Gluten free tomato soup

This recipe is a combination of two that I found online.  I really do miss just opening a can of soup and putting it in the pot. 

Tomato soup
2 cans of Hunts crushed tomatoes with basil
4 cups vegetable stock
3 carrots diced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced or 2 tsp already prepared garlic
1 cup Greek yogurt plain
Salt & pepper to taste

Saute carrots, onion and garlic.  Once veggies are soft add tomatoes and stock.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  For chunky soup leave as is and add yogurt.  For smooth soup use a blender or submerge blender.  Add yogurt once smooth.  Let soup warm through.  Pairs really well with grilled cheese sandwiches. 

Oops I ate real Chinese

I wanted real Chinese today & it was great, until I had to come home and pass out. Now I'm paying for my "sin" day. Headache, body aches, & wonderful bowel problems. Using regular soy sauce is definitely something I won't be doing again. The GI doc said try it because he did not think I would react as badly to it as I would to a piece of bread. Wrong-O.

Wonderful Rice Chex

One of the mainstays in my pantry had always been bread crumbs.  Seasoned or unseasoned, bread crumbs were always there.  I use them in meatloaf, meatballs, hamburgers, and on top of casseroles.  Once I had to part with those crumbs, I was lost.  Here in Wyoming it is hard to find GF bread crumbs on the grocery store self.  Sometimes you may hit a gold mine but most of the times it is a bust.  I feel that spending $7 for a loaf of bread is nuts but I will.  However I will not spend $7 for a loaf of bread so that I can make GF bread crumbs.  This problem lead me to the good old Rice Chex.  Rice Chex is gluten free and even states it proudly on their boxes!! Bread crumb problem is solved.  Toss Rice Chex into the food processor and you have GF replaced bread crumbs.  You can even add some GF Italian seasoning and you have seasoned Chex crumbs! Average cost of Rice Chex $3.40 for 12.56 ounces.  So much better than making that $7 GF bread into crumbs. 

Gluten...what?!!!

Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and someone told you that you couldn't eat your favorite food.  Would that food be a cheeseburger, pizza, or ham sandwich?  How hard is it try and avoid one little tiny grain protein? Really hard if you are new to the gluten free game.  I applaud those that have been GF for years before many GI doctors knew how (sometimes I think they still don't know how) to diagnosis this condition.  My road seems a little bit easy or rough than some that celiac has destroyed the small intestine.  While there have been many advances in CD not much is known why, how, who or what about it.  Unlike some, I had abnormal biopsies but my blood serum was only a few small (1-2) away from celiac.  Gluten intolerance doesn't have abnormal small bowel biopsies and therefore, fellow CD people with beginning celiac are left in the irritable bowel/gluten intolerance category.  Unlike a gluten intolerant friends, we still can't eat wheat products, never ever.  I may not get as sick as some but I still get sick.  Will I take another blood test?  I do not want to gluten load for 3-4 months when I know if I do not eat gluten I do not get sick.  Frankly, I like sleeping on my stomach, which is something I haven't been able to do in about 9 years.  While I can't point it out for sure, but I believe the stress of pregnancy is what started by road to celiac.  However, my grandma was a closet celiac at a time where it wasn't ever talked about because it was a rare condition.  This blog is for my benefit and to post some great recipes I come across or ones that I fix into the GF fashion.  I'm not doctor but just the gluten free nurse that now knows what it feels like to get the diagnosis.