My first week eating gluten free saw a lot of potatoes enter in as the staple of my diet in place of breads and pastas. Mostly my spuds were baked but also mashed, they were covered with cheese, sour cream, butter, and/or dried-beef gravy thickened with masa harina.

Emotionally I am adjusting well. I tried adapting my own gluten free sugar cookie recipe, with masa harina corn flour and corn meal in place of all-purpose flour. They were not what I was hoping for as they tasted like sweetened corn bread and a texture like sand. I will return to my kitchen with a renewed understanding that baked goods are possible, without having to used additives like xanthan or guar gum, as my interest is in making whole foods from simple ingredients.

With some searching gluten free products are easier to find now that I know where to look. Understanding a food label is less mystifying. I start at the bottom of the ingredient list to see if it mentions wheat. If so, it goes right back onto the shelf and I move on to the next product. If not, then the rest of the label gets read for derivatives: food starch, yeast extract, malt vinegar.

Two different things I turn to in a grocery store that eases my quest for safe products are the international section, and to generic brands. Asian and indian cuisine have been favorable when finding good wholesome food without too much junk and many are gluten free, though some are manufactured in plants that process wheat and other allergens, so it is best to still read the label.

The other items I look for are store/house/generic brands. My experience so far is that they have less additives, ingredients with long obfuscating names, and are well labelled.

The important lesson is that even with letters from manufacturers about gluten free products, it is still necessary to read labels because of how formulas can change. The same goes from the information you find on websites, even this one. Though all of us living with Celiac Disease and Gluten Allergies/Intolerances are doing our best to avoid these products and become knowledgable about what is and isn’t safe, manufacturing in our indutrial food system moves rapidly and may not always be up to date. That each of us have different tolerances to gluten and derivative proteins, what may be OK for me could cause a problem for you.

We harvested our Garlic this past weekend and it is now hanging in the garage to cure.  Now that we have been successful, I would like to take you through the process from beginning to end.

Last fall we ordered 7 different varieties of planting bulbs from We Grow Garlic. We chose to  order from them because we could get individual bulbs to try without having to go with a pre-chosen assortment, there was plenty of information to get you through, the prices are very reasonable as you go by the bulb not by weight which can get pricey, and they were one of the only places with garlic left when we realized we wanted to plant some.  We ordered in late September, having heard it was a late fall crop, only to find out that we should have placed the order in the beginning of August, just in time to get it fresh from the curing process.  So, if you are reading this shortly after it goes up and you haven’t ordered, do it soon!

Once it arrived I spent an evening dissecting each bulb and choosing only the largest cloves from each one to go into the ground.  From each bulb I was able to pull about half that were worth planting, for a total of 28 seed cloves.  The rest went into a brown paper bag and a cool dark place to be cooked with later.

I prepared a 3′x4′ bed in our new front yard garden and followed the instructions provided.  To make planting easier I pointed a 6″ long stick 1″ in diameter, marked 2″ from the point, to act as a dibber and planting guide.  I spaced my cloves 6″ apart in staggered rows and was able to comfortably fit my 28 cloves in with a bit of room to spare.

Planting the cloves.

When they were in I marked each section with a wooden stake with the name of the garlic written on in permanent marker.  Though this idea seemed great when I did it, and they survived admirably through the fall and light winter, once the spring rains and summer storms hit, they weathered quickly.  And little did I know that the soft earth caused them to shift, completely destroying my ability to know exactly what was what.  Next time around I will be planting singular rows well separated and clearly marked.

Once everything was done, I covered the garlic with 4 inches of straw and gave it a light watering.  I continued to do so until late October, once the weather turned turned cold and threat of frost appeared.  With the wet spring and coll summer so far, it did not need to be water and grew vigorously.

