Hi, I’m Kassia, and I want to thank you for subscribing to the Glutenfreeliac.com mailing list. Every week, I explore topics related to living a healthy and fulfilling gluten-free life, including gluten-free ingredient crushes that I hope you’ll love too, and I always welcome your thoughts and ideas about what I have to say (or things you’d like me to dig into…especially if it’s something super-tasty!).
We all come to the gluten-free life with different stories and needs. I cannot consume any gluten at all, ever. Sure, I’ve had accidental glutenings, but those are incredibly rare these days. Some people, like me, come to this life because of a celiac or gluten-intolerance diagnosis. Others are trying to address other physical issues, like inflammation. Still others find that avoiding gluten makes them feel better.
Whatever your reason for avoiding gluten, my perspective is pretty basic: gluten-free food should be delicious, easy-to-make, and creative. Like most people, I have a full-time job and a full-time life. While my idea of a lazy Sunday afternoon just happens to include spending hours chopping vegetables, I get that most people, like, oh, my mother, don’t believe that the best part of eating is the prep. Most of the recipes I feature fall into the “let’s get it on the table fast” category.
For various reasons we’ll explore in future emails, I also focus a lot on healthy gluten-free foods. There are a lot of myths surrounding the gluten-free diet, and if you look closely enough, there are some truths behind the myths. However, there is no reason you cannot eat healthy, varied, and nutrient-rich gluten-free foods. I do it every day, and I certainly never feel deprived (though, man, I *do* wish I’d had that sorbet last night, even though I was too full to eat another bite).
Again, thank you for subscribing, and I sincerely hope you feel free to reach out to me with any questions, thoughts, comments, or (especially!) genius ideas you have!
Tip of the Week
Stop. Think. Plan. If you’ve been told you must eliminate gluten from your diet, don’t make your first stop your local grocery store. Spend some time learning what it means to be gluten free, what foods you can and cannot consume, and what you need to do to start this journey. Once you have a plan, then you can execute.
Gluten-Free Meal of the Week
Food! Let’s talk about food! I’m going to start out with something simple and comforting. I think the meal below also highlights my approach to eating gluten free. Once you start paying attention, you realize that *most* of the foods we enjoy are naturally gluten free.
In fact, I think it’s really important to focus on these naturally gluten-free items when you first start your journey. So often, people try to substitute gluten-free versions of foods they used to enjoy, and not only does that involve adding lots of empty and sometimes not-so-tasty items to your menu, but also keeps your body craving what it can’t eat. It’s hard enough without making your body think it’s missing something.
So this week is all about getting comfortable with the diet, and what better way to do that than a roast chicken dinner? Because this is about comfort, I’m serving it up with mashed potatoes and some roasted veggies. You can make yours however you like!
- Roast Chicken (Whole or your favorite pieces)
- Mashed Potatoes (Some ideas here , or make your own gluten-free gravy)
- Roasted Carrots