‘Tis the time of the year for warm breakfasts, right?  The chill is in the air each morning and sometimes it doesn’t leave all day.  I love the crispness and wish we could have days like this all year long with the occasional 80-83 degree day tossed in.  I don’t ask for much.

Chilly mornings call for warm oatmeal.  Busy mornings sometimes get in the way, so Bakery on Main’s new instant oatmeals are debuting at a great time!  The Bakery on Main story:

It all started in the small bakery of a natural foods market on Main Street in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Founder Michael Smulders listened to his Celiac customers complain about the taste of many of the gluten free options available to them. He thought that no one should have to suffer because of a food allergy or other special dietary need, and made it his mission to create products that were good for them but taste like they aren’t.

Late in 2003, after tasting a granola recipe one of the bakers was working on, Smulders said, “these gluten free people need granola!” He walked through the store and gathered ingredients and baked the first batch that day. It took almost 2 years to find gluten free sources of all the ingredients and find a place where we could make the product without risk of cross-contamination.
Three years and two bakeries later, their gluten free granola is made in a 34,000 square foot manufacturing facility with state of the art quality controls and in-house gluten testing on every batch. Located just a few miles down the road from the original bakery, the plant maintains the small bakery quality by continuing to bake in small batches.

How can I be sure Bakery On Main’s products are gluten free?
We take every precaution possible to be sure our products are safe for people with Celiac disease.  Bakery On Main’s manufacturing plant is certified for gluten free production by the Gluten Free Certification Organization which means they visit our plant and audit us to be sure our products are gluten free.  Please refer to their web site at www.gfco.org for their procedure and standards.

The new gluten-free instant oatmeal comes in 3 different flavors:

• Strawberry shortcake
• Maple multigrain muffin
• Apple pie

The oatmeal cooks in 1.5 minutes in the microwave – that is it!  Check out these stats:

• High fiber (5 grams)
• Non GMO
• Dairy & Casein-free
• Low sodium (40 mg)
• Gluten-free
• Trans fat-free
• Cholesterol free
• Calories per package: 190-200
• Protein – 6 grams per package

As much as I would love a single packet of oatmeal to be enough breakfast for me, it isn’t.  To bulk up my oatmeal, I add a tablespoon of almond or peanut butter and fruit.  I added fresh strawberries & almond butter to the strawberry shortcake version; cooked cinnamon apples & peanut butter to the apple pie; cooked cinnamon pears & peanut butter to the maple multigrain muffin.

My favorite version is the apple pie.  I love apple pie & this warm treat made the perfect breakfast!  Don’t get me wrong, the other 2 flavors are very good, but apple pie has a special place in my heart.  The oatmeal can be purchased online with free shipping for $5.99/10.5 oz. box of 6 packets and on store shelves this October.

**The samples reviewed here were provided to me free of charge.  The opinions stated here are mine and have not been influenced by anyone or anything. 

On one of my recent visits to Trader Joe’s, I discovered a new butter.  I was checking to see if they had pumpkin butter on the shelves yet when I came across a new butter: Fig Butter. 

l happen to have a very special place in my heart for figs, so I couldn’t go home without the fig butter.  I knew that I would be part of my lunch that day – the only question that remained was what I was going to do with it.

The fig butter did not disappoint!  I have now had it on waffles, on a bagel with cream cheese,  and on gluten-free crackers.  I am thinking that the next place to try it is as a glaze on salmon. 

Have you seen the fig butter yet at Trader Joe’s?  Have you tried it? 

Don’t forget to help spread Celiac Awareness by entering the LUNA bar giveaway!

Kim

I don’t know about you, but after the debacle with California Pizza Kitchen, I am on the fence about the prevalence of gluten-free menus.  Yes, it gives me warm fuzzies when I walk into a restaurant and find out that they do indeed have a gluten-free menu.  However, 30 seconds later I begin to wonder if the staff really know what that entails.

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My mind jumps to cross-contamination as my first concern and then ingredients.  Does the restaurant know that most soy sauces contain wheat?  Who developed the menu?  Was it someone well versed in Celiac Disease and the gluten-free diet?  These are all valid concerns.

