Ah.... The Chili Bowl!

For all my non-racing (dirt track that is) readers, the Chili Bowl is the name of a race. It was named after a bowl of chili, but that's another story. The Chili Bowl is a 5-day racing event, 4 nights of qualifying races and one full day of feature races. Over 250 drivers enter this race held in the QuikTrip Expo Center on the Tulsa Fairgrounds. This is every racer's dream, and racing fan too.

Being celiac and trying to eat, however, is a nightmare. I prepared for this trip well in advance. I knew there would be limited items I could devour. No more corndogs, pizza, and sandwiches (with the bread anyways). Basically, i could eat popcorn. Oh joy. I did find a few more things I could eat while I was there. I basically lived off of the Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches, without the bun. I tried nachos one night, but felt the chili meat sauce that was on them might make me sick in the end. Oh, and Dippin' Dots!

I made my own gf Cheez-Its, and surprisingly, they tasted pretty close to the store bought ones. I also made my own cinnamon covered almonds. I found both of these recipes on Pinterest, and I loved both of them. Also made my own beef jerky. It was quite sad for me when I found out that I cannot have "normal" beef jerky. The soy sauce and sometimes the Worcestershire sauce in it contains wheat. These three recipes are definately keepers and I would recommend you try them, at least once!

I keep researching menu plans from people with celiac disease or gluten intolerance. I feel the overwhelming need to cook large batches of things and freeze them. I guess it's because I am the only person in our house of 4 adults who is on the gluten free diet and I need things I can eat when they want something I cannot have. The others try and make things easier for my by trying to eat meals we all can eat, with few differences. But I don't feel it is fair to them to "suffer", I guess. This is my disease, the disease I was dealt with and will have to live with the rest of my life. I hate that they are changing things because of me. I have always been the person who took others feelings into account before my own. That's good and bad, I think. I want to find a way to make things easier for all of us. I'm new to all of this, so hopefully it will get a little bit easier with time.