A Life of Sugar and Spice

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

2012-01-18T11:37:00.002-05:00

I never got around to writing the obligatory New Year's Goals/Resolutions post. And I'm glad. If you are the type of person that makes a list of resolutions and actually follows through with them, well congratulations, but I am just NOT that person. To be perfectly honest, 2011 wasn't my best year. In fact it was right up at the top of the WORST list. I'm not much of a "personal details on the food blog" kind of girl, so I won't get into the dirty details, but life's been a struggle for me for the past handful of months. I was more than happy to swipe 2011 under the rug when that clock struck midnight! The one thing I have in mind for 2012 is to do everything in my power to make this year a million times better than 2011. The truth is, at my most darkest days, I am still one of the lucky ones. I have so many good things in my life and for that I am very grateful.

Now back to the subject at hand. FOOD! Well considering the stress I've been under, my eating habits have kind of gone down the pooper... also considering that I live with someone that isn't afraid to eat dessert on a regular basis. I'm totally blaming him for my holiday weight gain! Not really but I did get a little out of control and my pants are a little bit tight. Ok, my jeans barely button, but my work pants still fit so we're good to go on that end. I've been trying to clean up my diet over the past couple of weeks and things are getting better. I've not gone completely Paleo again but I am trying to cut out the gf processed foods. I had some ground beef to use up so I decided to make meatballs and what goes with meatballs better than a soft squishy roll?? I bought some Rudi's Hamburger buns just for that and my lunch yesterday was SO delicious. Hit the spot. And yes, that is a Santa plate in January. We use that plate all year long. Adds a little joy to your lunch or dinner. The meatballs were made using Carol Fenster's recipe in 1,000 Gluten Free Recipes. I love that cookbook!

Sugar Overload

2011-12-19T11:07:00.001-05:00

This weekend was the first half of Christmas celebrations with the family. My task was to make meatballs and a dessert for my family's Christmas Party on Saturday. I have made meatballs before and they were awesome, but this time I strayed from Carol Fenster and found a random recipe online. I had to triple the recipe and I'm terrible at adjusting things... and well, I wound up with two trays of sawdust. Two hours before I was supposed to go home for the party.

The night before, I made the cake that was supposed to be dessert. I used a Gluten Free Pantry box mix. I checked it with a toothpick when it was supposed to be done and the toothpick came out clean so I took it out of the oven to cool. Lo and behold, it fell in the middle and it wasn't cooked all the way. Fail. Fail. Fail. So I frosted it anyway and decided to just keep it for myself.

On my way down to Plymouth I stopped at Stop & Shop and picked up pre-made meatballs and a cookie cake. Neither of which I can eat, but what are you going to do? Fortunately there were plenty of other dishes to choose from. My cousin made sausage, peppers, onions and potatoes in the crock pot, that was my favorite dish of the night! I also had keilbasa, salad, potato salad, ham, and I brought my cake to have for dessert.

Sunday afternoon was a family party with B's step-mother's family. It was a lot of fun and we went home with a plate of desserts and his new Patriots sweatshirt from the Yankee Swap. We decided it was going to be a night of indulgence, so I broke out the rest of my sad little cake and some more frosting, since most if it peeled off with the tin foil.. I didn't eat much more of it, and had to throw away the rest. I have been eating so much junk food!! I am looking forward to cleaning it up after the holidays! I think I've gained about 10 pounds... YUCK!

2011-12-14T11:05:00.001-05:00

I've officially given up on trying to "be good" about eating healthy until Christmas is over. I'm just going to relax and enjoy the next couple of weeks. I couldn't help but notice these cookies on the shelf at the grocery store and they were on sale for a great price so I grabbed a box. They are so delicious! I love Mi-Del ginger snaps so I knew I'd love these too. And I did. Over a span of about 2 days. Whatever.

On a healthier note, we are doing very well with grocery shopping and eating more meals at home. This week B made a delicious dinner for us - chicken breast stuffed with spinach, tomato pesto and goat cheese, breaded in gf bread crumbs, cooked on the stove top in a little oil for a few minutes then baked. It was so so so good. Surprisingly I tolerate goat cheese quite well. I don't eat a lot of it, mostly because it's so expensive, but I do really enjoy it. This meal tastes a little bit like pizza, I said it was the closest thing to real pizza I've had in years. I can't wait until we have this again.

Last night I made mustard breaded porkchops with broccoli and sweet potatoes. Delicious as usual. I keep forgetting to take photos so I can write proper posts, but I'll get back into the swing of things soon. This weekend is my niece's 2nd birthday party and we also have a couple of Christmas parties to go to. I'm making the meatballs for my family party on Saturday. I'm making fudge for my work Secret Santa. Lots of cooking to do this week!! Hopefully I won't forget the photos!

Hug a Crohnie Today!

2011-12-06T09:58:00.000-05:00

This week is Crohn's and Colitis awareness week. Last week I got an email from my buddy Adam over at ihaveuc.com letting me know that he had nominated me for a Liebster Award. How awesome! I thought this week would be a great time to showcase some Crohn's/Colitis people here since this blog is typically focused on Celiac as it's specific to the GF diet. I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in May of 2008 and am lucky to have it under control and have been med free for two years. I credit the GF/DF diet first and foremost for my success. There are many people out there struggling with these diseases and the same treatment that works for some definitely doesn't work for others. The following quote was floating around Facebook a while ago and it really hit home. Crohn's and Colitis are not the kinds of disease that you can easily see. People that appear otherwise quite healthy may actually be struggling with these issues every day. It's a difficult, everyday, lifelong battle that we fight and a little compassion goes a long way.

It's hard to explain to someone who has no clue. It's a daily struggle being in pain or feeling sick on the inside while you look fine on the outside! Please put this as your status for at least 1 hour if you or someone you know has an invisible illness (PTSD, Anxiety, Bipolar, Depression, Diabetes, LUPUS, UC, Fibromyalgia, MS, ME, Arthritis, Asthma, Cancer, Heart Disease, Epilepsy, Autism, M.D.,injury... etc.). "Never judge what you don't understand."

I can't even begin to express my gratitude for all of the people in my life that have supported me throughout this journey. I never would've made it this far without my family and friends. As far as passing on the Leibster, I realize that some of these people may have already received this award, and I'm not passing this on as an obligation to them to then pass it along to others. I just wanted to recognize a few people that I've connected with through this journey and would like to give a shout out to say THANKS for supporting me and for working hard to support others fighting this battle. So, without further ado...

First I have to send this right back to Adam, the founder of ihaveuc.com which is an awesome site where people from all over the world share their stories and support each other in the fight against ulcerative colitis (and other IBDs). Adam is always there commenting on peoples' posts, sharing them to other UCers, posting awesome videos all the time, and always being totally open about his own journey. He's also a follower of the SCD diet which I do believe is a great tool in helping to heal Crohn's/Colitis. He's also just an awesome guy!

Of course I have to send this next one out to my friend Jason Leitman, the founder/creator of the website Crohn's Disease Support Network. I joined the CDSN in it's infancy and got to know and become friends with Jason. He's such an awesome guy and has built a really great support network for Crohn's sufferers. Today the site has grown to over 1400 members! Jason has had a long and difficult battle with Crohn's and other related health problems but continues to be larger than life in his efforts to help those that are struggling. I have a ton of respect for him and am praying that he gets back to the healthy life that he deserves.

And last but certainly not least is Kat of scdkat.com. She is also an SCDer and is one of the first SCD bloggers I found after the Crohn's diagnosis. Kat has a story similar to mine, a long life of digestive issues followed by many doctors visits and few answers. Through her own research and with the help of a naturopath, she found the SCD and has never looked back. I always find her blog interesting and inspiring.

2011-12-05T15:36:00.001-05:00

I swear this blog is not going to become All About Roddy - All Day, Every Day! kind of blog, but I'm such a proud mama!! I love my little guy! I never thought I'd ever become a "dog person" but I totally am. How can you not just adore this face??

We took him to the dog park yesterday. He's not big on hanging out with other dogs, but he loves to meet all the other dog owners at the park, he said hi to everyone. We met up with B's co-worker and her BF and their greyhound Jax, they got along great.

After about an hour at the park and a few sprints around the perimeter, Roddy was toast and ready to go back home where he crashed on his blanket in the living room for the rest of the afternoon.

He's just the best, so sweet and fun to be around. He was having some tummy troubles ever since we got him, figures two people with sensitive stomachs would adopt a dog that is also notorious for tummy troubles. We had to take him to the vet on Saturday morning when things started to get worse. She was so nice, she took Roddy in without an appointment and went ahead and started treatment for worms and/or bacteria and sent B home with a bag of prescription diet dog food. I'm so happy to say that he's already doing so much better. We're lucky to have a vet right in our neighborhood. She drove past me this morning on our morning walk and stopped to say hi and let me know that the tests were both negative for worms/bacteria and she thinks his troubles were from the stress of the move and adjusting to the new situation. I was so happy to hear it!!

On a food note: last night I made one of my favorites, Carol Fenster's meatloaf from her 1,000 GF Recipes cookbook. It was a hit, B enjoyed it and said it was great re-heated today too. Yay!

Coughing, aching, sneezing, runny nose... blech

2011-12-01T16:45:00.001-05:00

This is my life today. Tylenol and Halls. I've been fighting a cold all week and today it got so much worse. Last night we tried letting Roddy sleep in our room instead of his crate... silly dog kept me awake all night. He was fine mostly but he did get up at 3am to go out... still having some tummy troubles. Thankfully B took him out. When he got back I was clearly miserable and he said I should call in to work, but I just had too much to do today including an online seminar I had to present. Well wouldn't you know it, the seminar ended up not happening. I should've stayed home. I went to Whole Foods at lunch for some good old fashioned chicken rice soup. What's better than that when you're sick?

Caption on the cup: "Your day just got a whole lot better" So true!

I love crushing up Glutino crackers into my soup. So comforting. I also got a bunch of Glutino coupons so this box was FREE! Gotta love that. I'm just exhausted. I can't wait to get home and veg out on the couch for the night.

Settling In

2011-11-30T08:59:00.001-05:00

Now that we're getting settled into the new place, we're trying to do better about grocery shopping at the beginning of the week and eating most meals at home. I've got a good system of checking the sale folders for good deals and shopping off of a list. It's still a work in progress, because then I get the food home and don't have any meals planned out for it. Which reminds me, I forgot to take something out of the freezer this morning. Ugh. Like I said, it's a work in progress!

One of my personal goals is to eat breakfast at home every day. I had started doing this back in Quincy a while ago but fell off the wagon when I was going back and forth between Quincy and Canton so much. We do have a cafeteria at work, but it gets expensive eating breakfast there every day, plus it's usually greasy home fries and two fried eggs. I could order a veggie scramble, but I don't. Ever. At home I always eat healthier.

This morning I had one egg scrambled with spinach, some leftover butternut squash from last night's dinner, and some raspberries. B gets up really early to take Roddy out for his first walk of the day which is good because it makes me get up earlier too which leaves more time to watch a little Good Morning America and eat my breakfast with Roddy before we take his second walk of the day just before I leave for work. I'm telling you guys, life is good these days! I'm loving this new part of my life, it's a lot of fun and I couldn't be happier with my little family.

Of course Roddy wants in on the breakfast photo action too! Or maybe he just wants to eat my breakfast...

Have a great day everyone!

Never thought I'd see the day...

2011-11-28T14:51:00.001-05:00

When I was a little itty bitty thing, all of 2 years old, I had a big bad German Sheppard come after me. Fortunately there was a fence between me and that big old beast, but still, it scarred me for life! I was terrified of dogs for a long time. As I got older, I became more and more used to dogs and actually started to not mind them being around so much. But my house was not a dog house, they smell, they shed, you have to feed them and walk them and take so much care of them... not something my parents ever went for, even though they both had dogs growing up. We did end up with cats, my sister wanted one so badly and so we got one and the little brat got herself knocked up at 5 months old! We kept one of the babies and so I had two cats for a while. My sister became highly allergic to them, and the original cat became my favorite little lady. We had to put her down when she was around 13 years old. It was so sad, she was such a good cat.

Ever since I first met B he's been talking about getting a dog. I knew someday we'd get one, but I had no idea that as soon as we moved in together, he'd be chomping at the bit. Actually, he started talking about it a week or two BEFORE we moved. I knew I was in trouble. I wasn't ready to get a dog. So much change going on, transitions, the holidays, money's tight... and quite frankly, I still wasn't sold enough on owning a dog in general. I fought him on it until I was broken down into tears. But not even my dramatics could stop him. He started doing research online to find out what kinds of dogs are good for apartment living. What dogs are quiet, low key, don't shed a whole lot, etc. His co-worker has a greyhound and recommended looking into adopting one from a rescue. Wouldn't you know, there's one about 40 minutes from our home.

He went on their website and found one that he liked, showed me the link, yeah he was cute. Thanksgiving day he spent a good amount of the day telling our families about our many conversations about having a pet and trying to get them to convince me that it's a good idea. My mom, of all people, the "you're never getting a dog" lady, was the first to pipe up and say that I'd love the dog once I had it.

Friday morning he had to go to a job site to do an evaluation. The job site just happened to be about 10 minutes away from the rescue so he decided he'd just stop by to take a look. He came home from the rescue with a cell phone picture of him and his already beloved pup. Well, how do you say no to that?!? I decided that I'd go the next morning to the rescue to meet this little guy and see how we got along. B gave me a check for the donation amount on my way out the door "just in case" they let me take him home with me. I was really hoping that I could put it off maybe even another week.

I arrived at the rescue and took the pup out back to walk around and get to know each other. He was a little more high strung than I anticipated, but after a few minutes outside he calmed down. I took him into the fenced area and he just kinda walked around and checked out the area, once in a while coming back for a pat. I was so nervous, but I knew that I would make B a very happy guy if I showed up at home with this guy. I went over the paperwork with the director of the rescue and she told me everything I needed to know. In a few short minutes I was out the door with my very own 3 year old retired racing greyhound. Woah....

Everyone - Meet Roddy!!

The rest of Saturday was a little crazy, we had a house full of guests all afternoon and into the late hours of the night. Roddy did very well with all the commotion, but the stress caused some tummy troubles the next day. Yesterday we spent the day all three of us laying around the house together. He is such a sweet dog. He just kind of lays around on his blanket in the living room with us. As soon as one of us gets up to move around, he's right there by our side. He loves people and when B took him to the dog park yesterday he was more interested in getting some love from the other dog owners rather than playing with the other dogs. Although I suppose that's what happens when you're stuck in a room with at least 20 other dogs all day every day. So far he's a great dog and we love him very much. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd become a doggy mommy, but that day has most definitely arrived!!

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

2011-11-18T14:40:00.001-05:00

No, I'm not leaving on a jet plane, just my little Nissan and we are only going about 15 minutes away, but I'm so excited to be moving into OUR new place tomorrow!! In case you missed it in my last post, B and I are moving in together! My apartment is just about ready for my family to come tomorrow morning to gather up all my stuff and move it down to the new place. The apartment is the other side of the duplex that B currently lives in, so he doesn't have to go too far. It's a great place in a nice quiet neighborhood and it's much closer to my job which is awesome.

I've lived in the apartment I'm currently in for the past 6 years. It's been a great place and I'll miss it, but I won't miss the 2 year old stomping all over the place above my head every night. I don't know what possesses parents to allow their toddlers to stay up as late as midnight playing and running around! I am excited to have a yard, and a bigger kitchen, and my own driveway. Laundry machines that I don't have to shove quarters into every week. Two bedroom and a walk up attic to put all my junk in. Finally being able to have my piano in my home and not have to go to my parents' house to play! The possibilities are endless!

I'm hoping that this new home and someone to cook for will spur some new blog posts. I'm interested to see how B will adjust to my cooking and whether he'll be more open to trying my GF/DF experiments. I know he'll try them, whether or not he'll like them is a whole other story. I'm just looking forward to doing more cooking in general! I've been living off of a limited menu lately cooking for one or hitting up Chipotle. Lately I've been addicted to Schar sub rolls and baguettes. I made garlic bread for the first time in YEARS. It's so good. I just rub fresh garlick on the bread, slather it with Earth Balance, and put it in the toaster oven on 400 degrees for 5 minutes. It's amazing. Serve with GF pasta (Schar) and meat sauce. So awesome.

Ch ch ch ch changes....

2011-10-28T14:46:00.002-04:00

First let me just throw another shout out to Enjoy Life Foods. I typically don't like trail mix that much, but this stuff is awesome! I got a couple of complimentary samples of the NOT NUTS Seed and Fruit Mix - Mountain Mambo and Beach Bash. I love them both! Yesterday I really wanted something sweet in the afternoon and was extremely tempted to get a candy bar from the vending machine. But then I remembered that I had this bag in my desk and I had some of this instead, it was the perfect afternoon snack! A little bit salty from the sunflower seeds and sweet from the dried fruit (sulfite free!).

Now, on to the more important matters, what's going on around here? I have been absent from the blog world again recently and it's not for lack of desire to write. I've been through quite a roller coaster this year and the past couple of weeks were particularly difficult with the loss of one of my cousins and another one was in a severe car accident and has been in the ICU for a week. The good news is, he's making great progress and hopefully will be out of the ICU very soon. As for me, I'm doing fine, it's just been a rough road.

On the other hand it's been one of the best years of my life! I don't know how I would've made it through all of this stuff if I didn't have B to lean on. And I'm very excited to say that in about a month I'll get to see him every single day of my life... wait, excited? Ok, maybe a little bit nervous about how that's going to be, but mostly yes, excited, that we're moving in together!! I've been holding off on sharing the good news because plans kept changing and nothing was final, but I put my notice in the mail to my current landlord and submitted all my paperwork to the new landlord on Sunday. I guess it's official... no turning back now!!

We Did It!!! 5K Recap!

2011-09-26T10:23:00.001-04:00

Woooooooo, am I glad that's OVER! We woke up Sunday morning to a HUMID, overcast day. We set off for the starting line and arrived early enough to check out the competition. There were some serious runners here, I was a little bit intimidated. Ok, maybe a lot. We walked around and checked out all the vendors, pinned on our bibs, and took our places at the very back of the pack.

Did some light stretching. Snapped some really bad iphone pics. And then they blasted the air horn and we were off!

B is much better at this than I am, so he took off at his own much faster pace and I stayed behind at the back of the pack. The way back of the pack. Pretty much I was the last "runner" of the race. Behind me were moms with strollers and people that deliberately came to WALK the whole way. I definitely struggled. Between the humidity and the cramps I found myself walking a lot more than I wanted to. But I pushed through and as I rounded the corner to the final stretch, there was B waving me in. There was a girl ahead of me the whole time and she was walking the last leg of it and there was no way I was letting her beat me! I sprinted the last of it and just crossed the finish line ahead of her. With B there cheering me on and the rest of the people at the finish line clapping and cheering it was pretty awesome. I even got a little choked up!

Finished!! B wound up finishing in 32 minutes, I'm so proud! It took me 45... ouch. But I'll take it!

I quickly went over to the water station, downed a few cups of water, sat down for a few minutes, then we got up and took advantage of all the free goods from the vendors. I was excited to find a lot of goodies that I could take home. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of any of them. :( My favorite item of the day was a gluten/casein free protein shake which I immediately downed. It was a delicious, Mix1 All-Natural Protein Shakes - Chocolate flavor. (concerned about the casein/lactose content of Whey Protein? See this article) They also had a physical therapy team doing post race stretching for the runners. I definitely took advantage of that. Also they are offering $15 off a 1 hr massage at their location for anyone that ran the race. I think I might have to take them up on that offer!

Just before heading home, we grabbed a photo op with the guys that had run dressed as Oompa Loompas! Too bad they had already changed out of their shirts and washed off their orange faces, but you can still see a little orange and the green hair. Too funny.

