Bob's Red Mill Giveaway

Bob's Red Mill, the king of Gluten free flours is hosting a giveaway!!

That's right, for the next 3 days you, and all your friends and family, can enter to win a NEW comfort-foods cookbook, all purpose flour and flax meal. It's all gluten free and all from Bob's Red Mill!

Now, I have to ask, have you tried any gluten free products from Bon's Red Mill? If you haven't, I do believe it's about time you do. We've got many of their different flours floating around in our fridge.

Quick side note, gluten free flours go rancid faster than other flours so it's important you keep them in the fridge or the freezer.

So back to their flours, their All Purpose Flour is great for baked goods (particularly when you don't want to take the time to mix different flours) and their pizza crusts make some mighty fine tasting pizzas. Those are just two of our fsvorite products from Bob's Red Mill, but there are many more greet gluten free flours and mixes from them. We have their yellow cake mix, but haven't made it yet...have you?!? I'm curious how it tastes.

Anywho, these flours can be a bit pricy, but they seem to be a top quality gluten free product. Also, Super Walmarts carry many of them in their "gluten free" section, and as far as any price comparisons I've done they're quite a bit cheaper (a few dollars cheaper!).

Now, to their cookbook. It's "The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook." how many of you miss certain comfort foods since finding out you have a food allergy?

Check out this quote about the book, "The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook is simply brimming with your childhood favorites including Pigs in a Blanket, Sloppy Joe, Chicken Potpie, Tamale Pie, Crusty White Bread, Onion Rings, Vanilla Pudding and Cherry Pie, to name a few. Each recipe is accompanied by beautiful photography (a huge bonus, in my book) and a personal story about the recipe. I love that this book starts right off with a glossary of allergy-free ingredients. Not just what they are, but why you would need them."

Are you excited?!?

Then what are you waiting for?

Enter here!! And in the meantime, tell us what you enjoy making with Bob's Red Mill products!

Organic Aloe Vera Juice

My doctor's always trying something new with me. Okay, I guess I should rephrase that...I haven't felt "good" in a few years, so my doctor's trying to help me achieve a better level of health. I've felt better over the last year or so, but we're still working towards the good!

The newest thing is Aloe Vera. I came home from the doc's with this large bottle of gunk, ready to ingest and hopeful that I'll feel better. My tummy's very sensitive and it seems often agitated and not always willing to absorb the nutrients it needs. Let me add that I also have a gallstone, so my insides are a bit averse to fats (which my 5'7" 118lb. frame needs!) and that can complicate problems a bit more.

So, here I am, struggling to figure out the exact potion to make me well.

It's a fun journey! :) Seriously, having Celiac and a few other issues, myself and my wonderful husband (man does he help in more ways than he realizes!), have become more health conscious than we ever would have imagined. And the best part is that we're able to share this journey with all of you!

Quickly, back to the Aloe Vera. My doctor explained how it should help with my stomach's inflammation and digestion. I read some more about it online here and it seems like it could help! Ha! Sorry, but everything seems like it can help. However, I'm not trying to be pessimistic I just won't know until I try it more than once.

So far, I don't feel good (I just tried it after dinner about 45 min ago). I got all queasy after ingesting it and my stomach is currently quite vocal, but then again, I've felt pretty crappy stomach-wise the past few days. Thus to say, I'm not sure what to attribute my current tummy woes to.

However, I'll let you all know how I feel after a few weeks. I've read some good testimonials of the stuff, so we shall see. And if not, we'll continue on this wonderful journey towards optimal health!

I'd love to hear your thoughts and/or experiences with Aloe Vera!

Please share!

Kettle Cuisine Has Arrived

So Rachel gets to try some flavors of kettle cuisine.

If you don't know about them yet, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!

Anyway, I just wanted to write a quick update on these soups and showcase Rachel's excitement of getting to sample these amazing products!

Look for at least six, that's right six upcoming posts related to these soups. I'll give you a hint at one of them... It's something you can eat at the beach...

Can anyone guess?!? If you guess correctly, we'll send you something. I don't know what, but something fun!

Top Gluten Free Colleges

Now this is a story worth reading!
"14 Colleges that Cater to Gluten-Free Students" is a story recently featured in "Best Colleges Online."  While I've never attended the schools listed, nor personally looked into their dining options, I do think this list is a great place to start when searching for colleges for yourself or your children to attend.

Beyond academics, extracurricular activities, and location, people with food allergies MUST consider their dining options while at school.  It would simply be a travesty to attend a school where you'd have to prepare ALL meals at home in order to eat properly.  Also, as a former college student, I can attest that such a situation would likely be impossible. 

College can be very busy, especially if you're a student who also has a job, and while you may have high hopes of cooking for yourself your roomates and classmates will want to go out to eat or to the dining hall far more often!