The general consensus was that as the outer leaves start to brown and die off the garlic is ready to harvest.  With the Scotland like weather so far this year the plants continued to grown vigorously, which has us debating on when they would actually be ready to harvest.   Finally we made the choice to get them out of the ground and realized it might be a little late.  Thankfully it went well and we were happy to find that every clove planted yielded a nice bulb.  There were no elephant varieties in the collection, so they look modest in size compared to the giant white bulbs you find in the grocery store.  The softnecks were dug out gently while the hardnecks came free with only a slight tug.    Three bulbs did show signs of being harvested a little too late, as they had started to split apart, but were debris and bug free so I kept them.

My teenage daughter collected the bulbs as my wife and I dug them up and was responsible for cleaning them up.  After wiping off the heaviest dirt in the field, being careful not to damage the skin, she filled the utility sink with a few inches of water and gave them a quick rinse.  I then sorted, wrapped, and hung them to dry.

Here is a picture of a group up to dry.

A bundle of curing bulbs.

I have four such bundles hanging in our large airy garage.  They will remain there for 4-6 weeks until ready, at which point the stems and roots will be trimmed and they will be moved to our cool dry pantry for long term storage.  Though I could use them to plant for next year’s crop, I am going to support We Grow Garlic by ordering a fresh batch.

Any questions?  Please leave a comment.

Today was my first day Gluten Free, or at least it was supposed to be, but I wound up starting my day off with a Cheerio while giving my toddler her morning snack.  Though whether or not oats cause an issue seems open to debated, in an effort to stay strictly gluten free for my 3 month follow up period, I am trying to avoid them or anything else that is questionable.

Other than that small AM transgression, the rest of my day went fairly well when it came to food and I don’t feel like I am missing anything.  Being the middle of summer helps and I have a wife variety of fresh fruits and veggies available at the market.  Corn on the cob is a warm weather delight and can easily form the bulk of my diet.  Though I am not a vegetarian by any means, the summer sees me eating less meat and more fresh bounties.

I did spend my mid-day at a grocery store seeing what my options are for gluten free products.  I was surprised to see how many items in the international cuisine section were safe, though also found out how hard it is to avoid yeast extract.  One saving grace was to find that my favorite potato chips, Martin’s Bar-B-Q Waffle, are gluten free.  I rejoiced and ate a few more than I should have as my evening snack.

Today my life was changed in a rather dramatic way.  I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, an immune disorder that causes damage to the small intestine and can lead to digestion issues.

For many years my digestive tract has never been what I would call “normal”, but it was what I was used to.  As my condition worsened in 2004, I made an appointment to talked with my Physician.  At at the time he diagnosed me with IBS and recommended I supplement each meal with fiber, watch for foods that triggered a problem, and cut them out.  I began keeping a food journal and moved to a healthier diet with fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grain foods.

Following his advice nothing seemed to work. Whenever I would have a problem I would look back through the journal, see something out of place, perhaps an order of wings here, or a large order of fries there, cut it out, and still experience problems days later, when I was eating just things that seemed safe.  After a few months of this I talked to my doctor again and  he said “keep trying”.  After more months of trying and no further encouragement, I went back to my old habits, deciding that dealing with the symptoms was something I could handle better than the constant dietary flux.

Fast forward a few years and I am married, have two children, and the symptoms continue to slowly get worse.  Instead of the occasional bout of body disharmony, it became a nearly daily struggle. Trying to balance it with a family was becoming more and more difficult.  As my problem was largely related to sudden onset diarrhea, I  reached the point where I was mapping bathrooms.  Day or night, anywhere within a 30 mile radius of my home I knew where every bathroom was located, which gas stations needed a key, and the hours they were open.

So I made an appointment with my current doctor and we discussed the problem.  She referred me to a Gastroenterologist , Dr Ahmad, who gave me a long list of possible conditions. We also scheduled a colonoscopy, and took some blood for testing.  After the colonoscopy we scheduled a follow up Upper-Endoscopy.

During the Upper Endoscopy biopsies were taken of my small intestine which on testing showed an issue with wheat, as did my blood tests.  These results, combined with my symptoms, lead to my diagnosis of Celiac Disease.  After nearly a decade of issues, I finally had a name to put to my problem.

Now I get to learn what being Gluten Free means.  And there is a lot of information to go with it.

Any questions or thoughts?  Leave a comment.