Cook in the Kitchen #5 + Going Off Gluten Week 2

I figured these two topics are related. This will also help me avoid the egregious sin of posting twice in a day.

I made a family favorite muffin recipe this past week - raisin bran muffins! I prepared the dough on Saturday and we baked a fresh batch for Monday breakfast and this morning's breakfast. They're so much better fresh :-)

The ingredients. A box of raisin bran, eggs, flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda!

And the finished product!

Unfortunately I couldn't have any this go-around. After finishing one week of gluten-free dieting, I have noticed some slight changes that could be seen as improvements. Whatever those changes may signify, I'm going to do at least another week without gluten. Thanks to Mom, I now have some great gluten-free alternatives for breakfast, lunch and snacks: gluten-free nuts and fruit granola and gluten-free pretzels. And to get me through the Christmas treat season, we're going to make a batch of gluten-free brownies. :-)

~Mac

Going off Gluten

As some of you know, I've been experiencing stomach pain, food sensitivites, and other GI-related issues for a few years now. I've had all of the tests run, and they all came back negative. But I'm still having issues! All this is not to complain, just to fill in the background. :-) I am trying a week of removing gluten from my diet. My symptoms do seem to fit celiac disease, and one of Mom's friends just had a false negative for celiac, so I'm going to give it a shot and see what happens! I did feel a little bit better yesterday (day 1), but I'm not feeling good so far today. It's probably just because my body has to adjust to not having that diet element in my system. We shall see :-)

If anyone has tips or recipes or advice about the gluten-free diet, please let me know!

~Mac