With the holidays right around the corner, crackers are a must for appetizers and cheese trays. I have discussed the topic of crackers on my blog before, both good & bad. Anyone who has been gluten-free for any period of time is well aware that good gluten-free crackers can be hard to come by. I picked up a box of Back to Nature White Cheddar Rice Thins not too long ago and was in for a pleasant surprise.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from these crackers, so I didn’t go into tasting them with high expectations. As a result, I was pleasantly surprised. The crisp crackers have a wonderful sharp, white cheddar flavor. The crackers hold up well to dipping or topping with your choice of topping. These would be great topped with crab dip, hummus and red pepper or even an apple jelly to compliment the white cheddar. These crackers have decent nutritional stats and the following characteristics:

• Gluten-free
• No Cholesterol
• 0g Trans Fat
• No Hydrogenated Oils
• No Artificial Preservatives, Flavors or Colors
• Certified Gluten-Free

Back to Nature also has a Multi-Seed gluten-free cracker. I have not had the opportunity to sample this variety, but Tiffany Janes of Celiac-Disease.com has. Please click here to read her review.

I have seen these crackers in my mainstream grocery stores around town. Click here to find one close to you. The crackers can also be purchased on Amazon.com in bulk.

Consider the Back to Nature Crackers in addition to Glutino & Crunchmaster Crackers for your holiday parties this year.

ACK! Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas is 38 days away. I have a friend on Facebook who is ever so kind as to remind me (and the rest of her friends) how many more days until Christmas. While hearing it does freak me out, it does tend to keep me on my toes. Thanks, Nicole! 😉 Have you started Christmas or holiday shopping yet? I purchased one gift back in September and then a few more last week. Black Friday is the big day. I can’t wait to head out and find some deals. I hope to complete my shopping, or come darn close that day.

I was in a hurry on Friday night to grab dinner with Hannah and then head to Jon’s first pre-season game. I stopped into Champp’s to eat only to discover their gluten-free options have been seriously pared down. I was not going to sacrifice a mini-girly night out by eating bland food when so many other places cater to those on the gluten-free diet. We were just getting up to leave as the server approached our table and I explained my dilemma. He said that he would pass the comment on to his manager. I am not sure if he did or not, but I would like to think that he did. I am going to follow up with an email to corporate. There were so many options for us that night, but we were in a hurry by this time, so we chose Red Robin, as they didn’t have a wait. I hadn’t eaten at Red Robin for a long time, so I was excited to get my hands on those steak fries. I don’t often eat fries out at restaurants. Not only do I worry about cross-contamination, but I prefer to eat the healthier version of fries that I make at home. Well, every girl deserves a treat once in a while, right? Oh yeah, and a treat these were! These fries were the absolute most perfect fries in the world! I did pair them with a salad and turkey protein burger, so I didn’t feel too guilty. 😉 It was nice to splurge with my mini-me for a night.

Dinner last night, Sunday, was on the fly. Jon was getting home late from a pre-season hockey game (they lost both games this weekend) and I had spent the day cleaning. Aaron & Hannah opted for non-gluten-free pizza, so I opted for an iron-rich bison burger, sweet potato steak fries, carrots & salad. I hope to have some more organization through the rest of the week.

Monday – Grilled Chicken Breast, brown rice, broccoli & salad

Tuesday – Taco Tuesday – this day has become a must have for Jon. He loves tacos and begs for them weekly

Wednesday – Teriyaki Steelhead Trout, baked potatoes, asparagus and salad

Thursday -Spaghetti with roasted veggies and salad

Friday – Take out after hockey

Saturday – Pizza or Breakfast for dinner

Baked Goods

Super-secret treats! (Trying out a few cookbook recipes that I am reviewing)

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Week in Review

Arrowhead Mills helps simplify the holidays.

Gluten-free Gingerbread Houses. Yes, I said gluten-free!!

Review: Food for Good Thought Foods

Review: Kettle Cuisine Chili

Gluten-free time saving Thanksgiving Tips

Gluten-free Bisquick now available at Gluten Solutions.

