Gluten-Free Food Nation: Wendy's

When you're gluten-free, finding a burger on a road trip is hard. It's a battle that hubby and I have struggled with since road trips are things we love to do fairly often. And my husband loves nothing better than a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's. 

The one thing I've discovered is that Wendy's chili is gluten-free! And delish to boot. I frequently order a chili with a bag of taco chips. Be warned: when you order said bag of taco chips, they will look at you like a freak. These are normally the chips they use to make chili cheese fries and they aren't normally sold as a bag at all. The employees who don't care about their jobs will just give you the chips, the employees who do care about their jobs will call a manager, and the ones somewhere in the middle will usually charge you for some random thing on the menu like an extra salad dressing. 

Glutened by Sushi

I am a sushi lover! Doesn't matter what kind, I love it. Ever since my diagnosis, I have been extremely careful to only eat my sushi with gluten-free soy sauce since it's one of the first "hidden glutens" that you get warned about. I have no shame in taking my own personal dipping container of soy sauce with me no matter whether I'm having sushi at the fanciest of restaurants or at the hockey game. 

Recently I have been eating more sushi than normal, particularly California rolls. Lately, I've also been feeling worse than normal. I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that things weren't "moving along" as they should. Now, this was typical of pre-diagnosis me, but I've gotten used to regularity and damn, it feels good!

Thanks to a server at Genji restaurant on Lisgar Street in Ottawa, I discovered the culprit:

Imitation crab meat. A gluten-free gal's nightmare. 

We were at the restaurant and I had ordered my maki when the server came back to our table to ask why I had ordered all of my rolls without tempura. I guess she had a sneaking suspicion why but wanted to be sure. I told her of my issues and she informed me that two of the four rolls I had ordered had imitation crab meat in them which are not gluten free. At first I was shocked, but then everything made sense!

The regular server at my favourite all-you-can-eat sushi place called Hao Sushi on Merivale Road confirmed this information when he kindly checked the ingredient list on the imitation crab meat package for me just this past weekend. Gluten-free sushi lovers be warned!

Gluten-Free Food Nation: McDonald's

Now, we're not big McDonald's eaters. But when those darn coupons arrive in the mail every few months, I can see the gleam in my husband's eye. Just like Homer Simpson and his doughnuts my husband is thinking: Mmmmm....Big Mac.....

Me going gluten-free messed up his quarterly Big Macs at first. But one day he convinced me to order a bunless Big Mac just to see what would happen. What happened was pathetic. I don't eat the cheese from McDonald's either so what I got was two meat patties in a box with a couple of pickles, some scraps of lettuce and a squirt of Mac sauce.

The next time hubby convinced me to make use of our coupons, I was smarter about the whole thing. The kid behind the counter looked at me like I was crazy when I ordered a Big Mac "with no bun, no cheese, extra lettuce and extra pickles". But when it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. What I got is what I now call "a Big Mac Salad". Seriously, McDonald's...you owe me for coining that.

A Big Mac salad is a pile of lettuce, a handful of pickles and two meat patties drizzled with Mac Sauce like salad dressing. It all comes in a salad container too. And it's good.

I've ordered it once more since then and I can confirm that McDonald's is consistent in its Big-Mac-sSlad-making procedures. To be clear, the Big Mac Salad is not on the menu. You kind of have to describe what it is you want. But they will do it!

Gluten-Free Restaurant Chains: BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse

I'm really the worst blogger ever. I haven't written a post in months. So I'm digging into the crevices of my mind to remember the gluten-free meals I've had in the months I've been away from my blog.

This summer my family and I took a trip to the Grand Canyon and after hiking for a couple of days, we were ready for some food that wasn't dried fruit and nuts. On the way back we hit up BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse.

The staff was well-informed and helpful. We all ended up ordering pizza and we all really enjoyed it. The rest of my family had a deep dish crust, but I ordered the gluten free crust. It was thin and crunchy and they had lots of interesting gluten-free toppings like buffalo wings. 

For dessert, they have something called "pizookies". Like you may have guessed, these are cookies baked in deep dish pizza pans. Each has a scoop of ice cream in the centre. They offer a gluten-free chocolate chip pizookie and it was heavenly! 

BJ's restaurants are all over the southern and western states: 

http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/locations/nation

My "Gluten Challenge"

And boy was it challenging!

