After writing the post “Stop the Madness” last week, I took some time to browse all of the great information I received in the comments and logging all of my food so that I can see where my calcium intake stands without adding in supplements. Cheryl of Gluten-Free Goodness shared this great site that has all kinds of good information on it. According to the chart on the page, I need 1000mg/day. I got down to work by making a list of the higher calcium foods that I already eat on the list:

• yogurt (Greek)
• cheese
• salmon
• spinach
• ice cream (daily habit)
• corn tortillas
• broccoli
• cream cheese
• figs
• almonds (almond butter)

Then, I signed up for MyNetDiary to help track my vitamin intake. It has tons of foods listed, including many gluten-free, and allows you to add your own. I liked this site because I was able to get the free app for my itouch and it is user friendly.

I normally don’t weigh all my food, but did this AM to get an idea of amounts so I can get the right amount of calcium in my food. I was a little shocked to see that my large fruit bowl may be classified as a little more than large – it weighed in a 1.03 pounds! Oops!! LOL! I weighed each fruit that I put in my bowl. Now wonder Aaron was laughing at me a couple weeks back saying I was eating too much fruit. I chose the following this AM:

• watermelon
• cantaloupe
• cherries
• blueberries
• raspberries
• blackberries
• strawberries
• plum
• peach

So, all of that added up to 206 calories, 6 grams of fiber and 4% of my daily calcium. 😉 I also had some rice cakes with PB & fruit spread.

I am looking forward to really seeing what fun foods I can add to my diet that can help my calcium intake. Some that I am looking into are:

• chinese cabbage
• kale (love kale chips, but keep forgetting about them)
• cottage cheese

I will make sure to update you guys on my “study”. Yesterday I consumed 70% of my RDA of calcium through my food. I am interested to see the data over a period of a week to a month.

I love when a company name fits the company well. A super example of this is Heaven Mills. These products taste too good to be true – like they are from heaven! Come on, you knew I was going there, right? Both Jon and I had a very hard time keeping our hands out of the samples*** that were sent to us. Here is a little information about Heaven Mills:

Heaven Mills Gluten-Free Bakery is one of the most specializing and manufacturing company in the field of gluten-free products. At Heaven Mills, we strive daily for the sake of producing and manufacturing our products to those who are struggling with celiac disease in their day to day lives and are trying to maintain a healthy and gluten-free diet. Being gluten-free is not any longer a compromise on good taste. With the help of Heaven Mills, gluten-free products are now rich in taste and are made with fine quality ingredients to serve our satisfied customers.

Our Plant Is:

Gluten- Free
Wheat- Free
Nut-Free
Tree Nut-Free
Peanut-Free
Lactose- Free
Chemicals-Free
Preservatives-Free
Casein-Free

In addition, our bakery produces egg-free as well as sugar-free products to those individuals whose diet requires such attention.

Our Pure Oats Have No Gluten Contamination
At Heaven Mills, we use oats which are planted and harvested with the use of the highest and most strict standards, which are the following:

We purchase seeds that are entirely gluten-free
We plant the seeds in fields which have not grown any wheat, barley, rye or other cereals close to the wheat family for the previous three years
Our farmers ensure gluten-free purity
We thoroughly clean our dedicated harvesting equipment to ensure that all our products are 100% gluten-free of any gluten contamination
We rigorously test our crops to make certain that they are 100% gluten-free despite all of the above precautions

Our company is certified to be gluten-free! Heaven Mills Gluten-Free Bakery also certified Kosher by The Star-K as well as by The Beth Din of Tartikov.

It doesn’t get much safer than that! But, the question is, how does the food taste? One word – tremendous! The taste, the texture…spot on! We were sent the following products to review:

Pizza Crust

Oat Bread

Cup Cakes

Chocolate Buns

Cookies

Vanilla Rugelach

Brownie Cake

My favorite product had to be the vanilla rugelach and the cup cakes! I seriously moaned when I bit into them both. Jon kept watch over that stuff like he was a mama bird protecting her young.