Review: Against the Grain products

Udi’s products now in Kroger stores nationwide

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I hope you all have a great week!!

I just received some really exciting news that I wanted to share with you all – Glutino has launched a new and improved website! This new site is super user-friendly with all kinds of resources. Some more information from Glutino:

THE GLUTINO FOOD GROUP ANNOUNCES NEW WEBSITE

Glutino.com Provides Resources and Features for Living Gluten-Free

LAWRENCE, Mass. – The Glutino Food Group, a trusted pioneer and leader in the gluten-free food category, announces the launch of its new website, www.glutino.com. The easy-to-navigate site offers several new features and trusted resources for those living a gluten-free lifestyle, including information and tools for those recently diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten intolerance.

As a leader and pioneer in gluten-free foods, Glutino designed its website to serve as a guide for gluten-free eating. The new site features a sample weekly menu that provides gluten-free meal ideas, as well as a recipe database that showcases a wide variety of recipes in several categories including appetizers, dinners, desserts, and even gluten-free holiday options.

Those living a gluten-free lifestyle can use the new website to learn more about Glutino’s full line of more than 80 gluten-free products including snacks, frozen bakery items, frozen meals, baking mixes and more. With a fresh, new design, Glutino’s website allows those living gluten-free to shop online quickly and easily.

Other new features on glutino.com include a “Physicians and Dietitians” section allowing these professionals to access information and materials to aid newly diagnosed patients, as well as information on support groups for those living with gluten intolerance or celiac disease.

“Since 1983, Glutino has been solely dedicated to providing gluten-free solutions for people living with gluten intolerance or celiac disease,” said Laura Kuykendall, director of marketing and R&D for the Glutino Food Group. “We are excited to provide new online resources that make life a little easier for the gluten-free consumer.”

About the Glutino Food Group

Since 1983, the Glutino Food Group has been a trusted pioneer and leader in the gluten-free category. Based in Laval, Quebec, the company offers a wide variety of great-tasting, gluten-free foods consumers can trust. Products are available nationwide at local supermarkets, natural and organic retailers and on www.glutenfree.com. For more information on The Glutino Food Group, visit www.Glutino.com.

The new website is very easy to navigate. The products are easily found and include ingredients and nutritional information in addition to a link to buy the item or where to find it close by. If you choose a product, like a mix, and there is a recipe on the site using that product, you will see the link right there under the product listing. There are all kinds of resources for the newly diagnosed, including a “Newly Diagnosed Kit’ and sample weekly menu plans.

It seems that Glutino has made some positive changes with their new website. The older site was hard to navigate and didn’t have nearly the amount of information available. Seems that Glutino is trying to keep up with General Mill’s Live Gluten Freely website. Gotta love competition, right? We can all benefit from it.

Some of my favorite Glutino products include the Chocolate & Yogurt Covered Pretzels, Spinach & Feta Cheese Frozen Pizza and the Chocolate Truffle Brownie Mix. What are some of your favorite Glutino products?

Susan, you are the next winner on Gluten-free is Life!! Congrats, Susan! You have just won the prize package courtesy of MyBlogSpark and Live Gluten Freely! Please email me with your information so that I can get it over to MyBlogSpark – kim@glutenfreeislife.com

Susan
November 8th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
I would like more gluten free baking mixes – like muffins, pie crust, etc.

Thank you to all who entered!

Live Gluten Freely is General Mill’s gluten-free website that is chock-full of information pertaining to the gluten-free diet. The site has a listing of gluten-free products, recipes, articles written by the Live Gluten Freely bloggers (hint – I am one of them) and much more. I am thrilled to announce that MyBlogSpark, together with Live Gluten Freely, will be giving one of my lucky readers a prize pack full of gluten-free goodies from General Mills.

LiveGlutenFreely also provides great-tasting recipes ranging from breakfast treats like Blueberry-Corn Muffins to delicious dishes like Favorite Chicken Nuggets to indulgent desserts like Brownie Ganache Torte with Raspberries and Carrot Cake.