Here are some pros &  cons that I have come up with:

Pros

• Freedom of choice
• Being able to join friends & family in meals
• Not feeling left out

Cons

• Cross contamination
• Staff not properly trained on what the diet entails
• Establishments marketing as a “fad” and making those with Celiac or gluten-sensitivity sick due to carelessness

Share your opinion in the poll below and feel free to comment below in the comments section.

[polldaddy poll=”5503173″]

Sorry for the non-gluten-free post, but I have to share this.  Aaron thinks I am nuts; my mom, sister and several friends said they would have done the same thing that I did.

When Hannah broke her arm in June, I was wearing a grey Ohio State t-shirt.  I remember only because I was stuck in that same shirt for 24+ hours and I wanted out of it.  I washed the shirt and it went back in my closet until last week.

Friday morning I was getting dressed and wanted to wear something “Ohio State” because that is what we Buckeyes fans do on Fridays & Saturdays.  It was one of the only short sleeve OSU shirts that I had, so on it went.  It did briefly cross my mind that I hadn’t worn the shirt since that night in June when Hannah fell, but then left my mind as quickly as it entered.

As I was driving Hannah to the hospital on Friday night, I remembered the shirt.  I had the shirt on.  The shirt, that in my opinion, is now cursed.  I had to get rid of the shirt.  When we got down to the ER, I told Aaron about the shirt and he giggled.  He said I was crazy.  I might be, but I just felt that I had to get that shirt off.  As the night wore on, I was planning on hitting the gift shop as soon as it opened to find a new shirt and ditch the one I was wearing.  It finally dawned on me after Hannah was admitted and settled in her room that I could take the shirt off and put my fleece jacket on instead.  Apparently walking around in a bra is frowned upon.   On the way to the cafeteria I thought about where to ditch my shirt.  I wanted it as far away from me as I could get it.  I entered the cafeteria and walked to the far corner and stuffed the shirt in a trash can.  I felt much better now that it was out of my possession.  I realize that some of you are laughing at me, and that is okay.  I’ll deal with the giggles as long as I don’t have the shirt.

So, what would you have done?  Kept the shirt or ditched it? 

Don’t forget to help spread Celiac Awareness by entering the LUNA bar giveaway!

Kim

Today, September 13, 2011 is National Celiac Disease Awareness Day.  I am doing my part to help spread awareness by partnering with LUNA to offer one lucky reader a sampling of their new gluten-free protein bars!  But first, the awareness part.

One of my favorite websites for Celiac Disease awareness is the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness or NFCA for short.  Whenever I want to reference technical information about Celiac Disease, that is the site I always refer to.  It is so important to help spread the word so that people out there who are needlessly suffering can be helped.  I am sure with rising awareness most of us know someone, in real life, with Celiac Disease outside of our immediate family.  Do you know someone who hasn’t been feeling well, but can’t really figure out why?  Send them to this symptom checklist and have them browse the website.

Now, for the down & dirty facts:

Celiac and Gluten-Free Fast Facts:

• Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disease that damages the villi of the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.
• One in 133 Americans have celiac disease.
• An estimated 3 million Americans across all races, ages and genders suffer from celiac.
• 95% of celiacs are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with other conditions. (Source: Fasano A, et al. Arch Intern Med. 2003;163:286-292.)
• 6-10 years is the average time a person waits to be correctly diagnosed. (Source: Daniel Leffler, MD, MS, The Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center)
• 5-22% of celiac patients have an immediate family member (1st degree relative) who also has celiac.
• Celiac disease can lead to a number of other disorders including infertility, reduced bone density, neurological disorders, some cancers, and other autoimmune diseases.
  Learn more about Related Diseases »

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Another favorite website is 1in133.  They have successfully helped to re-open the Gluten-Free Labeling proposal for an additional 60 day comment period.  Want to help?  Complete this form & submit before October 3, 2011.

LUNA is now offering 5 gluten-free protein bars.  I am a huge fan of these bars and like to use them after my long runs to get a quick burst of protein within that important window.  I will usually eat one of these bars while I am driving home and then eat my real breakfast an hour or so later.   The bars come in 5 flavors: mint chocolate chip (hello Thin Mint!), peanut butter chocolate, cookie dough, chocolate and chocolate cherry almond.  One lucky reader will win a sampling of all 5 bars to try!  All you have to do is follow the directions below in the Rafflecopter box.  The giveaway will run until Monday night at midnight.

