Gluten-Free Babe: My quest to live gluten-free for 30 days

Woke up and had my standard yogurt, Udo’s choice and GF almond scone. Lunch was rushed, in between cooking various dishes: a bowl of pasta salad leftovers, a hard-boiled egg, some berries. Meanwhile, I cooked some tasty chocolate chip cookies (using a Pamela’s Products mix that was fantastic) and also making more pasta salad with tons of veggies. The dishes were to bring to a bridal shower (more on that later).

We were heading out to a couple bars tonight for some friends’ birthday gatherings, so I ate an Amy’s GF frozen meal in advance so I wouldn’t be starving. But the onion rings at Moody’s Pub made my mouth water, so I gave in and ordered something: a cheeseburger, bun-less (I told the waitress I was gluten-free), with fries on the side (so my pals could eat them).

So what does the waitress bring? “Cheeseburger, fries on the side ‘cuz you’re allergic to wheat,” she announces to the table - and the burger is on a bun. Grr. Thankfully, I’m not a celiacbabe, so I just tossed the bun. But still! Imagine if I was - wasted burger. It was way too noisy and overcrowded to have a heart-to-heart with the waitress, but in a different setting I would have. And later, my tummy hurt, and Steve and I decided it was probably because I rarely eat red meat, and I had it without the bun, which would normally soak up the grease. Hmm.

Meanwhile, I am not missing fried foods as much as I thought I would. But I still think I might get a fryer and try making GF onion rings. It could be my annual tradition - a big fry-off greasefest.

At both bars (the second joint was awful) I had wine, because while I had researched ciders earlier today, I couldn’t get served one. No biggie - but it was unexpected.

The lessons of the day were at Moody’s: 1. Even if I eat beforehand, the smell and sight of others’ food might tempt me, so I need to watch out for that. I regretted the burger later. And, 2. Even if a waitperson seems to completely understand what you’re asking for, you still might get screwed, so be prepared. If I had celiac disease, and hadn’t snacked earlier, I would have been in bad shape after sending that burger. (I would have worried about cross-contamination from the bun.)