It was awesome. I'm so glad I did it. B wants to sign up for more, he mentioned once a month! I think he's a little crazy, but we'll see. I definitely already scoped out some upcoming races. Thanks everyone for all your encouragement leading up to this day. I'm so glad it was a success!

I have a problem.....

2011-09-20T10:49:00.000-04:00

Hello, my name is Jen, and I'm a sugarholic. **Hi Jen**

I had a stressful day yesterday, so I went to b.good for lunch and had a burger on an Udi's bun and then went over to Whole Foods for a snack. I wanted something different and these happened to catch my eye. I haven't tried these yet and had heard good things, so grabbed them. The thing about me is when I get something sweet, it's best for me to get something in a single serving. Otherwise THAT ^ happens. I bought that package at lunch yesterday. It is 10:40 am. They are gone. I have a problem....

Last night I went out for my first full length practice run. The 5K is THIS SUNDAY and I took off a bunch of time from training during that nasty sinus infection and then we had terrible weather. I have run a couple of times in the past week and it was a struggle at first but last night I finished all 3.2 miles. It took me 45 minutes, but that's because I had a NASTY side stitch.. probably from the half package of cookies I ate. I had to walk a lot but I know that I'll do better with my time on Sunday. The plan is to not eat any sugar for the rest of the week. No cookies, no ice cream, no cake, nothing! I'm so frustrated with my diet lately!

If you are wondering how those Kinnikinnick cookies are, they are fabulous. A cross between Chips Ahoy and Soft Batch. Obviously I loved them...

Review: Enjoy Life Foods NEW Crunchy Cookies

2011-09-14T12:13:00.000-04:00

I recently had the pleasure of trying out all four varieties of the new Crunchy Cookie line from Enjoy Life Foods. I love cookies, as you may have noticed, so I was very excited to try these.

When I opened the box, the first cookies I saw were the Vanilla Honey Graham. I know there are GF Graham crackers/cookies out on the market these days, but I have not tried any of them yet. I haven't had graham crackers in years and I love them. These did not disappoint. They are sweet and super crunchy with that old familiar graham flavor and a hint of vanilla and honey. I plowed through the whole box.

The next box I dove into was the Double Chocolate. Double Chocolate Chip cookies are my all time favorite. And these were awesome. Again, super crunchy with great chocolate flavor. I was supposed to bring all of these boxes down to the Cape for our vacation, but somehow I managed to finish ALL of them before we even left. I have a problem... it's bad.

Next up comes the Chocolate Chip. What can I say? Another big hit. These reminded me of Chips Ahoy only thinner. They have that great, familiar chocolate chip cookie flavor. I actually bought myself another box of these cookies last week. I wanted to make an ice cream sandwich with them. And I did. And it was amazing.

And last but not least we have the Sugar Crisp cookies. I have to admit that these were my least favorite... although that is definitely not to say that I didn't like them! But while I'm a giant cookie lover, sugar cookies have always been the black sheep of the cookie family for me. I used to be so disappointed when my mom would make sugar cookies. It's one of the very few cookies that I would rather just not eat. I can't believe I even typed that sentence! But seriously, these are really good too. I highly recommend the entire line if you're a crunchy cookie fan.

Do you remember, the 21st night, September?

2011-09-13T14:38:00.002-04:00

I absolutely love September and Fall is without a doubt my favorite time of year. This particular September is packed filled with WEDDINGS!

Labor Day weekend was my friends Nick and Alicia. The day started out crappy but by the time the outdoor ceremony started, the sun came out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. It was such a fun time and I danced like a crazy person all night long.

Last weekend on 9.10.11 my co-worker Jenny got married to Tyler. They have been living in DC for a while now so it was great to see her. My co-workers and I had a blast, also dancing like crazy people all night. The reception was an early one so we managed to hit up a bar afterwards. Maybe not the best choice.... we had a great time haha. (photo at the top - co-workers with the bride)

This weekend is thankfully going to be a quiet one, but then the following weekend I'm backup photographing a wedding with my friend Kelly, and then October 1st is the last wedding of the season which is B's friend.

All of this partying is not really doing me any favors though, I've been way over-indulging in junk food and sweets. I also have been slacking on my couch to 5K progress. I was knocked out for two weeks with a nasty sinus infection. Never in my life have I experienced such bad headaches!! The 5K is in a week and a half! I'm going to try to finish the training and do the run. We still haven't registered for it, we'll see what happens. I'm also thinking about getting back to Paleo eating. One of the girls I met at the first wedding has done the diet with her husband and they had great success with it as well. Gave me a little inspiration to get back to it. B is also trying to clean up his diet as well so hopefully we can do this together. Of course the holidays are right around the corner, which means try as I might, I usually don't end up changing anything until after Christmas! It's going to be a very busy fall/holiday season. All I can do is try my best every day!!

Sinus Infection + PMS + Hurricane Irene =

2011-08-30T15:03:00.002-04:00

So that cold I was rocking for over 2 weeks turned into a full blown sinus infection. I finally had to wave the white flag on Friday and go to the doctor's. A bottle of antibiotics and a box of Claritin D later and I'm on my way to getting better. I have had sinus infections before, but this one really wins the prize for most excruciating headache I've ever felt in my life. Today is the first day where I didn't feel like banging my head against a wall in an attempt to make it feel better. That's a good sign!

I tried to tackle Couch to 5K week 6 day 1 on Saturday. Yeah, during the beginning signs of Hurricane Irene. Good idea, right? Totally wrong. I fought my way through it and was out there for a good 40 minutes, but only about 15 of that was running. I haven't tried again since then and I probably won't get around to it until Thursday. Later that day since not only was I dealing with the infection but the major onset of PMS symptoms, the only cure I could think of involved lots of chocolate. A box of Betty Crocker GF Brownies, a pint of Almond Dream Chocolate Ice Cream, and some GF/DF Chocolate sauce and I was well on my way to feeling better. It was so delicious. I brought the rest of the brownies to a friend's house the next day where B and I hunkered down during the storm. Thankfully they didn't lose power!

I can't believe this upcoming weekend is Labor Day! I'm very excited because I'm off to a bachelorette party on Friday and then the wedding on Sunday. It's going to be great!!

WEEK 5 - DONE

2011-08-23T20:52:00.003-04:00

I ran for 20 minutes straight tonight. It was supposed to be 2 miles, but when I mapped it out it was only 1.63. That's a 12.26 minute/mile pace. For the first long run, I'll take it. Next week the runs are back to intervals, but then weeks 7, 8 and 9 are all long runs. I still can't believe that I ran for 20 minutes without stopping. It was a little bit difficult, but really, it wasn't that bad. Completing this run really solidified for me that I'll be able to complete the 5K. The last three minutes were definitely a mental battle, my mind wanted to quit but my body was pretty much ok. Then my ipod saved me:

Rocking it

2011-08-22T10:49:00.002-04:00

Couch to 5K Week 5 Day 2

5 minute walking warmup
8 minute run
5 minute walk
8 minute run
5 minute walking cooldown

31 minutes - 2.19 miles

DONE. The second 8 minute interval was a little bit rough but I did not stop. I can't believe I'm running 8 minutes straight. Well I better believe it because tomorrow is my 20 minute straight run. I'M SCARED!!!!!

Bring on the hoodies!

2011-08-19T09:23:00.002-04:00

Last night I started week 5 of couch to 5K. The runs are starting to get more difficult now, although I found last night to be fairly easy. Here's how it went:

5 minute walking warm up
5 minute run
3 minute walk
5 minute run
3 minute walk
5 minute run
5:30 cool down

I didn't have any issues, no cramping, no stopping during the running. I felt great at the end. I can't believe that a month ago I was worried about running for 90 seconds straight and now I'm running 5 full minutes and barely checking my watch. The next run includes 8 minute intervals of running. I'm nervous but I know after coming this far that I'll be able to do it. The following run is a straight 20 minute run. That one I'm terrified of, but also excited? So strange to me to be excited about running.

Last night I didn't get outside until after 7pm and at that time it was still light out but by the time I finished the sun had set and the street lights were on. The days are getting shorter, cooler, and fall is on it's way. It is my favorite season and I can't wait for it. I love getting back into jeans and sweatshirts on cold nights. I love the holidays and the fall activities. I will also love not running in 90 degree days with 90% humidity! But for now I'm still enjoying what's left of summer. Tomorrow will probably be the last BBQ of the season since I have a wedding to go to on Labor Day weekend. Looking forward to spending time with some family that I haven't seen in a while. Maybe I'll take some pictures... I hate writing posts without photos but I have been slacking!

Happy Friday!

Four Week C25K Recap

2011-08-17T14:49:00.002-04:00

Phew, I finished week four!! I can't believe it! I'm very excited about the progress I've made so far and although I'm actually kinda terrified of running the actual 5K in September, I'm really looking forward to it. Since I fell behind with my training schedule last week due to that nasty cold, I now have 5 weeks left until the 5K and 5 weeks left of training. Honestly, the 5K might be my last official training run. That would be interesting. I don't care how long it takes me to finish, I just want to complete it. And not be last. Here's hoping.

I've learned a lot over these past 4 weeks. The most important thing - I can do this. Each week I fear the bigger interval. Oh my god I have to run 3 minutes straight? I'll die! Wait, you want me to run for 5 whole minutes in a row?! IMPOSSIBLE! But I keep doing it. And I don't die. In fact it's quite the opposite. I feel amazing, stronger, bolder, healthier. My knees are not quite as bad as I thought they were. I've been complaining since I was 9 in youth soccer that I can't do anything athletic due to my terrible knees. Yeah they bug me a bit here and there but during runs, not at all. I've learned not to stare at my stopwatch waiting for the interval to be over. It goes by faster if you don't think about it. I've learned that I actually prefer running in overcast weather. No more excuses there. I've learned that nothing beats a good playlist. I would much rather run outside than on a treadmill. The treadmill makes me dizzy plus nothing beats the great outdoors. The fresh air, sun or rain, the views, there's really nothing like it.

There's also something very cathartic about going out for a run. It's such a great way to clear your head after a long day. I still have a long way to go in my training but I'm loving it so far. I'll let you know if I still feel this way later on when it's Week 5, Day 3 and I have to do my first long run (20 minutes straight!). Yeah, I'm really scared of that one. But let's keep taking it one run at a time. Next up should be tomorrow night, Week 5, Day 1:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:

Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

It's kind of funny that I look at that and think, oh that's it? Easy!

Wish me luck!!

The sugar saga continues...

2011-08-16T14:23:00.002-04:00

My stomach is not happy with me these days and I'm trying to fix it. I admit that I haven't been super careful lately with my food choices. I've been letting myself slack off on checking to make absolutely sure that a food is gluten and dairy free. BAD, I know!! But most of all I've been eating way too much processed, sugary goodness. Badness. I have also been drinking too much wine...

I'm trying to take it back to the basics and let my poor belly rest. Today for lunch I went to Whole Foods and walked around for 20 minutes because I couldn't figure out what to eat. I settled on tuna/avocado sushi. I've had this sushi a hundred times before and I have checked the label each time to make sure it's still gluten free. Today I did the same thing and noticed that this sushi has added sugar! Well that's annoying. There is sugar in everything! Apparently it's in the rice, which makes sense because the rice does taste kinda sweet. Oh well, it was still a good, safe, easy lunch and I enjoyed it.

Tonight I'm getting back to my 5K training, last run of week 4. I can't believe I'm almost halfway there! I hope it goes better than the last run which was brutal. I am feeling much better now though. I'll have a recap tomorrow!

Rainy days and nasty colds always get me down.

2011-08-15T16:42:00.002-04:00

Last week I had nasty sore throat at the beginning of the week. Thursday I started to feel better so I was pumped for my day at P-Town with the ladies on Friday. We went down there to see Marilyn Maye who is a phenomenal singer in her 80's!! She's a friend of my aunt's who was in town for a couple of weeks so we decided to take the day and go see her show. (Photo: Marilyn on the left, my aunt on the right, my sister hiding behind them) It was great, but the cold came rearing it's ugly head again and I spent most of the night sniffling and snorting and sneezing... gross. The drive home was two wonderful hours of nose blowing. Not long into the drive I realized that I'd left my bag of clothes and makeup in my aunt's hotel room! Bummer. I stayed at my mom's and waited for them to get back from the Cape with my stuff the next day.

Sunday I basically stayed in bed all day. Today I'm back at work, only because I couldn't stand another day of laying around doing nothing. I just got reprimanded by a co-worker for coming in and sharing the wealth. My other co-worker is sitting next to me with the same cold. I think I gave it to my Mom too, my brother, sister and brother-in-law have all had it too. I just hope B doesn't get it because he's traveling this week and that would be miserable for him. He tried to avoid me all weekend! I don't blame him. I did get to see him for a little while but I really do hope he didn't catch it.

Having said all that. I haven't run since last Thursday. That was the calm of the storm when my throat didn't hurt but the rest of the cold was just about to begin. That run was brutal, I barely finished it. Today I'm feeling better but it's pouring rain and I'm still not 100%. I think I'll take another night off and try to get back to it tomorrow. I hope this cold goes away soon!!

Wooooohooo I DID IT!!

2011-08-10T09:20:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I started getting a sore throat and all I wanted to do was go home and eat ice cream to make it feel better. I had almost a full pint of coconut milk chocolate in B's freezer so I stopped by after work for a short visit and to take it home with me. By the time I got home it was 7 o'clock and it had been raining all day. I had not run since Saturday morning so I knew I really needed to get a run in but I really didn't want to. I sat and watched tv for a few minutes with my roommate but the itch to get my run in really started to creep up. Finally I decided to just get out there and do it. I was really nervous about this one, but felt ready to tackle it. I had a little pain my knees and calves still but I knew it would work itself out once I got warmed up. As you can see above, I had to write the intervals on my hand because I didn't think I'd remember them. Up until this point they had been easy to remember but there were too many of them this time. This worked out very well!

I set off for the 5 minute warmup walk, limping a little, but hoping for the best. By the time I was ready to for the first interval I was feeling better. I set off for the 3 minute run and I don't know how, but it was smooth sailing. I didn't even look at my watch and when I finally realized I really should check it, I looked at exactly the 3 minute mark. I felt awesome and was ready to tackle the 5 minute interval after the 90 second walk break. The 5 minute interval went great too! I was on cloud nine, smiling and rocking out to my ipod. Never in my life would I imagine I'd be enjoying a run like this! It was awesome. I finished the whole session without any issues, no cramps, my legs felt strong and I have no pain today. This program really works and I'm loving it!

5 minute warmup
3 minute run
90 second walk
5 minute run
2:30 walk
3 minute run
90 second walk
5 minute run
3 minute cool down

Total: 29:30
2.15 miles

5K Updates

2011-08-08T12:10:00.003-04:00

I have completed the first three weeks of the Couch to 5K training program. I have 6 weeks left of training and the 5K is 7 weeks away. The runs so far have been challenging but not too bad. This week however, looks like it's going to be tough. I'm a little bit (a lot) nervous, but looking forward to seeing what I can do. My legs have held up pretty well up until the last two runs when I started to notice pain in my knees and calves. Not shin splints, just some joint pains and slight muscle tightness. I probably need a new pair of sneakers but that's not in the budget right now. I'm keeping an eye on it though. I need to stretch more, I know that. Here's my running schedule for week four, I'll complete this run 3 times this week:

5 minute brisk walking warmup
3 minute jog
90 second walk
5 minute jog
2:30 minute walk
3 minutes jog
90 second walk
5 minute run
(18.5 minutes total)
walking cooldown

I'm nervous about the 5 minute intervals. I struggled a little bit with the 3 minute intervals last week but that was due to cramps in my side from my food choices. I hope to do better this week and avoid the side stitches. I know that by the 25th I'll be able to finish 3.2 miles, I just have no idea how long it's going to take!

It's Getting Real in the Whole Foods Parking Lot

2011-08-04T10:35:00.000-04:00

Hilarious...

You're sure to fall in love with Old Cape Cod

2011-08-03T14:41:00.003-04:00

Growing up on the south shore of MA, I'm no stranger to the Cape. If you're not from Mass you may not realize that we don't call it Cape Cod up here, we call it "the Cape". That's it. If you say Cape Cod people just look at you funny or automatically assume you're a tourist. My blog title today is from an old Patty Page song that I used to LOVE when I was little, but my favorite version was by Bette Midler. I used to play it on my mom's record player over and over again. I know, I'm aging myself talking about record players...

Last week I spent eight glorious days down in Dennisport at a friend's Cape house. It was complete and utter relaxation mixed in with copious amounts of booze and food. On Saturday afternoon B and I packed up the car and set off down the highway expecting to hit major Cape traffic. Luckily it was smooth sailing all the way down. We stopped just before the bridge to do some food shopping. We were staying with 2 other couples so the plan was to stock up and eat at the house as much as possible to save money. Well over $200 later we rolled out of Stop & Shop with a full cart....

Next stop was the liquor store where I picked up some Redbridge and a bottle of Moscato, currently our favorite wine. Captains and Diet Coke and Twisted Teas for B. Sounds like a lot but hey, we like to party and what better time than vacation?? Plus of course we were going to share.

Our friends B and K had already arrived when we got there and R and L were not far behind. R and L brought their two dogs as well which was a lot of fun. Morgan is a big fan of fetch so B got right down to playing.

The week was filled with nights of this:

And this:

A little of this:

(not my cigarettes, I was the only non-smoker in the group!)

And the days were filled with fun activities. Monday my sister, brother-in-law, niece, brother, and brother's girlfriend all came down. B's sister, two of her friends and all their kids came down as well. We spent the whole day at the beach. It was awesome.

Wednesday B's Dad, Step-Mom, and Step-Sister came down and all of us went kayaking together. Definitely a highlight of the trip. I absolutely love kayaking. We just forgot to check the tides and the ride back was against the outgoing tide. It was a struggle but we did it!

Later that night we went out for dinner for L's 30th birthday! It was awesome. They didn't have a GF menu but I got steak and veggies. Delicious!

Friday was overcast so we just kind of hung out and didn't do much. I took a drive to a GF sandwich shop called Idgy's that I had heard about and picked up some cookies. They were very good (vegan too!).

But all week all I talked about was going to Chatham Fish & Lobster Co. for gluten free fried seafood. Friday night we finally went. I've been waiting for this for a LONG time!! I ordered the Fisherman's platter saying that I'd "share" it with B. He has a few of the clams but I took down the rest. It was awesome.

After dinner it was time for mini golf, where I made a new friend

Saturday was spent cleaning the house, doing laundry and packing up to go home. I was smart and took Monday off so I had all day Sunday and Monday to rest and get ready to go back to work.

I have to send a shoutout to my friends because everyone was so good about making sure I had food to eat and drinks to drink. They kept my meats separate from the gluten filled marinades, cooked them on separate parts of the grill. Everyone was so great about it, I felt safe and healthy (aside from some mild hangovers) all week. We're already planning to go back next year. I can't wait!!

Back to reality

2011-08-03T12:09:00.002-04:00

I'm back from the Cape! It was such a great RELAXING vacation. I have a full recap with pics coming soon.

My Couch to 5K training is coming along nicely. I actually ran two days during vaca but then slacked off the rest of the week. I finally got in the first run of week 3 last night. Unfortunately about 8 minutes in it started pouring. I finished strong though and actually found running in the rain pretty fun. I doubt I'd feel the same way in March though. I do love a good summer.

I'm thinking about re-joining the Y. It's much more expensive than my current gym, but they offer so much more. I really want to get back into swimming and also they offer free classes including yoga, pilates and zumba. I need to vary my workouts and my current gym offers NO classes plus it's just over-crowded and annoying.

This post is really boring, but I felt like writing something so here you go. A much better post about vacation is coming as soon as I get the photos uploaded!

