The Hard Way

Sometimes it seems you just have to learn the hard way.  There is no "easy button" for life.  I sometimes wish there was such a button, but then again, I would miss out on those ah-ha moments or the sweet sense of victory after overcoming obstacles.  It reminds me of Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken.  I love the last three lines:

Two roads diverged in a wood and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Sometimes choosing that road is hard, but often it is worth the rough patches, steep inclines, and challenges.  Homeschooling was one such road; a road I am blessed to have taken.  Another such road is our gluten free lifestyle.  It is a blessing to be sure, but it is not without challenges!  We have had to learn a lot of things the hard way.

This week that "hard way" lesson was definitely evident in our house.  Cinnamon, after the big bail a little over a week ago, discovered she really does need to be on a gluten free diet.  I am not sure if it was the fatigue, the mental fog, or the canker sores that convinced her, but she is back on the gf trail....happily, I might add.

I also ventured out to try something new.  I really wanted to see if I could make bread cheaper by buying different flours and combining my own mix.  I decided to try Bette Hagman's Four Flour mix found in this cookbook.  A little intimidating at first using weird flours like sorghum and garfava flour, but this was going to be an adventure!

The bread turned out lovely and it was good!  A nice springy texture, fluffy, soft, and it tasted like bread.  Not much of a bean taste either.

Everyone loved it.  The only problem was that I ended up with a stomach ache.  I read how you sometimes have to adjust to bean flours, so the next day I tried another slice.  I ended up with another stomach ache, this one slightly worse.  So, what did I do?  Naturally, I made these delicious cinnamon rolls using the flour.

Of course I had to eat one, even though my stomach still hurt from the bread I had earlier.  Wow!  Big mistake.  Here was the epitome of having to learn something the hard way.  I apparently cannot handle fava bean flour!  Who knew. 

Today, I started over.  I made a new batch of flour, this time avoiding any and all bean flours!  I made the Featherlight Rice Bread from the same book.  It was springy and fluffy, not grainy at all, and had that yummy homemade bread taste.  

 

This one I will make again.  I was able to make it for $5.23 a loaf which is better than the $6.92 it was costing me for the other bread I was making.  I can cut the cost even further by buying the flours and a few other ingredients in bulk.  My family all loved it.  Best of all, no stomach ache! 

So, sometimes I guess we do have to learn things the hard way.  Cinnamon learned she needs to be gluten free and I learned to stay far away from strange sounding beans.  Taking the road less traveled can be an adventure, but do you ever stop and wonder, where the heck you are?