Gluten Free - not so bad actually

So, I want to be upfront and say that I think my Dr. puts everyone on a gluten free, casein free diet. Unless you go in there and say, "I feel awesome, in fact, I have no idea why I am even at the doctor's to begin with." Otherwise, no gluten or casein for you. She does test for all common food sensitivities/allergies but if no other culprits show up then no gluten or casein for you. The thing is that after you get these orders, you feel good. Some people feel fantastic. (I just feel good but if you read my blog you know I have a lot of stress due to my kitty's renal failure and intensive care).
The trick is not to toss out your Oreos and just go to Whole Foods and buy gluten-free Oreos. You have to eat more unprocessed foods. Thats what makes you feel better. It's easier than I thought because most of the gluten free fake food is not very good (sorry fake oreos) and its expensive. No one really wants to pay $5 for a small box of not very tasty crackers. So, you turn to the stuff that is yummy. Fruits, vegetables, the gluten free grains like quinoa and rice. I am loving it. I know, weird.
I have been on crazy fad diets before. I did South Beach, Adkins, Sensa, some weird no salt thing. First of all, these were all horrible ideas because I was only trying to loose weights and diets don't work. (I have been over diets and trying to loose weight for a while now so this is not that kind of diet or related to loosing weight.) In all these cases, I would have cut a bitch for a slice of bread/pasta/cake/salt/etc. but since I went gluten and casein free I have not craved anything. Not even once.
Today no one is in the front office but me. If I have to work through lunch, I usually dictate that this means the company buys me lunch and that lunch is chicken strips and blizzard from the DQ next door. You know what I had today? A salad. With Tuna. That is all. Do I wish I could have chicken strips and a blizzard (previously in my top five favorites)? No, not even a little. I am the first person to tell you that I am shocked, SHOCKED, about this. I can't eat any of my previously favorite foods (except wine and dark chocolate, thank the gods) and it doesn't bother me one bit. I have trouble actually accepting this reality. I do see it as a sign that this diet (diet as in what you eat is your diet. Mine is gluten free, casein free and omnivorous) is what my body wants. I think about DQ and something inside me says, "Yeah, thanks for not eating that because that was why you felt like shit all the time." And this might be TMI, but I have had no gas. Seriously, and I eat roughage like kale every day.
Now why does being GFCF work any differently than not eating processed foods like a paleo diet. I am not sure it does. It might be psychological in that I can say, "that food will make me sick" as opposed to "I choose not to eat that." It also does not cut out a whole genre of food. I can have carbs, I can have sugar, I can have fat just not all the kinds of sugar, carbs and fat. I even eat things that some people consider "bad" for you like white rice and corn chips. But when you break down what I eat into the good ole food pyramid my servings of fat, sugar, carbs (and white rice) falls well below my servings of fruits and vegetables. And the thing I am trying to say is that I really want to eat more produce which to me feels like the biggest win of all.
Now, I am sure some people want to know if you will lose weight on a GFCF diet. If you ate a lot of junk and things that made you bloat before then probably. Chris says I look slimmer, but as I said before I don't care for weight loss diets so I don't weigh myself. Since my health issues were all inflammation related then I could just be less swollen. Who doesn't want to be less swollen? Some people with gluten intolerance will gain weight because they were experiencing poor absorption before. So if you think you should try this to lose weight then please don't, diets don't work. If you want to try it and see if you feel better then be my guest. But talk to your doctor first, and consider asking for food sensitivity tests. It would be a shame to give up gluten only to find out that soy is what is making you feel bad.
Oh, and now that I read a lot of restaurant allergens menus, soy is in freaking everything.

Real Food

So if you know me personally then you know I have struggled with my weight. Or maybe that is not the right word. used to be quite fit. It makes me sad now to think about how I thought I was fat in high school when I was actually fit and smoking hot. In college, I gained a freshman 100. Even though I had been fit, I had horrible eating habits. I was one of those lucky people who could eat junk and not gain weight. Well, a combination of not changing my habits as my body changed and an illness that put me on steroids for an extended time period (I can eat my body weight when I am on steroids) caused me to gain a lot of weight.
This lead to 20 years of yo-yo dieting. In retrospect, there is no way all that yo-yoing didn't damage my body. I have given up on quick fixes and starvation. It only makes me bitchy and more hungry. Each yo-yo bounces higher than the last. I want to eat yummy, healthy food and be healthy.

