gluten-free this

i've been frustrated with food lately. a lot. see, i'd been sick for months. top to bottom sick. couldn't keep anything in, from any direction. and the week after christmas (2005), it started getting so bad that i couldn't even leave the house. i could barely leave the couch or bed (or toilet). those were my options. it was awful. for three weeks. finally, one morning i was reading a marie claire magazine i'd bought for some random hair article, turned a page, and there was a two-page spread on celiac disease and gluten intolerance. the list of symptoms caught my eye: got it, got it, got it...i'd just called my doctor that morning, finally realizing that whatever i had wasn't getting better and had really persisted for three weeks (it's weird how you don't realize how long you're really sick sometimes). i spent the day investigating the whole celiac/gluten thing, so when the doctor's office called me 8.5 hours later to tell me that she probably wouldn't be able to see me for several more weeks, i told her i'd taken myself off of gluten that day and it was the first day in three weeks that i hadn't thrown up. within four days, i felt pretty much normal.
it's now been six weeks with no gluten, and i feel good. but it's hard. i'm not cooking much. and today i turn to the first recipe in real simple, one of many favorite sources of recipes and just plain cooking and menu inspirations, and it's for meatloaf. now, i love meatloaf. one of those comfort foods i've always loved. the recipe calls for 1.25 lbs. ground beef (no problem), a two-ounce envelope of onion soup mix (i'm betting i can find one that's gluten-free at whole paycheck), a cup of shredded italian cheese blend (same), a cup of chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (no problem), two eggs (no problem), 1.5 cups of saltines (here's a problem: i'm not aware of any gluten-free saltines; i might be able to substitute some gluten-free crackers i have, which would be fine, because i hate them), 1/3 cup of water, and 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce (i do have a bottle of gluten-free sauce). so...i'm going to attempt a gluten-free version of this this weekend, i think. i'll keep you posted; wish me luck.