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Phew…what a week that was.  Friday started out a normal day and then ended with us in the emergency room with Hannah.  After dinner on Friday night Hannah began to complain of stomach pain.  While I love Hannah dearly, she tends to complain of the littlest aches & pains so I don’t always jump when she says something hurts.  She is a little like “The boy who cried wolf”.  I asked if she had used the bathroom and she said yes.  I asked her to show me where it hurt and she pointed to her belly button and off to the right.  Okay.  I didn’t think much of it at the time and went back to folding laundry & cleaning up the kitchen. 

A short time later Hannah was still complaining, so I told her to head up to my bed, she could sleep with me, and I would be up in a minute.  In the meantime, Aaron had asked me which side the appendix was on and I said the right.  I, too, had been thinking this in the back of my head.  I had just finished a book about a little boy that had appendicitis, but his was missed and he ended up very sick and almost died.   He looked up some information online and I headed upstairs.  I had Hannah lay down and I pressed on her lower right side.  She jumped!  I told her to get her shoes, we were going to the Children’s Urgent Care up the street.  I think I freaked her out a bit, so I spent the trip to the urgent care calming her down. 

We got right in and back to a room, which is really odd, but I wasn’t complaining.  The doctor came in and I gave him the run down.  He did an exam, looked at me and shook his head yes.  He sent us downtown to the Children’s hospital because they didn’t have the CT scanner at the urgent care to confirm, and if it was positive, as we expected it to be, Hannah would have to go downtown anyway.  Aaron met me at the urgent care and we headed downtown. 

The urgent care doctor had called ahead so we were placed in a room in the ER relatively quickly.  That was the only quick thing about this entire journey.  We were in the ER for 7 hours.  We arrived around 10:30 and they were taking their computers down for 8 hours at midnight (a once a year occurrence – lucky us!).  Everything would have to be hand written.  After umpteen residents and doctors came in to evaluate Hannah, a CT scan and blood work confirmed that Hannah had appendicitis and would need surgery.  Her pain had intensified and by 2 AM or so, so I asked for some pain medication for her.  Once they made the decision to admit her, things moved a lot faster.  We were taken upstairs, seen by a resident surgeon and placed on the list for surgery on Saturday morning. 

Hannah had a successful appendectomy on Saturday morning and was home less than 24 hours after her pain began.  What a whirlwind!  She had no other symptoms other than that stomach pain that began on Friday night.  The doctors said they normally don’t catch it this early and that we did the right thing by bringing her in when we did.  Her appendix was definitely inflamed/infected when they removed it.  This poor girl has had quite the year!  First, the broken arm & surgery to repair in June and now this!  Hopefully this recovery is a bit easier than the arm recovery.  She will be out of school for most of this week, but we hope she can continue the PT with her arm so as to not miss out on the window of opportunity to gain her ROM back. 

Needless to say, my menu planning didn’t quite get done, so I am cooking out of the freezer this week.  There were also a couple of meals from Pei Wei & Chipotle, my go-to gluten-free take-out places. 

Here is Hannah waiting for surgery – they have internet TV in the rooms, so at least she was entertained when she wasn’t sleeping. 

• chicken breast
• ground turkey
• edamame
• Sunshine burgers
• bacon
• Enchilada bake that I made & froze last week

Fridge:

• eggs
• cheese
• veggies

Pantry:

• potatoes
• quinoa
• rice
• pasta
• Prego sauce
• tuna
• Trader Joe’s GF Mac & Cheese

I think that the theme of the week is simple. 

It’s Friday!  Yay!!  I woke up this morning at 4 AM and could not fall back to sleep.  If my gym was open at 4 AM, I would have been there with bells on.  No point in laying in bed staring into darkness when I could be running, right?  While I was laying there, trying desperately to fall back to sleep, my mind drifted to pizza.  Mmmm…pizza!  I usually eat pizza on Friday night, so perhaps my mind was preparing for what is to come. 

