How gluten turned me into a foodie

I used to be known as the cookie queen. In fact, at my wedding shower, I ended up with three cookbooks totally devoted to cookies. Every potluck, I knew what I was bringing and everyone else knew as well. 

I didn't have quite the same passion for cooking. I think I liked to bake because of the joy it brought to people to bite into a fresh baked cookie or brownie. Let's face it, nobody's eyes lit up at cauliflower casserole. 

I was a good cook (definition: I only burned one thing a month) but I just saw it as yet another chore to check off my list. I looked forward to pizza night not so much for the pizza itself but as a huge weight lifted from my shoulders.

Enter gluten stage left. 

My first thought: I'm going to have to cook every meal. Now I know that to be untrue, but when I was first navigating the wilds of gluten-laced-everything I knew I didn't know enough to face a dinner out.

We ate a lot of gluten free pasta and tacos in corn tortillas in the early days and I tried to covert all my favorite recipes. That went over something like this:

1 can cream of chicken soup. (Okay, I can use cornstarch and chicken broth--oh, by the way, check labels on the chicken broth, especially if using bouillon--and make this well enough in advance)

1 package stuffing (bake a loaf of gluten free bread, let it cool, cube it, toast it, season it)

2 cups cooked turkey (no problem, I'll just have my slow cooker going alongside my oven baking bread and my stovetop cooking cream of chicken soup)

2 cups grated cheese 

Quite frankly, it was the grated cheese that broke the camel's back on that particular recipe (Thanksgiving Casserole, by the way, and if any of my gluten-eating friends want the recipe, it's actually quite delicious without all the substitutions). I was okay with chopping, dicing, and grating, but not in addition to spending two days making substitutions for everything.

So I learned to cook around gluten. I very rarely need to swap ingredients out, and when I do, I don't even notice. My mind just fills in "gluten-free pasta" or "gluten-free soy sauce."

The other night, I made pork fried rice completely off the top of my head with only a bare bones outline for inspiration. It was delicious, substitution free, and a lot tastier than anything I used to make. I felt I had finally arrived as a chef, and what's more, I enjoyed it!

My fried rice recipe:

3 pork chops

about 3 cups cold cooked rice

green onion

corn

soy sauce (gluten-free of course)

sesame oil

mushrooms

eggs

Dice pork chops very finely and cook until done. I used a little sesame oil. Add more sesame oil to pan and add in rice, green onion, corn (I thought these were peas until I opened the freezer but the corn tasted good too), and sliced mushrooms. Shake soy sauce over everything until it looks right. Stir fry everything and then add eggs and cook some more. 

Next time, I would use peas instead of corn and maybe leave out the eggs. The recipe that inspired me said to use them but honestly I couldn't tell a difference. Also, I was a little heavy handed with the soy sauce so I would use less. 

Also, next time I will remember to take a picture before devouring this. :-)