A New Food Journey

For the last four weeks I’ve been Gluten-Free (GF).

Why? I have a problem called EOE and certain foods get stuck in my esophagus. So the allergist and other doctors suggested I try gluten free to see if I have a sensitivity. I have no food allergies so it’s not Celiac.

It’s been really tough for this foodie since, well, it’s kinda my job. Did I mention my favorite food groups are bread, pasta, and baked goods? I made a rookie mistake in the beginning and went out and bought all kinds of gluten free products. Little did I know these carry some massive carbohydrates! They promptly went back to the store.

I know people with Celiac have to use these, but I have another dilemma. My husband is a lung cancer survivor and I have no desire to change our low glycemic load diet. For those who don’t know, cancer loves sugar so our goal is to keep the glycemic load at an even level with very few massive carb/sugar spikes. Think diabetic. Enter my challenge.

How do I create tasty foods I desire, but not invite cancer back into our lives? That’s the challenge.

A good pizza? Hey, I grew up in NJ and know a good pizza. You need gluten! Sure, they are plenty of GF mixes, but they mostly use rice, which is super high on the glycemic load and can also contain arsenic. No thanks.

I’ve become obsessed with this. I spend hours on the internet in search of the best pizza, bread, cookie, and cake recipes. I search for low carb, gluten free and go down the rabbit hole. I look up and realize I haven’t written a blasted thing. I have some good recipes, but no words on the paper. Well, unless you count the recipes I downloaded.

Today I tried another pizza recipe. It looked amazing and had all the right criteria. So, we’re having company and I decide to try a new recipe. Genius I am. Well, I made the recipe and it was too soupy. After I tripled checked the recipe, I realized I added 3x the water I was supposed to. So, I either dump all these precious ingredients or add double everything else. I doubled down and went for it.

I just finished that nightmare and am happy to report I made pizza. Okay, not Jersey pizzeria pizza, but more like an Ellios (if you’re from Jersey you know this). It’s a square frozen pizza. The one I made two weeks ago was called a Fathead pizza because it uses so much cheese. Next time I plan to add some mozzarella and baking powder to see what happens.

I’ll upload a photo later since I only made a mini version and ate it before I took a pic. Yeah, it was that good. I then went on to create the full pizza for my company and I messed up. It looked amazing, but I didn’t pre-cook the dough long enough and it was gummy.

Stay tuned to my obsession with gluten free. My husband said, “Is this gluten free thing permanent?” I say, “Not all the time, but I want to cut back on wheat because, and I hate to say it, I do feel better.” He says, “great.” He’s thinking, “Great. She’s on another kick about food.”

2 Comments

  1. Beth Israelnaim on March 25, 2019 at 4:18 pm

    Keep up the good work Sherry! You got this!

  2. Sherry Monahan on March 25, 2019 at 4:21 pm

    Thanks!

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