BRRRR!!!  I am freezing!  I can’t tell you how much I hate being cold.  I currently have on 2 shirts & a fleece, jeans and wool socks.  My toes get numb, specifically my freakishly long 2nd toe on each foot.  Then, once those are numb, the rest of my toes must feel bad for the others because they join right in.  My nose runs.  My skin is dry.  Ick!  It is 14 today and we are going to be in a heat wave close to the end of the week with temps in the high 20s!  Yay! 

Manda from Asparagus Thin is hosting this week’s gluten-free menu swap with “movie themed food” as the theme of the week.  I can’t think of any movie themed foods that I make off the top of my head.  Well, unless you count tossing microwave popcorn into the microwave or opening up a bag of Skittles.  My BIL makes some amazing kettle corn in a pot on the stove that is just oil, popcorn & sugar.  It is seriously like crack.  You can’t stop eating it once you start.  It is never a good idea to start eating Alex’s kettle corn if you have had even a drop of alcohol.  Last time I did, I think I ate a whole bowl myself.  I really need to learn how to make this stuff, or wait, maybe I don’t.  Hmm. 

Here is our menu for the week:

Sunday- Pei Wei Asian Diner with some friends

Monday- Blackened Salmon, baked sweet potatoes, asparagus & salad

Tuesday-Taco Tuesday – soft tacos, corn, refried beans & salad

Wednesday-Spaghetti with roasted veggies & salad

Thursday-Breakfast for dinner – we haven’t done this in a long time & I have missed it!

Friday-Homemade personal pizzas – kids get to make & choose their toppings, broccoli & salad

Saturday – Aaron & I are going out with friends for my birthday (I am turning 29 again on the 9th 😉 )

Baked Goods

Bread

Sweet Potato Brownies (a mix I was sent to sample)

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Hope you all have a wonderful week!  Do you do anything special to celebrate birthdays?  Aaron & I try to drag our birthdays out for the weekend or week.  LOL!  We try to pawn on things like chores on others because it is our “birthday week/weekend”.  It seems to work better for Aaron than it does for me.  🙂 

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Check out this post from Dr. Mark Hyman MD “Gluten: What You Don’t Know Might Kill You“.  It is very eye opening.  I have always believed that gluten intolerance is way bigger than just Celiac Disease.  This is no surprise since wheat has become so prevalent in processed foods.   Barley malt flavoring is also used in many processed foods to add flavor.  There are other, non-gluten substitutes that can be used in place of barley malt.  General Mills is a good example of a company that has removed barely malt in some of their cereals to make them gluten-free.  Molasses was used in place of the barley malt.  Anyway, please read the article.

So my marathon training starts on Monday.  The funny thing about the plan that I am following (Hal Higdon’s Novice, slightly modified) is that it has me running less mileage per week for the first 4-5 weeks than I am already running.  I have been trying to maintain roughly 25 mpw since I recovered from running my half marathon back in October.  This coming week I will only be running 15.  At first I was really concerned about this and considered starting my training later and jumping in where I was in my mileage.  I have since decided that it would probably do my legs (and body) good to ease up a little for the next few weeks.  I have had some shin and calf issues on my right side that could use some TLC.  I have added in some yoga & more stretching & foam rolling to manage the tightness.  Another change is cross training.  Previously I was running 5 days a week.  This plan calls for 4 days of running & 1 day of cross training.  I didn’t like the sounds of that at first, but also think that this will be a good thing in my training.  For cross training I use the Arc Trainer, spin bike or elliptical.  I would love to swim in my gym’s pool, but I am not sure I swim well enough to call it exercise!  For the next 18 weeks I will hopefully prepare my body well enough to run 26.2 miles on May 16th. 

Training for a marathon calls for some fun gear.  I have my trusty Polar heart rate monitor/watch and Garmin that I use for running & tracking my outside miles.  These tools allow me to monitor my progress a little easier.  I have to give a shout out to Chris at Polar for helping expedite the repair of my Polar watch over the past 2 weeks.  I thought that my battery just needed replaced, so I took the watch to a Batteries Plus store.  The store manager informed me that he placed 3 brand new batteries in the watch & the watch completely drained them.  I was told to contact Polar.  Fortunately my watch was still under warranty, so I sent it right off.  I sent my watch out on 12/23/2009 and it was fixed & back in my hands on 12/29/2009!  Amazing, especially considering there was a holiday in there!  Talk about great customer service.  Thank you to Chris & Polar for helping me out.  I may also be purchasing some YakTrax here shortly for my long, weekend outside runs.  These are supposed to help grip the ground in snow or ice.  As much as I hate to be cold, I don’t think I can run any longer than 8 miles on the treadmill.  Anyone have any input on the YakTrax?

