Here's the thing, my sons like to eat things filled with wheat. In fact, Owen Ray has been begging for bread, "the square kind... from the store." He's all but offered to go out and buy it himself. It's hard to say "no" when the kid has had his fair share of mac'n'cheese and crackers these last three years. In an attempt to make this transition easier, I promised him that I would make him macaroni and cheese for dinner. We headed to the store and picked up some quinoa elbows and gluten-free velveeta. He was so excited because he knew: noodles + cheese = deliciousness.
Unfortunately for us, quinoa mac'n'cheese was not a big hit. In fact, Owen Ray nearly spit it out seconds after excitedly popping a big bite into his mouth. It was rejected, flat out. I tried a bite, and I had to concur. This was not edible. Plan B was sure to be a hit, though. Owen Ray wanted a quesadilla. No problem. We've got extra-large, extra-soft corn tortillas and lots of colby jack cheese blend. Thirty seconds in the microwave and voila! Unfortunately, those corn tortillas were not fooling anybody either. Ray took a bite, smiled at me, and choked it down. Then he said very politely "Oh, I think my tummy is telling me I'm full" (i.e. this food is gross, Mom).
What I found out today is that I have a lot of room to grow in the gluten-free arena. The boys have had more fresh produce, dairy, and protein than ever before... but when it comes to making substitutes for things that are clearly meant to contain wheat... yikes. Mommy has got some learning to do.
Navigating gluten-free can definitely be touch & go! Sadly, most of the best stuff is on the pricey side, like Udi's brand ANYTHING. Their gluten-free bread is the best I've ever had, it toasts so well & you would never know it's gf. Bob's Red Mill makes a lot of gf flours & bake mixes, their all-purpose gf flour is great, but once again it's closer to expensive than cheap. I don't know if that's really all that helpful, but you may be able to find coupons for them online or even order them a little more cheaply from Amazon or something like that. Anyway, I hope that helps a little. I know I wish someone had told me about those before I tried some other stuff, haha. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've had some Udi's bread products, and they were great! Our favorite baking mix has turned out to be Pamela's (but again with the pricey).
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