But for those of you who are thinking about going with this diet for nutrition reasons or to save yourself from stomach pain, I'm going to try to pave the way a little for you as some other bloggers have done the same for me! I'll be posting new foods and gluten-free brands that I love or hate and different menu items at restaurants.
So far, here's what I've got:
Top left: Trader Joe's GF Chocolate Chip Cookies;
Bottom left: Udi's GF breads;
Right: Redbridge GF Sorghum Beer
These are 3 fantastic products that have saved me. I hate to give away my CC Cookie secret but honestly, these are so freaking good, I'd demolish them whether I was GF or not! I buy them in bulk because I pound one of these bags in a matter of a day or two. They are THAT good.
Udi's is a brand that makes gluten free breads. I was really hesitant to try them as bread made without wheat-flour did not sound appealing. I bought their multigrain bread, bagels, and hamburger buns. So far, I've only tried the bread but wow is it good!! I am a carb-o-holic with the majority of that being breads so I consider myself quite the connoisseur...this stuff will not disappoint!
Finally, we have the Redbridge gluten-free beer made by (I believe) Anheuser-Busch. My husband picked some of this up for me at Bev-Mo before our trip to Vegas (I'm not big on hard alcohol and was dreading not being able to have a beer). It was not bad at all! It tasted like a good amber beer. Nothing too light but not too heavy and quite honestly, I never would have guessed it was GF! There are a few brands out there that have tried the GF thing and have failed so I was pleasantly surprised by this one!
Another big challenge of this diet is eating out. Holy moly what a pain in the butt! Here is a short list of things I've ordered and really loved at various restaurants (keep in mind, this list is currently short as I've only been on this diet a few weeks and was on vacation for the majority of that time but I'll keep posting my finds):
Islands: Baja Chicken Tacos (with corn tortillas substituted) - SO GOOD. I actually crave these randomly now
In-n-Out: Hamburger (and fries! Yay!) protein style - Thank God we don't have to give up on our In-n-Out! All this is is a regular burger wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun. It's not nearly as good as a regular burger but it definitely satisfies and gets the job done!
Chipotle: Chicken burrito bowl (burrito without the flour tortilla)- now don't hold me to this that this isn't entirely gluten free as I've never asked but I'm only assuming as there's nothing obvious in it and this is one of the few foods I can eat a TON of and not feel like garbage.
Outback Steakhouse: Grilled Chicken on the Barbie (with baked potato instead of veggies) - I'm not a big Outback fan but my dad and hubby are so this is the best thing I've had. It's a little plain but the BBQ sauce (I get it on the side) is really, really good so it definitely makes it a good meal. Add a salad (sans croutons) and it's a pretty healthy meal!
Macaroni Grill : Pollo Caprese (with gluten-free penne - go MG for offering this!) and a Caprese salad - the salad is especially good!
Another benefit because so many consumers are now on the gluten-free diet, most of these places offer gluten-free menus on their website.
I also highly, HIGHLY recommend shopping at Trader Joe's. They offer a large amount of items that are gluten-free (including the cookies mentioned above and this is also where I found Udi's breads...as well as some really great frozen tamales I'm obsessed with- pictured below).
They take pride in the fact that they can service those of us on this diet - you can even print out a list of every item in the store that is GF! Check out the site here ~ http://www.traderjoes.com/lists/no-gluten.asp
Feel free to email me or comment if you have places and items you want to add!
XOXO
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