Just call me Stella, cause I'm getting my groove back.

2011-07-20T12:00:00.001-04:00

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons - Saurabh_B

I used to love working out. I was a big fan of weight lifting and kickboxing and was in pretty good shape prior to the Crohn's diagnosis. When I started to really get sick, I remember struggling through my kickboxing workouts but sticking to it anyway. Then after diagnosis the medication I had to take really knocked me down. I gained a bunch of weight from the steroids and lost a bunch of my strength. I thought steroids were supposed to help with that?? Oh wait, wrong steroids. After I came off of all the meds in the winter of 09 I'd get in a workout here and there but never quite found my motivation again. The workouts felt great and I knew I could rebuild my old strength easily, I just didn't do it. I read a ton of healthy lifestyle blogs and saw all these girls getting in their runs and their body pump classes and yoga and spinning and I kept thinking, girl you've got to get it together! We had a Biggest Loser challenge earlier this year at work and I started out great with it but quickly slid backwards.

Then I met B and he's big into working out. Sometimes you just need someone there to give you that kick in the butt to get you going. He really wanted us to workout together and I was all for it, yet he'd get up in the morning and say "I'm going to the gym, you coming?" And I'd roll right back over and go to sleep. I've always been more of an evening person for workouts anyway and I did start joining him on his after work workouts. We'd do the standard workout that I've been doing for over 10 years, 20-30 minutes of the elliptical and then weight lifting. I was into it, and got some good workouts in, but it was the same old boring thing.

When he told me that he wanted to get back into running and asked if I wanted to run with him my first reaction was Hell Freakin NO! I hate running. I've never been a runner. My youth soccer days came flashing back, ace bandage on the knee that never worked properly, dragging my butt up and down that field, feeling like I was going to die. I have always hated running! Then we went to New Balance to get him a decent pair of running sneakers and the sales guy told us that they are sponsoring a 5K in September and we should go. "We." Ha. I'm not buying sneakers my friend. You can keep your 5K. I don't want any part of that insanity.

But then I started thinking, it's only 3.2 miles. If the contestants of the Biggest Loser can run a marathon then I can certainly get through 3.2 miles. And I definitely could use a change of scenery when it comes to my workouts. I tell B that I wanted to do it. Let's run. I can do this! He says, ok, let's go to the gym, we're going to run there. Well, let's just say that first run didn't go so well. I need a different approach than just going outside and hitting the pavement until I die. In the back of my mind I had been thinking of the Couch to 5K program. Later that week I downloaded the training calendar and set off on week one. Last night I finished week one. I mapped it out on gmaps and I'm doing just over 2 miles in 25 minutes. Clearly that's not fast at all but if I can get through that in week one, I have no doubt that by week nine I'll be doing great. The 5K is September 25th. That will be week 10. I can totally do this!!

Summer is going by way to fast!

2011-07-15T09:47:00.001-04:00

Is it really already mid July? One week from today I'll be counting down the minutes until it's time to go home because I'll officially be on vacation for 10 days. We are heading down to the Cape for the week and I am SO excited! I've been prepping a list of GF friendly places and number one on my list is Chatham Fish & Lobster Co. I heard about them on tv, maybe Phantom Gourmet? And ever since I've been dying to go. Fried scallops, here I come!! We also have plans to bring the bikes down and hit the Rail Trail, have friends down to visit, but mostly I'm looking forward to just plopping my butt on the beach with a book and wasting away. It's going to be great.

Today I went through my Flickr feed looking for an appropriate photo for this post and I was reminded of how much great food I've made over the years. Lately my diet has become pretty boring. I tend to eat the same things over and over again. Part of the problem is the cafe at work. I can only eat a few things so I tend to eat those same things because I'm too lazy to shop and the food at work is cheap. The other thing is that I'm never home. Between work, the boy, summer adventures, etc, I can't keep food in the house because it goes to waste. I really would like to be able to focus more on cleaning up my diet again. Of course, starting that a week before vacation is kind of moot. Then it'll be August and summer will almost be over, so why not enjoy the rest of the summer and clean it up in September? Yeah.. that's how I do things.

I did start training for a 5K yesterday though so I'm really hoping that goes well. I'm using the Couch to 5K training program and had my first run yesterday. It was a pretty basic workout and even at that, I was afraid I'd struggle, but I finished it strong and felt great. Today I actually am noticing that my legs feel awesome. Usually sitting at a desk all day my legs get swollen and achy but today they are doing very well. The boy was the one that wanted to start up running again and when we went to get him new sneakers at New Balance they told us about the 5K coming up in September. I've always wanted to run one myself but never found enough motivation. My former roommate is a big runner and completed the Boston Marathon this year and she always inspired me to run, but I just never did it. It would be a huge accomplishment to run a 5K. I know it's not a long race but I've always told everyone how much I hate running and with my bad knees and ankles I just figured I'd avoid it forever. But secretly I've always wanted to do it and now that I have a running partner, I guess it's now or never!!

I will definitely post all about my training progress and my vacation recap, and I also have a post coming with a cookie review. See ya soon!

b.good serves Udi's buns!

2011-07-05T16:36:00.002-04:00

Today I had kind of a rough morning and was looking for some comfort at lunch time. I was sick of the same old stuff, sushi, salad, boring. I went on the b.good website to see if they had any gf info, figuring I'd probably just get a bunless burger. But what did I find? They are now serving Udi's GF Hamburger buns!!!! I immediately logged off my computer and jumped in my car. Before ordering I asked if they did in fact have the buns and sure enough, they did. I was so excited! I ordered my burger with a side of fries and waited for my order to be ready. The cool thing is, you can see the prep area and watch them prep your burger. If you are highly sensitive I would watch carefully, this is still a fast food restaurant and gluten filled burger buns and crumbs are all over the place. Make sure they prep your burger safely! I was satisfied with mine so I took it out to the patio and dove in. It was delicious and definitely satisfied my craving for comfort. I didn't get to have a burger on the 4th so this really was awesome. Thanks b.good!!

Best Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER

2011-06-23T20:22:00.003-04:00

So tonight I decided to finally give in and bake some cookies using the rest of those Enjoy Life Foods Mega Chunks. I found this recipe on All Recipes and subbed Better Batter for the flour and Earth Balance for the butter. Look at that amazing thing. SO DELICIOUS. Light and fluffy and so so good. I hope I don't eat the whole batch tonight....

Review: Enjoy Life Foods Chocolate Granola and Chunks

2011-06-22T21:32:00.002-04:00

This blog has been pretty quiet lately, huh? Not being able to blog during the workday really puts a cramp in my flow! I've been feeling the itch lately to get back to writing posts and this one has been in the wings for a while now, so here it is.

A short time ago, Enjoy Life Foods kindly sent me complimentary samples of two of their new products. Mega Chunks semi-sweet chocolate chunks, and Double Chocolate Chunk granola. Of course anything that involves chocolate, I am sold. I planned on baking something using the chocolate chunks, but I just keep eating them straight out of the bag! These are so good and I know they'd be awesome in cookies or any baked treat. I actually have been wanting to make chocolate chunk muffins or something cakey like that. I just haven't had the time.

The granola is also really good. I wish I had some almond milk to pour over it but again, I just keep grabbing handfuls of the stuff to munch on. I definitely recommend both of these products, especially if you are in the middle of a major chocolate craving. Which might be my daily life.. but whatever.

Otherwise, life is good. Haven't converted the boy to a GF/DF diet yet but maybe someday. I'm full into the swing of summer and looking forward to lots of fun events this year including a week on the Cape. I can't wait for that! I hope you all are well!!

White Potatoes - Why I love them, and so should you.

2011-05-03T17:43:00.010-04:00

Photo courtesy of Lavender Creek

I think it was back in the days of the Atkins craze when white potatoes first got such a bad reputation. Poor little guys! Someone decided that because white potatoes are made of carbs and carbs turn to sugar in the blood and, well, they're white, they must be bad! They somehow became equated with white bread. A vegetable from the earth, compared to a processed, nutritionally void substance. While it's true, that potatoes are a carb and carbs do convert to glucose in the bloodstream, it's not quite the same thing as eating a few slices of bread. We need that glucose! It's brain food!

While it frustrates me that people are constantly asking me why I eat white potatoes when they are so bad for me, it drives me absolutely insane that so many people also think that the sweet potato is far superior to the white potato. I even read someone's comment that sweet potatoes contain complex carbs, but white potatoes don't. Um... what?? This ridiculousness needs to be stopped! Sweet Potatoes and White Potatoes are VERY similar nutritionally. Compare the two side by side and one will have a little more of this, one will have a little more of that, but overall, they are essentially the same thing. A starchy vegetable, a complex carbohydrate (yes, both of them!). A low calorie source of many vitamins and minerals.

Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way trying to say that white potatoes are better than sweet. I love them both and enjoy them both on a regular basis. I just want it to be clear that white potatoes are NOT bad for you! If you're the type of person that believes that starchy vegetables are bad for you, then you have to include sweet potatoes in that category.

Based on 100 grams of either, you find that white potatoes have less calories, less sugar, and less sodium than sweet potatoes, however sweet potatoes have significantly more Vitamin A (Beta Carotene, gives them that orange color) and Calcium. White potatoes win when it comes to Potassium, Folate, Phosphorus and Vitamin C. Sweet potatoes have slightly more Magnesium. The rest of the vitamins and minerals in both of these veggies are just about even.

So stop skipping out on the white potatoes thinking you're doing yourself a favor! If you enjoy starchy vegetables, add those white potatoes back into the rotation and ENJOY!!

Had a little trouble getting this to format correctly, first value is white, second is sweet

White Potatoes , Sweet Potatoes

Calories 69 86

Carbs 17 20.1

-Starch 13.5 12.7

-Sugars 1.2 4.2

-Fiber 2.4 3

Fat 0.1 0.1

Protein 1.7 1.6

Vitamins:

Thiamine 0.1 0.1

Riboflavin 0 0.1

Niacin 1.1 0.61

B6 0.2 0.2

C 19.7 2.4

A 8 IU 14185 IU

E 0 0.3

K 1.6 1.8

Folate 18 11

B12 0 0

Minerals:

Calcium 0.9 30

Iron 0.5 0.6

Magnesium 21 25

Phosphorus 62 47

Potassium 407 337

Sodium 6 55

Nutritional Info obtained from NutritionData.com

Sugar!

2011-04-27T11:41:00.002-04:00

You know I love sugar. You know I also think it's evil. A coworker showed me an article last night that really drove home that it actually might be the most evil substance on Earth! Maybe not, but really. Bad stuff!!!

Check it out: Is Sugar Toxic? by Gary Taubes

Also check out my sugar series:

Agave - Know the Facts
Honey - Know the Facts
Sugar - Know the Facts

These posts are old and I haven't read them in a while so I don't know if they need updating. But really my thoughts are this - if it contains glucose and/or fructose, it's a sugar. Even if it has a fancy name on it like Agave. Know your sweeteners and understand how glucose and fructose are processed in the body! Then decide which ones you will allow yourself to eat.

Hello my friends!

2011-04-25T21:22:00.002-04:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but I've been stock piling photos in my iPhone with the plan to write and life just keeps getting in the way. Last I wrote was a month and a half ago and I was just starting the slow slide away from the Paleo diet... which turned into a jump of the Paleo cliff into a sea of sugar and processed crap. Gluten free crap, but crap none the less. I blame the boy, he planned a party based solely on DESSERT!!

The chocolate chip cookies and the chocolate swiss roll are my GF treats. That's the Shabtai Gourmet swiss roll right there, my first time trying it. Ohhhh my. Heaven!! I finished off the entire thing myself over a period of three days. Better than one day I suppose.

The chocolate chip cookies are from All Can Eat bakery and cafe here in Randolph, MA. The day before the party I went there and sat in the cafe for lunch for the first time. I have been meaning to write about this company for a while now as they've been open for a little over a year and I absolutely LOVE them. I've eaten many of the foods and they are all delicious. It's an entire bakery and cafe dedicated to gluten free eating, they also have many dairy free options and also a few other allergen friendly foods. I brought a cake to Easter yesterday and it was awesome. I wish I had taken a picture!

Here's the sandwich I ordered last weekend, roast beef on a gf/df sub roll with oven baked herb fries on the side. This was the best take out lunch I've had in years. Mostly because it was on bread and I didn't have to make it myself. I love this place!!

Then of course I had to grab a cupcake for dessert before I left. I bought the cookies the next day from the health food store, you can buy most of their stuff in many of the local stores including Whole Foods.

Then last Monday I went to see the Boston Marathon, my roommate ran it for the first time, she finished in 4 hours and 41 minutes!! I am so proud of her! It's such an amazing accomplishment. This is the 3rd friend that has run the marathon, it's a really fun experience.

And last week I came back to my desk from a meeting at work and found this sitting there:

More Shabtai!!

One of my co-workers was celebrating passover and bought these because they're Kosher and a good treat for Passover. She brought them in to share with everyone in the group, but knowing that I'm GF she made sure that I saw them first. I was so happy! These are both very good.

So needless to say, it's been a very high glycemic month and a half. Now the threat of bathing suit season is nipping at my love handles. I told the boy that yesterday was the end of it! Then I ate half a tub of dark chocolate today... I guess tomorrow starts my quest for a bikini worthy body. We're bad influences on each other though, we both are fans of wine weekends and we love to eat! But he also loves the gym so that helps. I am finding my love for it again... kind of. And we'll try to keep the dietary damage to a minimum. He's got a bad stomach too so we're working on being healthier in general to keep that in check!

Oh and also, just the other day happened to be my blogiversary!! I've been writing here for THREE YEARS and written just under 500 posts!! I can't even believe it. Read my very first post HERE. I've come a LONG way baby, not just with the diet either. I am happier and healthier today than I've ever been and I'm so thankful in so many ways. Thanks so much to all of YOU that read this blog and comment and email and so many of you I now call friends. It's been quite a journey...

How's it going?

2011-03-09T19:56:00.002-05:00

Hey gang, sorry for the lack in posts. I've been keeping busy lately! So what have I been up to? Well, eating of course, so let's talk about that first. The Paleo diet started out strong and for the most part I felt great. I did notice that my breath wasn't so great and that I couldn't sustain much physical activity without completely draining all of my energy in a very short period of time. I also found that there would be days where I was so sick of a big helping of meat with a side of veggies that I dreamed about bowls full of (gf) pasta. Not because I was craving it, simply because I was sick of what I was eating. I did try to change it up and make different foods but it got to the point where the thought of eating another bite of chicken or steak or pork made me want to gag. Thus began the slow slide back to carbland. However, I started to find that when I did give into the carbs, I actually never felt satisfied. I crave the cleaner meals. I love vegetables! I eat veggies at just about every single meal and I am not happy when I don't have them. Can't be any happier about that. Also, my stomach has been in top shape. When I do indulge in the refined carbs, I feel a little bloated but I've still managed to avoid cramping, pain, nausea, and my movements are perfectly normal. ;-) Do I plan to go back to strictly Paleo? Honest, I don't think so. I do enjoy eating close to Paleo a lot of the time and will continue to do so, but I will allow the carbs here and there. I know some people out there think that Paleo is the best way to fight a disease like mine, but I'm not 100% sold. People find healing many ways and I have found great healing up to this point. Quite frankly, I think life is already too short, why not enjoy cookies?? You all know how much I love my treats!

What else is new? I'm guessing you want to know what's up with the guy.... right? Yeah, I know! Well things are going great. Better than great. I don't have any new home cooked meals to share yet, but I'm sure I will again sometime soon. You know I don't get into the personal details here, but just know that's I'm really, really happy. :)

So... there's this guy...

2011-02-23T14:07:00.003-05:00

Dating can be tough. In the beginning you're always on your best behavior trying to impress, and slowly the not so glamorous stuff starts to come out. Make it or break it time, I like to call it. But for those of us dealing with dietary restrictions, it becomes a little more difficult to hide, considering that most dates involve sharing a meal or drinks (beer, anyone?). If you have it down, and go out to eat regularly, it might be easy to just suggest restaurants that you know are safe, and choose your go-to meals. Sooner or later the truth comes out and I've had mixed reactions to the news that I can't eat a lot of the stuff that "normal" people eat. For the most part, guys have been understanding of my situation. I have not really experienced a situation where a guy was turned off by it, however I do know one girl that literally had a beer thrown in her face when she told the guy why she had ordered a cider. That situation disgusts me, but if a guy has balls enough to throw a beer in a girl's face on a first date because she can't have gluten, imagine what other whack job tendencies he has going on...

However, when you find a guy that not only understands what you are going through, but then goes a huge step forward and offers to cook you dinner... hold onto him and don't let him get away!! This past Saturday I enjoyed a fine dining experience like none I've ever experienced before. Prosciutto wrapped asparagus and champagne to start, brussels sprouts, baked sweet potato fries, pork chops, and wine for dinner, sorbet and fruit for dessert. Hands down the best date of my life so far. And I'm not just saying that because I told him I'd give him the link to this site and he'll eventually read this. I swear.

But the real reason I'm sharing this story with you, is because this guy has a great sense of humor and put together this little comic that I thought was hilarious and I think you all would appreciate as well. Sometimes being so restricted gets me down, but things like this make it a lot easier to deal with.

Apologies if you are sensitive to some of the language in this comic.

In this situation, I was up front right away about the Crohn's and the diet and all of that. It just all came out on our first date and as it turns out, he has IBS. He does not eat a restricted diet, and I would never tell anyone else how to eat, he's a grownup and can make his own decisions. I will however continue to be a good role model and if he makes lifestyle changes of his own then I think that's awesome. It's a running joke in my family that all of our conversations turn to shit, well I finally found the guy that I can talk shit to and he won't even mind. I think I've got a keeper here... :)

Cookies? Yes please! No wait, I'll pass, thanks.

2011-02-10T20:23:00.003-05:00

Before I decided to try out the Paleo diet, Enjoy Life Foods contacted me to see if I'd be interested in receiving some complimentary samples of their improved soft baked cookies. Well, who says no to free cookies? NOT ME! I have tried their soft baked cookies before and I have to be honest, I wasn't a huge fan. I found them a tad dry and gritty. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that these new and improved cookies are awesome, soft and chewy and flavorful. I really enjoyed them. I didn't even feel guilty about it. Well, today was a Valentine's Day party at work. I stopped at Whole Foods to grab something to share with everyone. These were on sale so I grabbed a couple of boxes. There were some leftover so I brought them home. Now I'm sitting on the couch next to an almost totally eaten package of double chocolate brownie cookies. Ugh.

Listen, I have no guilt over eating some cookies once in a while. I just happened to go a little overboard today. In general, the new lifestyle is going great. I feel awesome! I've noticed that my skin is getting significantly better, it's usually so dry and it's softer and smoother now. My hair seems to be growing like crazy. I am happier, calmer, sleeping better. The rash is getting better. I am seeing nothing but improvements. Eating grain based foods now just makes me feel bloated and weighed down. I really enjoy eating a ton of veggies every day and find that I crave them. I'll write a better post about my progress later. I don't want to steal the thunder of the cookies. This post is, afterall, about them. For those of you looking for tasty, store bought, allergen free cookies, these are a great choice!!

Disclaimer! Yes I received these cookies for free, however the opinions expressed here are my honest review. If I didn't like them, I'd tell you!

Determination

2011-02-07T19:59:00.003-05:00

Photo courtesy of matley0

When I started the Paleo diet I read in many different places that people (like me) with autoimmune disease that want to go Paleo should really also cut nightshade vegetables out. Nightshades include white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and goji berries. I've read a handful of articles about nightshade issues but I just love potatoes and tomatoes and couldn't bare the thought of giving them up! Plus I didn't really feel like they were causing an issue for me.