General Mills is proud to offer more than 300 affordable gluten-free products, available in grocery stores nationwide. Keep up with new additions to the gluten-free list by subscribing to the LiveGlutenFreely Newsletter. Every month, you’ll receive great “goodies” like yummy gluten-free recipes, tips, coupons for gluten-free items, new product information and more delivered directly to your inbox. Click here to sign up today!

Also, be sure to visit Live Gluten Freely on Facebook at Facebook.com/glutenfreely. “Like” the page and check out recipe ideas, product news and tips about living without gluten…freely!

Now for the fun part. See the products above? All of those are part of the awesome prize packaged brought to you by MyBlogSpark & Live Gluten Freely. I received the same package last week and have already been into the cereal and made some brownies with chocolate frosting. They didn’t last long here! Also, the Peanut Butter Cookie Larabar is one of my favorite flavors. What do you have to do to win? Simple. Just leave a comment below telling me which product you would like to see available gluten-free. That is all you have to do to enter.

For additional entries (1 extra entry per comment) do one or more of the following.

1. “Like” Gluten-free is Life on Facebook.

2. Follow me on Twitter.

3. Tweet about this giveaway making sure to include “@kbouldin” and “#myblogspark” in your tweet.

Good luck! Contest will end Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at midnight!

**Prize package for my reader and myself were provided free of charge courtesy of MyBlogSpark and Live Gluten Freely.

Did you remember to “Fall Back” last night? I didn’t set my clocks last night because I knew the cable clock and my cell phone clock would take care of that for me. Plus, I really enjoy waking up in the middle of the night confused because I can’t figure out which clock is right in my half-asleep state.

Last night Aaron & I went out to our special place for our 10th Anniversary dinner. While Hyde Park doesn’t have a printed gluten-free menu, they have always done a wonderful job of making sure my food is safe to eat. Safe to eat and prepared the way I ordered it are 2 different things. I seem to have a problem with this lately. Not with my food showing up contaminated with gluten, but being prepared wrong. Both Aaron and I ordered meals that consisted of salads, filet mignon (7 oz) and a choice of seafood. One would think that because the steaks were exactly the same size and they were both ordered “medium-rare”, that they would arrive looking the same. One would think. This was not the case. Aaron’s steak was perfectly cooked. My steak was well-done. How does that happen? I sent my steak back and they quickly remade me a new one. It didn’t take long, as it was indeed medium-rare this time. Once I had my steak back, it was phenomenal. The rest of the meal was excellent and I enjoyed spending such a wonderful evening with the man I love. Back to my food coming out wrong. I met some friends for lunch today at BJ’s Brewhouse, which I seem to frequent about once a week. I ordered a salad with no onions, dressing on the side and topped with broiled salmon. Salad shows up swimming in dressing. I mean there was enough dressing there for me to say that I needed some more lettuce to go with my dressing. It was gross. I sent it back and make sure to let the server know that I was disappointed that once again my salad had come out wrong. The last 3 salads I have ordered there have come out incorrectly. The other 2 times they came with diced red onions covering them and I am about as sensitive to those as I am to gluten, so there is no way I could eat them. While the food is good when it comes out right, I think they need to get their act together on expediting the meals. Well, unless they want to keep giving me free salads, that is.

Onto the menu plan.

Sunday – Leftovers

Monday -BBQ chicken breast, quinoa, sugar snap peas & salad

Tuesday -Taco Tuesday, black beans, corn & salad

Wednesday -Bison Burgers, sweet potato steak fries, broccoli & salad

Thursday -Steelhead Trout, baked potatoes, spinach & salad

Friday – Pizza and salad

Saturday- Carry out

Weekly Recap:

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Houses

Review of Food for Good Thought gluten-free products

Review of Kettle Cuisine Soups

Le Garden Bakery products to be carried at Raisin Rack

O & H Danish Bakery has gluten-free choices

Review of O’Dough’s Bread

Bloomfield Farms offers reasonably priced gluten-free mixes

NFCA offers another free webinar: “Serving Up Gluten-Free at Colleges & Universities“

Review: Celiac Specialties

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Make sure to check back tomorrow for a fun giveaway! You won’t want to miss this one!

