Gluten Free

 A little background:
For the past 1.5 years I've been struggling with joint pain.  After a visit to the arthritis doctor in October made it look like I would be taking medication for the rest of my life just to feel better I decided to give a more natural approach a try.  I cut out all wheat/gluten, sugar and caffeine.  These big 3 can be the biggest problem causes of physical pain in many illnesses.  

The first 2 to 3 weeks were killer. I didn't feel any better and I just wanted bread, pasta and sugar.  The caffeine was the easiest to get rid of.  Then I woke up one morning with a clear head, no joint pain, more energy than I had had in months, and no bloated feeling in my belly.  It was amazing!  I have continued to feel amazing.  I have now added one at a time sugar and caffeine back into my diet.  I haven't noticed any difference in my pain or energy level with caffeine.  With sugar I can tell when I have eaten too much and try to keep it out of my diet as much as possible, but I love chocolate so I can be disciplined when it comes to that.  Wheat/gluten will never be back in my life.  Now I have such a strong physical reaction to it when I eat it I don't even want it anymore. 

That being said I do miss some of my favorite recipes that have flour in them.  So I have decided to start trying to adapt them and make them gluten free.  Today was my first try at this with one of my favorite treats. 

First Attempt: This is my favorite cook book author and blogger.  The Pioneer Woman!

 This is a picture of me and my favorite cookbook author and blogger.  I stood in line for 5 hours. It was totally worth it.

I love her recipes but a lot of them have flour and gluten in them. Everything has gluten in it.  I have been craving Pioneer Woman's french breakfast puffs for a week now.  

 

Today I decided to try and convert this amazing recipe to gluten free.  I picked up some multi- purpose gluten free flour at the grocery store and did some research on converting recipes to gluten free and away I went.

 I got them all mixed up and ready to go into the oven and they actually looked pretty good.

I didn't have any xantham gum which is a binder, so I was a little concerned that they would just fall apart when they were done.

And they did.  BUT they tasted great!  Gluten free flour does tend to be a bit grainier and have a bit of a gritty taste but all in all I thought they turned out good.  Next time I will use xantham gum and hopefully they won't fall apart.  
Not bad for a first try and it gives me hope that many of my favorite recipes will be able to be converted!