Dozer Download: Wheat, interrupted

First of all, an apology. I had REALLY meant to blog Monday about my wheat free weekend. But a major carbon monoxide leak at my house left me at a real loss for a few days. More on that later.

That was the interruption. The blog was interrupted, but wheat-free Karie continues!

I need to admit that weekends wheat free are hard. First, there are lots of baseball games. And football games. There are the kind played by your kids, and the kind you go to at Chase Field or Sun Devil Stadium.

Both kinds sort of go hand in hand with bread. Such as the hot dog buns at the baseball games and the pizza they serve at those tailgates. And the beer. Oh, the beer. The cold, Ranger Pale Ale that has been my frienemy for so many years.

I have always been a beer girl. And since my 20s, when I tasted really good craft-brewed pale ales, I have been in love with hops. But I always knew, in the back of my mind, that beer wasn’t good for my body… wasn’t good for the female figure overall. So I rationalized.

Since giving up beer more than two weeks ago, my stomach has been throwing a little thank you party for me. It is happy and healthy, and fits in my jeans just a little bit nicer.

My wonderful husband has gone to many stores in search of the perfect gluten free beer, and for this I am so grateful. He has called friends and taken informal polls, and he finally found one that I think is worth drinking.

At least it’s worth drinking at a tailgate party, or after golf, or any other place where beer is required.

Its called Estrella Daura, and it is brewed in Spain so it is ridiculously expensive. It is sold in packs of four, not six, to add to exclusivity and panache.

Still, it passes for beer and I will make it my tailgate party drink of choice.

My new drink didn’t make it to this tailgate, however, because my parking space at the Sun Devils game and my tailgate with friends were too far apart. I figured I could make it without beer and I failed. I looked longingly at the pizza and the pale ales in bottles and only lasted about 10 minutes. I need to plan better next time.

For the most part, I stuck to chicken and veggies and eggs for the weekend — corn chips and dark chocolate (not together) for the salty and sweet cravings, and I still feel really, REALLY good. I think the most surprising thing, besides how good I feel, is that most people are very supportive of my choice. Few people tell me they think I am crazy (but you know who you are). And a lot of people say they have thought about going wheat free as well, but didn’t know how or were scared to try.

And tonight I made two different macaroni and cheese casseroles. One was regular, decadant, Grandma Sue’s, the other was with brown rice pasta and quinoa flour. I was hoping my family wouldn’t know the difference.

They did! And so did I. Not a total failure, but not a true success. The wheat free one is on the left above. The really tasty one is on the right.

I just found out another of my sisters has been eating this way for about a year. I didn’t even know, though she lives in another state so I don’t see her eat very often!

She is coming for Christmas… I can’t wait to compare notes.

Two weeks and one day down. 21 days will be easy. (: