Happy Belated, msbelle!

Kathy, it's so wonderful to read about your progress--and even moreso about your joy in each new milestone. Thank you for including us on your journey. You're inspiring in more ways than one.

Oh, well, some things I have to forget about.

take away my pasta and I cry. See also: bread.

Yeah, giving up the wheat was hard. Couple that with giving up potatoes...well, rice gets boring, after a while. I'm surprised, actually, how little I've come to miss garlic mashed, fries, and salad and baked. Marinara and tomato-based sauces now smell toxic to me and it makes me a little sad. Plei made rice flour pancakes for me and found me rice-based treats that helped with the transition, and we've found rice flour pasta that, if cooked sufficiently, is a reasonable substitute in mac&cheese. Because life really is a lot more worth living with occasional mac&cheese. Even if it's made with rice flour penne, goat cheese, cottage cheese, and asiago.

It comes down, though, to feeling like crap all the next day after I have a half-cup of mashed potatoes or a handful of fries, and knowing I did it to myself. I make that decision occasionally, but it's deliberate, with full knowledge of what I'm giving up for the treat.

Have you ever tried mashed cauliflower (w/garlic and butter)? I found that a tasty alternative to mashed potatoes and frankly, they were on par with one another. (Don't know if it is contraindicated.)

I just made some couscous and it was pretty delish.

I'd had a little tub of fancy pearl couscous for a while and finally decided to bust it out tonight. Veggie stock, lemon, garlic, fresh minced tarragon, broccolli, sauteed mushrooms, green onions, peas, some curry and cumin and chunks of feta and it's a bit of alright.

That was damned easy. Maybe I should try quinoa next, since I now know how to pronounce it.

I too used to think it was pronounced qwin-oh-a. But I love it anyway.

ION, my freezer is ridiculous right now. See, I like to keep TJ's indian frozen dinners on hand for when I don't want to deal with chopping for salad (yes, that lazy.) Anyway, there was a period of time when they were out whenever I went. So I keep forgetting I have plenty and buying more. I have something like 10 boxes. I eat maybe one a week. Yeah. Plus I was hungry when I went today and ended up with 2 bags of gyoza to boot. Damned samples and shopping when you haven't eaten all day.

I have slight food stocking issues (not sure why, like to be prepared? Plan on something then get bored with it? ) but when I moved, I managed to clear a lot of it out. At least my canned goods supply isn't that bad. Apparently, now it has moved to frozen food.

I don't like quinoa. I'm not sure what it is about it, but the only times I've liked it have been when it was mixed in with some other grain. When it's just quinoa plus vegetables and beans or whatever, I don't like it. It just tastes weird.

I just ordered quinoa from Amazon. I hope I like it.

I've heard of subbing mashed cauliflour or mashed turnips for potatoes. And I think StephL says it really works for her. It may be a texture issue, but I'd rather do without than eat mashed turnip or cauliflour in any form. There's lots of kale and spinach and broccoli and zucchini and edamame and braised-in-dill-and-ginger sweet potatoes to eat. I won't miss cauliflour and turnips. Or beets. More for those who like them!

I've tried mashing a mixture of half potatoes and half cauliflower, and I liked it, while I didn't like just plain mashed cauliflower.

we've found rice flour pasta that, if cooked sufficiently, is a reasonable substitute in mac&cheese.

Can you eat corn? Because DeBoles makes a corn pasta (specifically the elbow macaroni) that is fan-goddamn-tastic. I mean, I have *tried* non-wheat pastas, and some are better than others (sadly, most rice pastas get too glue-like for my taste, though I might just be cooking them wrong), but the corn pasta rocks my socks. Even if I didn't have to avoid gluten, I'd still eat this stuff.

And as mac-n-cheese, it's super duper. Srsly.

Have you ever tried mashed cauliflower (w/garlic and butter)? I found that a tasty alternative to mashed potatoes and frankly, they were on par with one another. (Don't know if it is contraindicated.)

Totally! I would food-process the cauliflower until it was smooth, like whipped potatoes. With butter and/or sour cream, it's honestly a near-perfect substitute. (Chatty co-worker calls them "mashed fauxtatoes.")

t edit

And I think StephL says it really works for her.

x-posty! These days, I just eat the potatoes. I'm not trying to eat low-carb, and since wheat is out, I eat whatever starches I'm still able to eat. My mom actually made me a potato "pizza" at Christmas -- they all ordered pizza, and she baked me a potato, mooshed it flat(ish), and then put sauce and cheese and olives on it, and baked it again until the cheese was melty.

That shit is actually GOOD. I mean really.