Whats your favorite Gluten Free replacement?

As I was wandering the grocery store the other day, reading labels and generally being frustrated by the yummy looking items I could not buy, I came to a suprising discovery. While I am pretty much out of luck when it comes to prepackaged rice mixes and potatoes from a box, I discovered a whole plethora of foods I could eat! Thai mixes! I couldn't believe it either! I had assumed that since it was an Asian prepackaged food, it would have been made with soy sauce using wheat. But no! They're not.

Thai Kitchen has an amazing array of gluten free products, mixes and sauces. I couldn't believe my eyes. While they are not all gluten free, the ones that are, are all CLEARLY marked on the containers "Gluten Free". So easy. I was ecstatic to say the least. I had found San-J's wheat free soy sauce before, but Asian cooking is not one that I have mastered or even amateured in. I can blend a stir fry sauce from a recipe, but they always see to fall short of my expectations.

So I bought myself some Phad Tahi noodles and rushed home to try it out. Would my taste buds be happy? Would they be even mildly giddy? Let me tell you, they were not disappointed. While I am sure they are not quite as good as restaurant or authentic Thai dishes, these are now a staple in my house.

It got me to thinking though, what other hidden gluten free gems are just sitting unmarked on my grocery store shelves waiting to be discovered? So I thought perhaps my other GF friends had also made "regular grocery item" discoveries of their own that clearly state gluten free on the packaging and would be willing to share.

Here is what I have found so far:

Thai Kitchen (large majority of products)

A Taste of Thai (large majority of products)

Best Foods Mayonnaise

San-J Wheat Free Soy Sauce

Beelers Breakfast Sausages

Hormel Natural Lunch meats and Natural Bacon

Dairygold Sour Cream, Cottage Cheese, Heavy Cream

Coffee Mate Creamers

Old Wisconsin Summer Sausage, Pepperoni slices and stix

Rice Chex

Yoplait Yogurts

La Victoria Green Taco Sauce & Salsas

Mission soft Corn Tortillas & hard Taco Shells

Mission Tortilla chips (label claims "Allergens None". But it doesn't state Gluten Free)

As always, read the labels before you buy and consume, as manufacturers can and do change their ingredients with out notice.

List more items you know of, and lets get out there and eat like normal people!

Moving is a bugger

OK, so we have been in the process of moving to our lovely brand new home, and I have come to realize a few things....

1) I will NEVER move during the winter again! The funny thing is, that inevitably, of all our 5 moves during the past 11 years, only one was NOT during the winter. I don't know why it always falls during the slushy, freezing, snowy, sleet-pounding weather. Perhaps we are a glutton for punishment, but NEVER AGAIN I tell you! I am done with moves for one thing, we're staying here for at least 10 years. I'm tired of hefting boxes and then not knowing where my fuzzy slippers are. Then add cold fingers, runny noses and bored small children on top of not knowing where my fuzzy slippers are.

2) The total cost of a new home doesn't end when you start making the mortgage payments. I don't know if it ever ends, because the furniture that I was perfectly happy with before the move, now looks like something the cat drug into the new house. And as we don't even have a cat, well, that's even worse. So I must buy new furniture. Please someone explain to my husband the importance of this.

3) Women decorate their homes with the ideas and plans to entertain, and create an atmosphere of homey goodness with classy style. Men decorate their homes with the ideas of creating napping spots in every room.

4) Moving is a bugger on the Celiac. In my efforts to keep my children happy and entertained between houses, I packed up yummy snack bags for both of them filled with the snacks they both love and therefore contain gluten. They were fine. I selflessly sent my husband to McDonalds for his and the kids lunches, and valiantly ignored the crunchy munching sounds of those absolutely delicious french fries which are soaked in a hydrolyzed wheat protein prior to frying. He was good. All the while distracting myself with trying to decide where my sloppy, suddenly out of style, snow flecked furniture would look nice until such a time that my food starved brain couldn't take my husbands well meaning suggestions for best furniture placement to induce various stages of sleep, and I snapped.

It was my fault really. I should have been proactive and packed myself a gluten free snack bag etc., but I wasn't. I was too caught up in the move and the excitement of it all. But its something we mustn't forget. Ourselves. Sometimes I feel so selfish though that the majority of our grocery budget goes to buying my gluten free ingredients, and packaged foods. And that my diet requires more time. Don't get me wrong, my family has been extremely supportive of my Celiac diagnosis, and is at times even more vigilant that I am. I think that I feel guilty for requiring a special diet that takes more planning than a run to the fast food restaurant, that I just don't eat and don't mention it to my family. But that's not good. Not healthy for us, and definitely not pleasant for those around us when we become crabby-pants. I sent myself to my room for a time out.

So my advice is, to plan ahead, don't move in the winter, be happy with what you have, never loose your fuzzy slippers and designate a place in every room for naps. I think cats and husbands may be on to something.