Purely Whimsical

I just purchased Gluten-Free 101 by Carol Fenster, Ph.D. at a local natural foods store. It had some nice charts for the different gluten free flours, and I like Carol Fenster’s formula for gluten free flour.

As I was reading it, I came across this in a section titled ‘Getting Started.’ “You don’t want to be like my friend who avoided breakfast for three months because she couldn’t figure out what to eat.”

Ok. I can understand not eating breakfast foods, after all everything down the cereal aisle is verboten, you can’t have toast, english muffins, bagels, even sausage and bacon are suspect. But not eating breakfast, the most important meal of the day, because you can’t eat those foods? Silliness.

After being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, I found that pretty much everything hurt. So I tried a BRAT (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) diet, which is something recommended by doctors when you have a troublesome GI tract. After a week, I knew something was still giving me trouble, and read about celiac disease. So I substituted the toast with skinless chicken breast.

Finally relief! Throughout this, I alternately would have rice, bananas, or applesauce for breakfast. Breakfast is a pretty important meal and sometimes it was my only meal.

Then I found out that you can purchase pasta made from rice, only rice. Next, I found out that while soy sauce is made with wheat, you can purchase tamari that is wheat free. Let me tell you, this was exciting stuff.

I had learned by this time that veggies were ok, but the more processed the better. That is, I would have problems with fresh lettuce, or an uncooked carrot. Cook the veggies, and I could eat them just fine. Frozen veggies were the BEST. First, it seemed that the freezing process made them easier to digest. Second, I was tired ALL THE TIME, and frozen veggies were already chopped for me. That meant less time standing up cooking. Heaven, let me tell you, was in a little plastic bag.

All of this came together into what was to be my ‘Gluten Free Hot Dish’ that was my breakfast, lunch, and often dinner (when I ate it). I had this dish down to an art, taking only about 20 minutes to cook in the morning.

Ingredients
1 small bag of frozen veggies of your choice
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, frozen
Gluten free pasta (Tinkyada is the best)
Gluten free tamari
Gluten free ginger powder
Gluten free garlic salt

1. Fill a large pot with water, cover, and heat to a boil.
2. While the water is heating, get a bag of veggies and a chicken breast from the freezer.
3. Partially defrost the chicken breast, then chop into small strips or cubes. When the water begins to boil, put in the pasta and cook to manufacturers directions.
4. Take a large nonstick pan, cover the bottom with a small layer of water, and turn burner to medium high. Sprinkle in some tamari (approximately 1/2 tablespoon or to taste). Put the chopped chicken breast into the pan, and add ginger powder (approximately 1/2 teaspoon) and garlic salt (approximately 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon) to taste over the chicken. Braise the chicken until cooked through, adding more water if necessary. Stir the chicken often to keep it from burning, and keep a thin layer of water on the bottom of the pan. Cover the pan to speed cooking, if desired.
5. After the chicken is cooked, add more water to the pan if it is dry, then add bag of frozen veggies. Sprinkle more tamari over the veggies, if desired. Cover the pan to cook the veggies faster, if desired.
6. Once the veggies are cooked, turn off the heat. Once the noodles are cooked, drain them and add them to the pan. Stir the noodles through, then put the contents into a resealable container.

Voila! It’s not gourmet, but it’s fast and only dirties two pans. It was a very fast and satisfying breakfast and lunch.

Just because you don’t think you can eat any traditional breakfast foods, you don’t have to skip breakfast! Breakfast is a meal, there’s no rule book or umpire that will call you out of bounds if you choose to eat something like stir fry or lasagna for breakfast.