Friday, May 6, 2016

'Tis a Miracle!



For the last several years I was so allergic to egg that getting even a drop of raw egg on my hand felt like I had a burn.  Even washing a pan or plate in an entire sink of water would cause my hands to swell up.  TH would wash anything that egg touched, and mostly made his own eggs.   Putting plastic baggies on my hands allowed me to make him eggs.  Then about 2 months ago TH was in a hurry and needed something quick to eat that he could carry with him.  Fried egg sandwich coming up!  In my hurry I forgot to put the baggies on my hands and made his eggs.  After TH left I realized that I had forgotten my baggies and the egg didn't burn!!  For the next while I made TH eggs without putting baggies on, and never had a twinge of problem with egg burning.  Next up was peeling TH a dozen eggs for a trip out of town, and again no issue!  I got brave and ate a gluten free donut that had eggs as an ingredient, and I was fine!  And so began a spree of eating gluten free english muffins.  Wheee!

After a while I finally got a bit braver and actually ate an egg.  And meh.  I found that I have lost my taste for eggs.  This week I made a homemade egg sausage breakfast muffin.  Sqee!  It was fan-freaking-tastic!  But this opens up an entire world of food, and makes eating breakfast out do-able now.  Every single popular gluten free bread has eggs as a ingredient, making eating out so much easier, and more enjoyable to boot.


With eggs now in my wheelhouse, it was on to chicken.  First chicken I ate?  WINGS!  Oh my golly gosh did I miss buffalo wings.  There is a restaurant near us that has gluten free buffalo wings.  When the order came, I sat and looked at them for quite a while, slightly fearful of trying one.  But then decided to man up and go for it.  Damn were they delicious!  I've eaten wings and roasted chicken a few times now and zero issues!


I've tried cream cheese and some sour cream, with no ill effects.  But as with the eggs, I've lost my taste for them, to the point when grocery shopping today I bought a new container of soy milk and vegan cheese.  However, its nice to know that when I'm out and about I wont have to worry about eating mashed potatoes or butter in things making me ill.  It just might take a while to get used to the flavor of dairy again.  The last time I had anything dairy was 5 years ago. 



I feel so free now both in the grocery store and in restaurants!   From being constrained to a few choices, the entire gambit of gluten free shelves are available to me.   I now have choices in gluten free cookies, crackers, breads and donuts.  I've eaten at restaurants recently and been plagued by severe indecision.  I've gone from having at most two choices to several choices, and it can be overwhelming at times.

Why do I think this miracle occurred?  I was the model patient and never ever cheated with gluten or any of the other foods that were on my no eat list allowing my stomach and gut time to heal.  My life with food is amazing now, no more tears in the grocery store or grief in restaurants.