Gluten free and college: one hard friendship

So I finally started college. Yay....lol. Eating on campus can be such a pain in the A. The main cafe offers gluten free food. Here is the catch, since I am a commuter they charge me almost $8.00 just to get in. Most days the gluten free selection SUCKS. Last time I was there they had sloppy joes and tater tots for lunch. Gross. I had a big ol plateful of ttots. There is a small fridge where they stock things like cookies/brownies, frozen filled pastas, a pouch of fake spaghetti-o strings. Now granted this is a regular cafe the normal tummy people or the "norms" I loving like to call them raid the gluten free goods. Wtf? The first time I ate at the cafe they had GF monte cristos omg YUM. I haven't seen em since :( I have some time on my hands until a cooking demo and my next class. I am sitting in the lounge of the bookstore building. There is a small cafe. There were no gluten free options for a snack! I managed to find a bag of cheetos which according to the ingredient listing has no gluten(that I can see). I also got a nasty hot chocolate. Nestle you suck. Who knows if it is even gluten free. I could be poisoning myself as we speak. I honestly wish this campus would accomodate people like me who can't eat anything. Speaking of not being about to eat anything.....I went grocery shopping with my boyfriend G last night and he was picking out so many snacks I only dream of. He is so lucky. He was scooping up cheesecake cookies and peanut butter patties. NO FAIR. The regular selections of non gluten food is rediculous. Sigh, sometimes I wish I could give up. But I know my tummy will hate me forever. I managed to find the gluten free section which was tiny. But they had my favorite cookies from Schar and a new favorite fake oreo that is fantastic. So, I have come to the realization this world is just not for celiacs. I need to reinvent the rules for this stuff. The true test is when I go to Disney next month and see how they treat me. So far so good....they have been emailing me back and forth gathering information on my needs and finding out my reservations so they can let the chefs know I am coming. I am so excited to see what happens but nervous too because I do not want to be deathly ill on my vacation.

Oh I am a slacker

I am such a slacker. I started college (finally) in September so I haven't had time to blog. As promised I will list my GF staples that I couldn't live without:
            Bread: I love Katz gluten free challah bread so good toasted and for sammies.
            Rolls: Against the grain brand so good they have cheese in them
            Muffins& bagels: Udi's lemon strussel muffins and plain bagels
            Waffles: Vans apple cinnimon waffles
            Cereal: Erwhon rice flakes with strawberries
            Brownies: Gluten free pantry brownie mix
            Cookies: Glutino chocolate dream cookies
            Pizza: Glutino BBQ chicken pizza ( cook it on a pizza stone it really helps)
            Pasta: Schar brand in any shape
            Best cheese-it replacement: Schar brand cheese bite crackers
            Taco mix: Bearitos (I can only find this at whole foods)
           
 So, those are my all time favorites for now. I have been GF for over a year now and every time I visit whole foods I find more interesting goodies. In a way I am glad it is a fad diet because it makes my life easier.

Thanksgiving just went by and it was my first time being GF for this holiday! It really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I made garlic bread using Against the Grain baguette. Just sliced, drizzled with EVOO, baked and rubbed with fresh garlic. It came out really good! It's funny I bought that bread by accident once and now I can't live without it. Even my boyfriend who has the luxury to eat whatever his heart desires loved this bread. For stuffing I just bought a premade stuffing mix. It was nothing special. I should have baked it instead of making it in the microwave. Oops. Finally, I made a GF pumpkin roll for dessert for myself. It was SO GOOD. Making it was kind of nerve racking. I poured this semi-thin batter into a jellyroll pan and was convinced it would burn and stick to the pan. To my suprise it was super easy after all. My mom tried a piece and was really suprised. She said that she didn't miss the gluten at all! Yay me. The recipe I followed was written horribly. I loved the roll so much I am going to post the recipe but I am going to edit the recipe so it isn't a struggle in the future.

Pumpkin roll with creamcheese filling:

Cake Ingredients:
3 eggs, beaten
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup GF flour ( I use 365 brand flour from whole foods)
1 tsp cinnimon
1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly ground if possible is best)

Cream cheese filling ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese softened
1 tsp good GF vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners sugar ( I like my filling sweeter so I used 1.5 cups)
2 TBSP butter softened

Directions: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
*buter or spray jelly roll pan
*Mix all cake ingredients together but do not overmix!
*Pour the batter into the greased jellyroll pan, spread evenly and thinly
* Bake for 10 minutes (do not over bake)
* Cool for 5 minutes
* Spray a piece of parchment paper, place onto the cake then carefully turn over the cake onto a counter top. This is easier with two people!
* Gently roll up the cake and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile: put all of the filling ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat together until well combined.

To fill:
* Gently unroll the cake
* Dollop the filling onto the middle of the cake
* Gently spread out the filling over the cake to about 1/4 inch from the edges
* Gently re-roll the cake.
* Wrap the roll in saran wrap and chill until ready to serve


           

First blog!

I am a newbie to blogging. I have been gluten free(gf) since November 2009. I have done a TON of research on gluten free living. I have seen the good the bad and the UGLY of gluten free food. I am going to school to become a registered dietician not only because I have a passion for the field but to improve on the gluten free world. I want to spread the world on great gluten free living because I know how hard it can be to adapt after years and years of a "normal" gluten filled life. I have been battling a sensitive system for about 10 years. Finally last fall I got the answer to my problem: Celiacs Disease(CD) which is an auto immune disorder in which my body attacks itself when I consume gluten a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats. The first 21 years of my life I ate whatever I wanted even though I always felt sick after I ate. To be told I can never eat certain foods again SUCKS. I was so depressed for the first month of being gluten free. Everything I tried that was gf was horrible. I wondered if it was worth it to continue, do I be miserable physically eating "real food" or miserable mentally eating gf food. Well, 8 months later I can happily say I chose the gf road. I love the internet <3 I am so glad I was born in the technology boom. Google saved me. I researched the living daylights out of whats what in gf food. Today I have it pretty much down to a science. I live for whole foods they carry almost everything I could need to stock my gf stash. So, here I am blogging about my success (and my downfalls) on the gf road and I want to help people out there who are like me 8 months ago. Next blog: my favorite gf staples