So please, let me encourage you to suck it up and do the necesssary "extra" research to insure you can eat at whatever institution you choose to attend.

Here's a list of the top gluten free schools:

1. Baylor University
2. University of Tennessee
3. Georgetown University
4. Oregon State University
5. Bard College
6. University of Wisconsin
7. Southern Methodist University
8. University of Arizona
9. Ithaca College
10. Texas A&M, Corpus Christi
11. University of Notre Dame
12. University of New Hampshire
13. Suny Potsdam
14. Tufts University

Again, information above is from Best Colleges Online. This link will provide you with more thorough information about the modifications/helpfulness of each college along with some interesting comments and links to each prospective college.

Good luck and may all you future students thoroughly enjoy your college years!

*Note: I did not have Celiac, or was at least not yet aware of it, while in college.

Get Free Wendy’s Frostys For The Rest Of 2012

If you don't know, Wendy's frostys are gluten free! And while searching around the internet today, I came across a gizmodo article talking about getting FREE WENDY'S FROSTYS for the rest of 2012.

The best thing at Wendy's is the Frosty. Now you can get them for free for the rest of 2012, all while supporting a good cause (I think it's a good cause, at least). But who cares: free Frosty!

To get in on the free Frosty Jr. deal (Yeah it's for the Frosty Jr. Do you really need the extra calories?) you need to purchase a Frosty Key Tag for $1 at participating Wendy's restaurants. Money from the purchase of the Key Tags goes to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Help kids. Enjoy a refreshing treat. Huzzah!

Avoid Cross Contamination

Check out this GREAT way to avoid cross-contamination at home!

Labels to use on your gluten free food!
http://www.ceceliasmarketplace.com/gluten-free-safety-labels/

Many of us Celiac folk live with a "normal" person and need to differentiate between our food products. Lucky for me I live with a wonderful man who has ventured into the gluten free world with me.

But, he does still have regular sandwich bread (in his designated section of the freezer), so he also has separate peanut butter, jelly and mayo.

 Up until now we've been writing our names on our products to differentiate (his mayo says "Crozdizzle" haha, love it!). Because it's just the two of us and there's very few gluten containing products in our house, we'll likely continue in this way.

However, for those of you with a large group of non-Celiac, "normal," people in your home, this product may be a wise investment.

Gluten Free Resource for Restaurants

Here's an interesting training course designed for restaurants to properly equip themselves to serve the gluten free customer.  Neat, huh? :)


The program is known as GREAT, which stands for Gluten-Free Resource Education Awareness Training, and it covers everything from ingredients and safety to...drumroll please...CROSS CONTAMINATION!  I love it!  


Cross contamination is the main antagonist against adherence to the gluten-free diet and something that I am constantly asking restaurants about.  It only takes a bread crumb to ruin my week, so this is up utmost importance. 

That being said, here's a quote from the program's website, "GREAT Kitchens is a web-based, self-managed continuing education program for chefs, dietitians and other food service professionals.


This 90-minute course teaches the essentials of gluten-free safety from fridge to fork."  I'm not sure if there's other programs out there and I've never taken this one, but it looks like it could be a good investment for restaurants.  I'm much more comfortable eating places that have been properly trained on gluten intolerance/sensitivity. 

For more information on this training see the link below.

Restaurant Gluten Free Training

Gluten-Free: What's Hot in 2012

Ohh yeah, that's right, gluten free is a top trend! :)  Number 7 of 20 to be exact.

Ha...I just have to laugh because while I"m excited that us gluten free folks are getting recognition, it just makes me giggle that we're on a "trend" list! 

Trust us people, we're not trying to be trendy! :) 

But, anyways, I get why we made the list and I love it!!  It's exciting to think that people are becoming more and more aware of our "issues," as restaurants try to accommodate us!

Top Restaurant Trends 2012

New from Red Apple Lipstick

Red Apple Lipstick...a recent make up find for me is fabulous!

I just received my first lipstick and lipgloss from them and MAN am I impressed!  You'll definitely be hearing more about this gluten free, paraben free, vitamin e enriched yummy goodness (just a heads up...the lipstick is like putting on chapstick and tastes delish!).

For now, I wanted to let you know about a new (limited time) lipgloss they have called Brandy Candy.  If you like it (it's the lips above!) and decide to buy it, make sure you enter this promo code at check out for $2 off!! :)

Promo code: gimmebrandycandy

Red Apple Lipstick Site

These guys are great and super friendly! :)  Ohh...I just checked out the site again and they've got ANOTHER special!  Wee...buy 2 get 1 free!  Awesome!

Food Free Friday-Homemade Hand Scrub

Welcome to the first Food Free Friday of 2012!

