Day One

Well, I've almost survived the first day without wheat.  I was fine for the morning and through lunch, but around 3:00, the wheat cravings really hit me.  I snacked on nuts and cheese and veggies, but nothing was what I really wanted.  I didn't give in, though, and I've made it so far.  I'm also really, really, really grouchy and irritable and tired (and no, it's not PMS!). I think I'll be going to bed early tonight.  My husband has been fine, though he said he had a headache before supper.

For breakfast, I had Apple Walnut "bread" made with almond flour instead of wheat.  The recipe was in the Wheat Belly book.  You can find the recipe here, but it has applesauce, walnuts, almond flour, flaxseed and a few more healthy ingredients.  This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven last night:

It was very tasty, but wasn't quite as sweet as I expected.  It also crumbled and fell apart when I took it out of the pan, so I think next time I'll bake it a bit longer (or if you have any suggestions to make it stay together, I'd love to hear them)!  I added a bit of butter to it, warmed it in the microwave and ate it from a bowl this morning like a crumbly cereal.  It was a very filling breakfast, and I wasn't hungry at all until lunchtime.  Here it is after it came out of the pan (and after my husband and I had gotten to it!):

Lunch was a very satisfying spinach salad with strawberries, mushrooms, egg, cheese, nuts and a home-made olive oil and raspberry vinegar dressing made with Epicure Selections Italian dressing spices.  I'm very happy that most Epicure Selections spices and mixes don't have any wheat in them; they really enhance flavour.  Doesn't that look yummy?

As I mentioned above, around 3:00 I started getting "hungry" - not that I was really hungry, but I really wanted some wheat snacks - crackers, chips, anything!  But I made it through until supper.  I made a taco pizza with a cauliflower crust (another recipe from Wheat Belly).  It was very filling as well, and the crust tasted like cheese, though it had more of a frittata consistency than that of a crust.  Here's the recipe:

- 1 head of cauliflower, steamed until soft
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 2 eggs

Once the cauliflower is soft, mash it until it has the consistency of mashed potatoes.  Add the olive oil, cheese and eggs and mix them all together.  Press the "dough" onto an oiled pizza pan and bake it at 350 for about 30 minutes.  Then top it with pizza sauce and your favourite pizza toppings (we had taco meat, tomatoes, green peppers and more mozzarella).  It was very tasty, and my husband had three helpings!

So it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be.  If we can get through the first week, apparently the cravings are supposed to subside.  I'm really shocked by how irritable I'm feeling, though.  Everyone is annoying me (and they're not doing anything wrong!).  Hopefully that will lighten up tomorrow so my family won't hate me!