[Sovalis]

8 hours ago, Harriet said:

 It was honestly less disappointing to eat meals that were never designed to have wheat in in the first place than to try and recreate them.

This is my experience as well. Although I have to admit, sautéed cabbage is my go-to replacement for noodles because I never did fall in love with any of the gluten free noodle options available in my area. 

[Mistr]

1 hour ago, Sovalis said:

This is my experience as well. Although I have to admit, sautéed cabbage is my go-to replacement for noodles because I never did fall in love with any of the gluten free noodle options available in my area. 

 

We have been using spaghetti squash instead of spaghetti for several years now. A friend who is gluten-free introduced me to the idea, and I like the flavor better than regular spaghetti. Spaghetti squash is lighter and checks the veggie box for the meal.

 

Cabbage is a great idea. I use it for other dishes. I can see where it would stand in for egg noodles.

[Mistr]

10 hours ago, Harriet said:

What the flip??? That's a pretty big oversight and I'd bee A BIT ANGRY at the doctors. Anyway, good Cleo knows now. I ate gluten free for several years, and in my experience nothing can reproduce the elasticity and bounce of wheat in bread, cakes etc. But gluten free pasta is adequate, and things that are meant to be crunchy or flat should be okay. It was honestly less disappointing to eat meals that were never designed to have wheat in in the first place than to try and recreate them.

 

Yes, Cleo was more than a wee bit angry about that. She has been suffering needlessly for months. Last night Elf cooked something with corn tortillas so that Cleo could eat them.

 

After getting caught up on Monday, work returned to normal and I am struggling to keep up again. I am going home on time tonight whether I'm done or not. I am taking tonight to do relaxing things.

 

Tomorrow looks likely to be very busy too because several people on my team are scheduled to be out. Normally I would go to aikido on Friday, but I am going to skip it because I am going to a one-day seminar in Chicago on Saturday. A bunch of people from my dojo are going. It should be a fun road trip.

 

I decided I would use my frustration with our local zen group to fuel my practice. I am excusing myself from going to group practice as long as I sit zen consistently on my own. Hopefully that will encourage me to get it out of the way first thing on weekends and do at least some practice every day.

 

 

[Mistr]

Today was busy as expected. One of my team called in because he had to put his dog down.  😢  I had a feeling someone was going to call in, I just didn't know who or why.

 

I sat zen before work this morning because I suspected the house would be noisy in the evening. That was a very good choice. We got a last-minute call from friends who are in town and need a place to crash. Definitely commotion this evening. Dumbledore is stepping up and entertaining them in a different part of the house while I am working. This is good, they are his friends.

 

Tonight will be spinning and maybe yoga. I cooked last night, and Elf cooked earlier this week. We are good on food.

 

I am going to try making cookies with fresh-ground oat flour this weekend. I've made chocolate chip cookies with oat flour before and they work great. Home-ground oat flour is likely to have less wheat contamination than commercial flour. I am starting with organic rolled oats. My food processor occasionally is used for pie crust dough with wheat flour, but I think we clean it well enough not to be a problem. We will see if Cleo reacts to oats or not.

[Mistr]

Challenge wrap-up

 

Taking a step back was a good choice. I feel less frenetic than I did six weeks ago.

 

Life has not calmed down at all, but I am doing a little better not getting stressed about it. I confirmed that doing aikido makes me feel better about everything and doing zen helps me cope. Doing more exercise has benefits too, but that has to fit in around other things.

[Harriet]

2 hours ago, Mistr said:

Life has not calmed down at all, but I am doing a little better not getting stressed about it. I confirmed that doing aikido makes me feel better about everything and doing zen helps me cope. Doing more exercise has benefits too, but that has to fit in around other things.

Sounds like a significant win. Hopefully you can take it with you.

[sarakingdom]

On 10/13/2022 at 6:51 AM, Harriet said:

But gluten free pasta is adequate

 

It's pretty decent these days - honestly, when it stopped being a health food store thing and Italy became the main source of gluten free pasta, it became indistinguishable. The only brand that used to exist was some whole grain brown rice pasta that was always mushy. But Italy produces the big name and store brands these days, and I've fed it to snobby gluten eaters, who don't know the difference. It's one of the really great substitutes out there, zero quality loss.

 

On 10/13/2022 at 6:51 AM, Harriet said:

It was honestly less disappointing to eat meals that were never designed to have wheat in in the first place than to try and recreate them.

 

This is largely true, apart from (American style) lasagne, which is even better without the pasta.

 

Cakes and quick breads do okay, because they're not really suposed to develop any gluten anyway; there's even special low gluten cake flour. So that texture can get reasonably close. But there are times when it gets tiring eating a simulation.

 

 

 

I think using the trick from the Dylan Hollis vid of overcooking the rice would get rid of the need for a hard-core blender, because the heat will do the processing. May need a little experimentation to equalise how much water is absorbed. (I think soaking the same way, then cooking with the added water the bread calls for in a pressure cooker to stop evaporation might do it.) Rumor is this texture is better after it cools.

 

(I suspect all your baking is treats, not bread, but it's sometimes useful to have a few tricks up the sleeve. There's one decent brand of gluten free bread out there, but it's kind of pricy for a fairly generic bread.)

[Mistr]

On 10/19/2022 at 10:12 PM, sarakingdom said:

It's pretty decent these days - honestly, when it stopped being a health food store thing and Italy became the main source of gluten free pasta, it became indistinguishable. The only brand that used to exist was some whole grain brown rice pasta that was always mushy. But Italy produces the big name and store brands these days, and I've fed it to snobby gluten eaters, who don't know the difference. It's one of the really great substitutes out there, zero quality loss.

 

Good to know. I am remembering the rice pasta I got at the co-op in the 90s, which was Not Good.

 

On 10/19/2022 at 10:12 PM, sarakingdom said:

Cakes and quick breads do okay, because they're not really suposed to develop any gluten anyway; there's even special low gluten cake flour. So that texture can get reasonably close. But there are times when it gets tiring eating a simulation.

 

I think using the trick from the Dylan Hollis vid of overcooking the rice would get rid of the need for a hard-core blender, because the heat will do the processing. May need a little experimentation to equalise how much water is absorbed. (I think soaking the same way, then cooking with the added water the bread calls for in a pressure cooker to stop evaporation might do it.) Rumor is this texture is better after it cools.

 

(I suspect all your baking is treats, not bread, but it's sometimes useful to have a few tricks up the sleeve. There's one decent brand of gluten free bread out there, but it's kind of pricy for a fairly generic bread.)

 

During Covid, Dumbledore took on baking bread as his thing. I used to bake bread a lot. In recent years I do more general-purpose baking. Cookies, cornbread, biscuits, cake, etc. All things where gluten is not necessary and often not wanted.

 

I may try the rice trick for some things. I don't have a heavy-duty blender, so I will cook the rice first.