Gluten-Free February

 Let the gluten-free experiment begin!

After overhearing an acquaintance discuss his recent battle with wheat products and newly found love of gluten-free living, I'd had enough. I love bread, as does Hubby. We enjoy homemade breads and pastas, delicious pretzels and crackers, and flour-based confections of all kinds. We make pizza nearly weekly. But wheat has gotten a lot of bad publicity lately. And our acquaintance was fueling the fire with his talk about how terrible wheat foodstuffs can be on our systems, and how healthy he's been since cutting out gluten.

On our walk home from our Friday evening check-in with the locals at our favorite wine bar, I suggested we, too, should consider living gluten-free. The spines on Hubby's back stood on end as he vehemently made his oppositional argument. We were, after all, headed back to our home where a bowl of freshly risen dough awaited sauce, cheese, and a hot oven.
A few last-ditch remarks floated upward into the chilly night air with no further response from Hubby other than a grumble from the depths of his hungry digestive system. I let it go.

Then, while I was lazily enjoying Saturday morning in my pajamas, in our bed, catching up on the Facebook posts I'd missed since checking before going to sleep the previous night, Hubby said, "Okay, we can try it." Then he made his way to the kitchen to make coffee.

I decided not to make a big deal about his surprising change of heart. Rather, I continued to be lazy until I was sick of doing nothing, then I went to the store. I spent $33 of our February food budget on gluten-free food items. I bought all purpose flour, pretzels, crackers, and pasta. My plan is to change the ingredients, but not how we eat. Hubby will still enjoy cold cut sandwiches on slices of homemade bread. We will still have pasta on Wednesday and pizza on Friday. I just hope I'm not taking the joy out of the meals along with the gluten. I'll keep you posted!

Micki Bare, mother of three, wife, daughter & writer is the author of Thurston T. Turtle children's books. 

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Micki Bare's Weekly Column (Arkansas News Bureau)