Be Truly Glad - Gluten Free

Workout Day 1

2010-11-29T12:43:00.000-08:00

So I will be posting about my workouts. I just finished my first workout in 3 months since I got sick. Sick you ask? Yes, I came down with severe hives, and stomach pain in September & in October had my gallbladder taken out. So now I am trying to get back into working out so I can lose weight.

Today I did 45 minutes of cardio with some lat pulls. I had to be careful with my lat pulls because I have a 15 lb weight limit per doc's orders. So I feel pretty good right now. I need to eat lunch & figure out what we are having for dinner. I really want to go to Merced Organics & Raleys & get some nutritional foods.. :)

Today:
Breakfast: 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1 banana
Lunch: Spinach Salad with shrimp
(Dinner: Unknown. Will update later)

Back to GF

2010-11-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

Despite my attempts to be truly GF through out Thankgiving by making me GF stuffing, GF pumpkin pie, & GF gravy. However, I was not GF due to ritz crackers with the cheese ball, endless amounts of morning pumpkin bread, and various things with wheat in it. Due to all that wheat, I have been sick to my stomach for two days & had severe back pain most of yesterday. I learned my lesson the hard way - I guess I do have Celiacs. haha.

Today I will let you in on a secret.. how much I weigh, because TOMORROW I will start going back to the gym. Doctor's orders I am only allowed to do the treadmill & bike until he okays anything further.

So here goes. Eek. I am 164 as of the scale this morning. Funny thing 3 weeks ago I was only 162. Oh well - way better than in August/September when I was 184 - so yeah. lol. I am doing okay.

I have a goal to be either 159-158 by the time I go back to work December 13th. Lets see how well I can do this. :) So please help me by making sure I keep a diary of exercise/food that is good & GF!

Today I ate:
Breakfast: 1 egg baked with handful spinach & 1 oz cheddar cheese, 2 cuties oranges.
Lunch: 15 small shrimp, cocktail sauce, 1/2 sliced cucumber, 5 green olives. (snacky lunch).
Snack: String Cheese stick, small green apple
(Dinner will be: Chicken Meat Loaf with provolone, roasted butternut squash mash & roasted brussel sprouts.)

Everything Gluten Free!

My Mom's Stuffing - Gluten Free

2010-11-23T21:13:00.000-08:00

So I LOVE my mom's stuffing. It is the BEST. Yes she uses the gizzards (gross I know, but so tasty) in the stuffing, & puts weird things in it like walnuts & apples - BUT its SO good. I can not live without her stuffing during thanksgiving so I decided to make it myself. :) This time I made it without gizzards & gluten free. I will post some pictures a little later.

1 loaf Boule Bread
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 stick butter or olive oil - whichever you like.
1 cup chopped red delicious apple
1 cup chopped in small pieces walnuts
as much poultry seasoning as you'd like - I like a lot!
salt (for taste)
2 cups of chicken/turkey stock

Cube up the bread & let dry for a day - 1 loaf of the Boule Bread recipe.
Saute onion & celery in butter until translucent. Add the red delicious apple & walnuts at the end & saute those for 5 minutes. Mix onion, celery, butter, apples, & walnut mixture with the bread cubes. Add poultry seasoning & salt to taste. Then mix in the 2 cups chicken stock.

Transfer mixture into a baking dish with a lid or a dutch oven. Bake at 350 until heated throughly & bread is falling apart . :)

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: gluten-free crusty boule

2010-11-20T22:35:00.000-08:00

I am quite the baker today, this is currently in the oven. I have had successful luck with GFE&theC's recipes. :)

I will let you know how it turns out tomorrow. :)

Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef: gluten-free crusty boule: "If you don't want to eat this bread, I'm going to have to check your pulse. This is gluten-free. I wrote the sentences for this piece ..."

EDIT:
The bread is FANTASTIC. Crusty outside, soft inside. You could not taste that this was "GF" which made me truly happy! For this recipe you will need a paddle attachment & a stand mixer. Or - some really strong arms!
1 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup sorghum flour
1 1/2 cups tapioca flour
1 tablespoon granulated active dry yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
1 1/3 cups lukewarm water (heated to 110°F)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons canola oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, taken off the stem and finely chopped (I used dried, still came out great)
olive oil (I prefer grapeseed oil)
coarse sea salt (used table salt for garnish)

Whisk all flours (Rice, Sorghum, Tapioca), yeast, xanthan gum in bowl of mixer to blend.

Add water, eggs, oil, rosemary & honey to dry ingredients. Mix the dough using the paddle attachment to mixer. Mix until combined. This dough is VERY wet and sticky - don't be surprised that it sticks everywhere & doesn't look right - it turns out fantastic.

Let dough rise for 2 hours in a warm place covering the bowl with a towel - YES - 2 hours. Once you have finished playing around on Facebook while your bread rises - form it into two loafs & set on a baking sheet. Go back on FB for 40 minutes.. :) Or let the dough rest for 40 minutes more. Preheat oven to 450.

Before putting the dough in the oven, using a knife cut 1/4 inch slits into the bread (we did 3 slits) this will help open the bread & create a crust. Drizzle oil over bread & salt.

Let bread bake for 30 minutes & VIOLA - BEAUTIFUL crusty bread. :)

Nice Side View - Mmm.

Straight Shot - Look at that crust!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-11-20T22:22:00.000-08:00

Tonight, we made fellowship treats for after church. I found this nice recipe for chocolate chip cookies, however the recipe called for a white bean mash. The idea of beans in cookies is not appealing so, I decided to substitute the beans for pumpkin (since it is fall! :) ). Once the cookies were done baking, they were VERY soft so, be carefully when transferring to cooling rack. The cookies were good, very airy & light. I think I added too much nutmeg which made them have a too much flavor in the dough.

My Little Helper!

1 cup Bob's All Purpose GF Flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup White Bean Puree (I used 1/4 cup Pumpkin Puree)
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

I also added pumpkin spice, nutmeg & cinnamon to the mixture to bring out the pumpkin.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove butter from refrigerator to let soften.

In a large bowl, whisk together GF Flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars until creamy. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed. Stir in chocolate chips.

Make small cookies by dropping heaping teaspoonfuls, spaced about an inch apart, onto nonstick or parchment- lined baking sheets.

Bake for about 12 minutes (although the original recipes said 18 mins) golden brown. Let cool on a metal rack.

Be Truly Glad

2010-11-18T19:53:00.001-08:00

I decided to start a blog on my weight loss journey & being (& sticking to) a gluten free lifestyle.

I decided on the title of my blog due to the verse Peter 1:6-7. Be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold-and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. 1 Peter 1:6-7

I guess I should start from the beginning. I was told by my doctor to lose weight due to my fatty liver and shortly after I had gallbladder surgery. 3 weeks before my surgery I decided to do a no gluten/little to no starch/sugar diet. I have been sticking to it for the most part. I decided to start this blog based on the idea it will hold me accountable.

I started out at 183 in August '10, in October 176 & and now in November I am 163. So it works! :) My goal is to be 150ish, A little under would be nice, but we will see when I get there. I went from a tight fitting size 14 to now a size 10. :) I am pretty happy about my decision.

My goal is to update this at least once every few days. It may be hard to do as I am a Wife, Mommy, Clinician & Student - but hey I will try! :)