For those of you who aren't aware, the golden standard of celiac disease diagnosis requires two tests: a blood test that detects antibodies and an endoscopy to detect evidence of damage in the small intestine. The two tests are required because often the blood test comes back negative when the endoscopy detects something. On the other hand, the blood test can come back positive when the endoscopy detects nothing.

All this to say, back in January, my blood test came back positive. I was told to eat regularly (not gluten free) until my endoscopy. By March, I was feeling pretty terrible with bloating, itchy skin and exhaustion. Becoming impatient, I called to follow up about my appointment and was told that in non-serious cases, it could be up to a year. A year!

I didn't think I could last that long, so I consulted with my doctor and started eating gluten-free. She assured me that, provided I eat gluten for 6 weeks prior to my endoscopy, accurate results could still be obtained. Within a month of eating gluten-free, I got my endoscopy appointment...only 3 weeks away. I told the receptionist that my doctor had recommended that I eat gluten for 6 weeks prior to the test, but she assured me that the pathology would be seen after 3 weeks of a "gluten challenge". This is where you basically eat as much gluten as you can without dying.

So I ate everything I was going to miss. Almond croissants from the French bakery across the street from my work, breaded wings with hot sauce after hockey, donuts from my favourite place in Ottawa called SuzyQ... (I ate those 3 times! For all my friends who like to gluten it up, my favourites are the Salted Caramel and the London Fog and Suzy Q is located on Wellington St. where the Hintonburger used to be.)   

Well, I was tired. I was bloated. I was anything but regular. And the rash that had been on my thighs spread up my arms. A diagnosis seemed certain. And then it happened. My results came back negative.

There are two potential reasons for it:
1. I didn't challenge myself enough/for long enough.
2. I don't actually have celiac.
I'm not sure which is true. Either way, eating gluten doesn't do anything for me. In the words of my doctor, "You're going to be on this diet for life regardless."

Now I'm back to my gluten-free lifestyle so, despite my extended absence from this little blog, I'll be reviewing up a storm again shortly!

Later this week I'm being tested for dairy allergies just to make sure that there isn't another cause for my digestive unrest. I also have an appointment with the doctor who performed the endoscopy on July 10th. I'll keep y'all posted.

Restaurant Review: Local Heroes - Heroically Un-Gluten-Free

My pre-Celiac self liked this pub. Tender ribs, turkey wings, cole slaw and pickle spears. Yum! This time around, I was much less impressed!

At first glance, the menu appeared to have a few options for me. I was thinking of fajita salad with grilled steak or chicken caesar depending on the ingredients of the dressing. I mentioned that I eat gluten-free to the waitress and asked about the salads. She looked confused and said she would check with the kitchen. When she returned she informed me that everything contains gluten and I would not be able to order.

A friend suggested that I ask about the potato skins, but at this point I was too flustered to get the waitress to ask the kitchen more questions. Not all was lost. I did order a Strongbow Cider and enjoyed the pickle spears of some non-pickle-eating friends!

Restaurant Review: Dick's Drive-In and Dairy Dip

Dick's is located on Merivale Road, just south of Merivale's intersection with Baseline. Dining at Dick's was a wonderful experience that I would recommend to any celiac! The staff was friendly and knowledgeable in the ways of eating gluten-free and the food was delicious. 

Being a newly-diagnosed celiac, I was nervous to walk into a burger joint of all places and request a breadless meal. But as soon as I mentioned my need to be gluten-free, the waitress sent the owner over with her personal recommendations. She informed me that both the beef and bison burgers at Dick's are free of breadcrumb fillers, while the turkey, kangaroo and ostrich burgers do contain gluten. Dick's also keeps a separate deep fryer for only fries so there is no risk of contamination with the other gluten-filled foods such as onion rings. My mind was set at ease.

I ordered the bison burger. When my plate came (I wish I had taken a picture), it came with tomato, lettuce and pickles on the side, as well as a little ramekin of aioli (garlic mayo) for dipping. I ate my "burger" with a knife and fork, ensuring that each bite had all of the burger elements. My meal also came with fries and a vanilla avocado milkshake that was super delicious and filling. 

For a complete menu, visit http://www.dickshamburgers.com/index.html.