We’re halfway through.  I have survived two weeks without gluten.  I cannot honestly say that this has been without complaint, there was most definitely some whining involved.  I remember walking through the supermarket, thinking “OHMYGOD!! BREAD!!! CEREAL!!! COOOKIES!!!”  I think I would briefly consider assaulting someone for a good cheeseburger.  But, we’ve made it this far and we can make it two more weeks.

There are commercially prepared food items out there without gluten, so I’m not stuck cooking everything.  Things like Tater Tots.  Surprising things like Cheetos (though as my husband said, there’s really little FOOD in Cheetos, so it makes sense).  I was out one evening running errands and needed some dinner, so I stopped at Boston Market and was able to pick up a gluten-free chicken/mashed potato/corn dinner (I skipped the cornbread).  One day while I was walking down to the auto parts place down the street to replace my car battery, I stopped at Taco Bell and got the XXL Steak nachos (good lord, those could feed three people).

I do notice that now I’m paying more attention to what I’m making, what we’re eating.  I can see where I’ve gotten stuck in a rut, and this experience has made me branch out a bit.  While I have made some old favorites like Chili, Chicken Bog, and Shepherds Pie, I’ve also tried some new dishes like oat-flour-based Scottish Shortbread Cookies (review: yum!) and made some things I haven’t made in years like ham, trying out a new recipe for Slow Cooker Ham In Cider Gravy (review: yum!) and Crash Hot Potatoes (review: yum.  totally going on the favorites list, I’ve already made them three times).  Valentines day we ate in, avoiding the terrible crowded restaurants and celebrating with a marvelous dinner of dry-aged inch-thick grilled new york strip, crash hot potatoes, steamed veggies and salad.

Lunches we eat a lot more leftovers.  Breakfasts have always been difficult, and I used to just snag a Clif bar most of the time for a quick eat-at-my-desk.  Now I have cereal, oatmeal, or most recently homemade granola.

If either of us had any noticeable changes in how we were feeling, this might be easier.  But, at the moment neither of us have felt anything different.  So, it will be the end of the experiment with the inevitable “night of gluten debauchery” and beyond that will tell us if there are effects we haven’t noticed.  So we slog on, less than two weeks left to go.

Simple Homemade Granola.