Friday, June 3, 2011

A Gluten Free Girl with Zero Cooking Motivation

One of the most widely distributed pieces of advice when diagnosed with Celiac Disease is to learn how to cook and bake with different grains. What if, like me, you don't have the time or motivation to cook?

As a recent college grad, I've just lived in a time period when between classes, work, volunteering and seeing friends there genuinely was no time to cook. I know how frustrating it is to come home from a long day of hard work knowing that there is almost nothing edible in your fridge other than string cheese ( a personal favorite).

Here are my tips to eating GF in a simple and convenient way:

1. Map out your week's meals ahead of time

This is also another common piece of advice given when you are changing eating habits but can be done somewhat easily. Just glance through your agenda and see what meals you definitely need to plan for and prepare ahead of time. Sunday nights were generally the nights when I cooked mass amounts of food for my lunches at work or school. This was the easiest for me because as soon as Monday morning hit, I never seemed to find the time to fit in an hour or two solely dedicated to cooking. This is also an excellent time to scope out your fridge and take inventory of what you need to stock for the week.

2. Buy a Rice Cooker

Last Christmas I was lucky enough to receive an unwarranted rice cooker as a gift. I went for several months without using it, but then decided to take the challenge of learning how to operate it with my roommates. After one use we were hooked! You can cook over six cups of rice at a time in a crockpot style manner that does not require you to sit watching boiling water. You add the rice and water and walk away- it turns off automatically. I cooked as many cups of rice as possible (white or brown) and then stored it in the fridge for the week, taking some for lunch with me everyday.

While this option might become bland after a while, it's definitely something to keep in mind for every 2 to 3 weeks. You can change the basic rice into a great dish simply by addding spices, sauces, meats and vegetables.

3. Prepare your dishes ahead of time

After mapping out the meals you need to prepare ahead of time, you need to follow through with actually preparing the meals. If you know you're going to have a chicken caesar salad for lunch one day, actually bake the chicken in advance. I generally cooked vegetables and meats while also chopping up other vegetables and fruits on Sundays. If I didn't do this ahead of time, I would usually avoid it for the rest of the week.

4. Simple High Protein Breakfasts

Some of my favorite breakfast dishes include: greek yogurt, hardboiled eggs and oatmeal. If you haven't tried greek yogurt yet, you're missing out on an amazing breakfast option. You can purchase individual grab-n-go containers to take out the door or larger tubs if you have time to sit down and eat. Either way, greek yogurt has more protein than conventional yogurt and has a custard consistency that I find more enjoyable.

Hardboiled eggs are harder to eat on the go, but the preparation is easy. I usually just throw 7 or 8 eggs  into boiling water on Sunday evenings and eat them throughout the week for breakfasts. If I don't eat them all by Friday morning, I try to incorporate them into a salad or another dish. These are another great source of protein for someone with Celiac.

5. Keep up with Planning and Preparation

As everyone else, you might go through time periods where planning just doesn't happen. Don't let this get you down, just pick up where you can and plan from there. If you think you might eat a food item in the next few days, just cook it and throw it in the fridge or freezer as an air of precaution. Chances are, if you're busy and it's previously prepared, you'll end up eating it for a meal.



What are some of your tips for eating GF on the go?

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Favorite Twin Cities GF Restaurants

After living in MPLS for over 3 years, I have a place for Pizza Luce in my heart. They were one of the first reliable and safe GF places that I found to get GF pizza and it tastes AMAZING! They not only have GF pizza, but also provide a menu of plentiful GF options. There are appetizers, salads, pastas, pizzas, desserts and beer that are all GF. Their menu is available here: http://www.pizzaluce.com/glutenfree/luceglutenfreeweb_030810.pdf.

Along with having a thorough menu, the service is always dependable. In my experience, servers are in the know about what it means to be a GF customer and always willing to answer questions or investigate options. They genuinely create a safe GF dining environment for all.

In my time with Students for Gluten Free Awareness at the University of Minnesota we were fortunate to have the Pizza Luce Seward location donate gift certificates to our members. Pizza Luce has served as a backbone in the developing GF community in the Twin Cities and makes a killer pizza. Try it out if you haven't yet!

What are your favorite Gluten Free Dining options in the Twin Cities?