Training also calls for careful planning with food and fueling.  I am always learning how to do this better.  I don’t think you can learn to much about this topic, so if you have some tried & true tips you would like to share, I am all ears.  I have recently tried Zing Bars and will be doing a review on them here shortly after I try all of the flavors.  I really enjoyed the Cranberry Orange bar that I sampled the other day.  These have more protein in them than Lara or Pure Bars, so better for fueling, especially after a run to help repair muscles.  Love that they are gluten-free!  There are so many more choices out there now. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!  I kept thinking that yesterday was Sunday!  I just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that it was Friday.  Now I have a whole weekend ahead of me!

I have spent the last few days looking back over the year.  I wanted to put into one post my favorite gluten-free recipes & products of the year.  I hope that you guys enjoy this as much as I did putting it together. 

I love to experiment with food, if you haven’t noticed.  I love to try to recreate old favorites and I love to try new things.  This year I found some products that were so close to their gluten-filled counterparts.  One of these products is La Tortilla Factory Teff Wraps.  These wraps are awesome.  They don’t crack!  I have used them for sandwich wraps, burritos, chimichangas etc.  They hold up.  Another product is Udi’s Gluten-free Bread.  This stuff is the best gluten-free bread I have ever tasted, hands down.  Their other products are amazing as well – love the pizza crust!  I am very excited that my local health food store, Raisin Rack, will be carrying their stuff soon.  Bob’s Red Mill has a great gluten-free pizza mix out now.  It has quickly become one of our favorites here at home.  I especially like it Buffalo Chicken style. 

Some companies are making it increasingly easier to eat gluten-free.  I think main one that comes to my mind is General Mills.  This year they have really expanded the gluten-free cereal market to include a number of Chex cereals.  They also have the new Betty Crocker line of gluten-free baking mixes.  General Mills has started to use “gluten-free” on the back of their labels a lot more, making things even easier.  I just recently noticed the gluten-free Progresso Soups are now labeled as such. 

Gluten-free pizza used to be hard to find.  Not only was it hard to find a good crust to make or buy, but it was virtually impossible to find a restaurant that made gluten-free pizza.  This year there have been huge breakthroughs on this front.  First, there was Uno’s Chicago Grill implementing their gluten-free crust in all of their locations, nationwide.  Then, we discovered Boston’s Gourmet Pizza.  Boston’s has a larger choice of toppings and the crust stands up a little better than Uno’s.  Finally, we hit the jackpot – Z Pizza.  Z Pizza has an amazing selection of gluten-free pizzas & toppings, not to mention salad, gluten-free beer and gluten-free cookies.  I think that is is my favorite place to eat gluten-free pizza out. 

Moving along to recipes.  Below I have listed some of my favorites from 2009.  I have many more favorites posted throughout my blog from years past. 

Some of my favorite recipes are:

Lemon Bundt Cake w/ Lemon Icing

Cheesy Stuffed Shells

Pistachio Cheesecake

Catholic Potatoes

POM Wonderful Cranberry Sauce

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Blueberry Chia Muffins

Cocoa Coconut Chili

Marinutta Sauce

Coconut Baked Brown Rice

Glazed Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Baked Ziti

Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf

Pumpkin Cornbread

Chocolate Covered Oreo Cake

Pumpkin Raisin Scones (vegan, too)

Almond Cranberry Bites

Now, one last thing.  A reader contacted me with this nice note about the Chocolate Covered Oreo Cake and sent along a picture to show me hers. 

Kimberly,

I made the “oreo” cake for my step-daughter’s birthday last Saturday and OMG it was sooooooooo good!

Thank you thank you thank you for sharing the recipe!

Tracey

Tracey, thank you for sharing!!  I am so glad that you guys enjoyed the cake!  I would love to try this with a carrot cake!  YUM!! 

