This Week's Changed-Life Plan

It's been a difficult week.  On Wednesday, I was diagnosed with either gluten intolerance or Celiac's Disease.  Still waiting for the test results, but regardless of which outcome it is, I have to figure out how to eat and live without gluten.  Wheat, barley, rye, most flour, pasta, bread, baked goods - all are gone from my life.  I'm still in a bit of shock and denial, and I have reached the point of sadness and depression yet - but I'm sure they'll come.

So my new challenge is making meals that I can eat and the boys in my house will enjoy.  They should not have to live without pasta and bread just because I do.   Fortunately, as gluten intolerance has become more common and high-profile, there are a host of books, websites and products that cater to this population.

So, this week's plan:

Saturday:  Microwave Risotto with Chicken and Asparagus 

Sunday:  Roasted Chicken with lemon and garlic, roasted potatoes and carrots, roasted Brussels sprouts.  (I'm roasting 2 chickens so I have leftovers throughout the week).

Monday:  Mixed green salad with chicken, apples, dried cranberries, and caramelized pecans.

Tuesday:  Chicken Tacos with avocado, tomato, sauteed peppers, and black beans

Wednesday:  Garbanzo Bean Stew with steamed basmati rice

Thursday: Grilled hamburgers with Sweet Potato fries, white potato fries, and coleslaw with vinaigrette

One of the hardest things is desserts.  I LOVE brownies, cakes, pastries, beignets, pies, and all kinds of baked goods.  Combining this with the fact that I need to lose some weight, I need some good answers for dessert.  I crave something sweet after dinner, and so do my boys.  So here are my dessert plans for the week:

Fruit with Chocolate Fondue:  Chocolate fondue is super easy to make, and it's a great way to get the boys (and me!) to eat a ton of fruit.  You can dip almost any fruit - we love bananas, strawberries, diced pineapple, and sliced mango.

Sliced strawberries macerated in sugar and tossed with a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar - alone or over vanilla ice cream!

Dark Chocolate-covered caramels - I like Reisen - I can eat just 1-2 and be perfectly happy for dessert.

Greek yogurt flavored with vanilla and sweetened with Splenda - creamy, delicious, and healthy!

That doesn't look like a bad menu to me!  The weeknight meals are quick and easy.  Maybe I can get through this week without feeling deprived.

Dinner is somewhat easy because I'm used to planning, so making adjustments is not hard.  Breakfast and lunch are much harder, because I generally don't think about them until mealtime.  I am not in the habit of planning these meals.  I'm used to grabbing a quick breakfast that I can eat in the car - peanut butter toast or English muffins with Laughing Cow cheese are my favorites, with a banana.  So I'll have to make a little more time in the morning and scramble an egg, make a smoothie, or mix fruit and yogurt with a gluten-free granola. The food is not as hard as adjusting my schedule to sit down and eat.

Lunch is more challenging.  I'm so used to going to one of the delis and grabbing a sandwich.  I can't just grab soup because most commercial soups either contain pasta or are thickened with flour.  I think I'm going to have to start making lunches at home and bringing them into the office.  It's probably much better for my health and my wallet.  It's just more work and more time - and lots of planning.

Thanks for reading.  I'll keep posting Now We're Cooking recipes over the course of this week.