Normal Gluten-free Bread...No Really. It's NORMAL!

I have been on the gluten-free diet for almost a year, and I have to say that at this point life is feeling pretty normal. I've adjusted to the gluten-free lifestyle, and all my old recipes have been converted to taste completely normal gluten-free (well...all except for my mom's unbelievable, one-of-a-kind sugar cookie recipe. Unfortunately, I'm still working on that one). Dinners have been normal (really normal) for a long time, cookies haven't been a problem, and with the recent addition of Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mixes... life feels...complete. :) The one exception to the normalcy: BREAD.

Up until recently, I'd tried recipe after recipe, with just mediocre results. The hotdog and hamburger buns featured on this blog earlier...ok. But all the bread I ever made was either slightly off taste-wise, or way too dense. It just wasn't...NORMAL. You know what I mean by normal--yummy and crusty on the outside, spongy and light on the inside...BREAD! My sweet little hubbie changed all that.

For Christmas, I was given Bette Hagmann's "Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread" cookbook. It took me a month before I even tried (that's how motivated I was after my previous attempts to put in all the work for homemade gluten-free "bread"). But the little title I'd seen for one of the recipes when I flipped through it kept going through my head over and over, in a very whiny, "try me" type voice: "Crusty French Rolls". Having gone without real bread for a year, nothing sounded better than that. You know what I'm talking about. So, I finally tried it--AWESOME. My gluten-free life will never be the same. Not only was it pretty easy compared to some of the recipes I'd tried, but they tasted like FRENCH BREAD FROM THE STORE. Crusty, spongy, deliciously flavored NORMAL French bread. Next, I used my new CuisineArt Breadmaker (also a Christmas present from the hubbie...do you think he was getting sick of not having bread around? :)), and tried the White Bread recipe. Also easy, also THE MOST NORMAL YUMMY BREAD! I would've been impressed with the results before I was gluten-free!

So, to make a long story short, I HIGHLY recommend the cookbook. It's worth it for those 2 recipes alone. I can now serve delicious sandwiches, rolls, and hot out of the oven BREAD (not fake-bread. BREAD) for my friends and family, Celiac or not! Mmm mm. Life just gets more and more normal...and tasty. :)

On a diet and gaining weight...

So, am I the only Celiac out there frustrated by the fact that I feel like I'm on a diet and yet packing on the weight?! Talk about a bummer. I remember my dietitian telling me I would gain weight as my intestine healed and started absorbing nutrients properly. But having been a skinny minny my whole life, and never having had to worry about what I ate, somehow I didn't believe her. "Ha...riiiiiiiiiiight. I'll stop eating tons of bread, and 90% of the goodies I'm used to, and I'll GAIN weight. Uh-uh. I'm going to be a stick! At least there will be perks to the Celiac diet..."

I hate to say it, but she was right and I was wrrr...wrrrrrr....wrrrrrrrong. There. I said it. :)

I'm not saying I'm overweight, but I tell you...it does not feel good to pull out pants and shorts I haven't worn in a season or two and have them be too small!

I exercise like always, and don't overeat. (Well...I'm sure I could probably cut out some ice cream and snacks here and there...IF I WANTED TO CUT OUT ALL HAPPINESS!) But still the ten pounds came and won't leave.

My awesome husband keeps reminding me that I'm now HEALTHY and that's more important than being able to fit into pants that were probably way too skinny in the first place. And the logical side of me definitely agrees...

But there's still that girly side..... :)