See the awesomeness? The flakey rugelach melted in our mouths.

Next up? Pizza. Jon loved this pizza! It was like a deep dish, which he has not had since going gluten-free.

Chocolate bun anyone? Like a cinnamon roll, but with chocolate, too. Jon laid claim to these for his breakfast several days in a row. Good thing he is a growing teenage boy!

The oat bread was used for garlic toast with cheese or bread & butter. We tried it both toasted & fresh out of the bag and it was great both ways.

The brownie cake was good and reminded me a bit of the Swiss Cake Roll made by Shabtai Gourmet, but without the cream filling. Didn’t get many pieces of this….

And last, but not least, the chocolate chip cookies. These were really good and nice to have on hand for quick on-the-go treats. They would make a good base for ice cream sandwiches! If Jon didn’t have braces, I am sure the would be all over that.

Heaven Mills products are available on their website. They have many more products than what I have talked about here, so make sure to check them out. I think I will be placing an order for the pita bread soon!

***These samples were sent to me free of charge. The opinion stated here on my blog is strictly mine and has not been influenced by anyone or anything. I think you all know me well enough to know by now that I will tell you how I feel and if I don’t like something, you will hear about it. 😉

Here we are in August. I can’t believe the kids go back to school in 23 days. No counting down going on around here! 😉 This week is Hannah’s birthday week. Her birthday isn’t actually until Friday, but she had a party with her friends yesterday and we are having a family cookout on Saturday. I can’t believe she is going to be 8!!!

Sunday – Filet mignon, baked potatoes, steamed green beans & salad

Monday-Pesto salmon (new recipe – share later), brown rice, roasted root vegetables & salad

Tuesday-Spaghetti with roasted vegetables and salad

Wednesday -Mexican – burritos or soft tacos, refried beans, corn & salad

Thursday-Perfect Pork Tenderloin

Friday -Hannah’s choice – her actual birthday!

Saturday-Cookout – burgers and grilled chicken, veggie tray, salad, chips & salsa and fruit

Baked Goods

Dessert or cake of some sort (Hannah will get a non-GF cookie cake for her cookout)

Blueberry corn muffins

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Winner of the Boar’s Head Lower Sodium Challenge

Elizabeth
July 28th, 2010 at 9:52 am
I follow you on Twitter @Ebee333.

Congrats, Elizabeth!!! Please email me with your info!

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Weekly Recap:

Made some awesome vegetarian curried fried rice – this will be a common dish for me!

Couple of recalls for undeclared wheat here and here.

Make sure to check out this coupon for Udi’s gluten-free stuff!

Click here for a chance to win “Living Gluten-Free for Dummies” and to read a review of the book.

Panera bread makes more menu changes.

I wrote a review of Conte’s gnocchi.

If you missed it, there is a great post about calcium supplements and advice in the comments. I am going to post an update this week, too.

I made blueberry scones with my Gluten-Free Bisquick.

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Coming up this week…..

Review of Udi’s Chocolate Muffins

Oikos giveaway/review

Okay, seriously, I can’t take conflicting information. Why? Because then I have to make my own decision. I have to weigh options – risks and benefits. It really stresses me out. I heard a blip on the news today that said something along the lines of calcium supplements raising the risk of heart attack. WHAT?!? Excuse me, but wasn’t calcium supposed to be good for you? I knew that I had to find out more about this and fairly quickly, as I have recently begun taking calcium supplements to help strengthen my bones.

I googled (yes, I know, not always the best option, but I will only trust reputable sites) and found this article on Fox News and this one on ABC News. I want to add that when I say “trust”, I mean put more faith in than another less reputable site or one I have not heard of.

The Fox News site says that the risk is increased by 30 percent in those that took calcium supplements. In a study of 12,000 elderly patients over 4 years, half took calcium and half took a placebo. The study showed a 30% increase in heart attacks in the patients who took the calcium. This article made no mention of vitamin D being taken along with the calcium supplements, but advised patients to consult their doctors and to try go get calcium in their diets naturally instead of via supplement.

