Day one under our belts

Yesterday, we - meaning my youngest son and I - made it all day completely gluten-free.  I consider that an enormous feat considering his cookie raid on what was supposed to have been 'day one' of this new journey.  We made it through our official day one with no tantrums, no meltdowns, no screaming, no yelling, no fits, no outbursts of uncontrolled rage or anger ... none of the stuff I want to free him of.  Sibling squabbles - yes, we had those.  But the really bad stuff ... none, zero, zilch, nada.  I consider that a huge blessing.

To try to make the transition easier, I stopped by one of the Publix grocery stores here that carries quite a bit more natural and organic products than the other Publix store locations.  Being very much in my certified organic, anti-soy, anti-GMO's, anti this and anti that frame of mind - well, the pickings were slim.  Mighty slim.

I caved on my certified organic standard and purchased a Namaste Waffle & Pancake Mix, hoping to cheer up my kiddo.  The ingredients in this particular product - sweet brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, rice milk powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and ground vanilla bean - were much more in tune with what I was hoping to find than the ingredients in my only other choice of pancake & waffle mix for sale at this particular store.

I made the pancakes for dinner (breakfast for dinner is always a good thing!) following the package directions (requires the addition of eggs - I used organic, oil - I used organic evoo, and water or rice milk - I used filtered water).  I used organic extra virgin coconut oil in the skillet since that's what my entire family is used to from my pancake making days of the past.  They were fluffy, looked appealing, and easy to make.  The package states it makes about twelve 4-inch pancakes (half that amount if you only make 'one batch' - each package makes two batches).  I ended up with fourteen pancakes total, some larger than the size indicated - not a bad outcome in that respect.  My youngest ate half of one.  I consider that a success because that's often all he would eat when I made pancakes using whole wheat pastry flour.  My teen wolfed his plate full down.  I asked what he thought of the taste and was answered with shrugged shoulders.  That's a typical response - he is a teen after all - so the mere fact he ate every bite has me encouraged.  I will admit I wasn't so sure about the first one I ate, but by the time I started on my second I realized I actually like the taste.  My spouse commented he thought they were good as well.

Not a bad way to start this new adventure.