GlutenFree Allergy Sucks (Except When It Doesn’t)

Take a blood test.  Submit to the needle invading your arm.  Send off for the results.

When I got the results back, they confirmed my nutritionist’s suspicions: my body had developed an allergic reaction to gluten.  That was December 2007.  That month was my last gluten hurrah.  I haven’t eaten most grains, OR beer, since.  But in the 30 days of December I went on to devour all the wheat possible.  I ate a lot of sandwiches.  I drank a lot of beer.  And once that clock hit 12:00a.m., January 1, 2008 I switched from Belgian Ale to Champagne; from crackers and cheese to just cheese.  I switched to the gluten-free lifestyle.

This is the stuff I don't eat anymore

The switch made my life better.  Cutting gluten out of my diet improved the arthritis I was experiencing in my joints.  The dietary changes were worth it almost immediately.  Plus, within a few months I found gluten-free beers from Belgium.  But until this year, I didn’t have the breads and pastry problem resolved. Any of you who have had to experiment with gluten-free baking know that it’s near impossible to get the consistency right without the gluten.  I’ve had marginal success with some recipes, and others were a disaster.  My diet actually moved on from grains.  Me and grains became like those people you see every 6 months or so in the grocery store, and have nothing to talk about anymore.  We drifted apart.

Some light broke through the gluten-free shroud recently.  The e-mail asked me if I wanted to try some new gluten-free products from Houston.  I said hell yes.  Soon after I got one of the best care packages of my life (sorry mom).  It contained 3 different cakes, cookies, and delicious white bread for making toast and sandwiches.

Free food makes gluten-avoidance not suck.

Since this isn’t a cooking blog, I won’t go into all the details.  Here’s the skinny on the gluten-free stuff I got.  The Carrot and Cinnamon Cakes were outstanding.  Moist and rich.  I brought them into the Tech Ranch for lunch and we polished them off in an afternoon.  The Ginger Cake seemed a bit lacking in the ginger department though.  The cookies were fantastic.  You don’t realize how much you miss chocolate chip cookies until you take them warm out of the microwave…

If any of you all are looking for great gluten-free alternatives for you or a family member, check Gluten Free Houston out.  My only regret is that they are in Houston, not Austin.

Hope this helps.