But the more I cut out of my diet, the easier it is to see what foods trigger a reaction, and I started to notice some things. Most importantly, the rash is still bugging me. Not as badly, but definitely there and flares worse some days than others. I'm strictly gluten and dairy free and have eaten only a tiny amount of sugar in the past month and a half. So what the heck is it? I also noticed that I've started having some acid reflux, which is totally new for me. Seriously, does it ever end?!? My wish is for one full week of feeling completely healthy. I swear I'm not a hypochondriac! Not at all. But you really can't ignore itchy red bumps, I can't make that stuff up... and one day at lunch I literally almost regurgitated my food so suddenly. I've never in my life experienced reflux. I don't ever throw up. Where is this coming from??

I've started paying attention to when these things happen. A night of a really bad rash flare I had eaten tomato sauce. The day I almost lost my lunch - salsa. But I don't always eat tomatoes, so how is this happening so often? Oh wait, the salad dressing I eat almost every single day is made with tomatoes. Ugh. So I'm going to give it a shot for the rest of the month. I have my next docs appt scheduled at the end of the month and obviously if the rash is still bugging me I'll have it checked, but maybe, juuuuust maybe, this will be the last piece of the puzzle. I hope so!

Other than those two things, my health is phenominal after going Paleo. Seriously, I feel great and my stomach literally couldn't be better. I've never had such a calmn, fully functional stomach in my life! I have more energy, I am sleeping better, the rash heals faster lol. Well, wish me luck on this next step!! I'll definitely keep you updated.

Breakfast and a new venture

2011-02-05T11:51:00.002-05:00

This is not what I eat every day, but weekends when I have a little extra time I like to change it up a bit. This is two eggs, spinach and tomato omelet, avocado and bacon. This was so delicious!!

Now, on to a more important matter. I've been thinking about doing this for a long time, and I don't know what came over me this morning but I just went ahead and did it. I've created a new network for people like me and you that are healing through food. I hope that you'll join and share your story if you've already been healing through diet, or you'll join and share you're story if you're looking for help with dietary changes. This is very exciting for me and I really hope that it takes off!! Tell your friends about it!!

Check it out!! http://foodheals.ning.com/

Brussels Sprouts, Bacon and POM = Wonderful!

2011-02-03T21:40:00.003-05:00

I love Brussels Sprouts. This poor veggie is one of the most hated of them all and it's such a shame. They are delicious!! I usually just buy them frozen, cook them in the microwave and eat with butter, salt and pepper. Over the past year or two I've seen a ton of recipes on the blogs involving these little nuggets of joy and more often than not, the recipe includes bacon and pomegranate of some sort. I've been wanting to try one of these recipes out for a long time but laziness has kept me from doing it. Last week the nice folks over at POM Wonderful sent me a case of their pomegranate juice. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out one of those recipes.

Typically I drink water and only water, but sometimes I just want something flavorful. I'm very picky about juice and it has to be 100% fruit juice. Sure, once in a great while I'll grab a cup of super sugary fruit punch from the fountain in the cafe... once in a very great while. The more I read about POM Wonderful on their website, the more I like them. You should check out their website!

So anyway, I read a bunch of recipes and just kinda threw something together. I thought it came out ok, less liquid would've been better, but it was still pretty tasty! Served with some butternut squash and a pork chop, soooo good. I am loving the butternut squash this winter. My Mom has been serving butternut squash at Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember, but I refused to eat it up until about 3 years ago. Now I just love it!!

Here's how I made the sprouts:

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Pomegranate Juice

1 package of Brussels Sprouts, halved and loose leaves removed

4 strips of bacon (I used Applegate Farms)

1 small onion chopped

2 Tbs butter (I use Earth Balance)

Chicken Stock

Pomegranate Juice

Start by cooking the onion in the butter

add the bacon and cook for a few more minutes

then add the sprouts and cook for a few more minutes

add some chicken stock and some juice

cook for another 10 minutes or so

Yeah, I just kinda dumped some stock and some juice in, it was too much. I can't tell you how much of each to put in, but there are plenty of recipes out there! Enjoy!

Think it's too expensive to eat healthy? Think again!

2011-02-01T19:48:00.003-05:00

I live on a very tight budget. After all the bills are paid I have enough money to put gas in my car and to buy food and maybe a night out with friends. The most important thing for me is to make food a priority. Of course over the years I've fallen into the trap of buying cheap food when times are really tough. Mac & cheese is less than $2 per box! Ramen Noodles? Pennies! Of course I haven't purchased ramen noodles or mac & cheese (at least not the Kraft version) in years, but you know what I mean. Lately I've heard a lot of people making statements about how hard it is to eat healthy because it's so much more expensive. I was watching a show about people that are learning to be healthier and one lady said that she never visits the meat counter because that's where the rich people shop. What????? My goodness. I guarantee if they compared the cost of a typical month of food versus a carefully planned out month of healthy foods it would be close. Try it yourself, you might be surprised! I'm putting more effort now than ever before when it comes to stocking my fridge since I'm cutting out all the processed stuff. I thought I'd share my strategies to show you that you can eat healthy on a super tight budget!

1. Failure to Plan = Planning to Fail

Before I even step out of the house to hit the grocery store I plan out my meals for the week. The first step is to go through the kitchen to see what is left over from the previous week. How much meat is in the freezer and what produce needs to be used up? I can't tell you how many times I've thrown away rotten produce. No more!! That's money in the trash. So with what's left over in mind, I then hit the sale folders. I'm lucky to live in a city with a bunch of grocery stores so I have a lot to choose from. I focus on the proteins as that is the more expensive portion of the list as well as the foundation of all my meals. Once I've chosen my proteins, I look for recipes. If I don't have planned recipes, I tend to lose interest in what's in the fridge and wind up at the Chipotle checkout... What I spend at Chipotle for one meal could easily buy me two or three meals at home.

2. Don't throw away food, you might as well just throw your money
directly in the trash

Once you've made your shopping list and you head off to the store, stick to the list! Especially when it comes to produce. Don't buy more than you need! Just because the bananas come in a bunch of six doesn't mean you have to buy all of them. I know I won't eat more than two so I buy two. The same applies to the deli or seafood counters, don't be afraid to order 5 scallops if you want to make one meal of scallops. The deli guy might look at you funny for ordering an 1/8th of a pound of turkey, but so what? Everytime you let a head of lettuce turn to brown mush in your crisper, you throw away the money you spent on that lettuce. Those dollars add up quick!

3. Take advantage of your freezer

Buy meat in bulk packs and take the extra five minutes to freeze the individual portions. You'll save a lot this way! I bought steak, pork chops and stew beef this week and spent a little over $20, that will get me 18 meals. That's a little over a dollar a meal for the meat, add the veggies that I'll eat with them and you're looking at roughly $2 to $3 per meal at the most.

If you do find yourself constantly throwing away fresh produce, then stock up on the frozen stuff! I don't ever buy canned veggies because they often have added salt and preservatives, but frozen veggies and fruit tend to be fresh picked and flash frozen with nothing added. And they are cheap! Buy the store brand and you can often find deals like 10 packages for $10.

Tonight's meal consisted of veggies that needed to be used up, plus veggies from the freezer and chicken from the freezer. I bought the chicken last month when it was on sale, buy one pound get one pound free.

Chicken Stir Fry

2 chicken breasts, cut in small pieces

1 green bell pepper

1 medium onion

1/2 head of cauliflower finely chopped (faux rice!)

1/2 bag of frozen carrots

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup of GF Soy Sauce (San-J Tamari)

1/2 Tbs sesame oil

1 good squeeze of honey

Saute the chicken breast in your choice of oil until just cooked

Remove the chicken to a plate and add all the veggies

Cook the veggies for a few minutes and in the meantime, combine the ingredients for the stir fry sauce (minced garlic clove, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey)

Add the chicken and the sauce and cook until it's all combined

This was a really easy meal to prepare and it was delicious! Simple and tasty and gave me enough for two servings, the other will probably be lunch tomorrow. And the total cost? Under $10 total, or between $4 and $5 per serving. Cheaper than a value meal at McDonald's, that's for sure, even if you ate off the dollar menu, a double cheeseburger, small fries and small drink would cost you $3.15 so why not splurge the extra $.85 on REAL FOOD! The truth is, you have to want it. It takes effort, it's a commitment to treat yourself right by eating well. What's more important, convenience and feeling like crap all the time? Or effort and feeling great mentally and physically? For me it's an easy choice these days!!

So what am I eating now?

2011-01-26T20:10:00.002-05:00

I'm still making the transition to a cleaner diet and have had a few slips here and there, for example Enjoy Life Foods sent me some cookies to review so of course I have to eat them! For the most part though, the transition is going smoothly and I'm feeling great. I've even lost a few pounds, but I'm keeping the number a secret since some of my co-workers read this blog and I don't want them to know how well I'm doing in the Biggest Loser competition. I'm not going to keep referring to it as Paleo because as I continue to research that specific diet, I've come across a lot of inconsistencies. Folks that are truly Paleo don't eat things like potatoes and squash but I'm not going that far. I don't actually want to lose a ton of weight and cutting out starchy veggies would definitely put me in the sickly category.

So what am I eating then? Lots of protein, veggies, healthy fats and a little bit of fruit. My daily menu looks something like this:

Breakfast:

1 egg over easy

1/4 avocado

broccoli or a banana

Lunch:

Large salad with romaine, spinach, green pepper, carrots, grilled chicken, cucumber

salad dressing that I shouldn't have (gf/df but still full of junk, soybean oil, sugar, etc)

sometimes some cape cod chips.... I know.. I know. It's a transition!!

Dinner:

I've been trying to change it up at dinner. Tonight I ate chicken, butternut squash and broccoli. The squash was boiled and mashed with a little coconut milk, earth balance, cinnamon, salt, pepper and a tiny bit of honey

I've also eaten a chicken curry dish, beef stew, burgers wrapped in lettuce, lots of good stuff!

I plan to make a chicken stir fry tomorrow.

I am really feeling great on this cleaner, MUCH less processed diet. My stomach is feeling awesome and my skin is getting better. I don't need to eat as often as I used to, I've basically eliminated snacks between meals. I'm alert, strong and happy. I love this! Sometimes I do get a pang of sadness when I think about a piece of toast with my eggs or a gf cupcake, but truthfully, I don't have sugar cravings at all and I really don't crave bread or pasta. My body is getting exactly what it wants and needs so it's happy! I actually ate gf pancakes over the weekend and the syrup made me very sick. I know it was the sugar because I've had that reaction before, it was just way worse after NOT eating any sugar for two weeks. I encourage any of you that are considering cutting out grains altogether to just do it! It feels great. Don't let the naysayers get you down, you really don't need grains to be healthy. In fact, they kinda weigh you down.

When all else fails, eat pancakes!

2011-01-20T21:06:00.002-05:00

My first week venturing into the world of the caveman has been good and bad. I'll break it down for you by meals of the day.

The best part, as far as I'm concerned, about eating Paleo is breakfast. I already make myself an egg every day so it was easy to transition from making an egg sandwich, to making an egg with broccoli and avocado. I even found that this breakfast holds me over longer than my egg sandwich did and I didn't need to eat a snack between breakfast and lunch today. I would ultimately like to change up the menu a little bit, but for now this works very well.

Lunch didn't change at all for me. I buy a salad from the salad bar at my office every single day. Lots of greens, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, grilled chicken. I did not give up the chickpeas, nor did I change the dressing that I use. Neither of these are considered Paleo. For now, I'm ok with that. I plan on changing that soon.

I have to admit, I didn't do a very good job of planning dinner. Which is ridiculous because I eat pretty close to Paleo at dinnertime usually anyway. The biggest issue I had with starting this transition right now is that I'm completely broke. I get paid once a month and this month I just didn't budget very well, so I didn't have a lot of money to buy my food. I planned to make two big meals that could be eaten as leftovers. The first was beef stew. This came out great, I planned to eat it two nights and then freeze the rest for later so I didn't get sick of it. Then I would make a chicken curry dish and do the same, eat it a couple of nights, freeze the rest. That should bring me up to the weekend, at which time I can plan a new menu and buy more food for next week. Well, I ended up eating beef stew three nights in a row. I froze the last portion. Tonight I made the chicken curry dish. It is not good. At all. I ate a bowl of it and then sat here annoyed and not satisfied. Then I remembered I had some leftover pancakes in the freezer. You know where this is going...

All in all I feel good about the week. It wasn't perfect but I knew it wouldn't be. This isn't something that's just going to happen overnight, I am working on it. I'm proud of myself for doing as well as I did! So, how do I feel? I feel great actually. I have good energy, my stomach is feeling awesome, and I really don't miss the grains that much at all. I have not had any sugar cravings. Occasionally I see a commercial for a beautiful dessert and I sigh a little bit, but it's not like I intend to never eat dessert again. Just not every night! Do I think I can sustain this diet for the long haul? I don't know, but I'm going to give it a solid effort.

I've found a ton of Paleo blogs to read for inspiration and information and that is awesome. Of course, in true Jen fashion, I cannot commit to the Paleo Diet without researching it to the fullest. Is this really the best way to eat? What other diets are out there that people think is the ultimate way to live an optimal healthy life? So, I'm also researching Veganism. I'll be totally honest with you, I do believe that we are meant to eat meat. I know there are plenty of people out there that are living a strong and healthy life with no animal products what-so-ever. I'll be the last person to say that they shouldn't be living this way. The truth is, we really don't know. No one does. There are people out there that think they do! I think the most responsible thing to do is keep learning, do your home work, know what you're putting into your body and how it functions. And most importantly, find what works for YOU and stick to it!!

Ready, Set, GO!

2011-01-17T19:48:00.002-05:00

I have been researching the Paleo Diet all weekend. In typical Jen fashion, I started out guns blazing, ready to go. Then I went through the "do I really want to do this?" phase. And now here I am, Paleo Beef Stew on the stove, getting prepped for this new adventure. Now, before you start typing up your comments about how something in the photo above is not Paleo, save your typing! I don't want to hear it! I do not plan to give you a run down of what I eat everyday either. Knowing that everyone is analyzing my food intake every day will drive me back to the arms of chocolate and Udi's muffins faster than you can say turnips aren't allowed. I've read website after website and I've found conflicting information on each one, so you know what? I'm doing it MY way! The basics - eat whole foods, nothing processed, or as little processed as possible (and that doesn't mean only one slice of bread per day). Make sure to get in protein, carbs and healthy fat at every meal. Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are satisfied.

I know that many of my posts are about the sweet stuff, but really my basic daily diet consists of 1 egg and gf toast in the morning, whole grain gf hot cereal for snack, salad with grilled chicken for lunch and dinner is usually a protein, veggies and starch. This isn't really going to be a huge shakeup of my current lifestyle, but the goal is to get rid of the bread and pasta and exchange that for more veggies. The challenge is to come up with exciting recipes so that I don't get bored! I also want to incorporate more seafood into my diet, I love it but never buy it. I think the key to this will be planning, including checking the sale folders to see what's cheap. This week I didn't really plan ahead, I knew what I wanted to make but I didn't know what was on sale. I was so excited to see that chicken was buy one get one free!! My total came to $48 and I didn't want to go over $50 so it was perfect, and this should get me through at least this whole week and probably part of next week too. Tonight I'm making beef stew which will yield me a bunch of servings and later this week the plan is coconut chicken curry. I have never made that before but I am excited to try! So wish me luck!! I'll definitely keep you posted on how it's going.

Dermatitis Herpetiformis...

2011-01-15T10:21:00.004-05:00

If you've read my story, you know that when I first learned about Celiac, I thought for sure that it's what I have. I've been tested by blood test multiple times, all negative, and of course as you know I have been diagnosed with Crohn's. My remarkable recovery with a gluten and dairy free diet alone has always hinted towards the fact that I probably do have Celiac despite the Crohn's diagnosis, and actually, many Crohn's patients do also have Celiac. The one thing that made me really think that I did have Celiac was the recurring rash I used to get. It's an intense rash, your skin starts to tingle before the rash breaks out, then once it does, the itch is insane. Clusters of little bumps appear, you scratch, the skin breaks, weeps, burns. It's awful. Sorry if this is TMI but hey, this website is full disclosure!

Well I have had multiple doctors check the rash but they always say they don't know what it is. It's clearly a reaction to something they just don't know what. The problem is, it comes and goes so quickly that by the time I get to the doctors office, it's barely there for the doc to check out. I've done extensive research regarding types or rashes, but the only one that matches my symptoms exactly is Dermatitis Herpetiformis - the Celiac rash.

When I was undergoing treatment for Crohn's, the medications I was on cleared up the rash and I didn't see it for over two years. I thought it was gone for good but once in a while I'd feel that familiar tingle again. Recently I shared with you all that last year was a bad one diet wise and that I had been cheating on the gf diet. After about 6 months of this, the rash started to re-appear. It was mild at first and back in November I fully recommitted to the GF diet. In general I started to feel better right away and still do, but the rash persisted and when I started taking birth control pills it went out of control. It was just within the last couple days, in the middle of a major flare, that I decided to stop taking the pills as I started researching DH again and found that oral contraceptives can definitely exacerbate the rash. I know it was the pills because it got better during the week off of them and then the first week back on again the rash went nuts after about 3 days. I have been strictly gluten free for a few months now but the rash doesn't necessarily clear up right away. Needless to say I'm enormously frustrated with myself for cheating.

While researching DH, I discovered that it's caused by deposits of IgA antibodies on the skin. This sparked my memory of my very first Celiac panel. I was also in a mild flare of the rash at the time. The numbers were all within normal ranges, but the doctor had made a note on the report that my IgA levels needed to be monitored. I believe that my levels were in the high end of the normal range but I can't remember exactly and I can't find the test results. If the doctor had been looking at this as a DH test rather than a Celiac test, in combination with the rash, I believe this would be a positive result. Of course, just like all other Celiac tests, these don't ever seem to be 100% accurate. So frustrating!

I have appointments with both my docs in March. The plan right now is to stick to the gf diet, move forward with the Paleo diet and stay off the pills. Hopefully it will get better, but if it doesn't, then I'll make an earlier appointment and see if I can get in to see a dermatologist. Seriously, autoimmunity never ends does it?! It's a struggle, but I'm not letting it get me down. I've still made major progress, despite a few steps back. I'm just so glad to have this support community. I reached out to others with DH this week, read forums, articles, anything I could find. There's no doubt in my mind that I have DH, which means I do in fact have Celiac. I'd go back for more testing, but will it make a difference? No. I'm already GF anyway and there's not much else they can do. Just keep pushing on!

If you have any experience with DH I'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment here or email me - jen at alifeofsugarandspice dot com. And as always, THANKS for reading and for your support!!! The response to this site lately has been amazing and more and more people are spreading the word. I really appreciate it!!

So Easy A Caveman Can Do It?

2011-01-12T16:55:00.003-05:00

Photo courtesy of Matt Carman

I'm sure you've heard about it, in fact I've probably written about it here before. Some people out there think that we should be eating like the cavemen ate. It's called the Paleo Diet and it's been getting more and more attention. Today I was talking with someone that has had his own share of digestive struggles and he mentioned that this diet has worked for many people with Crohn's. I have heard this too and have considered trying the diet myself many times. Why haven't I done it? Well truthfully, I love bread and sugar. The Paleo Diet is free of grains and added sugar. Basically, it's meat & fish, veggies, fruit, healthy fats and spices. In my head it sounds awesome and I know I'd feel amazing but somehow I just haven't been able to commit to it. You all know how much I love to bake!

