just so you know, rice krispie bars made with sunflower butter instead of peanut butter is very tasty!

Like · Reply · 5 · August 21 at 5:36pm

Margaret Weisbrod How did you figure it out?

Like · Reply · August 21 at 7:03pm

Mary Gibbons Opatz Well, for the rice krispie bars, we used sunflower butter. :) For the allergies, I have been tested multiple times in the past few years for both environmental and chemical allergies, but treatments haven't worked, so this is the first time I was tested for food allergies, as well.

Like · Reply · 1 · August 21 at 7:23pm

Margaret Weisbrod Were you feeling crappy? Hope it goes well.

Like · Reply · August 21 at 7:25pm

Mary Gibbons Opatz Margaret Weisbrod Yes, I have had a full body rash for over four years, along with not feeling well. Hopefully this works. I will pretty much give up eating anything at this point.

Like · Reply · 1 · August 21 at 7:28pm

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