The ABC News site gave me a little reassurance that I should, indeed, continue to take my calcium supplements. The article says the studies of those with or at increased risk for osteoporosis (read: older women) who took calcium supplements were at an increased risk for heart attack. It goes on to say that since calcium supplements are widely used, the increase may not be a result of the calcium supplements, but other factors. There was no link found in those who took vitamin D along with the calcium.

Hmmmmm….. Osteoporosis runs in my family. My grandmother has it (mom’s mom) and my mom & sister both have osteopenia (sis is 35). Having Celiac Disease, family history and now the stress fracture puts me at an increased risk. Taking calcium supplements or getting an ample amount in my diet is imperative. Currently I take 1000mg calcium and 4000IU vitamin D/day. I had a DEXA scan in 2006 that was normal. I just had it repeated this week (due to my stress fracture) and it was normal. Phew! I am okay for now, but here is where the complication lies….I don’t drink milk. I am lactose intolerant and while I can tolerate some dairy (ice cream, cheese & yogurt) with Lactaid on occasion, drinking a glass of milk kills me. Even daily consumption of yogurt starts to be too much after a few days. I do drink almond milk on occasion (I use it in my coffee daily) and it has calcium and vitamin D in it. I don’t see myself drinking enough of that to get my RDA, though. I did some more googling and found this information from Health Diaries.com:

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to drink your milk in order to get your calcium.

The government recommendation for adults ages 19-50 is 1000 mg of calcium per day. One cup of milk has 296 mg, but there are plenty of reasons you might not to drink milk, from personal preference to medical reasons.

Here are 15 foods high in calcium that don’t come from a cow:

Sesame Seeds (can’t eat these – might as well eat gluten)
A quarter cup of sesame seeds has 351 mg calcium.

Spinach
A cup of boiled spinach has 245 mg.

Collard Greens
A cup of boiled collard greens has 266 mg.

Blackstrap Molasses
One tablespoon has about 137 mg.

Kelp
One cup of raw kelp has 136 mg.

Tahini (again, sesame seeds, off limits)
Two tablespoons of raw tahini (sesame seed butter) have 126 mg.

Broccoli
Two cups of boiled broccoli have 124 mg.

Swiss Chard
One cup of boiled chard has 102 mg.

Kale
One cup of boiled kale has 94 mg.

Brazil Nuts
Two ounces of Brazil nuts (12 nuts) have 90 mg.

Celery
Two cups of raw celery have 81 mg.

Almonds
One ounce of almonds (23 nuts) has 75 mg.

Papaya (Ick – have you tasted papaya?)
One medium papaya has 73 mg.

Flax Seeds
Two tablespoons of flax seeds have 52 mg.

Oranges
One medium orange has 52 mg.

Looks like I will be making smoothies out of molasses, kale & flax seeds from here on out. 😉 Seriously, I am going to keep track my intake for a few days and see how much I get without trying to add any extra. Then I can see where my diet may need some adjustment. I know of one staple I eat daily that has calcium – almond butter! If choosing a nut butter, almond has more than peanut. Twist my arm, I could use as many reasons as possible to eat more almond butter. Now, if only red wine was as good of a source of calcium as it is antioxidants.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the new Gluten-free Bisquick arrive on my front porch the other day. Live Gluten Freely sent me out the sample to review (I received this item as a complimentary sample). There are many recipes on the box and the Live Gluten Freely/Bisquick website, but I had scones on the brain. Not only did I have scones on the brain, but I had blueberries in my fridge that I needed to use before they went bad. At least my pants weren’t on the ground. 😉 (If you didn’t watch American Idol this year, you have no clue what that meant and I apologize. Now on with our scheduled programming.)