As I was lying in bed this morning, not wanting to venture out into the cold room, I was brainstorming about what warm, comforting breakfast I could make. I knew that coffee was first on the list, but wasn’t sure what I would eat. I remembered that I had a bunch of gluten-free instant oatmeal from Glutenfreeda and Organic Honeycrisp apples from Whole Foods and I came up with an amazing warm, fall breakfast!

First I chopped up my apple and placed it in a bowl topped with lots of cinnamon. I microwaved that for 2 minutes, then stirred, then cooked for another 1 – 2 minutes. Once the apple was “cooked”, I removed it from the microwave and put the oatmeal in. I cooked the oatmeal according to package directions, but added some cinnamon on top. I chose the Natural “flavor” so I could taste my own creation. After the oatmeal was cooked, I added in the apples & stirred. I decided it needed something else. Enter Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter. Tossed in a spoonful and that was exactly what it had been missing.

In my recent quest to get more iron in my diet, this was a good start for the day with 15% of the RDA just in the oatmeal.

This breakfast warmed me right up in a matter of minutes! Loved the fall flavors all in one big bowl, too. Hopefully this will hold me over until lunch time. 😉 If you haven’t tried Glutenfreeda’s Instant Oatmeal, you should give it a try. This whole breakfast took me less than 15 minutes to prepare from start to finish. Had I not been messing around, I probably could have done it in under 10 minutes. If you can’t find it in a store near you, Amazon.com has the oatmeal here. It is $30.77 for 8 boxes; each box has 6 packets in it. That is 48 servings for $30.77 for $ .64/serving. What a great deal! The shipping is free with the Super Saver Shipping option.

Last weekend I attended the 23rd Annual Celiac Conference in Columbus, Ohio. Fortunately for me the conference was local. Check-in and vendors opened at 7:30 AM and I was there with bells on. I had eaten a small breakfast before heading out not realizing what kind of spread lay ahead waiting for me. Note to self: no need for breakfast next year. I was floored at how many samples were there! I was happy to begin eating my way through the different vendors.

Shortly after I started making my way through, I spotted Jillian, from Udi’s, setting up. I was thrilled to meet Jillian, as she and I chat on Twitter frequently. She truly understands my love for Udi’s and their bagels. 🙂 Of course I had to sample the muffins and they were spectacular, as usual.

As I was making the rounds, I had the chance to speak with many of the vendors about their products and how they started. I will be writing individual reviews & reports of these encounters over the next few weeks. I was thrilled to speak with David from Outback Steakhouse about the possibility of adding bread to the gluten-free menu at more of their locations. There is a location in Atlanta (Roswell, I believe), that does have an extended gluten-free menu due to the manager or another staff member having Celiac Disease.

The seminar was great for those newly diagnosed or wanting to learn more information about Celiac Disease. The opening speaker was Dr. Jolanda Denham, who just happens to be the GI doctor that my kids go to. Dr. Denham is well versed in diagnosing & treating Celiac Disease.

The next speaker was Dr. Cynthia Rudert with a research update. Dr. Rudert practices in Atlanta, Georgia and was a pleasure to listen to. So nice to hear from doctors that “get” Celiac Disease and won’t stop trying to find the problem until their patient is feeling better. More doctors need to be attending seminars like this just to take notes on how to treat their patients!

Lunch was prepared completely gluten-free, but was a little disappointing. The meal consisted of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, canned carrots and peas, and cupcakes that disappeared before the first lunch session was even finished. It would have been nice to see salad and a vegetarian option offered as well. Many people were taking multiple cupcakes, which in my opinion was just plain rude. There were enough provided for everyone who attended the conference, yet many people were unable to enjoy them.

Before heading out, I made sure to stop by the Celiac Specialties booth to sample the most amazing gluten-free donut I have ever tasted. I kid you not. You can read more about the donut that Jon declared “The best gluten-free food E.V.E.R!” here.

