Gluten Free Diet = Quinoa?

A household, it seems, is a constantly evolving creature. Mine has evolved yet again. Changes have occurred in the culinary department as my wife is in the process of becoming gluten free.

The obvious question is, why? The answer is simple. My wife has discovered that she is allergic to gluten.

This is a major problem. Everything, and I mean everything, contains gluten. You name it. Hot dogs, hamburgers, sausage biscuits, pancakes, cereal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and everything in between. You know, the entire food pyramid!

Oh, yeah... Except fruits and vegetables, of course. I'm still trying to figure out what those things are and where one would locate them and how they fit into that triangle thingy. I've heard they grow on trees...

The hardest part of this gluten free thing is going out to eat. As long as I'm cooking, I pretty much know what to do. The challenge is figuring out what the restaurant has done.

Is it fried, breaded or baked? Does it contain wheat product? Does it contain preservatives, or MSG's?

Salads are generally okay, depending on croutons and salad dressing.

We have Mexican food mostly figured out. This is good since Mexican is a staple for my family. Thank goodness for La Hacienda! Ole!

Other places are not quite so simple. Bruster's Ice cream could neither confirm nor deny gluten in their product. Teenagers. So helpful.

On top of all this, I find out gluten is not just in food. It's also in vitamins, medicines and even hand lotions!

I called the customer service line on the back of the Jergens brand hand lotion bottle. Like the Bruster's teenager, the rep could "neither confirm nor deny" whether her product contained gluten or not.

Now we're trying all sorts of new foods around my house like seaweed, oat crackers and hummus. What's a hummus?

And quinoa. What's a quinoa? Is it really edible? Is it a plant or an animal? How do you even pronounce that?



Sprouted Quinoa Trio? Looks like bird seed!

Most potato chips, I'm happy to tell you, are gluten free.

A-maze-ing Learning!

Ever tried to train a wild cat? Ever tried to train an entire pack of wild cats? Now, have you ever let an entire pack of wild cats loose on a farm and told them to behave? I have. It's called a field trip.

The pack of wild cats in question would be our first graders. We decided to set them loose on a local farm under the guise of an educational field trip.

On our way to the same field trip last year, one of our kids commented on the "giant dogs" we saw on on our way there.
"Those are actually goats," I said.
"Oh," he said and sat quietly a moment. "Mr. Haworth? What's a goat?"

My comment winner for this year goes to the student who told me in the corn maze "I'm only allergic to corn when its on the cob, Mr. Haworth."

Thank goodness there were no cobs in the corn bins full of corn he jumped and played in!

He told me a few of the other food items he's allergic to as well. Coincidentally, they were the same healthy foods I was allergic to when I was his age.

During the "school" portion of the trip, they showed us foods they grow like wheat. Wheat straw comes from wheat. So does wheat flour. What can we make with flour, she asked. One hand shot up and the girl attached yelled, "popcorn!"

I don't know that what we've taught the kids has stuck. But I do know what we SHOULD be teaching them.