I do believe that this combination was one of my favorites.  I make this last week before my half marathon.  I would normally add more vegetables, but I don’t like to overdo the veggies before a long run, so as to minimize the risk of stomach issues.  This simple pizza turned out to be the perfect way to fuel for my race.

• Udi’s gluten-free pizza crust
• diced tomatoes
• sliced mushrooms sauteed in Earth Balance coconut spread (seasoned with sea salt & pepper)
• mozzarella cheese
• sea salt

In case you were wondering, yes, I did eat that all by myself.  I think that I will make a variation of this for dinner tonight, only added some roasted veggies. 

Kim

It is no secret that I have been trying to find ways to get organized for a long time – perhaps my whole life.  Laugh all you want, it is true.  Heck, I laugh at it.  I have done the “Household Notebook” and now have another paperweight thanks to that short-lived project.  I just recently bought a composition book/journal and titled it “Kim’s Latest Attempt at Trying to Get and Stay Organized”.  I can tell you that it isn’t going so well either.  So when I heard that Stephanie O’Dea, queen of gluten-free crock pot cooking, had a new book on getting organized, I figured I didn’t have much to lose and I would be supporting someone I love at the same time.

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The book, Totally Together: Shortcuts to an Organized Life, seemed to be created just for me – the calendar starts in September and goes through August, so no time like the present to get started!  I love this quote on page 3:

“clean less and play more”

My kind of philosophy – I am liking this book already!

Stephanie makes some excellent points in the first few pages.  I am going to highlight some that I found very important to understand before beginning:

“In order to start getting your house in order, you need to start getting your house in order”

“Do not alphabetize the spice cabinet if you have a mountainous pile of dishes in the sink”

“Instead of trying to do too much all at once, let’s focus on establishing a daily routine and enlisting help from the entire family.”

And this about sums it up:

“When your house is on fire, don’t stop to weed the flower bed.”

Okay, time to get down to it.  I liked Stephanie’s approach to attacking the problem – bits & pieces.  Start by trying to working to complete the “Daily 7”.  These 7 chores are simple, yet often go undone because I used to feel that if I couldn’t clean the whole room the way I wanted, why bother with a part?  Well, it appears that I should have been bothering!  LOL!  Making the bed, wiping down the bathroom as I am getting ready, picking up for just 10 minutes before bed….  Those things seem so simple.  And they are, once they become habit.  I love the layout of the calendar with the “Daily 7” checklist and then other suggested chores, along with a spot to write down what is going on for the week.

The way the calendar is laid out, Stephanie gives tips & reminders to start thinking about upcoming dates & events.  I can see this really being helpful to me around the holidays when I really tend to get overwhelmed.

While this isn’t a quick fix, and I truly believe that there aren’t any quick fixes, it is a lifestyle change.  Lifestyle changes lead to lifelong habits.  Much like eating healthy.  Eating healthy is a lifestyle change/choice, not something you do for a short period of time to get to a certain point & then revert to old habits.  The method in this book is doable, which is a key component for me.

I have been following the “lifestyle change” now for about 1.5 weeks.  I managed to complete 75% of the suggested items in Week 1 and about 90% of the “Daily 7” items.  Week 2 is going better and instead of throwing my hands up in the air and quitting when I slack, I just get back on the wagon & continue from where I left off.  There are days that fall apart, but that is life.  Tomorrow is a new day and the beauty in that is starting with a clean slate.  We are all human and we all make mistakes.  We can dwell on them and criticize ourselves or we can learn from them and move forward.

Now for the best part!  One of my lucky readers will win a copy of  “Totally Together”!!  All you have to do is follow the instructions provided by Rafflecopter below.

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Okay, so this is a couple of days late.  I get a pass because I it was a holiday weekend and I ran a half marathon on Sunday, right?  Has the weather gotten cool where you live?  I was able to turn off our A/C yesterday and let all of the ragweed in (achoo!).  I think I have a couple more days in me before I close the house back to block out the allergens. 

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The cool weather has me wanting to bake – pumpkin bread, banana bread, applesauce cake!  What is your favorite fall baked goodie?