Gluten-free Bisquick is slightly different from “normal” Bisquick. There is a FAQ page to help with any questions or issues you may be having. There is no shortening in the Gluten-Free Bisquick, as there is in the “normal” Bisquick. Heidi, from Adventures of a Gluten-Free Mom, took matters into her own hands and made her own GF Bisquick using the store bought Gluten-Free Bisquick and then adding shortening and storing that way. Now she can use her GF Bisquick mix cup for cup in all of her old favorite recipes. The ingredients for the Gluten-Free Bisquick are:

Rice Flour, Sugar, Leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate), Modified Potato Starch, Salt, Xanthan Gum

Want to find Gluten-Free Bisquick near you? Click here to see the closest store.

Now, the good stuff. Blueberry Scones. I had never had a scone until last fall when I made pumpkin raisin scones and I was quickly addicted. Of course it didn’t hurt that one of my favorite ingredients was one of the star ingredients – pumpkin. 🙂 Blueberries are right up there, too, so I was on the hunt for a good recipe. I happened upon this recipe from Stonyfield and modified it to fit my needs.

Gluten-free Blueberry Scones

2 cups of Gluten-Free Bisquick

1 1/4 cups of Greek plain yogurt (I used Yoplait)

1 cup blueberries (recipe recommends frozen, but I used fresh; they get a little squished, but they are still yummy)

Glaze:

3 TBSP butter, melted

2 TBSP Sugar in the Raw

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Check to make sure the oven is at proper temperature before baking the scones.

2. Measure out GF Bisquick into a large bowl. Add yogurt and blueberries.

3. Mix with a fork. Dough will be sticky, but should turn coarse.

4. Lightly flour a cutting board with a little GF Bisquick; turn dough onto the board and lightly knead 5 – 6 times.

5. Form the dough into a circle about 10 inches around.

6. For glaze – spread butter over the top & sides and sprinkle sugar on top. (I didn’t use the butter, I just sprinkled the sugar on & patted down)

7. Cut circle into 12 wedges and place on a non-stick cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Leave about an inch in between pieces.

8. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden. Do not over bake.

So, the verdict? These rocked!!! WOW!!! The texture is perfect! These have virtually no fat, unless you add the butter on top, and still have less than 4g/fat per scone then. If you notice, I did not add any sugar to this recipe. The Stonyfield recipe does call for a 1/4 cup of sugar, but since the GF Bisquick contains sugar, I did not feel the need to add it. However, if you like a sweeter scone, you may want to consider adding that 1/4 cup of sugar in. Also, I halved the recipe so that I would have some GF Bisquick left to make something else with.

I can’t wait to make pancakes, waffles or biscuits with the rest of my Bisquick! Have you tried the new Gluten-Free Bisquick?

Editing to add that if you click here, you can enter for a chance to win a free box of Gluten-Free Bisquick!

I had the pleasure of partnering with Boar’s Head for this awesome challenge/giveaway. I received some *complimentary* samples of Boar’s Head lower sodium meat & cheese to create some gluten-free recipes. Boar’s Head recently held a “Boar’s Head Five Borough Sandwich Battle” where voting took place for the favorite sandwich creation. While these recipes weren’t gluten-free as written, they could easily be modified to be gluten-free All of Boar’s Head’s meats, cheeses & condiments are gluten-free, which makes it even easier!

Here are the recipes:

STATEN ISLAND FERRY
(Lower Sodium Ham and Swiss)

” 4 oz Boar’s Head 42% Lower Sodium Branded Deluxe Ham, Sliced
” 1 oz Boar’s Head Low Sodium Imported Gold Label Swiss, Sliced
” 2 oz Leaf Lettuce
” 1 oz Onion, Sliced Thinly
” 1 oz Roasted Red Peppers
” 1 oz Boar’s Head Delicatessen Style Mustard
” 1 Kaiser Roll

THE PARK AVENUE
(Heart Healthy Ham and Turkey)