I have recently begun reading the blog Kath Eats Real Food and I am loving it. Now Kath and I are different in our tastes. It seems like she likes cold food and I like hot food. I also love sauces. My friend Amanda does not like sauces which is awesome because I always get to have her sauce and my sauce. I don't see Kath eating a lot of dripping food. But what she does eat looks great to me and I have started incorporating a lot of her concepts into my diet.

The other night after dance, I had blueberries, two golden kiwis, some greek yogurt, a little honey and some ground flax. It was fabulous! The ground flax I bought tastes like graham crackers.
Last night, while Chris had a reheated burger I had mixed salad greens with some dubliner cheese and a drizzle of honey. I cut my corn on the cob off of the cob and ate it as a part of my salad. We also quick sauteed some green beans. It was a fabulous meal and I think it was all real food!

Porch Swings

Tomorrow I will film my 2nd edition of Jen Solves Your Problems with Wine. However, in this case that will be inaccurate because I think it is time to bust out a summer mixed drink recipe.
The Porch Swing. The Porch Swing tastes like a wonderful alcoholic, perfectly mixed Arnold Palmer. I first heard about the Porch Swing here. And while I LOVE Smitten Kitchen and all Deb has done for my culinary life, let me dumb it down for you.

I make these in a batch. I used a plastic Nalgene bottle with ounce markings on the side. It really gets the job done.
8 oz Lemonade (it doesn't have to be homemade but it shouldn't be too sweet so I use Simply Lemonade)
3 oz Gin, I think I have Bombay Sapphire
3 oz Pimm's No. 1, go to your better stocked liquor store - my corner store looked at me like I had two heads when I asked for Pimm's

Pour this mix into highball glasses over ice. Add a splash of 7-up and some thinly sliced cucumbers.
The cucumbers may seem a bit odd but there is just something about the fresh cucumber smell hitting you as you take a sip. Mmmmm...

I am not kidding that if you like lemonade, ice tea and all that is summer then you will love this drink. It goes perfectly with heat and BBQ. A word of warning, give it a stir every so often if you are a sipper - the Gin sinks to the bottom ;)

We had homemade Margarita and BBQ chicken pizza with our Porch Swings

My new favorite thing

Sometimes the Googles reads my mind and gives me suggestions. The other day it said, here I think you will like this. And boy did I ever. If you like drinking (and if you don't I doubt that we are friends) and you like food (again, seriously), then you will love My Drunk Kitchen. For real watch it. Brunch and Tacos are my favorites.

Nearly Fat Free Buffalo Chicken Dip

My friend Kelley and my mom both make the same recipe for the most incredible buffalo chicken dip. Mmmm....

Alas, it is not low fat. I had a serious craving for it one day and because I was terrified that fat police (and possibly my weight watchers group leader) would magically appear and take my cream cheese away I had to get to substituting.

First, you need some chicken. Kelley's recipe calls for canned chicken. I think that would work in mine too but I haven't tried it. I had been boiling chicken breasts and shredding them but tonight I cheated and pulled apart a rotisserie chicken. This was much more chicken and also got

mushy as it cooked - I like mushy but you might not.

Then I add:

1 can low fat cream of celery

8 oz fat free sour cream

1 packet dry ranch seasoning

1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (not pictured) - 1/2 cup is the minimum, we are wussies when it comes to the heat

See all the store brands, that's the husbands doing. He is very cheap frugal.

Tonight we mixed it up and added chopped celery right to it. This gave it a nice crunch.

Let it all cook and when it is hot through and through you will have a delicious orange glop.

Chris and I do good to get it on plates and then scoop it with baked tortilla chips and celery (except when we jump the gun and put the celery in it).

If I were going to take this to a party I think I would put it in a small casserole dish, pour a little extra wing sauce on top for a nice orange color and then put a little pile of chopped celery in the middle because I am fancy like that.

You should make this and have me over, or better yet just bring it here. I will put my bathrobe on.