Recently I was told by my doctor that I have Anemia. Anemia is common among those with Celiac Disease, though mine is most likely self-inflicted, at least at this point in time. I have been donating blood this year and it seems as if I may need to take a break. Labor Day weekend was the 3rd time this year that I donated. Since then I have been tired and run down. I expected that for a week or two, but not this long. Additionally, my menstrual cycles are off, which is what lead to the testing to begin with. I opted to try iron rich foods for the next few weeks before looking to iron supplements. My stomach doesn’t do well with iron supplements, so I hope that this works. I will repeat my blood test in 1-2 months to check on my levels.

After doing some research, here are some iron-rich foods that I already eat:

• Kale/Spinach
• Dried fruit (raisins, prunes, apricots)
• Beans & lentils

Some foods iron-rich foods that I am adding:

• Bison
• Red meat – filet mignon
• Shrimp
• Scallops
• Vega Shake & Go Smoothie (30%-40% of the RDA for iron)*see my review below
• Chia seeds

Last night I was piecing together dinner when I got a chance – the rest of the family had already eaten. I sautéed some kale & carrots in a touch of extra-virgin olive oil and added some black beans and gluten-free pasta for a huge pasta/veggie bowl. I tossed everything with some low-sodium soy sauce (La Choy is gluten-free) and then topped with some goat cheese. Awesome, iron-rich combo!

I can think of so many more combinations that would work well in this dish. I had the leftover kale & carrots with my lunch today. I had a tuna melt and spinach salad, which has become a lunch staple these days. I just read about how it is important to get enough vitamin C, as your body absorbs iron better with it.

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I had the opportunity to sample the Vega Shake & Go Smoothies in the past month. There are 4 different varieties of the Shake & Go Smoothies:

• Bodacious Berry
• Vanilla Almondilla
• Tropical Tango
• Choc-A-Lot

I was able to sample all but the Tropical Tango. The shakes are simple to literally shake & go. Simply add 4 – 8 oz of water, shake & go. The flavors were tasty and the nutritional stats are good. Some of the additional benefits are listed below:

• Two servings of veggies
• 2500 mg Omega- 3-6-9
• 11g complete protein
• Only 100 calories
• 1 billion probiotics cultures

The shakes are free from gluten, dairy, soy, corn, wheat & yeast and only have 6 grams of sugar per serving! Vega products can be purchased online or in stores (Whole Foods) across the US. I can see these shakes being useful during marathon training in addition to extra vitamin support while trying to get my iron level up.

Welcome to November! I can’t believe that 2010 is almost over! Seriously, wasn’t it just January? Halloween this year was much colder than last year. Jon decided to hand out candy, so he stayed back. Hannah bundled up and we headed out with my God daughter, Emma. We only made it through 2/3 of the neighborhood before both my friend and I declared it too cold to make the complete rounds. We were back inside and found we had only been out 45 minutes. BRRR!! My toes were frozen! Even with the shortened duration, plenty of candy was collected. Due to the festivities, we opted for Pei Wei take out last night. A little Pei Wei Spicy Shrimp warmed me right up!

The rest of the week is chock full of activities & anniversary celebrations. Aaron and I are celebrating our 10th anniversary on Thursday. 🙂

Sunday – Pei Wei/ToTing

Monday – Shrimp Scampi with gluten-free pasta, broccoli & salad

Tuesday – Burritos, corn & salad

Wednesday – Bison burgers, sweet potato puffs, zucchini & salad

Thursday – Grilled chicken, basmati brown rice, green beans & salad

Friday – Pizza and salad

Saturday -Anniversary dinner

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Now I will announce the winner for the Old El Paso giveaway.

The winner is…

Marie
October 30th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Friday night could use a bit of spicing up, so we’d make that Friday Family Fun Fiesta!

Marie – please email me at kim@glutenfreeislife.com with your info so that I can get it to MyBlogSpark.

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Weekly Recap

Review of Celiac Specialties donuts & croissants – heaven on earth!

Crave Bakery adds fall treats.

Enter here for a chance to win the new book from Gluten-Free Girl & the Chef. 🙂

Have a great week! 🙂