I started this feature out a little zealous, saying I'd have a new "non food" post every week.  Ha, sadly, not quite!  But, I do plan to be more consistent this year.  My initial goal will be to have 2 entries a month.  I'll see how that goes and go from there.  Wish me luck!

Back to this first, and quite exciting post!  As you've likely learned, I am a huge fan of Easy Eats magazine. They just have such great recipes, a fun layout, beautifully enticing pictures, and soemthing a little different.  That something different is non-food sections!  It's so fun!  Likely because I'm a bit of a girly girl, but I just love learning about quality products and fun, homemade beauty concoctions.

On today's menu...homemade manicure hand scrub!

It's super easy and fun!  The first step is to venture out to find your ideal essential oils.  In the magazine, it said the oils were optional, but I think they're as the name implies, essential!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oil (olive or coconut are good)
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable glycerin (*note: I found this right next to the essential oils at Lassens, healthfood store).
• 1-2 drops essential oil

1.   Pour the sugar into a 4.5-ounce glass jar.

2.   In a small bowl, combine the oil, glycerin and essential oil, if using, and pour into the jar.

The oil...I used olive, BUT it had quite a strong scent so I wound up putting

10 drops of EACH essential oil to mask the olive oil smell. 

By the way, I used rosemary and spearmint essential oils. 

I wasn't sure about the two, but they smelled good and I read

that they were a great mix for hand products.

I now agree, it's a great scent, AND my husband didn't think

it was too strong or overpowering! Yay!

3.   Cover and decorate as desired. Attach a card with these instructions: Massage a quarter-size portion into your hands, rubbing gently for about 30 seconds. Rinse with warm water.

I've been leaving this cute little jar by the kitchen sink, which has been great!

I guess I tend to notice my hands more after washing dishes! :)

I hope you enjoy and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know of different essential oil mixings that you like or other homemade beauty products.  I'd love to try them out!  I'm still new to this whole "non food" homemade thing, but I'm really enjoying it!  I wanted to try this first one out for myself, but I'm definitely ready to start making hand scrubs and such to give to friends as gifts! :)

Chick-Fil-A Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets

Chick-Fil-A is now offering gluten-free chicken nuggets! 

According to the Let’s Move initiative, one in three American children is considered overweight or obese. Children also consume 31 percent more calories and 56 percent more fat than their peers did 40 years ago. Starting today, Chick-fil-A^® is taking another step in continuing to address the issue of childhood obesity by debuting one of the nation’s most nutritious kid’s meals.

In recent months, many fast food chains have updated their side options in an attempt to offer healthier children’s menu items. Chick-fil-A instead is concentrating on making the entrée healthier by adding Grilled Chicken Nuggets as an alternative for children.  The move marks the first time a national fast food chain has offered a grilled entrée as part of a children’s menu.

“According to reports from the Centers for Disease Control, Americans frequently choose convenience over nutrition. This has created a greater likelihood of our children becoming overweight or obese. The reality is that we live in an on-the-go world where parents have limited healthy meal options for their kids on the way to and from recreational activities, school or other events,” said Woody Faulk, Chick-fil-A’s vice president of brand strategy and design, who oversees Chick-fil-A’s menu. “Our new Kid’s Meal reflects our commitment to helping parents strike a balance between nutrition, convenience and price. We want parents to know that they do have a choice at Chick-fil-A.”

1.    Introduction of Grilled Nuggets: These gluten-free Grilled Nuggets are made from a boneless, skinless breast of chicken tumbled in a salt and pepper spice blend and then grilled to perfection. The four count is only 80 calories and 1 gram of fat, while the six count contains 110 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. 

Information provided by chick-fil-a

• Chick-fil-a even offers information regarding other items that can be made gluten free. Click here
• Or if you don't care to read all the information of what's inside their food, you can view an easier list here

Voted Top 30 Gluten Free Blogs

That's right people! Celiact.com voted us one of the top 30 gluten free blogs to follow in 2012!  Man are we honored to be on this list. 

Seriously!  Just check out the full list here and you'll understand. 

Such an amazing group of bloggers dedicated to helping themselves and others with navigating this gluten-filled world while maintaining our health and happiness!  

We're so excited to see what 2012 brings...I know it's the 10th, but once again Happy New Year! :)



Win A Year's Worth Of Gluten Free Bread

Alright, so Rachel about jumped out of bed when she saw this and we all know how expensive gluten free bread is.

Schar is offering a year's supply of their gluten free bread.

Here's the information on it.

Join the free Schar Club today for a chance to win delicious gluten-free breads for a whole year from Europe's #1 in gluten-free! The winner will get monthly mailings of Schar’s entire bread line, including Ciabatta, Classic White and Multigrain Bread, Baguettes, and Classic White Rolls.

No purchase necessary to enter or win. Promotion ends January 20. Open to Schar Club members only.