I hope you all have a wonderful & prosperous year.  I found this blurb from Mother Theresa as I was cleaning out my email today and thought I would share it with you guys:

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The kindness you show today may be forgotten tomorrow. Be kind anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest person with the smallest mind. Think big anyway.
People really need help, but may attack you if you help them. Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world the best you have anyway.
~Mother Theresa

We are just hanging out.  I have the pork & sauerkraut in the crock pot already.  I also have a 2nd crock pot for those family members (everyone but me) who doesn’t like sauerkraut.  I am making pulled pork for those guys.  I have laundry going, though I have been told by some that this is bad luck on New Year’s Day.  Ruh roh.  It is clean sheet day here, so there is no stopping me now -beds are already stripped!  LOL!  I will make sure to eat extra pork & sauerkraut for good luck.  I think the kids & I are going to go shopping here shortly.  I apparently forgot to buy snow boots for Hannah.  She is very upset with me because she wants to play in the snow.  Then we are coming back to watch the Buckeyes beat Oregon.  😉  Go BUCKS!!

What are you doing today?   Do you believe it is bad luck or good luck to do any one thing on New Year’s Day? 

Naomi & her staff at Better Batter were kind enough to send me some free samples of Better Batter Flour and Better Batter Pancake & Baking Mix.  I will review the Pancake & Baking Mix in another post.  I want to concentrate now on the flour mix.  The samples came to me in just the nick of time.  I had begun to prepare a batch of chocolate chip cookies for Aaron’s boss and discovered that I was out of flour.  Normally when I make cookies for his boss, I don’t make them gluten-free.  I usually keep a bag of flour on hand for times like this.  When I went to grab the flour, it was gone.  Aaron had tossed it out thinking it was “old”.  I then remembered that I had just received the Better Batter flour mix and decided that I would use that.  What better way to test a product than to serve to someone who doesn’t eat gluten-free & begs for my chocolate chip cookies? 

The chocolate chip cookies are the Better Batter cookies.

I couldn’t wait to taste these cookies.  They smelled like heaven while baking.  The kids were gathering in the kitchen like sharks around their prey.  The result? ” Freakin’ amazing”, to quote Jon.  I had to agree.  Hannah said they were like heaven.  I tried them right out of the oven, then warm, then cold.  Really, they just kept getting better.  I have made this recipe many times with other flour mixes and while they are still pretty darn good, I was very impressed by the Better Batter Flour.  The true test was yet to come – Aaron’s boss. 

Aaron gave the cookies to his boss the next day and didn’t tell him they were gluten-free until after he took a bite.  He didn’t realize they were gluten-free until Aaron told him!  Success! 

Better Batter Flour is a little more expensive than some of the other GF flour mixes out there, but the end result is worth it and it does already have xanthan gum in the mix, so you can save a little money by not having to buy it to add to your baking. 

I also used the mix to make Gingersnaps.  Again, fantastic!  Exact same texture as non-GF gingersnaps. 

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Do you like french fries?  We love them here.  Usually I make them myself buy cutting up either regular or sweet potatoes, spritzing with olive oil, seasoning & baking in the oven.  However, in these times, sometimes dinners are rushed.  McCain Potatoes has a gluten-free list on their site.  My kids love the Smiles & Tasti Taters.

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Another company that I have recently found gluten-free information on is Welch’s.  Welch’s says that all of their products are gluten-free. 

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I will post my review on Better Batter Pancake & Baking Mix once I have a chance to give it a try.  I am looking forward to making some fun stuff with it!  Perhaps some banana bread!  🙂

Phew….last week was so busy!  It was nice to just relax & lay low over the weekend.  This week should be relaxing for the most part, too.  We don’t typically go out on New Year’s Eve.  Heck, I don’t know the last time I stayed up until midnight! LOL!  The kids are still out of school this week & we only have 2 extracurricular activities going on, so dinners should be fairly straight forward.

The GF CF Cookbook is hosting this week’s gluten-free menu swap.  The ingredient of the week is leftover ham.  We don’t have anymore leftover ham, but we did and we used it in a varieties of ways.  Grilled ham & cheese sandwiches, ham & cheese omelettes and salad with chopped up ham in it. 

Sunday – Rotisserie Chicken, baked sweet potatoes, green beans & salad.

Monday – Tacos, black  beans, corn & salad

Tuesday-Baked Ziti, zucchini & salad

Wednesday-Salmon, red quinoa, mixed veggies & salad

Thursday – Filet Mignon, baked potato, asparagus & salad

Friday – Pork & Sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, broccoli & salad

Saturday – Pizza or leftovers

Baked Goods

Pamela’s Bread

Banana Bread (have some bananas that need rescued STAT!)

Here are a couple pictures from our Christmas.  Someone lost her 2nd front tooth on Christmas Eve!  All she wants for Christmas is her 2 front teeth!

My sister, Kelly, Greg & Noah

Hope you all had a great holiday! Do you have any New Year’s Eve plans?

