Update on the Allergy Elimination Diet

Today is Day 13 of 21 on the Allergy Elimination Diet.  Overall, it's going well.  I have been eating pretty well and haven't had many days where I wished I could just eat "regular" food, like bread.  Although, I definitely did not do myself a favor yesterday by making Monkey Bread for the first time.  I wanted to make some bread to go with the Potato Soup for dinner (which I couldn't eat since it used white potatoes and milk), so I was looking around for recipes.  I finally found one I liked, but it made enough for three loaves.  So, I made one loaf regular, one portion into Herb Cheese bread (for the soup) and one portion into a pan of Monkey Bread.   They all smelled amazing...sure wish I could have tried them!

It was surprisingly easy to make.  I used almost 100% freshly ground wheat flour.  I also used instant yeast, so only one rise was required, so it was quick as well.  I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer and then kneaded by hand (didn't like how the KA was kneading the dough).  Then, I just shaped how I wanted and let them rise for about 45-60 minutes.  The loaf definitely rose the best...perhaps because it was worked with the least?

Here's how they turned out:

This the loaf, obviously.  It has a nicer crust than our bread machine bread, as well as a softer and less dense texture.  Philip said our bread machine bread is a 8 or 9 on a scale of 10, but felt this was a 10.  Cool.

Here's the Monkey Bread.  This was soooo easy.  Just chopped the dough into little balls, dipped in butter and then rolled in cinnamon sugar (Caleb did that part).  Put in the pan, let rise and then bake for 25 minutes or so at 350.  So easy!  I have a feeling I'll be bringing this to MOPS one of these days.  (It's super easy to do all the work the night before and then put in the fridge to do a slow rise overnight.  This is how I always make my cinnamon rolls). 

Here's the Herb Cheese Bread.  This one didn't rise that much, but still turned out well.  Philip said it needed more cheese. :)

So back to what I was supposed to be posting about: my diet.  The short of it is, I feel pretty good, but have continued to have some gallbladder problems.  It often seems that the times it gets irritated are when I have not consumed enough fat with my meal.  But, this isn't always the problem.  I would say I had enough last night and my gallbladder was quite unhappy last night.  So, I really don't know if I am going to find out I am allergic to something.  We'll see.  Over the next week I am going to start adding things back.  Next Sunday (2/6) I will add something from the most common allergens list.  I am still trying to decide what I will add back in first....but I am leaning heavily towards wheat.  In case you can't tell from this post. :)