Lifestyle Change

Hubby is home sick, a stomach bug--we think.  As I have mentioned before, he has Celiac's Disease so it could be gluten contamination, but he doesn't think so.  He was diagnosed about a year and a half ago.  I was thinking this past weekend how much that diagnosis has changed our lives.  We eat differently of course, but we also shop in different stores, we eat at different restaurants, we do not get invited to dinner at friends' homes anymore, we attend fewer social events that involve eating, we travel differently, I buy different magazines--ones without a bunch of recipes like Better Homes and Garden has, we go to fewer movies because he misses the popcorn, medicines and home remedy cures for common ailments are different, yadda, yadda, yadda. 

I am not trying to evoke sympathy from you, it is all good and the new normal for us and just part of our life now.  Had you told me a year and half ago that so many things would change because of a gluten "allergy" (Celiac's is more than an allergy, it is an autoimmune disease) or that it would all seem normal I would not have believed you.  Guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.  Here is a favorite gluten free recipe in our house.  Keep in mind, for it to truly be gluten free, you have to make sure all of your ingredients are gluten free--some sugar is processed on equipment that processes flour, etc.

Gluten Free Monster Cookies
Cream together:
1 stick softened butter
2/3 C. white sugar
1 C. brown sugar
Add:
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
Mix well and then add:
1 and 1/3 C. peanut butter
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 and 1/2 C. gluten free oats (I use Bob's Red Mill old fashioned oats)
a few handfuls of chocolate chips
a few handfuls of plain MnM's
(typical Becky fashion--nothing is precise--just go with what you feel)

Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes--longer than typical cookies.  I love to cook them on parchment paper, come out very nice.  Enjoy!!

PS--It is Celiac Awareness month--do yourself a favor and check out the signs and symptoms of this life changing disease.