Gluten-free, Ghee, and Me

No gluten or cow juice products yesterday and I’m still alive! lol Honestly, it was no problem at all. I’ve done experiments like this before, so I’m accustomed to the process of avoiding the big G. And as I type this, I just had a panicky moment. I ate Udi’s gluten-free breads yesterday and it just occurred to me that I didn’t check if they were dairy-free!! But they are. Phew! I read the label over a year ago when I first bought them, so I already knew that they were dairy-free (somewhere in my subconscious), but for some reason I felt like I wasn’t sure for a minute and started to second-guess my memory. Haha, ok. Dietary crisis averted. I did check everything else yesterday—things that had a label, that is. Fresh fruit and veggies and seafood are—thankfully—naturally gluten- and dairy-free.

I was really looking forward to supper dinner. I bought this box of Blue Horizon tuna burgers at Nature’s Pantry a few weeks ago. Kind of pricey $5+ for 2 burgers, but a burger at a restaurant is going to be around $10 bucks, so $2 something is still reasonable.

Nutritional facts: 102 calories each, 230mg sodium, 18g protein

I cooked them on my indoor George Foreman grill when my roasted veggies were almost done. I decided to try roasting Brussels sprouts and broccoli in the ghee I bought the other day. For some reason I imagined the ghee was going to be liquid, but it was solid. I guess I was thinking of melted clarified butter that comes with lobster, lol. So, I melted 10g of it in the microwave for a few seconds, then tossed the veggies in it, sprinkled with low-sodium garlic sea salt + black pepper, and baked them on 400F for about 20 minutes, then wrapped them in the foil lining when they came out to cook and soften a bit more.

By the time the food was ready for the table, I lost daylight.

The roasted veggies smelled like popcorn when I took them out of the oven! YUMMM!! This was my first time roasting broccoli—LOVED it! Ghee is amazing, and it’s casein and lactose-free, in case you’re wondering.

My tuna burger (102 cal) is on an Udi’s multi-grain gluten-free roll (190 cal) with crunchy iceberg lettuce, sweet vidalia onion, and mayo. This meal was SO DELICIOUS! Dustin loved it and he agreed that you cannot tell that Udi’s gluten-free rolls are, in fact, gluten-free! They were a little dry—mine crumbled on top a bit—but I think that’s also from being in the freezer. Other than that, they’re tasty, soft, and chewy, much like “regular” bread. Udi’s makes going cow juice- and gluten-free very enjoyable!

The tuna burgers were very tasty! They weren’t overly seasoned, nor did they taste just like plain tuna. They were perfect. But with the mayo, it did remind me of a warm grilled tuna sandwich. Which is a good thing, because I’d eat tuna 3 times a day if I could. Delish.

As long as I have a decent bread supply, gluten-free is not much different than life with gluten, so I am not really missing anything when I eat at home. I have restaurants with gluten-free menus lined up for when we go out, but right now the harder part is avoiding casein and lactose. I never realized how much cow milk I consume, even in small amounts. It’s eye-opening. Yesterday, the only dairy I consumed was the sheep’s milk yogurt. I can’t tell if it was any different because I still feel exactly the same, all the same symptoms. It’s only been 24 hours, though, lol.

I was kind of lazy with my menu yesterday. I ate a lot of fruit and veggies leftover from the party, then ate sandwiches for meals. Tomorrow is supposed to be 90-something degrees, so if I want to cook anything, I should probably do it now. I’m not putting the oven or stove top on tomorrow, lol.

We’re thinking about having another yard sale this weekend, but the forecast is predicting 5 days of rain. Yard sales are fun! I better buy a poncho.

My bruises are healing, but I should probably avoid any trips to the ER for awhile. “Really! The bruises are from paintball!”  

I might need to go to the store to pick up some fresh produce. My leafy green stash is looking low. I ate all of the roasted brussels and broccoli last night—by myself. I wasn’t kidding when I said that I’m greedy with the greens!

Question: Do you have a favorite gluten-free bread or recipe for it? Tell me all about it. Links welcome!

Tagged as: broccoli, brussels sprouts, burgers, casein-free, ghee, gluten-free, lactose-free, roasted veggies, tuna, tuna burgers, Udi's gluten-free bread