As I was opening my email this morning, I came across a list that was shared on a Celiac group that I belong to.  This was shared by Kara O.  Thank you Kara for sharing this list.  I am sharing it with you all since the holiday is just 2 days away now!  Enjoy those hams!  Makes me want to scrap any turkey plans & get a ham!  LOL! 

There are additional notes regarding the “possible” status.  Possible means that cross-contamination is possible due to other products being produced being produced in the same facility that do contain this ingredient.

So, I hope this is helpful to you guys.  I know that I will be referencing it in the near future because I love Honeybaked Ham!

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I don’t know about you, but I need to ask Santa for days with more hours in them!  I have way too much to get done in the next 2 days!  I haven’t even started to wrap gifts yet!  ACK!!! 

I was going to wait until after Christmas to share my latest new love with you guys, but I couldn’t.  I loved this product so much that I had to write my review now.  Kitchen Table Bakers was nice enough to send me several samples of their products to review.  I couldn’t wait to break open these crisps.  The crisps, as KTB calls them, are made completely of cheese!  And are they ever good!  They have several different varieties.  My favorite so far are the Aged Parmesan Mini Crisps. 

I served up my Mini Crisps with a sandwich & pear:

What a great pairing for this meal – pears & these crisps!  Only thing missing was a glass of wine!  😉

If you are interested in trying these crisps/crackers for yourself, you can find them in many stores around the country. 

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In case you haven’t heard the news….Honeybaked Ham is gluten-free!  Go ahead & indulge yourself this holiday season.  You can find information regarding this on the FAQ page at Honeybaked Ham. 

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Are you ready for the holiday?   I have my shopping done, but haven’t even started the wrapping yet.  Also, I haven’t cleaned the house for our dinner on Thursday night yet.  Why?  I know better.  Done too far in advance & it will need to be done again.  Voice of experience.  I have a few food items to prepare as well – imagine that!  Can someone make a few more hours in the day for me?  Please? 

Is it over yet?  Seriously, I just want to sit down & read my book!  LOL!  Also, as much as I can’t believe that I am saying this, I think I am done with the Christmas music.  I love it, don’t get me wrong, but when they start playing it right after Halloween, the novelty wears out before Christmas.  I won’t ever tire of watching Elf, though.  Seriously, love that movie & think that it is Will Farrell’s best role ever.  There couldn’t be a more perfect Elf. 

So, what is on the menu this week.  Thursday night, Christmas Eve, we are hosting dinner for family at our house.  There will be plenty of yummy treats, including many, many cookies to go around.  Dinner will be Perfect Pork Tenderloin and Ham served along with a salad, roasted vegetables and rolls of some kind.  Appetizers will be shrimp cocktail, the now demanded Buffalo Chicken Dip and a vegetable tray to balance things out.  Wine will be a flowing, as will some fun mixed cocktails involving some Stoli’s vodka.  Christmas day dinner will be at my Dad’s house.  He is roasting a turkey with all the fixings, gluten-free, of course.  I will be bringing the dessert – a gingerbread cake.  Breakfast on Christmas morning is usually whatever you can get your hands on in between the opening of the mountain of gifts.  Sometimes I pull out pumpkin bread or muffins from the freezer.  This year I have a couple of gluten-free mixes that I have been sent to sample that I may make. 

Cheryl at Gluten-free Goodness is hosting this week’s gluten-free menu swap.  The theme is Christmas/Hanukkah/Winter Solstice.  Make sure to stop by & say “Hi” and check out all the great menus.

Sunday – Rotisserie Chicken, Garlic Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, Steamed Green Beans, Salad

Monday – Filet Mignon, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Roasted Asparagus & Salad

Tuesday – Spaghetti & Meatballs, Broccoli & Salad

Wednesday -Salmon, Basmati Brown Rice, Roasted Zucchini & Salad

Thursday – Christmas Eve Feast

Friday – Christmas Dinner Feast

Saturday – Do we have to eat today?  LOL!  Leftovers, most likely

Baked Goods

Bread

Coffee Cake (from mix that I was sent to sample)

Fudge

Peanut Butter Fudge

Old Fashioned Gingerbread Cake

A couple more cookies (yes, I am tired of cookies & my freezer is exploding!)

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In case you missed it, I hit a huge milestone this past weekend – I ran 1,000 miles this year!

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Don’t forget to check out Orgjunkie for lots more great menu ideas. 

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In case you have missed them…..more recipes are shared on my Examiner site.