Day 28 of the WEGO Health Activists Writers Month Challenge (HAWMC). I'm almost there, 2 more days! I can't believe I've made it this far and I haven't used any of my get out of posting free days. I hope you have enjoyed some of the topics along the way. Today's challenge topic is, The First Time I… ; Write a post about the first time you did something. What is it? What was it like? What did you learn from it?
We do a lot of firsts throughout our life and sometimes (or it seems like most of the time in my case) they don't turn out the way we expect them to. Good, bad, or just a little weird, it doesn't matter, that is how most of us learn. Today I am going to write about the first time I made gluten, dairy, and egg-free bread.
Let me preface my story by saying, it was a complete and utter disaster! I had found a yummy sounding recipe online from where I don't even remember now. I'm sure there was nothing wrong with the recipe, but rather how I attempted going about making it. I do remember the recipe used gluten-free flours and starches, but was full of eggs and dairy so I had to figure out how to substitute those on my own. The dairy probably wasn't the issue, it was probably more of my egg substitution and my baking skills (or lack there of). I've learned since this experience that when baking with gluten-free flours you have to be exact when measuring things out. I didn't know this key information then and knowing me, I just eye-balled it and threw it all together because that is how I like to cook.
Anyway, back to the baking… I followed the directions exactly or so I thought, made my substitutions for the dairy and eggs, dumped it all in a bread pan, popped it in the oven, and walked away. I remember thinking to myself as I walked out of the kitchen, this is "easy peasey". I can do this! What's all the hoopla about? 60 minutes later the timer went off and I went to check on my creation. What I saw I was not entirely prepared for. My bread, if that is what you want to call it, had turned into some sort of alien mass. It was roughly half the height of the bread pan and looked to be the consistency of jello at best. I tapped it like the recipe instructed me to in order to check if it sounded hollow (whatever that meant) and was surprised to find out it was indeed solid, very solid. Since I didn't know what hollow bread was supposed to sound like I decided it was done. I took it out of the oven and set it on the counter to cool. Half an hour later I couldn't take the anticipation and suspense any longer and I decided it was cool enough. I popped, or pried is probably a better description, it out of the pan and cut into it. The bottom half (all of about 2 inches) of the loaf was not done, that much I could tell by just looking at it; it was gooey and kind of soggy. The top half was dry and crumbly and fell off the bottom half as soon as I picked it up. I forced myself to taste it, for lack of better words, it was just plain gross. It was dry, crumbly, grainy, gooey, and hard all at the same time. I couldn't even eat it, I took a few bites and decided it wasn't worth it.
I'm not going to lie, this wasn't the last time I made a loaf of bread similar to this, but because it turned out not as expected I was able learn a few things along the way. I take this first time experience with me and put it will all the rest and as I look back on all of them I can't help but shake my head and laugh.
Have you learned from your first time experiences? What is one you look back on fondly?
We do a lot of firsts throughout our life and sometimes (or it seems like most of the time in my case) they don't turn out the way we expect them to. Good, bad, or just a little weird, it doesn't matter, that is how most of us learn. Today I am going to write about the first time I made gluten, dairy, and egg-free bread. 
For today's post I guess I kind of already have my tagline, in the name of my blog, Allergy Free and Cheap Like Me. My blog is a place where I hope people can come and find information, recipes, cost saving tips, etc. about living with food allergies. I also hope for it to be a place for people to share stories about their own allergy journey, not just read about mine. I suppose what is not included in my blog name that I might include in a tagline would be something about overall whole living and natural health. As I write my blog, more and more I find I am interested not only in sharing my allergy journey with others but also sharing natural, whole living ideas as well. So maybe my tagline should be something like one of these; Allergy Free and Cheap Like Me, Whole Living with Food Allergies, Allergy Free and Cheap Like Me, Whole Living in Spite of Food Allergies, Allergy Free and Cheap Like Me, Living a Complete Life with Food Allergies. I'm not sure, I feel like those tagline's might make it sound like having food allergies prevents you from living a complete life, which I don't believe and I don't want to convey. So maybe I should just go with my keep calm and carry on poster tagline, Allergy Free and Cheap Like Me, Living More and Stressing Less! 
