Pizza Adventure

Yesterday I went to check out a local store that a friend suggested. They had a small section of GF products. Most of the prices were close to everyone elses. Once you get over the sticker shock, you'll see that the prices are pretty close to each other. Health food stores are the highest, especially if they tout about their benefits and larger selection. So anyway, I found Gluten Free Bisquick. It's mostly white rice flour, which I'm not supposed to have, but I wanted to test out some recipes for things like biscuits, pancakes, bread, and other missed items.


On the box is a lovely recipe for pizza. I took their recipe and upgraded it to something with a little more taste. Their recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups GF Bisquick, 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup water, 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning, and 2 beaten eggs. I used 1/4 cup each of canola and a 1/4 cup of good Greek Extra Virgin olive oil, 1 tsp granulated garlic, and a dash of salt as well. I pressed it into my stoneware cake pan (I greased it first) and popped it into the oven for a blind bake (baked crust with nothing in it). It came out a little more golden but still really pale. The surface was slightly cracked but the recipe said it would be so no concern there. Then I added homemade pizza sauce, small bite sized pieces of fresh pizza sausage, chopped fresh garlic, a pizza cheese blend, and topped half of the pizza with strips of red pepper. Into the oven it went for another 25 minutes. It came out looking awesome. It smelled wonderful. It tasted pretty good and was a hit with the whole family! Gluten Free dinner success!

The Big Scare

December 9Th 2010


That's the day of "The Big Scare". I'd been taking antibiotics for my toothache. The night before I thought I had burnt my mouth on something at dinner. My whole mouth was sore. A trip to the doctor revealed a bit more. I had thrush. Thrush is a yeast-based problem. It mostly occurs in people who have: a diet high in sugar and refined foods, diabetics, people who take a lot of antibiotics, low immune systems, or who have food allergies. This in addition to the other health issues I'd been having was the last straw. I'm a diabetic and I'd been experimenting with all sorts of diets. Low-glycemic, 40/30/30, drinking tea with meals, etc. Nothing was working. I was tired of assorted stomach issues. I was tired of being achy. More than anything I was tired of being tired all the time.

So off to my dietitian. She takes one look at my symptoms and puts me on a diet with nothing but slow carbs, low glycemic fruit and no grains for 10 days. During those 10 days I went off to an allergist to find out what the diagnosis is there. So I'm sensitive to wheat, egg whites, and a couple other foods I rarely eat. So back to the dietitian. We adjust my diet to add a few more foods. No Wheat, No Gluten, fewer eggs, No white rice, no white sugar,No white potatoes(russets), No honey. No high glycemic fruits, No chemical based sugar replacements aka NO Sweet n Low, No Nutrisweet and No Splenda (I loved Splenda). As a bonus.... no more diet sodas. Now to see what to do. What can I eat?

As it turns out, there's actually quite a lot of variety out there these days. Since human bodies aren't designed to digest certain foods many people have had these problems before me. As more and more people learn what not to eat, the stores are figuring out what to make and sell so they can keep their favorite pastime, making money.

So, a few days before CHristmas, I went shopping. I've checked out the local grocers to find that most have a small selection of GF (gluten Free) foods at high prices. The local health food markets have a larger selection at even higher prices. A local bulk ingredient store had a decent selection of GF flours at a decent price. I bought something from everywhere.

Once I got past my mostly vegetable stage, I figured out that I could have real food that tastes good.... and so can you!