To enter visit the site and cross your fingers!

http://www.schar.com/us/bread-for-a-year/

Gluten Free Girl Scout Cookies...A Slow Work in Progress

Ok people!  It's time to rally up!! :)


Yummy Samoas!



Hehe...so maybe this isn't a major issue, but in looking over old posts and cleaning up our site I decided to check in on a few things.  One major order of business, how's the gf girl scout cookie petition going?  Well, as it turns out, very slow! :( 

That, my friends is no good! 



Come on...remember that taste.  Or even worse, do you desire that taste like the little girl in this link, yet you've never tried them!  That's a travesty.

Here's the link for the full article and petition.

Or you can also go directly to the petition, here!

Either way, tell you friends, tell your family, tell you teacher...everyone!  Let's see if we can get some of these babies on the shelf with a lovely "certified gluten free" sticker attached!

Gluten Free Enchiladas, Lasagna Style :)

We sometimes believe we are Mexicans at heart, both my husband and myself. I say this because we love Mexican food! And I mean LOVE!! I don't think I could count the number of times we eat something Mexican in a given month? From tacos to nachos, we love it!!

Recently we have added to our repertoire of homemade Mexican dishes with enchiladas! Ohh man did these puppies turn out delicious! We were at a friends house discussing possible gluten free food options for dinner later that week when they mentioned enchiladas (thank you Evelyn)! After perusing Lassen's (a wonderful health food/grocery store we frequent) I came across Simply Organics enchilada sauce. I knew we had tried another sauce packet from them before (I can't remember what, just that it was good, ha!) so I figured why not try this out. Man did it pay off!

We had all the ingredients gathered and were ready to go when we figured we'd just be extra creative. We were already trying something new, why not try to make it easier. So...we made enchiladas, lasagna style! Best idea ever!!

Here's our simple enchilada recipe:

Ingredients:
Ground turkey or beef (1-1 1/2 lbs)
Corn tortillas (6 per layer)
Simply Organics enchilada sauce packet
Tomato sauce
Water
Sliced Olives
Shredded Cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Cook ground turkey or beef in a skillet using desired seasoning (we like a simple mixture of minced garlic and onion with salt and pepper).
Follow directions of sauce packet, mixing with water and tomato sauce in a pot over the stove.
Now, here's the super easy part.
Get out a large 13x9 pan, lightly grease with cooking spray, and get ready for an amazingly fast process.
Set the pan next to the pot of sauce and get your tortillas ready. Dip the tortillas in the enchilada sauce until both sides are coated with the sauce and layer across the bottom of the pan (6 tortillas per layer). An easy way to do this is with tongs.
Once a layer of tortillas is done, layer with meat, cheese, and a small amount of olives (save the bulk of the olives for the top, it's pretty!).
Continue with another layer of tortillas doused in the sauce, followed by meat, cheese and olives. Top with one more layer of tortillas, then cheese and olives and you're done! Seriously, you're done!
Pop it in the oven for 20-30 min and dinner is served.

Whip up some beans and rice, or a nice green salad and you've got a meal!

We love to top our enchiladas with plain yogurt and La Victoria's green taco sauce, but your options are endless...yogurt, sour cream, green salsa, red salsa, all of the above or none of the above. Whatever you choose, I hope you love these enchiladas as much as we do!

Enjoy and happy cooking!

Easy Eats Magazine-3rd Issue Out Today

Im so excited! Easy Eats 3rd magazine came out today!! On the cover..."amp up your energy...improve your mood...renew your body." Sounds like a great issue and I am about to get started!! I'll make sure and fill you in on what I enjoy after I get a chance to read it more. :)

You can check their website out and can choose to check out this great issue.

Have fun reading and enjoy your 2012!!

Gluten Free All-Recipes iPad App

Ok so I'm on my new iPad 2 and loving it!

My wonderful hubby bought me this as a Christmas gift knowing I wanted to get one so that I would have more opportunities to share the gluten free knowledge and recipes I have with the world. He's such a sweet and good man! Man am I a lucky girl!

And now I've got the world at my fingertips and let me tell you, it's a million times easier than writing up blog posts on my iPhone! ;)

But, back to All Recipes. I don't think I ever thought to search "gluten free" on their website. Silly me!



After downloading their app (quick side note...I'm currently only downloading free apps, but as I find "good" apps, free or otherwise, I'll make sure and let all of you know,) I was looking through it and decided to try searching for gluten free options! Gold mine! Oh my goodness...I am so excited!! They have so many wonderful options to choose from!

Here's the link from their website...http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.aspx?WithTerm=Gluten%20free

I'm still figuring out my iPad so I'll see if that link works! :)

But...happy recipe searching. And remember, it's a new year, be willing to try something new!