Lately however I've been feeling frustrated that I am still having some minor issues like irritations, a little bit of constipation, extremely dry skin, redness and irritation on my face. Things that I feel could be helped with a few changes in diet. Today I had eggs and gf toast for breakfast, a baked potato and brussels sprouts for lunch, gf pasta with meatballs and marinara for dinner and I also made cornbread. I ate a good two or three pieces of the cornbread. All of a sudden this evening the rash became majorly inflamed! I don't know what's causing it, but it's driving me absolutely crazy. So I think I'm going to give this whole caveman diet a shot. Cut my diet down to the very basics. Hope for the best. Anyone else out there eating this way? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Gluten Free Works

2011-01-11T15:01:00.001-05:00

My story is featured on Gluten Free Works today!! You've probably already read it here, but you should definitely check out the site anyway. It's an awesome resource for all sorts of information related to Gluten, Celiac and other disorders linked to the GF diet.

Here we go again...

2011-01-05T20:43:00.003-05:00

I was looking for this picture in my Flickr feed and when I found it, I realized I had titled it New Year's Resolutions. This was from December 2008, not last New Year but the year before. So I went back to that post to see what I wrote and see how I've done:

I will get back into the shape I was in a year and a half ago, healthy and strong, lose the 20 pounds I gained this year.

- Still trying to lose those 20 lbs. Biggest Loser Challenge!!

I will do more volunteer work.

- Have done some, need to do more. This is always a goal of mine.

I will try to be less self centered and focus on others.

- Definitely have improved on this one, although I'll always be self centered, but not necessarily in a bad way.

I will take advantage of the opportunities that come my way.

- Done and done. I'm constantly repeating this in my mind "If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it."

I will be more tolerant.

- Another one I'm working on. I've definitely improved.

I will tell people how I feel instead of keeping it inside.

- Wait, I used to keep my feelings in? When was this??

I will pay off my credit cards!!!!

- Done, summer of 2010

I will not get new ones...

- Fail, summer of 2010... My unemployment ran out. Temporary setback. After this is paid off, NO MORE! For real.

I will fix my car window and air conditioner and take better care of it in general.

- Or just get a new one, 6/2010

I will be an advocate for Crohn's disease and other auto-immune diseases.

- Well I think this one's pretty obvious!

I've done a pretty good job of improving my life over the past two years and I'm even more excited to make this year the best yet. The reason I was looking for this photo is because I am looking for healthier recipes. Well, really I wanted to tell you that I'm going to start cooking healthier, and I don't like to post without photos, so there you go. In November I committed to cooking at home more often and I definitely kept up with that. However, the foods I ate throughout the rest of the year were mostly re-creations of old family comfort food recipes. Those dishes are NOT going to help me win The Biggest Loser. I have been a fan of Clean Eating for years, I have the books, I subscribe to the magazine, I tag recipes. I have never, not once, cooked any of the recipes. All of that is about to change! This blog is about to get a makeover. Less Sugar and a lot more SPICE! I'm looking forward to it. I'd even like to try to incorporate more raw and vegan foods into my diet. I am certainly not giving up meat, fish and eggs, I have always been a animal protein advocate. Having said that, I actually am curious about how my digestion would be with less animal protein. I love vegetables and although I eat salad almost every day, I still need to incorporate more veggies into my diet!

I know for sure that gluten and dairy cause major issues for me, but I still have some work to do as far as total and complete digestive health. The biggest devil on my shoulder? SUGAR. You know I love it. Baking makes me happy. Eating what I bake makes me happier. Sugar makes my belly ANGRY. Basically this year my goal is to eat less processed foods in general and eat a lot more of the good stuff.

While digging around the archives, I also came across this little nugget of wisdom that I found on my girl Farty Girl's website a long time ago. I love this:

"While I try to support my nutritional news with proof, it's hard to know what justifies as proof nowadays. Every day, journalists report different health trends. These trends all cancel each other out. Think back to the eighties, when nutritionists claimed that fat was causing Americans to become obese. Now, post-millenium nutritionists claim that fat is good, but bread is bad. We can argue anything and find proof for it.

A few posts ago, my IBS-BFF left a comment that has been reverberating in my guts. She said something along these lines: Listen to your body. Eat what makes you feel good. Don't diet. Work on making yourself feel better."

So, so true. Listen to your body, you'll be amazed what it tells you. Here's to your health in 2011!

Um..

2011-01-03T21:16:00.002-05:00

I have nothing exciting to write about today. I weighed in and handed over my $20 as we kicked off our BL challenge today. I went to the gym even though I wanted to just cook dinner. I cooked dinner when I got home and I think it tasted better than if I had not gone. I turn incredibly pink when I workout. It's not embarrassing, I just hope people don't think I'm about to keel over. I can't help it! I realized that I'm going to really have to lose some weight if I want to win this competition. There are six of us competing and the other girls are short. We're going by percentage of weight loss so if all of us lose ten pounds, whoever weighed the least when we started wins. That kinda stinks since I definitely weigh the most out of everyone. I'm 6' tall!! Just means I have to work that much harder. I already have my head deep in the game, I just have to stay focused.

My strategy is simple, eat healthy, workout, lose weight. But I'm concerned that not counting calories will bite me in the butt. I am pretty sure the other girls are going to be tracking. I hate tracking. I've done it so many times, it actually makes me want to give up. It's frustrating and stressful. Well, it's a hundred and twenty bucks. If I wind up in kick ass shape on April 1st, but don't win the money? It won't matter. As long as I follow through and finish strong it will all be worth it.

Off to bed, hopefully I'll have a more exciting post this week!

1.1.11

2011-01-01T21:41:00.002-05:00

My favorite place in my city is the shore. Well, my favorite place anywhere is the shore. I love the ocean. Today felt like a spring day at 50 degrees so I had to take advantage of the beautiful weather. I planned a nice long walk at the shore but when I got there, something came over me and my walk turned into a jog.

A what?

A jog.

I'm sorry, say that one more time?

I ran. For an extended period of time. And I didn't die...

It felt amazing.

I've always hated running but lately I've been getting a little bit more into it. I realized when I was forced to run during bootcamp last fall that I actually can go further than I ever thought. It's pretty cool. I have every intention of getting back into fighting shape this year. It's going to be awesome. That's right co-workers that are reading this, I'm a force to be reckoned with for the next 15 weeks. I have every intention of winning the Biggest Loser challenge. Bring. It. On.

Eleven is my favorite number. Today is the best date ever. I'm so glad I started it off on such a good note. This year is going to be epic. I can't wait.

Happy New Year!!

2010-12-31T18:07:00.002-05:00

Photo courtesy of Toni Blay

Today I spent the afternoon hanging out with my cousin Lauren, her hubby Matt and her little man Sean and helped her to prepare for tonight's New Years Eve celebration. I have been celebrating New Years with Lauren for as long as I can remember! We've had some wild times, but as we get older, the parties get tamer and tamer. Most everyone is married now and starting families. How did we get here??

As usual, I've prepared a couple of things to bring to the party that I will be able to enjoy. There is at least one other gluten & dairy free person coming so it's nice to know I won't be the only one! I already stocked Lauren's fridge with my Redbridge. I've made a gluten and dairy free taco dip and King Arthur brownies. I'll be sure to post about those sometime next week. I'll be curious to see what everyone thinks about the dip, it was an experiment for me and I'm not sure what I think of it myself.

I'm also packing on the pounds this weekend before we start our Biggest Loser challenge at work on Monday! I'm really not doing myself any favors, just making myself feel like crap with all the sugar. I never buy Kinnikinnick donuts or Udi's muffins but I just felt compelled to do so this weekend since the challenge is starting.

Tonight will be a fun night and tomorrow starts a new year, a new decade and for me, it's kind of the start of a new chapter in my life. I'm really excited for it!!

Have a save, happy and gluten free New Year my friends!!!!

Dairy Free Hot Cocoa

2010-12-29T20:21:00.003-05:00

Hot cocoa is one of those things that I've always loved but it has certainly never loved me back. The last time I had some, it was Swiss Miss with a little Bailey's and Dr. McGillicuddy's. Tasted amazing. Felt horrible. Recently I saw a recipe for dairy free hot cocoa somewhere and it's been stuck in my head since. Tonight I was chilly and craving something sweet and I have a box of coconut milk in the fridge that needs to be used up. I searched around the internet for recipes and most of them were basically the same so I just randomly picked one and followed it with my own modifications. I didn't let it heat up enough because I was afraid of scorching it, I'll do it better next time, but the taste was rich and delicious!

Dairy (and Gluten) Free Hot Cocoa

Single Serving

1 Tbs Unsweetened Cocoa

3 Tbs Sugar

1 to 2 Tbs Boiling Water

3/4 to 1 C Milk of your choice, I used So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut

The tiniest pinch of salt*

A little smidge of vanilla extract*

*Less than an 1/8 teaspoon

I heated the water in a hot shot first, then in a small saucepan combined the hot water, cocoa, sugar and salt.

Stir this mixture together until it's nice and hot but be careful not to let it burn.

Add the milk and stir until very hot, but not boiling.

Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla.

Enjoy!

Next week begins our Biggest Loser at work challenge, so obviously I'm overloading on junk this week. I will probably try to make biscuits before the weekend is over. Maybe a creamy chicken recipe? YES. Definitely. Stay tuned!!

Gluten Free Steamed Chicken or Pork Dumplings

2010-12-27T18:30:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite takeout dishes used to be steamed Chinese pork dumplings. I have seen this recipe re-created on a few gluten free blogs and I have been dying to make them myself. I knew it would be time consuming and challenging so I kept putting it off. Due to the blizzard I had a "snow day" from work. I work in the medical field and we really can't just shut down for a day but the company allows us to work from home in severe weather conditions. Since I've only been there less than a year, I don't have full access to my customers from my home computer so I didn't really have to do much work today. I was stuck inside all day yesterday due to the storm so today I was really itching to do something fun. What a perfect day to tackle the dumpling recipe! I didn't have all the ingredients on hand so I ventured out to the store this morning. They didn't have any ground pork so I grabbed ground chicken instead. When I got home I set to work. First I put together the filling:

This was the easy part. I bought myself a microplane when I was Christmas shopping so grating the ginger and garlic was so easy. Thanks Rachel Ray for that tip! Next up, time to prepare the wrappers. I am not good with dough, I do not have a lot of experience with making homemade dough and I am too impatient to take my time and do it right. This time I tried to be better about all of that. I mixed up the dough and then rolled out 8 wrappers as best I could.

Then I filled and sealed the dumplings and put them in the pot of already boiling water with a steamer basket. This was also a Christmas gift to myself in a round about way. I bought it as part of my Yankee Swap gift and I ended up taking my own gift home. I may or may not have planned it that way, or at least hoped it would go that way!

I let them steam for 20 minutes, checking a couple of times to make sure the water didn't completely evaporate. While they were cooking I put together the dipping sauce. And then, it was time...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh boy. These were SO good. They didn't need all 20 minutes in the steamer but other than that, they were delicious. The dipping sauce was perfect too. Just like the Chinese restaurant! Ok, well maybe not exactly the same, but close enough for me. Here's the recipe!

Gluten Free Chicken Dumplings

Makes approx 16 dumplings

Filling:

1 lb ground chicken or pork

1/2 Tbs minced ginger

3 cloves garlic minced

2 Tbs thinly chopped green onion

3 Tbs soy sauce

2 Tbs sesame oil

1 egg beaten

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined. Set aside

Wrappers:

1 Cup GF Flour Mix (Better Batter)

1 Egg

4 Tbs water

Combine the above ingredients, adding more water if needed until dough comes together. Use plenty of extra flour on your work surface and your rolling pin! I split the dough into four sections, and then each of those sections broke down by four more sections. Roll out each section to the size and shape of your liking. Layer the wrappers between damp paper towels to keep moist until you are ready to fill.

Once the wrappers are ready to go, spoon a little more than a tablespoon of the filling onto the center of the wrapper. Put a little bit of water on the edge of one half of the wrapper to act as a glue to seal the wrapper shut when you fold it over. Press the edges together to seal, you can do this by hand or use a fork to gently press the edges together.

Place the finished dumplings into your steaming apparatus such as a bamboo steamer or a basket steamer as shown above, which already has the water boiling in the bottom. Cover the pan and let steam for 15-20 minutes. While the dumplings are steaming, put together your sauce.

Dipping Sauce:

1/4 Cup Soy Sauce

1 Tbs Sesame Oil

Chopped Green Onion and Grated Ginger to taste as you like

When the time is up, check to be sure the dumplings are cooked through. Then, dive in head first and enjoy!! I ended up only making half the recipe to start, plus that was all that would fit in the steamer. My plan is to prepare the rest of the dumplings and freeze them for another day.

Snow Day!!

2010-12-27T09:50:00.002-05:00

I am sitting in my living room with no cable, but luckily I have internet. Which is funny because today I'd rather have cable and no internet! Having access to the internet means I have to monitor my work emails. That's ok, I'm still in my sweatpants. I did get up and shower first thing. I really should've gone to the grocery store before this storm hit because now I have hardly anything in the house to eat. Aside from a tub full of chocolate chip cookies that I baked last night. Unfortunately chocolate, sugar and I aren't getting along right now and those cookies aren't doing me any favors. The worst part about all of this? Apparently I donated my winter boots over the summer when I decided that I wanted new ones. Too bad I forgot all about that until the blizzard hit and now I'm bootless. At some point today I have to go out there and dig my car out and hopefully hit the grocery store, but for now I'm just going to sit tight! Have a great day everyone!

It's Resolution Time Baby!

2010-12-26T10:28:00.003-05:00

I'm hunkered down in my apartment today waiting for a big New England storm to dump inches upon inches of snow upon us. We already have about an inch but the brunt of it is supposed to hit later today into tonight. Snow day from work tomorrow? Doubtful, but a girl can hope.

The day after Christmas is always the time when I start to take a good look at the past year and reflect on how it went, and how I want the next year to go. I really don't like to call them New Year's Resolutions because honestly, who really sticks to those?

This blog has never really been a place where I've shared my personal story beyond the Crohn's disease. There is so much more to me than a damaged small intestine. This year I turned 30 and it has really been a major turning point in my life. I started a new job after six years working in the family business. I maintained my health without medication. I made new friends. I worked on my dating life... I could write a completely separate blog about that! I watched in amazement as my niece grew and changed through her first year of life. I shared my story for a documentary. I played in a bowling league. I danced. I laughed. I loved. I learned a lot about what's important.

My twenties were difficult and I faced a lot of challenges. I could have let those experiences break me, but instead I looked at everything I went through as a chance to make myself better. The most important thing I learned is that if there's something about your life that you don't like, change it. You have a lot more power and control than you may think. Life is too short to waste it being unhappy.

I know that 2011 is going to be the best yet and I'm really excited about it. I plan to write more, to cook and eat more, to exercise more, to volunteer, to advocate, to make more of an effort to keep stronger bonds with my friends as we grow older and in different directions. I will work hard, play harder, take more photos of people, not just food. I will accept the things I cannot change, change the things I can, and be wise enough to know the difference.

Review: Rudi's Multigrain Gluten-Free Bread

2010-12-24T11:30:00.003-05:00

The true test of bread for me is how it tastes toasted with butter served with some runny eggs over-easy. Since going GF I have longed for the taste of wheat bread. I am talking about the basic wheat bread from the supermarket. The smell, taste and texture of wheat bread is something I have had a very hard time finding in a gluten free version. I came close with Schar Multigrain Bread but it was still small and the texture was not exactly right. Udi's was definitely a good option as well, but still, just not quite what I was looking for.

I've seen Rudi's bread in my local health food store for quite some time now, but have been loyal to Udi's and recently have been eating a lot of All Can Eat multigrain bread. (That post is coming soon!) Recently I was contacted by Rudi's and they offered to send me a complimentary loaf of bread for my review. I of course jumped at the chance. I've heard mixed reviews in the blogosphere, many people saying they stick to Udi's, which is why I had not tried this bread. I wish I hadn't waited so long.

Rudi's Multigrain Bread is it. The wheat bread of my dreams. Slices the size, texture and taste of the wheat bread I remember. I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!!! Not only is this bread delicious, but it's made with organic ingredients, and of course it's dairy free as well. Now I'm dying to get to the store and pick up the white bread version. I have visions of french toast dancing in my head.

I'm off to finish up my wrapping and pack up the car, heading down to Mom and Dad's for Christmas. I almost enjoy Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day. This year is extra special since my niece just turned ONE. She may not understand Christmas or Santa yet, but she certainly understands toys and I can't wait to watch her open all her presents tomorrow!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!

Gluten and Dairy Free Buffalo Chicken and "Bleu Cheese" Dipping Sauce

2010-12-23T15:29:00.002-05:00

You already know the story, Thursdays at work is buffalo chicken day. I know, I keep talking about it. I didn't even used to like buffalo chicken, but then one day, many years ago, a restaurant accidentally served me a buffalo chicken sandwich. Instead of refusing it and waiting for the right sandwich, I just ate it. (Pre GF Days) I fell in love. Then there was the buffalo chicken dip at another restaurant. It was all down hill from there. I was so excited to discover that Frank's Buffalo Sauce is GF/DF!

I have to admit, I've been cheating on the chicken tenders, buying Bell & Evans and cooking them in the oven then dipping them in the buffalo sauce. It works, but it's much better if you make the tenders yourself. The photo above is hand-breaded tenders. It's so easy! Heat a little oil in a pan. Set up your assembly line, I use buttermilk in this case = 1 C of rice milk + 1 Tbs of vinegar. Let the buttermilk sit for 5 minutes, then let the chicken sit in the buttermilk for 5 minutes. Roll the chicken in GF Bread Crumbs (I use Gillian's) and fry in the oil. A few minutes on each side. Let the fried chicken rest on paper towels to get rid of some of the excess oil before dipping into the buffalo cause. YUM!

Buffalo chicken is HOT and what better to cut the heat then bleu cheese dressing? Well, I can't just go out and buy a bottle, and bleu cheese is out of the question for me anyway, so I had to come up with a compromise. I searched bleu cheese dressing recipes and made up my own fake version. I haven't perfected it yet, but it works pretty well. In a bowl I combine some mayo and some dairy free sour cream. Add a small splash of cider vinegar or regular vinegar and a squeeze of lemon juice. Sprinkle in some garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper. Mix it all up. Adjust to taste. Viola! It's definitely NOT bleu cheese, but it sure does the trick. I prefer my buffalo chicken served on a wrap (Food for Life) with lettuce and tomato and dipping sauce on the side. I just might have this for dinner again tonight! The sandwich in the photo above was made with a schar sub roll, but it was too much bread. A wrap works much better.

A Survival Guide: Starting the Gluten Free Diet

2010-12-22T09:12:00.004-05:00

You just found out that you have to give up Gluten. Your first reaction is to weep for all the pizza and beer you can't have anymore. It's ok, let it out. It's important to grieve, then you can start to heal. Literally. Everyone has a different opinion on the best way to handle going gluten free. Some say it's best to cut your diet down to very basic foods, fresh fruits and veggies and lean meats, potatoes, rice. Keep it simple. But let's be realistic here, you are dying inside because you feel like you're never going to be able to walk into Dunkin Donuts and grab a bacon egg and cheese bagel sandwich anymore. For me, the easiest way to transition to the Gluten Free Diet was to find alternatives to my favorite foods so I didn't feel deprived. When I started out, over 3 years ago, the quality of products was not even close to what's out there now. I'll never forget my first gluten free bread. It looked like normal bread, I put it in the toaster and it came out the same as it went in. White and cardboard like. No toaster marks, no crumbs, and the taste? Simply awful.

I tried all kinds of breads and bagels and wraps trying to find bread that would take the place of the real stuff and it was very frustrating. Now that gluten intolerance has become such a major issue, there are a ton of new products out there and many of them are really great. But I'll be honest with you, be prepared, it's not going to be exactly the same as what you ate before. The good news is you will feel SO much better.

