A few months ago, one of our kids decided to give up eating meat temporarily during a food unit at school. Temporarily turned into permanently. And then she decided to also give up gluten.

The meat piece of the equation was pretty easy as we try to eat seafood around here and I am usually pretty good at using beans. It was also easy for me to prepare dinners as usual with some form of substitute for Lauren to get her the protein that she needed. The gluten piece combined with the meat piece has posed some challenges. The primary challenge is how to get her protein without vegetarian substitutes that contain gluten. Many of the gluten free recipes that I have come across are meat based. I keep finding that I can take out one item but not the other. When I do find something that is both gluten free and vegetarian, often times it is not something that my husband, who is a firm believer that there should be meat on the table at dinner, really wants to eat. And let’s be honest. Seafood for eight people (in a land locked state) is not cheap.