Sunday – Rotisserie chicken, fried potatoes, broccoli and salad

Monday – Bonefish Grill (Hannah and I had a great day out shopping & then dinner)

Tuesday – Homemade Chipotle burrito bowls (instructions below)

Wednesday – Spaghetti with marinutta sauce and salad

Thursday – Bison burgers, sweet potato puffs, green beans & salad

Friday – Udi’s gluten-free pizza crust with tomato & mushroom (recipe to come soon) and salad

Saturday – Bourbon Chicken, brown rice, broccoli & salad

This week I will be sharing my thoughts on Stephanie O’Dea’s Totally Together Journal and giving away a copy, so make sure to check back in!  To see if you won my last giveaway, Rudi’s gluten-free bread & sandwich box, click here. 

• Brown rice cooked with lime juice & sea salt and then tosses with fresh chopped cilantro
• Flank steak sliced & cooked with cumin, chili pepper, sea salt & pepper and then tossed with Aaron’s version of hot sauce (includes Sriracha and Red Hot – I don’t have exact measurements b/c he doesn’t measure anything)
• Chopped iceburg lettuce
• Sour cream
• Cheddar cheese

Layer all of the above in a bowl & then drizzle with Ortega Mild Taco Sauce. 

When I signed up for the Emerald City race, I signed up for the quarter marathon.  I knew that the Columbus Half was my goal race, so EC would be a training run.  Then one of my pace coaches with MIT talked me into the half.  No biggie, 2 halves in 6 weeks, I could do it.  I then planned on using EC as a training run.  Then my training was going well and I decided that maybe I could actually race EC and get a new PR.  My current PR is 2:01:22. 

When I went to bed Saturday night, I tried to focus on my breathing & drift off to sleep.  There was nothing more I could do at that point to improve my race, so no point in obsessing about it, right?  I fell asleep only to be awoken by storms at 12:30 AM and dear Hannah freaking out.  Mean mom that I am, I gave her 2 choices.  1.  Go back to sleep in my bed or 2.  Continue to whine and get your butt back in your own bed.  She opted for #1, but had to be threatened reminded a few times. 

I got up at 5:00 AM and began to get ready.  The storms were on the way out, so I was hopeful the race would go on.  I ate a quick bowl of Rice Chex as my pre-run fuel.  I have been practicing with dry cereal since January for pre-run fuel and as one of my MIT coaches preaches “Nothing new on race day”.  The key for me seems to be little to no sugar, but carbs.  Kix, Rice Chex, GF Rice Krispies all work for me.

As I was driving to Dublin, saw lightning off in the distance and said a quick prayer that the race would go off on time.  The later the race went off, the hotter & more humid it would be.  The race did indeed start at 7:00 AM with a light rain.  If you run, you know that a light rain is nice in temps like we had today.  While I didn’t originally think it was humid out, I soon discovered that I was wrong. 

I train using HR (heart rate) training.  This method has me keeping my HR in certain zones, not running at a pre-set pace.  My HR was not happy with the humidity and then came the hills.  I tried to keep my HR in the zones I was supposed to, but it was hard.   The middle miles of the race took us through a metro park that had a lot of ups & downs. I was able to pick up the pace after mile 9-10, but once I found out that I wasn’t going to PR, I pulled back a little.  No point in killing myself when I have another race in 6 weeks that will most likely be much cooler and flatter, which should = a better chance at a PR. 

This was my 4th half marathon & my 2nd fastest.  I am very proud of my time and my performance!  While it is discouraging that I didn’t meet my goal of a new PR, I finished and am feeling pretty good right now.  I need to focus and figure out how to goof-proof my plan for the Columbus Half in October. 

Oh, and the medal is HUGE!!  I smacked myself in the head with it when I bent over to take my shoes off!  OUCH!! 

One note I do want to touch on, if you ever get the chance to volunteer for a race, please do.  Many of my friends volunteered today and were at the first and last water stop.  It was such a huge boost of energy to see their smiling faces.  I will never forget that.  Thank you to all of the volunteers – without you, a lot could have gone wrong. 

My official time: 2:06:39. #407 out of 727 total and #31 out of 62 for my age group.