Start simple. Go get yourself a loaf of Udi's bread. They have white or multi-grain and both are great. Most GF breads must be kept frozen and then toasted. Udi's products can be left on the counter and eaten without toasting first. It's a little more dry than traditional bread, but it's by far the best GF bread on the market. Other great GF breads are Canyon Bakehouse and Rudi's

If you're a bagel fan, pick up some Udi's bagels as well. These are big and fluffy and delicious. I use these for burger buns as well!

If you love to bake and are finding tons of GF recipes with crazy lists of random flours, sorghum, white rice, brown rice, teff, amaranth, almond... so overwhelming! Order yourself a box of Better Batter. It's the best 1:1 gluten free flour mix. Use it as a substitute for all purpose flour in any recipe. It might not work perfectly every time, but for the most part, it does!

If you prefer boxed mixes, Betty Crocker and King Arthur have full lines of gluten free mixes that are awesome. I've not tried all the King Arthur mixes but I hear they are great. I find these right in my regular grocery store baking isle.

Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Don't forget that there are lots of items other than obvious flour/bread products that are not gluten free. Be sure to check labels of everything, salad dressings, soy sauce, marinades, seasonings, sauces. Gluten hides in many places! I know it's overwhelming, but it will get easier. I promise. Just stick with it!

I was going to add a list here of all of my favorite products, but then I looked at my Product Reviews page and discovered that most of these products are great. Take a look at that list for some great product recommendations! It will take a while to find products that you love and become a regular part of your diet, there will be good days and there will be bad, bad days. Don't worry, it will get better and you will feel great. Eventually it will become second nature. Good luck in your gluten free journey!

What's the best way to determine if you have Celiac?

2010-12-21T11:33:00.002-05:00

This video by Dr. Vikki Petersen is very helpful in clearing up the confusion about the accuracy of Celiac testing. The truth is, many people do have Celiac or Gluten Intolerance and are being told they don't. I have had the blood tests and the genetic tests. I have never had a biopsy. The genetic test currently only tests for two genes when they are discovering that there are many more. My bloodwork showed elevated levels but was not within the range of Celiac diagnosis. The only way for me to confirm that I am intolerant to gluten in some form, be it Celiac or Gluten Intolerance, was to remove it from my diet. I am glad they are making advances, but I wish it would happen more quickly. Too many people are suffering!

Dropping the ball!

2010-12-17T11:33:00.002-05:00

Well here I am with all these new readers and I keep forgetting to upload my photos so that I can write new posts!! The other night I ate the rest of the meatballs in a meatball sub, thanks once again to Schar sub rolls. Last night I made homemade buffalo chicken tenders and dairy free dipping sauce. It was awesome. Every Thursday is buffalo chicken tenders day at work and all of my lunch companions yesterday took advantage. I ate my same old salad and was jealous so I decided to make it for dinner. I'm so glad I did! Did you know that Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Sauce is gluten and dairy free?? Last time I made buffalo sauce from scratch but when shopping for hot sauce last night I saw the Frank's sauce and googled it on my phone to be sure before purchasing. This made my night so much easier!

Back to the important stuff: FOOD!

2010-12-15T12:29:00.003-05:00

First of all, I wanted to say Welcome to all you new readers!! Thanks so much for your feedback from yesterday's post, I am so glad to be making a difference! And it's nice to know I'm not the only one out there with these issues. Now, back to the FOOD!

I'm working my way through my shipment of products from Rocky Mountain Organic Meats. One of the items was a pound of ground beef. This is what I was looking forward to the most! I couldn't decide what to make with this beef but I knew that I wanted to do something that would showcase the meat by itself, so of course, I had to make a burger. My second favorite beef dish is meatballs, as you can see above. I cooked the burger and the meatballs at the same time and then ate the burger for dinner and saved the meatballs for later in the week. The burger was absolutely delicious. The beef tasted so good. What a huge difference from standard grocery store beef! There was so much flavor. All it had on it was lettuce, tomato and mayo and served on a Schar sub roll. Perfect. I took a photo but I don't love it so I'm not posting it, but you can see it here.

Last night I cooked up some Tinkyada spaghetti and some Prego Traditional Sauce and heated up the meatballs which I made using Carol Fenster's recipe. I have not had spaghetti and meatballs in such a long time and it was soooooo good. I tend to avoid spaghetti and choose ziti or rotini or cavatappi but when it comes to meatballs, you have to go with spaghetti. I wish I had a Schar baguette to make some garlic bread! This dinner was as good as it looks in that photo up there. I can't wait to have this again tonight. I think I will stop at the store on the way home for that baguette!

Why the Gluten Free Diet is not working.

2010-12-14T13:50:00.002-05:00

I tried the Gluten Free diet and it didn't work. I felt good for a while but then I started to feel bad again. It's too hard to stick to it. I hate feeling like an outcast not being able to eat what everyone else is eating. It's too expensive. My Doctor said I don't have Celiac so why bother?

People will give excuse after excuse after excuse as to why the GF diet is NOT right for them, and the reality is, they are all just that - EXCUSES. I've used them all myself, or at least thought them to myself at one time or another. I started my gluten free journey back in 2007. I admit that it's been a rocky one. I've been on and off the diet many times, noting all of the "reasons" above. I can't believe it's been almost four years since I discovered Celiac disease in my search for answers as to why I've been sick for most of my life. I should be in tip top shape and feeling the best I've ever felt, right? Well, this has been the best year so far, so that's a plus. I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

Friends and family know that I haven't been 100% faithful to the diet over the years. I didn't talk too much about that on this blog because I didn't want to disappoint. Usually that meant I wasn't blogging much during those times because I didn't have anything to write about. I am happy to say that I have really stepped it up. I had to. I was getting sick again. I have officially been off medication for a year now. Wait, let me say that again. I HAVE OFFICIALLY BEEN OFF MEDICATION FOR A YEAR. Yaaaahoooooooooo!!

Early this year I was feeling so good and confident and then I started my new job. Which has a full service cafeteria. And new co-workers that didn't know anything about my issues. I slid down the slippery slope of a small cheat here and a tiny slip there... and then it happened. The rash. I have not had a rash since 2008. This was a major wake up call. My stomach was better than ever but still not perfect. I started to feel the brain fog, the headaches, the MAJOR fatigue. I was so tired that I could barely function and I'd immediately crawl into my PJs after work. The funny part is, I didn't realize how bad it had gotten because it was such a slow progression. Finally I woke up one day and realized that if I didn't stop it right then, I'd wake up someday in a recovery room after having a section of my intestines removed. Or worse.

What prompted this post, the title of this post, and the opening paragraph, is that even when I'm completely ON the diet, I've realized that I'm actually still not 100% clean. So when I get the rash or the headache or the brain fuzz and can't figure out why, I have to really look carefully at what I've been eating. An example of this - the other day I grabbed a fry off of someone else's plate at lunch. I have been eating the fries knowing that they are fried in a shared fryer. This is something I have always done and used the "Well I don't actually have Celiac" excuse. I'm not super sensitive to it so I can eat things that are fried in a shared fryer, right? Right? I never ever gave this a second thought until that one fry that I grabbed the other day. Shortly after eating the fry, another co-worker commented that the fries tasted like egg rolls. That particular day was Chinese Food day in the cafe and they had fried the egg rolls in the same fryers that the fries are cooked in. It was like someone poured a bucket of cold water over my head. HELLO! Wake up call from your intestines!

This little incident made me completely re-think my gluten free strategy. Sure when I'm gluten free I feel soooo much better but I think that I could feel even BETTER if I stopped ignoring those "little things" like crumbs in the toaster and shared fryers and foods that are manufactured on shared equipment. It also made me think twice about all of those people out there that cheat like me and then claim that the diet doesn't work.

You must stick to the diet 100% in order for it to truly work. Even if you don't have outward symptoms, the damage is being done and eventually you WILL feel it. If you are sticking to the diet 100% and feel that it is still not working, perhaps there's another intolerance at work. Many foods are not our friends! You just have to keep at it. Proper diet heals. I promise. I am living, breathing, un-constipated proof. :)

Beef. It's what's for dinner!

2010-12-12T14:41:00.003-05:00

Recently I received a package from Rocky Mountain Organic Meats that are 100% gluten free to sample. I was overwhelmed with all the options. Jerky, ground beef, sausage, hot dogs and pastrami. Ooooh Pastrami!! I haven't had this since pre-gf days because the only way to eat pastrami is on a soft yummy roll. Well since I discovered Schar sub rolls I knew exactly what to do. This pastrami is thicker than I'm used to, I'm used to the shredded, fatty kind that you find at the deli in the grocery store. This is thick and the edges have a nice crust of seasoning. I wasn't even sure how to cook this so I went with what I know and put it in a pot of water for a few. I kept it simple with the roll and yellow mustard, some BBQ Kettle Chips on the side. This was so delicious!! I also sampled a little of the jerky which was great too. I will definitely have more Rocky Mountain Organic Meats reviews coming up. Right now the ground beef is defrosting, but I can't decide if I want to do a burger or meatballs. I might do both. I really want to showcase the meat so a burger would be a great way to do this. But I've also been craving a meatball sub... we shall see!!

Edited to add: I have been told that the pastrami is pre-cooked and can be eaten straight from the package. I thought it was good heated up too :)

Gluten Free Dairy Free FUDGE

2010-12-09T20:03:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the horrible iPhone photo...

Sticking with the theme this week of recipes from my childhood, here's another one. This is "Gram's Fudge" and has graced our holiday table for a very very long time. My Gram (aka Grammie), who passed away in 2003, is one of the most important people in my life. I miss her everyday even though I know she watches over me. My mom took over the tradition of making the fudge when I was younger and if she doesn't make it, people get upset! It's a family legacy. This recipe is naturally gluten free but contains butter and milk. I have never made this recipe even before going GF/DF but lately I've been so inspired to re-create the oldies that I just had to try this one.

This recipe is made using a double boiler and I don't have one. I wanted to make this fudge to bring to my secret santa party at work and of course waited until last night, thinking I could just stick a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water as a makeshift double boiler. Well I got home from work, ingredients in hand, and grabbed the glass bowl that in my mind would work in this scenario only to find out that, well, it wouldn't work. No way, no how. So off to Wal-Mart I went, with a $5 gift card to boot. But... apparently people don't use double boilers anymore? I couldn't find one anywhere. I wandered around the kitchen section forever, I couldn't even find a sufficient bowl!! FINALLY I found a nice big metal bowl that would work perfectly. And a few other things I didn't need, I swear the kitchen section is my kryptonite. Moved swiftly through the checkout line, got in the car and headed for home. With the $5 gift card still in my wallet. Darn.

Oh well. Moving on! I whipped up the fudge and let it chill overnight. Of course I tried a piece this morning for breakfast, had to make sure it was worthy of my coworkers! This turned out a little bit softer than my Mom's/Gram's but the taste was awesome. DELICIOUS!! My co-workers loved it! I hope my mom doesn't kill me for posting Gram's "secret" recipe, but Gram found most of her recipes on the back of packages so I'm sure this isn't as secret as we'd like to believe. I just can never EVER post the whoopie pie recipe. That would be the end of me for sure...

So here it is:

Gram's Fudge

the gluten and dairy free version

1lb Confectionary Sugar

1/2 C Unsweetened Cocoa

1/4 tsp Salt

6 Tbsp Butter (Earth Balance)

4 Tbsp Whole Milk (So Delicious Coconut Milk)

1 Tbsp Vanilla

This recipe is SO EASY. Put enough water in the pan to boil but not touch the bottom of the bowl that you nest on top. Or use a real double boiler if you have one. Put the butter in the bowl first and let it melt. Then dump the rest of the ingredients in the bowl and stir until there are no lumps left. Pour into an 8x8 greased dish or foil pan. Let chill in the fridge overnight. Plan to share with friends so you don't eat the whole pan of fudge by yourself!

**When I was little, I got a tape recorder for Christmas and my Gram recorded a little message for me. It said she hoped I got everything that I wanted for Christmas and I forget what else, and that she loves me. I have no idea where that tape has gone, but I will never ever forget it or her voice. My niece is named after her. Marjorie. ♥

Review: Canyon Bakehouse

2010-12-08T21:37:00.003-05:00

I have a confession to make... I've been eating gluten filled bread

.......

Ha Ha. FOOLED YOU!!

It's Canyon Bakehouse! But it looks like regular bread, doesn't it?? It feels like real bread too. The texture of this bread is more "normal" than any other gluten free bread that I've ever tried. So, how does it taste? Well, I hate to admit this, but I was disappointed. It smells and tastes like gluten free bread. I am not sure what flour/starch it is that causes this distinct smell but this bread definitely has it. Udi's does not. But seriously, a tiny tweak and this bread would be out of this world amazing. Have you tried it? What do you think??

Gluten Free Dairy Free Corn Chowder

2010-12-07T22:20:00.002-05:00

This is a week full of all of my favorite foods from my childhood. Corn chowder was a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. Sweet corn, potatoes and onions. So simple, yet sooooo delicious. To this day, potatoes corn and onions are still some of my favorite foods. Especially potatoes! I have not had my Mom's corn chowder in at least 10 years. I'm sure more than that. I thought I had the recipe but when I looked last night I realized that I don't. I'm not even sure if my mom has a recipe anymore. I am pretty sure hers called for either evaporated milk or condensed. Either way, I needed to find an alternative.

This week my new favorite discovery is So Delicious Coconut Milk. I've found that not only is it thick and creamy, it doesn't leave any coconut taste in the finished recipes. I decided to use a basic corn chowder recipe from All Recipes.com and use the coconut milk in place of regular milk. I also subbed Earth Balance for the butter. The finished product was a little less creamy than my mom's version plus I used red potatoes with the skin on in bigger chunks as opposed to peeled idaho potatoes in small chunks. Other than that, it was delicious. Next time, I think I will use a little less water and So Delicious Creamer instead of milk.

And the breadsticks? Schar of course! My favorite part of Mom's corn chowder was crushing up saltine crackers and letting them soak up the chowder. The Schar breadsticks were a great substitute for the saltines. Next time I will use Schar table crackers but the store I was at last night didn't carry them. I am loving this stroll down memory lane during this holiday season.

Adventures in Gluten Free Chicken Pie

2010-12-06T11:10:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love chicken pot pie. I grew up eating Mrs. Budd's and am on a mission to re-create it gluten and dairy free. A while back I posted my first attempt, which was not a huge success but not necessarily a failure either. On Friday night I decided to try again. This time I came so much closer on the filling! But it was Friday night and I was tired so I decided to make "biscuits" instead of a crust. Check out those white hockey pucks:

I have a biscuit recipe tagged from a friend of mine (I won't say who, I don't her to be associated with this utter failure). It was so easy, flour and water! Really? Awesome! So I mixed the flour and the water and baked those little balls of dough and I got... white hockey pucks. What went wrong? The recipe called for biscuit mix. Not plain flour. Oy.

After eating the delicious filling, I was mad that I had no bready type thing to go with it so I tried biscuits again. This time with more ingredients. I came close, but they were a little flat and a little too hard. Fresh out of the oven with butter though, not too bad.

I had some filling left over so I decided to try again. This time I used a pie crust recipe, Better Batter, Salt, Earth Balance, and water. Simple and easy. Chilled it, rolled it out, topped the leftovers, baked for 40 minutes.

Flaky, buttery, awesome. A little gritty and gluten free tasting but for my first pie crust EVER (GF or not) I'm pretty happy with it. I might try it the traditional way with shortening next time to see the difference. This was definitely a triumph. Not quite Mrs. Budd's yet but getting there. I'm still going to hold off on the recipe until I perfect it. Stay tuned!

Best Fluffy Gluten Free & Dairy Free Pancakes So Far!

2010-12-05T11:57:00.003-05:00

I don't make pancakes at home very often, but when I do, I want light and fluffy and delicious pancakes. I could just buy one of the pre-made mixes from any of the GF Flour mix makers out there but I don't want to have both a box of flour mix and a box of pancake mix. I've been working my way through a 5lb box of Better Batter so I'm determined to use it instead of using mixes for all of my baked goods. I have made some pretty good pancakes and some pretty bad pancakes since going GF but never quite hit the nail on the head. I'm so excited that this morning I FINALLY found a recipe that works.

You see, I kept google searching "pancakes" but this morning I searched "fluffy pancakes" and TA-DA! Presto, the first result turned out to be the winner. I have an All Recipes account and kept searching "pancakes" and could never find what I wanted. Lo and behold, add the word Fluffy and you find a winner. I used this recipe and substituted better batter, rice milk and earth balance. The faux butter milk (rice milk & vinegar) I think is the key to light and fluffy pancakes. The taste and texture of these is perfect. This is definitely the recipe I'll be using from now on!

Review: Enjoy Life Foods Chocolate Bars

2010-12-03T13:00:00.004-05:00

Chocolate makes my world go round. Always has, probably always will. I used to be all about the milk chocolate and I hated the dark stuff. Cadbury Dairy Milk bar was my absolute favorite, but I also loved hershey's, milky way, snickers, twix, m&m's... When I went gluten free I had to kick out more than half of my favorites. The twix was the toughest. Then when I discovered that dairy had to go as well, I was devastated. How was I going to survive without chocolate???? For a while, I just didn't eat it at all. Then, I found Enjoy Life chocolate bars. A "milk" chocolate bar with no casein? Sold. I wrote about them here. If you read that post, you'll see what I mean:

"I am not a huge fan of dark chocolate and this tastes closer to that than regular milk chocolate but I still liked it. I saved the regular rice milk chocolate bar for today. They do also have a dark chocolate version if that's your sorta thing. I'm trying to stay away from chocolate in general but once in awhile you've just gotta have some!"

Eventually I started giving the dark stuff a shot since the dairy free "milk" chocolate never really did much for me. I find most of it just tastes like too much sugar. And you know what? I love it now. I prefer dark to milk. And all those antioxidants! Heh. Recently the folks at Enjoy Life contacted me about reviewing their chocolate bars and I was happy to accept a few complimentary treats. Of course I always give an honest review. What I love about Enjoy Life is that their foods are free of not only gluten, but the 8 most common allergens: wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish and shellfish. They are also made without casein, potato, sesame and sulfites. Ingredients have ben additionally tested to ensure strict allergen control standards are met.

Enjoy Life offers three different types of chocolate bars, dairy free milk chocolate, dairy free milk chocolate with rice crunchies, and dark chocolate. I've happily eaten all of them. They are all very good. I love the one with the rice crunchies because I used to love Nestle's and this is the closest substitute I've found. Interestingly enough, my favorite is the dark chocolate! (pictured above) The dark chocolate contains simply evaporated cane juice, natural chocolate liquor and non-dairy cocoa butter. Perfect! These bars are also the only ones I've found that are the size of a normal candy bar. Most dark chocolate is sold in the larger size. These are great to just grab for a treat. I definitely recommend them!

Something Sweet without Wheat

2010-12-02T18:00:00.000-05:00

Lately I've noticed some new gluten and dairy free baked treats popping up at my local natural food store. You all know that I avoid sweets.. pfft.. but I just couldn't resist these. A new company called Something Sweet Without Wheat is on the scene, made up of two sisters that grew up baking together. One of the sisters was diagnosed with wheat and diary sensitivities as an adult and then they found out that their children were sensitive too. And so the company was born!

I am ALL about supporting new and local GF companies. I actually already tried the double chocolate chip cookies a week or two ago but they were gone before I got a photo so I didn't write about them. This time I knew I had to slow it down a bit. No need to inhale the cookies the minute I get home from the store. Or in the car ride home from the store. Right.

The list of local shops that are carrying their goodies is growing, I'm so happy to see! These cookies are great, the taste is very good and the texture is awesome. They are light and chewy and not crumbly at all. I really enjoyed them. I look forward to trying their other products soon!

Top Chef All Stars

2010-12-02T09:34:00.006-05:00

Did you watch the season 8 opener last night? I LOVE Top Chef, I think it's the best chef competition show on TV. I have watched most of the seasons but my favorite of all time is Season 6 - Las Vegas and my favorite contestants are the Voltaggio Brothers, specifically Bryan Voltaggio.

Michael (winner) and Bryan Voltaggio of Top Chef Season 6

I am very excited for this season of All Stars, the cast is awesome. I am not sure who I'm pulling for to win yet but I think I'm leaning towards Jennifer who came in 4th on Season 6. Who are your Top Chef favorites?

Gluten Free Mustard Breaded Porkchops

2010-12-01T19:55:00.005-05:00

Edited to add: As it turns out, I DID get in. I don't know what happened, but this actually is an official submission to Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger! I'm leaving the post as I originally wrote it. Enjoy!

I was all excited to participate in my first Adopt a Gluten Free Blogger event which Sea over at Book of Yum started back in 08. I've seen so many of these posts and I thought that it would be a great way to kick start my mission to cook more recipes. The rules are that more than one person cannot adopt the same blogger in a given month. I swear I checked the list of already chosen bloggers but somehow I missed that Jill Elise of Hey, That Tastes Good was already taken! So now, here I sit, ready to post my first ever entry and I checked back to the original post to make sure I'm following the rules and I didn't see my name in the list. I looked and looked and looked and guess what... Jill was the 3rd blogger listed, definitely before I picked her. Well, I can't say I'm surprised, her blog is awesome. I have 60 of her posts saved in my Bloglines reader to try. Her photos are mouth-watering and the recipes are simple but delicious. This particular recipe was something I wanted to try because it reminds me of Not Your Average Joe's mustard breaded porkchops that are soooooo gluteny delicious. I swear I haven't had them since before going GF....

I'm disappointed that this doesn't count as my first entry in AaGFB but I am happy that I made these. They are SO delicious. Taste just like the gluteny restaurant version. And so easy to make! I served them along with roasted red potatoes and brussels sprouts. This dinner was the best home cooked meal I've had in a long time, aside from Thanksgiving of course. This recipe will definitely become a part of my repertoire!

Review: Udi's Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

2010-11-29T20:29:00.002-05:00

I haven't had a cinnamon roll in years. I figured Thanksgiving was a great time to give these a try since these are not something I would buy for myself otherwise. For a frozen cinnamon roll with icing that comes out of a plastic baggie, these are pretty good. I did put them in the microwave for about 20 seconds with the icing on top to heat them up and melt the icing a bit. The flavor of the dough is great, doesn't taste gluten free, but it's a bit dry and the edges kind of hard. The icing was clearly dairy free, a little too spicy for my liking but good. This is probably my least favorite product of Udi's, but that's not necessarily a bad thing because I LOVE all of Udi's products. These I just like, and probably won't buy them for myself again. But then again, I probably won't buy any brand of cinnamon rolls. I do plan on making them myself someday though so keep any eye out for that post! Now, if only Udi's would come out with onion bagels... that would make me very, very happy.

Overwhelmed with Options

2010-11-29T11:57:00.002-05:00

I don't post a lot of recipes here anymore. In the beginning I was always cooking (or more likely, baking) something new and exciting. Lately I've been all about quick and easy and convenient ::cough Chipotle cough:: and I have not been doing nearly enough cooking at home. The problem is, I have SO MANY recipes that I want to try that I get overwhelmed and just go with the same old staples. I have over 700 blog posts tagged in my reader, Carol Fenster's cookbook of 1,000 recipes plus a bunch of other cookbooks and new blog posts are popping up every day. It's crazy!! Also, I have a hundred variations of the same recipes. How many recipes for onion rings do I really need anyway?? I'm going to try to plan a recipe a week to get started. Since I typically cook for one and I'm not home every night, one recipe usually gives me 3 or 4 nights worth of food and depending on the recipe I can freeze it for later. Plus I have to keep my costs down. But I think that cooking at home will help me tighten up my food budget anyway. So... where do I begin??

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Recap

2010-11-26T16:57:00.003-05:00

My third Gluten and Dairy free Thanksgiving was a success. My Mom is the Thanksgiving Goddess so I mostly leave it up to her but I try to have plenty of extras on hand since I usually stay with my parents for a couple of days. I took Wednesday off from work to go down and help Mom prepare. She basically makes all the traditional fare, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, green beans, corn, gravy. Apple and pumpkin pies for dessert. She's good about modifying some things for me but in general, it's up to me to make sure I have things to eat. My favorite parts of Turkey Day are the stuffing, gravy and apple pie. She made the gravy with cornstarch so that I could have it and it was sooooo good.

Our favorite stuffing is Stove Top so I've been on a mission over the last couple of years to re-create it. I came pretty close this year:

I used Udi's bread, onions, celery, garlic, chicken stock and Bell's seasoning. It didn't come out exactly as I'd hoped. It was a little dry and crumbly, I prefer a more cakey texture like the original. When it came time to serve it up, I ended up mixing an egg with some water, mixing it into the stuffing and cooking it longer. This definitely helped. I will definitely modify this recipe next year to see if I can get it just right.

For as long as I can remember I've been helping my mom to bake the apple pie from a Betty Crocker recipe from her old school, orange 3 ring binder cookbook. It's a basic, traditional apple pie recipe. I could use a gf pie crust and make it the same way but this year I ran out of time. I bought a Whole Foods GF Bakehouse apple pie. It's not dairy free but that's ok. It was delicious.

I have a lot to be thankful for and this Thanksgiving was awesome as always. The most important part - the family. I am very lucky to have such an awesome family!! Lots more family events coming up in December and of course Christmas is now only a month away! More posts to come, Happy Holidays everyone!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars - Gluten and Dairy Free

2010-11-18T20:32:00.002-05:00

Ahh the holidays. It's the time of year when I feel like if I consume so much as one more sugar crystal I might explode. Yet I keep eating... and telling myself it will be January 1st soon enough. This is the first time in over 6 years that I've worked in an environment with a lot of people. A lot of people that love to celebrate. With more sugar. Any day is a good day for an ice cream party, thank goodness I can't eat ice cream. But wait, they got me Italian Ice!

Today was our Thanksgiving Dessert party. The best way to not feel like an outcast at the party is to make something that I can eat. They all know it's gluten free but everyone was nice enough to try them anyway. How could you not want to try these, look at all the chocolate!! They were a big hit, thumbs up all around and the pan was almost totally polished off. It made me feel so good!! And they were so easy to make!

I'm not sure where I got this recipe so I'll post it here, hopefully I haven't stolen it from anywhere too concerned about copyright infringement... if so, send me a message and I'll take it down!

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Squares ~ Gluten and Dairy Free

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (I used Better Batter)
1 T. pumpkin-pie spice
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp (I used Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread)
1 ¼ cups sugar (I used 1 cup)
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (This is a LOT of chips. 10 oz would be fine)

Preheat oven to 350. Line bottom and sides of 9 x 13 inch baking pan with foil

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

Review: Amy's Gluten and Dairy Free Burrito

2010-11-17T20:46:00.002-05:00

I loooooooove Mexican food, which is a really good thing because it's such a gluten-free friendly style of cooking. I just recently read that my favorite Mexican restaurant from my hometown has a GF menu so I can't wait to go back! I also spend a fortune at Chipotle... Of course (GF) burritos and tacos aren't really the best authentic Spanish cuisine but I still love them. Anyway, I heard that Amy's had come out with gluten and dairy free burritos so I was really excited to try them. I was even more excited when I saw the box in my regular grocery store freezer buuuuut it was empty. Empty!! I guess there are more gf/df people around here than I thought.. that also happen to love burritos. Then I was in Whole Foods the other day and what do you know, there they were and they were on sale. SCORE! I grabbed two.

Once I was ready to eat one I read the cooking instructions, I know that Amy's foods tend to be better when cooked in the oven but I was hungry and it takes almost an hour to heat up a (very small) single burrito. I went the microwave route for the first one. As expected, it tasted good, but was a bit rubbery and dried out. So the next time I cooked it in the oven. And waited. For 40 minutes. For a snack sized burrito. But hey, it tasted pretty good this time!! The sides did split during both cooking methods but I eat them with a knife and fork anyway. I obviously added some salsa and guacamole (my favorite!) on the side which were a nice compliment. I would definitely keep a couple of these in the freezer.

I have some more posts coming soon, I just baked some pumpkin chocolate chip bars, I am eating Canyon Bakehouse bread for the first time this week, and of course I'll tell you all what's in store for Thanksgiving dinner. This can certainly be a tough time of year for us with all the temptations out there but if we're smart and plan ahead it can be just as fun and delicious for us too!!

I'm still here!!

2010-11-08T12:43:00.004-05:00

Well, it's been a while! I miss this place and all you guys out there. The new job doesn't really allow much time for blogging so I've fallen out of the habit. I've been thinking a lot lately though about wanting to get back to it. I actually really want to write a post about the quality of gluten free bread nowadays. Wow have we come a long way baby!! That picture above, almost makes you think I've been snacking on a sub from the corner sub shop right? Tasted like it! That's a Schar sub sandwich roll and oh my gosh is it delicious. They come with instructions to bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes and enjoy. I haven't had a steak sub in soooo long so when I saw these at the store this is the first thing that came to mind. I LOVE subs and miss them and when I saw these rolls I knew exactly what to do.

Currently my favorite breads are Udi's, Schar, and this local bakery called All Can Eat. I buy a loaf of All Can Eat Multi-Grain bread each week and generally have 2 slices toasted with an egg over-easy for breakfast each day. I love it! Long forgotten are the days of that awful "gluten-free" smell coming from the toaster. I am going to attempt to make gluten free stuffing for Thanksgiving again this year and this time I plan on using Udi's white bread. Lately I've been craving a Joan's English Muffin but it looks like they've fallen out of the market, I'm sure because they are so expensive. There are just too many great alternatives out there, I wish Joan would come down on the price so that she could stay competitive! Those really are my favorite English Muffins.

Anyway... hopefully I'll get some more posts up soon. Other than breads I haven't been eating anything new and/0r exciting. I've noticed that Stop & Shop is really stepping up their game, now carrying Udi's! They are also carrying Amy's GF/CF burritos but are selling out like hot cakes, I want to try them!! Also, anyone know where I can score a box of GF Bisquick?? Can't find it anywhere!!

Recipe: Gluten Free, Dairy Free French Toast

2010-08-22T21:08:00.004-04:00

Growing up, one of my favorite things was having "breakfast for dinner." Most of the time this meant my Mom pulling a tray table up to the dining room table, setting up the electric griddle and cooking French Toast. She would whip together eggs and milk, dip white bread in the mixture, cook it up on the griddle and serve topped with butter, syrup and cinnamon & sugar. She used to keep this little yellow tupperware container of the prepared cinnamon & sugar mixture in the cabinet. It had a little flip top so that you could pour it right onto the French Toast. Thinking about it now, I realized that this is more like dessert for dinner! She'd cook away until the kids were done and then she'd finally make some for herself. My Dad rarely partook in this tradition, he said it was too sweet for him. He'd make a sandwich or have a bowl of cereal instead.

Since going gluten free I have only tried to recreate this recipe once. I can't remember which bread I used but it was a total failure. Last weekend it suddenly dawned on me that Udi's would be the perfect bread to try this again, and I was right on. It was still very different than the original but as that photo above shows, it looked exactly the same. It tasted awesome too despite the fact that the bread is gluten free, the milk is almond milk, the syrup is pure maple (instead of "table syrup" aka high fructose corn syrup) the butter is Earth Balance, and I didn't put cinnamon & sugar on it this time. This is best served on a rainy Sunday morning in front of the tv with a glass of OJ. Enjoy!

Mom's French Toast

gluten and dairy free

1 Egg

As much almond milk as you like

2 sliced of Udi's white bread

Earth Balance Buttery Spread

Pure Maple Syrup

Heat a skillet over medium to med-high heat

Whisk together the egg and almond milk

Soak the bread in the milk making sure both sides are covered

Place slices in the skillet and cook on one side until golden brown

Flip and repeat

Serve with buttery spread and maple syrup

This post is part of what I hope will be a series of posts involving a new recipe every week. I have started a new blog called Jen's Life to the Fullest which is basically my Bucket List. It is a list of things I want to do at some point in my life. Some are lofty, some very basic but I always have a ton of ideas and I have a habit of forgetting or getting lazy. This is a way for me to stay focused. I hope you'll check it out!

Like Me!

2010-08-04T10:16:00.003-04:00

Ok, I give in. Everyone's on facebook now so I went ahead and set up a page. I keep my personal FB page private for friends and family only but some GF peeps are good investigators and have found me. I talk enough about the gf life with my friends and family as it is so I don't want to start spamming them with stuff from here on FB so I'm keeping the personal page private but if you want to keep in touch with me via FB just LIKE the A Life of Sugar and Spice page! Link is in the left sidebar. I do have more posts coming soon. I have to tell you about the GIANT whoopie pie that's sitting in my desk right now that I got from a new local GF bakery! That post is coming soon!

Life gets in the way

2010-07-28T21:26:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posts!! I've been keeping really busy with the two jobs, bowling league and lots of summer fun. I took my first vacation day from the new job on Tuesday to spend some time with my aunts that are visiting from Colorado and Missouri. Another aunt, cousin, cousin's friend and my sister went as well. We went to the beach of course! It was a perfectly beautiful day for it too. I had a wonderful time.

There's a great little food shack at this beach but of course the only option for me is basically a piece of grilled chicken sitting on a lettuce leaf, so I made sure to stock up before heading out. I put together a great salad, a banana, some Bhuja snacks, pretzels and snickerdoodles for dessert. It's at the point where I rarely feel deprived anymore as the rest of the family was eating fried seafood and french fries, I actually prefer to eat a salad. I'm feeling a whole lot healthier these days! I've lost most of the weight from the meds with little effort. I'd like to lose a little more but this is where the effort part comes in and I just don't care all that much about it. I'm just happy to be feeling great.

I don't have a whole lot of new things to write about, my routine is pretty much just that - routine. I eat the same things all the time. Mostly fresh foods that are naturally gluten free, and I always have Udi's on hand. I do have a couple of posts up my sleeves so hopefully I'll get around to them soon! I hope you're all having a great summer!!!!

It's official

2010-07-02T12:04:00.002-04:00

My niece is allergic to dairy. When she was born, she was horribly colic and had terrible baby acne and my sister just didn't know what to do. I practically begged her to take her off of dairy formula and when she finally did, Maggie immediately got better. I was so excited, my sister not so much. She doesn't want Maggie to suffer because of a food allergy, and dairy is in EVERYTHING. I understand where she's coming from but being an allergenista myself, I'm like, Hey this is no sweat! The doctors said she might grow out of it, give it some time and re-introduce the dairy. Fast forward 6 months...

Tuesday night she was at a friend's house and the friend gave her a baby cookie. Immediately Maggie started breaking out around her mouth in a rash. My sister thought it was odd but didn't really do anything about it. She's been wanting to transition Maggie off of formula and wanted to put her on regular milk. I've been telling her over and over to not be surprised if she doesn't tolerate it. Well, the other night she gave her a bottle with 2 oz of milk and 2 oz of soy formula. Lo and behold, she broke out immediately and not long after that she tossed that milk right back up... (sorry). She checked the website of the baby cookies and sure enough, there is milk in them. The pediatrician says she still may grow out of it and try again in 6 months. She asked me if I thought it was ok to try her on yogurt in like a month. I was like NO!!! How are you going to ask your dairy allergic sister if she thinks it's ok to give a dairy allergic baby some yogurt?? Silly girl. I know that she's just thinking into the future of all the foods that have milk that Maggie won't be able to have and is feeling that pain that we all feel when we find out that we can't have mac & cheese anymore. I get it. It would be great if Maggie grows out of this, but I'm guessing that she won't. She has a pretty obvious and immediate reaction to it which is just as bad now as it was when she was born. Thankfully she has me to help her find great alternatives for her! If she didn't understand what I go through before, she certainly will now. She's being really stubborn about it though which is surprising to me, I think she's still really in that old school mindset that dairy is essential for optimum health which we all here know that is not the case! She'll be just fine.

Review: Schar Shortbread Cookies

2010-06-30T14:32:00.002-04:00

I've been meaning to try these cookies for a long time, and after reading about them on Heidi's blog I couldn't resist. I meant to try to make these into twix bars but I've already eaten more than half the bag. I'm keeping them in my desk at work so I can grab a couple after lunch. Let me just preface this by saying that I do not typically care for shortbread cookies, but I was at the grocery store the other day and they just sounded really good. And they are! I really like these, they are light and crunchy and great for something sweet after lunch. I tend to eat a lot of salad at lunch time and I always want something to kind of cleanse my palate afterwards and these are great for that. Schar makes some awesome products and I'm rarely disappointed with them. Thanks Schar!!

Beaten like a red-headed step child.

2010-06-25T08:54:00.002-04:00

First of all, read THIS article. Not even our natural food sources are safe anymore and I'm basically convinced that no matter how hard I try, none of the food I eat is completely safe. So I'm just going to do the best I can.

Second, I have bruises. Always. All over my legs. I don't know how they get there most of the time. Lately I've been elevating my legs at work by resting them on the edge of my trash barrel and this morning I noticed that I now have bruises on the back of both of my legs where I rest them on the barrel. Really? I have big veins and thin skin, you can see my veins coursing through my legs, but is that really all this is? I've always bruised easily but lately it seems a bit excessive. So I'm writing about it here, to all my autoimmune friends, to see if any of you have experienced this? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Review: Udi's Chocolate Muffins and Turtle Mountain Ice Cream

2010-06-15T09:01:00.002-04:00

In my effort to avoid too much sugar, I asked the awesome folks at Udi's if I could sample their chocolate chocolate chip muffins along with the pizza crust they offered to send me. They were so kind to oblige. I have been waiting for these to show up in my stores but at the moment I can only ever find the Blueberry (awesome) and the Lemon Streusel (haven't tried yet but I know I will love them too). Three out of four of these were consumed just plain, warmed up in the microwave for 20 seconds and they are so delicious. Addictive. Chocolatey awesomeness. For one of these little delights, I decided to make a dessert out of it. As if these aren't already dessert enough on their own. I heated one up in the microwave and topped it off with some Turtle Mountain Purely Decadent Coconut Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl ice cream. Wow this was such a good idea!!!! If I were ever going to a party where there would be cake and ice cream and I wanted to be able to have something for myself, I'd totally bring this! This ice cream is so so so good, the first time I bought it, when I got it home it had just melted enough that it was perfect to eat and I ate the entire pint.... I swear, I really am doing better about eating a lot less sugar but once in a while you've got to treat yourself!

Review: Udi's Gluten Free Pizza Crust

2010-06-14T15:53:00.002-04:00

I have been eating a lot of pizza lately!! Ever since I discovered Daiya cheese it's my new favorite thing. Last week I posted that I made some pizza using Kinnikinnick crust and the awesome folks at Udi's offered to send me some of their crust to try since I hadn't found it yet at my local shops. The Kinnikinnick crust was great but the Udi's crust is even better!!! It's thin and crunchy and doesn't get mushy under the toppings. I piled this pizza high with sauce, slices of tomatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms and both mozzarella and cheddar style Daiya cheese.. oh and also a couple slices of Boar's Head bacon!! Delicious. The only thing I noticed about this crust that I don't love is that it's got a lot of dust on it, like extra flour dust. I do like a little flour dust on my pizza crust but I thought it was a little excessive here. But really, other than that, this is another amazing Udi's product!!!

Microwave Ovens

2010-06-13T11:48:00.002-04:00

Have you ever thought about what a microwave does to your food? I just watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and now I'm reading articles online about microwaves and chemical structure and I'm starting to think this is another piece to the autoimmunity puzzle. Very curious.

The Manwife Chronicles

2010-06-03T10:50:00.004-04:00

I randomly stumbled across this guy today on Twitter and he's new to the world of Celiac and the gluten free life. He is a funny guy and writes a blog about being a "manwife" after being laid off. This particular post about Celiac was hilarious and I thought you'd all get a kick out of it. Enjoy!

Revew: Udi's Gluten Free Bagels

2010-06-02T12:44:00.002-04:00

Whole Foods is finally carrying Udi's products! I found the bread and muffins there last week but yesterday I found the bagels. I don't generally care that much about bagels but I just had to try these. I left them out overnight to defrost and then toasted one up this morning and made an egg sandwich with it. I am certainly impressed. These are soft, bready, delicious bagels. They don't have that crunchy outside like a traditional bagel but still, excellent. I didn't even bother looking at the nutritional info because I know these aren't a great choice but there's only four in the bag so that's not too bad. I won't buy them very often since I don't often buy bagels in general, but whenever I get the urge, I definitely will grab these! Udi's is the best! I made pizza last night with Kinnikinnick crust but I thought about making bagel pizzas, now that would be awesome! Pizza post coming soon!

Daiya Casein Free Cheese... amazing.

2010-05-26T20:59:00.003-04:00

Tonight I made buffalo chicken nachos. Well kinda, they were supposed to be buffalo chicken quesadillas but the tortillas were a major fail when I didn't pay attention to the recipe... so I used tortilla chips instead. Every Thursday at work is buffalo chicken day. It's a big deal and I am always a little bit sad that I'm missing out on the gluteny, breaded, buttery, spicy, fried deliciousness that is buffalo chicken tenders. I'm really working hard at staying true to the gf/cf diet so I decided that since tomorrow is buffalo chicken day, I would make my own!

I really wanted quesadillas and I have a big box of Better Batter that I've been meaning to use so I thought I'd try the awesome tortilla recipe from their website. This normally would be an easy recipe to make but became a major undertaking because it just so happened to be 95 degrees here. I don't have air conditioning. Who takes on a cooking project on a day like today? Me. I also have never made buffalo sauce before either, and only within the past couple of years have I actually even become a fan of the stuff. The motivator for this project though, was the cheese. I haven't had cheese melted on anything in a long time and I heard about this amazing product called Daiya and I just had to try it.

Recently I've been reading a lot about Daiya on the blogs and people are raving about it, so I went to Whole Foods today and bought a pack of each of the cheddar and mozzarella versions. Daiya is a dairy, casein, soy, rice and gluten free cheese alternative. It's vegan and also free of artificial ingredients and preservatives. The main ingredient in the cheddar is tapioca and/or arrowroot flours. Weird huh? Not only does it melt and stretch, it actually tastes like the real stuff!!! I'm amazed.

I broiled some chicken tenders, made the sauce (melt hot sauce and earth balance together, viola!) and set to work on the tortillas, but the dough just wouldn't come together. I couldn't figure out why and was in too much of a rush so I gave up on that. Put the chicken in the buffalo sauce, put that on top of some chips, topped it off with cheddar cheese and melted it in the microwave. Put a dollop of CF sour cream (Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream) on the side to cut the heat of the buffalo sauce. Oh my gosh this was so yummy. And almost completely all natural and organic, not to mention completely gluten and dairy free. Cheesy, creamy, buttery goodness without the stomach ache. I took a picture but it is VERY unappetizing so I'm not going to post it, but it tasted so good. I am totally amazed by Daiya. It is excellent. I don't know how they turn flour and other ingredients into cheese that melts and stretches but they did it and it's awesome. I highly recommend it!

Well Hey There!

2010-05-24T11:20:00.002-04:00

What's happening in blogland?? I have been out of the loop, just took a little break from reading and writing. It's spring time and my calendar is just buzzing with fun things and unfortunately, blogging has taken a backseat. I have hundreds of unread posts in my reader! I will catch up soon. Work is going great and I really like my new job. I'm still working at the gym two nights a week and it's draining all of my energy. Oh, and I'm turning 30. On Friday. Yeah.

The good news is, my family and friends threw me a surprise 30th birthday party on Saturday night!! I was pretty sure my 30th was about to go by unnoticed so they really got me good. My mom even bought me Redbridge and made me a gf/cf cake! It was a great night. I had a few unmoderated comments so I'll get to those soon. I don't know if I'll be posting regularly but I just wanted to stop in for a quick update. I hope you are all doing well!!!

Love that dirty water, Boston you're my home!

2010-05-02T18:10:00.002-04:00

A major pipe burst yesterday. The pipe that supplies water to several Massachusetts cities and towns. They've shut down the main line and are now piping us water from emergency reservoirs which is fine for showering and toilet use but not fine for drinking. We are currently in a "Boil Water Order" which means we either boil our own tap water to make it consumable or we rush to the store and buy bottled water. I obviously chose the latter. Fortunately they had more than enough at my local store but many stores are totally sold out and I've heard that at one store people are literally shoving each other out of the way to get some. My office is within the boil zone also, and I drink water at work all day, so I had to stock up. They've closed the cafeteria for at least Monday, probably longer, and there will be no drinkable water in the building. The pipe is almost repaired but then they have to flush the lines and do all kinds of tests to make sure the water is safe. It's inconvenient but trust me I am not complaining. This incident made me think a little more carefully about situations like hurricane Katrina and wow I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to go through that.

This weekend I spent both Friday and Saturday night, out gallivanting until 2am. BOTH nights! I felt like I was 23 again. Today I'm exhausted, I even went shopping unshowered with no makeup, which is absolutely unheard of. I figured I'd just get in and get out and hopefully no one would notice. Figures that today would be the day that I felt the need to butt into someone else's conversation and make some new friends! I went to Good Health to grab a couple things and I overheard a woman talking to one of the shop staff members about gluten free items. I noticed that the staff person was recommending some items that aren't necessarily the best so I thought I'd step in and lend a hand. The woman was with her daughter who has been having some stomach trouble and she's been getting some testing done to try to figure it out and now she's going gluten free to see if it helps. I was more than happy to point out some of my favorite products and give her some recommendations. I also gave her the link to this blog so she could check it out and then check out some of the other amazing blogs that I have listed in the blogroll, specifically Heidi's blog because of the similar situation. I hope that her daughter feels better soon!!! If you're reading this, please feel free to email me at jen at a life of sugar and spice dot com! (also I wrote Heidi's link down wrong so click the link above!) It was a pleasure to meet you!

Misophonia

2010-04-29T09:23:00.002-04:00

Miso-what? Misophonia - a form of decreased sound tolerance. I just learned that this is an actual condition the other day and boy am I relieved... let me tell you why.

I have amazing hearing. If you are three rooms away from me and you drop a penny, I will hear it. If someone's smoke detector is going off two houses away, I will hear it. In fact, I will get out of bed in the middle of the night and go outside to make sure that it's a neighbor's house and not mine that is potentially on fire. Seriously. You might be thinking, wow, that's incredible! And you'd be right, it is pretty cool. For example, if you're standing across the room, whispering to your friend, there's a pretty good chance I can hear you. Good for me, maybe not for you, right? Sometimes it gets me in trouble though when I accidentally laugh out loud at what you said and then you know that I could hear you. "How on earth did you hear that??" Yeah, I get that a lot.

But there's something else that happens to me that I've always hated and can't control and before Tuesday I never understood why. The sound of chewing makes me crazy. Literally. I mean violently angry sometimes. You know how the sound of nails on a chalkboard sends shivers down your spine? Well, sometimes I actually feel as though my ears will bleed when I hear that sound. Noises that typically just annoy other people make me literally want to crawl out of my skin. And when I say literally, I mean LITERALLY. When I'm tired or if I just woke up I'm even more sensitive. It's the chewing though that causes me to turn green and break out of my clothes in an Incredible Hulk style rage.

Ever since I was little this has been a problem. Some people chew more loudly or awkwardly than others. For example, my Dad's mouth is like a cavern, I swear the crunching in there echoes. And my brother eats like a grazing cow, smacking and smooshing and ugh god it makes me shudder. The worst thing of all is crunching. Carrots, pretzels, chips, oh my goodness it rocks me to the core. If someone is eating cereal three rooms away with the doors closed in between I can STILL HEAR IT.

I knew when I started this job that this was going to be an issue. I have never been in an open workstation environment with a lot of other people. Every day someone that sits a few seats away snacks on chips. Someone will eat a salad or some pita chips. Another person eats carrots in the afternoon. I wonder if anyone has ever seen my head whip around to seek out the offender, or the glare that I send their way. I am ashamed to even admit this, but I seriously get so angry that I want to punch something, or someone... it is absolutely horrible.

If you've not experienced this, it's impossible to understand. You might be thinking, just get over it! Learn to deal with it! Ignore it! You're insane! Trust me, I've spent my entire life learning how to cope with this. Thankfully I am allowed to use earbuds at work so if I'm getting particularly sensitive, I just put the music on. If my Dad sits down in the living room with carrots, I leave the room. Fortunately, he understands and doesn't think I'm a total freak show. I noticed that my Mom will try to chew quietly, which actually just drives me even more insane because knowing that she's trying makes me pay more attention to it. Plus, when you try to chew quietly, you end up having to chew your food longer... I'd rather you just chomp on it and finish it fast! But really, this is my issue and I try very hard to not make it known that I'm dying on the inside. I have learned very well to cope with it. I even have been trying lately to desensitize myself to it. If I notice someone is chewing and it starts to bother me, I deliberately keep listening and calm myself down. Sometimes though I just can't handle it and I have to leave the room or plug in my earbuds. You know all of those tv commercials where they amplify the sound of someone chewing... like Twix or Raisin Bran Crunch or Kit Kat? I have to change the channel!

It's strange because my own chewing doesn't bother me. At all. Strange, huh? The other day I suddenly felt the need to do a google search about this issue and right away I learned about Misophonia. I couldn't believe that this is an actual neurological condition. It's not very well known or researched and some people think it's a psychological issue from a bad childhood experience. I had a great childhood. I don't believe that in my case, this is true. I do believe that it's a wiring problem somewhere in there. I just have super sensitive ears. Right now, someone is talking and she's particularly loud and it's annoying, but it is what it is. I just try really hard to not let it bother me and if it is bothering me, use the music. Now that I know that it's a legit condition, I feel a lot better about it and I actually think that maybe I can work on that desensitizing thing. It's worth a shot!

I wanted to write about this in case there are any other people out there that are dealing with this. Know that you are not alone! And you're not crazy, this is real! If you're a person that knows someone that talks about their sensitive ears, please have some compassion. It's a very painful condition and it's no joke. I'm really glad that I'm not just a psychopath though, seriously.

30 Days to a Food Revolution

2010-04-26T09:27:00.002-04:00

As it turns out, there already IS a 30 day whole food challenge going on in the gluten free world. Over at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang today is the first day and Shirley of Gluten Free Easily (love her!!) is kicking us off. Every day a different blogger will be guest blogging to share tips, recipes and food for thought. How awesome is this?!! I can't wait to read everyone's posts!

I went to Whole Foods yesterday and spent under $40. I didn't need a full cart of groceries but I still bought quite a bit of stuff, including two packages of grass fed beef. I'm very excited to be doing this. This week is kind of a slow start week since I want to use up some of the food I already have in the house. I'll be eating Udi's bread, tortilla chips (organic, only 3 ingredients), Eco-Planet hot cereal (organic, whole grains) and Amy's soup (also organic and all whole ingredients). Otherwise it will be all eggs, meat, veggies and probably some rice but usually I eat potatoes. For tonight I have some free range chicken defrosting in the fridge. The only food that I have that is not organic is the Udi's bread, but it is the whole grain version.

I hope that you are considering giving this a try as well!! Even if you don't, definitely subscribe to The W.H.O.L.E. Gang so you can read all about it and if you haven't done so already, sign Jamie Oliver's petition!!!!

Two Years

2010-04-25T11:09:00.002-04:00

I've written over 400 posts on this website since I began writing here two years ago. When I started this blog I just wanted to go gluten free, I didn't even know yet that I had Crohn's. What a journey it's been. I wouldn't be where I am today without this blog, without the internet, without all of you! I can't say thank you enough for all of your support, your own journeys and websites and tweets. It's been an amazing experience. I hope that my third year of writing will be just as successful. I'm hoping to make this site a wonderful resource, I've already created two lists for your reading pleasure. The Gluten and Other Allergen Free list and the Crohn's and Colitis list. These are loaded with awesome websites, mostly personal blogs, that I've been keeping in my blog reader. Finally I am able to share with all of you where I get my inspiration... which is from all of you!! If you are not on either list, please let me know!! I'll be happy to add you.

30 Days of Whole Foods: A Challenge

2010-04-24T14:50:00.005-04:00

Photo by Matt Hannon

I've been eating a lot of processed foods lately. It's hard to resist when there are so many new and absolutely delicious gluten and dairy free products coming out on the market. I do it for the sake of the blog! You all want to know what's good so I must try it ALL and write about it!!! Oy. Yesterday I bought some Udi's blueberry muffins and oh my gosh are they awesome, but like someone said - muffins are just ugly cupcakes. So true. The first ingredient on the package is sugar!

Recently I've been hearing some buzz on twitter and the blogs about cleaning up our diets and trying to stick to whole foods as much as possible. Happy Herbivore is hosting a 30 day challenge starting May 1st and she's inspired me to share this challenge with all of you. She is not gluten free but there's a google group over there with a sample shopping list that will give you an idea of what this challenge means.

I've been making big strides in how I eat lately but as usual with me I always take two steps forward and at least one step back. Going back to work has been a struggle when it comes to meal planning and eating properly. I know it's not difficult to do, I just have allowed myself to slack off and this has to stop. I'm going to get sick if I keep going the way I've been going!! That cannot happen.

I'm making this challenge my own and doing it in such a way that it's realistic for my lifestyle. For example, frozen vegetables and dried fruits will be allowed as long as they are organic and do not have added ingredients. Right now I have organic asparagus, broccoli and corn in my freezer and organic dried apples, raisins and apricots in my pantry. As long as there are no added salts or sugars and they are organic, this is good for me. I have done very well switching over to organic foods and that has been great and it's NOT that much more expensive, I swear! I spend the most money at Whole Foods when I buy a bunch of packaged foods, I bought some frozen gf/df lunches last week and those made a huge difference in the overall cost. I buy an 18 pack of free range, organic eggs that come from a local farm and they cost $3.18 which is a very fair price compared to regular eggs. The organic potatoes are the same price as the conventionally grown.

The plan is to eat eggs, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, and whole gluten free grains like brown rice and quinoa. I will use earth balance soy free spread sparingly, mostly just to cook my eggs and put a little bit on vegetables. I will use olive oil and coconut oil. Spices as long as they don't have additives, and kosher salt sparingly. Lots of water. I don't usually drink anything other than water so that won't be an issue. Maybe I'll make some fresh squeezed OJ one of these days!

I think that this is an important way to eat forever, not just for 30 days, this was just a good way to give me that little push that I needed. Due to this challenge, I will not be accepting products from vendors to sample and review. While I have appreciated the chance to do product reviews, this is always the thing that throws me off. Just because they are gluten free, dairy free, and even organic, doesn't mean they are necessarily healthy. I have eaten chocolate every single day for weeks now and that's just not good.

I hope that you will consider giving this challenge a try. Feel free to join the google group with Happy Herbivore, or do this on your own. Write about it on your blog, spread the word, everyone should be eating this way!! I love what Jamie Oliver is doing with his Food Revolution and I feel that this is just an extension of that. I'm not waiting until May 1 to start this, I'm just going to do it now and keep going forever!

Coming soon...

2010-04-23T13:48:00.002-04:00

So you might notice some changes going on around here over the next few years (cause that's how long it's probably going to take me to finish them). I've added in the right sidebar a list of page links, my story, reviews, links, etc. The plan is to actually put something on these pages to make this blog easier to navigate. I also plan to add tags to my posts to make this site easier to search. Right now that little search box in the sidebar is pretty useless since essentially none of my posts are tagged. I also have every intention of compiling a complete blogroll, the current one hasn't been updated in a very long time. So please be patient as I go through these changes, hopefully it won't take me until 2011!!!

Review: Newman's Own Organics

2010-04-21T15:43:00.006-04:00

Recently I posted a half-hearted review of Newman's Own Organics Dark Chocolate. Well, they saw it and they asked if I'd like to sample and review some other gluten and dairy free products. And I kindly declined. Yeah right... So a few days later I received a big box FULL of goodies!!! I had been emailing back and forth with my contact at NOO to make sure everything I received would in fact be gf/df and I was surprised at how many items I received. They sent me chocolate bars, chocolate cups, breath mints, dried fruit, popcorn, and soy crisps all in a variety of flavors. Of course I dove into the chocolate first. Because that's all I really care about in this world.

I received chocolate bars and chocolate cups, the chocolate cups used to be vegan but the recipe recently changed and now they do contain dairy. My contact was looking at the old vegan list and didn't realize that they now contained dairy. I told her I'd share them with my co-workers. But I ate them. Stop shaking your head at me!!! I'm weak to free samples! (Sally, don't blame yourself, this is all MY fault!)

And let me just say, they are so good!! But of course the star of the show is the dark chocolate bars.

Which I already wrote about. Delicious.

But the one that surprised me the most was the soy crisps.

I actually try to avoid soy too, not because of an intolerance I just am unsure about the safety of soy in large quantities. And since a ton of our food contains soy, I like to avoid it. But I did eat these and I loved them so much. Crunchy, light little bits of goodness. Barbeque flavored or lightly salted. I love BBQ flavored anything! I also received the cinnamon and sugar flavor but I'm holding out on those.

I haven't tried any of the mints or dried fruits or popcorn yet but I'm sure I'll get around to them eventually. I just wanted to get this review up so you all could check out some of the products that I have tried already.

Review: Aleia's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-04-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

Well, first let me just say that these are NOT dairy free. And it's a darn shame because I LOVE these cookies. I used to see them in Stop & Shop every single time I went shopping and they beckoned to me but I never bought them. I had checked the package before and for some reason had it in my head that they were dairy free so when I WON the contest a couple months ago on Twitter I didn't think twice. As soon as they arrived I dove right into them. I ate almost half the bag before actually looking at the ingredients list again and sure enough - dairy. Ooops!!! This was totally my fault. Lesson learned. Fortunately I didn't pay for my mistake and was able to finish off the entire bag (in under two days) without issue. Oh they are so so yummy. They are a crunchy, crumbly, satisfying cookie. And no, I don't feel bad that I entered and won this contest despite the fact that there are other people out there that are not dairy intolerant that could've won instead! Sorry! ;-) These were just too good to pass up. Check out Aleia's website, blog and twitter!

Review: Udi's Gluten Free Bread

2010-04-13T09:00:00.001-04:00

I can't believe I didn't write this post sooner. I had every intention, and I actually thought I already did, but apparently not! Do you see that beautiful sandwich up there? That bread looks suspiciously gluten-like doesn't it? That's funny, because it tastes suspiciously gluten-like also, but it is NOT! I'm guessing most of you have either heard of it or tried it by now, since I put off this post for so long, but THIS is the ultimate gluten free bread. If you haven't already heard of them, then you MUST go check out Udi's Gluten Free Foods! This particular sandwich is made on the whole grain bread but they also offer white sandwich bread as well. As you can see, this bread is not toasted. How insane is that? A store bought gluten free bread that doesn't need to be toasted? Well not only that, but get this - you can defrost the whole loaf and just leave it on the counter. Seriously!!

I'm trying to keep processed foods of any sort to a minimum and even though this bread is gluten and dairy free (also soy and nut free) it's still processed. I usually just have it in the morning with my egg(s) and that works out great. I had been looking for a bread that I could just eat by itself as toast and this is the absolute perfect one. The taste and texture are exactly what I wanted. Udi's also offers many other gf/df products and I hope to try more of them very soon!!