” 2 oz Boar’s Head 42% Lower Sodium Branded Deluxe Ham, Sliced
” 2 oz Boar’s Head Premium 47% Lower Sodium Turkey Breast, Sliced
” 1oz Boar’s Head Lacey Swiss Cheese, Sliced
” 1 oz Cucumber, Sliced Thinly
” 1 oz Leaf Lettuce
” 1 oz Boar’s Head Honey Mustard
” 2 Slices Seven Grain Bread

THE BRONX BOMBER
(Deluxe Roast Beef with Lacey Swiss Sub)

” 4 oz Boar’s Head Low Sodium Deluxe Oven Roasted Beef, Sliced Thinly
” 1 oz sliced Boar’s Head 42% Lower Sodium Provolone
” 1 oz Leaf Lettuce
” 1 oz Red Onion, Sliced Thinly
” 1 oz Boar’s Head Pub Style Horseradish Sauce
” 1 Ciabatta Roll (Sliced in Half)

THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE
(Lower Sodium Turkey and Provolone)

” 4 oz Boar’s Head Premium 47% Lower Sodium Turkey Breast, Sliced
” 1 oz Boar’s Head 42% Lower Sodium Provolone, Sliced
” 1 oz Leaf Lettuce
” 2 oz Tomato, Sliced
” 1 oz Boar’s Head Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Mayonnaise
” 2 Slices of Wheat Bread

THE AIRPORT SPECIAL
(Golden Classic Chicken Breast Sandwich)

” 4 oz Boar’s Head Golden Classic™ 47% Lower Sodium Chicken Breast, Sliced
” 1 oz Boar’s Head Lacey Swiss Low Sodium, Sliced
” 1 oz Leaf Lettuce
” 2 oz Tomato, Sliced
” 1 oz Roasted Red Peppers
” 1 oz Boar’s Head Pepperhouse Gourmaise™
” 1 6″ French Bread Roll

I made several different sandwich creations with my Boar’s Head samples. I made a variation of “The Airport Special” using an Udi’s gluten-free bagel as the bread and using spicy brown mustard in place of the Pepperhouse Gourmaise. I also made a wrap that contained Lower Sodium Turkey Breast, cheddar cheese, mixed greens, green pepper and Boar’s Head Delicatessen Style Mustard.

**Wrap is Food for Life Brown Rice Tortillas

After browsing around the recipes on the Boar’s Head site, I could not pass this next sandwich up. I used Food for Life’s gluten-free English Muffins, cream cheese, dried apricots, sliced almonds and Lower Sodium Turkey Breast.

***Yes, those are Snyder’s gluten-free pretzel sticks and they are to-die-for!

I think this sandwich may be a new favorite!! I love dried apricots and this adds just the right amount of sweetness, though a thin layer of apricot fruit spread may be the perfect addition! 😉

Now, what is in this for you guys….hang in there and keep reading, I promise there is fun stuff at the end. 😉

Did you know that Americans eat almost twice the recommended limit of salt each day? In fact, only 11 percent of the sodium in Americans’ diet comes from our own salt shakers and nearly eighty percent of our sodium intake comes from the sodium that is added to foods before they are sold!

We may know that diets high in salt increase blood pressure, which is a factor in heart attack and stroke, the nation’s leading causes of preventable death, but what are we doing about it?

The National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI) is a New York City-led partnership of 18 companies that have committed to voluntarily reduce sodium levels in their products. Boar’s Head is the first deli company to be involved in this initiative and is the only deli company to be on target for National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI) 2012 Standards.

Now, Boar’s Head wants YOU to get involved by taking part in the Boar’s Head Lower Sodium Challenge!

Boar’s Head is offering one lucky reader a Shake It Up Kit to encourage you to get excited about lower sodium options and to get you to take an extra minute to think about your daily sodium intake. The kit includes a $25 Boar’s Head Gift Card, a Boar’s Head condiment kit, and a Launch Your Assault on Salt guide.

Here is how to enter (choose 1 or all):

1. Find the item with the highest level of sodium in your pantry and brainstorm a lower sodium replacement. Leave a comment sharing your thoughts here.

2. Follow me and Boar’s Head on Twitter. Leave a comment.

3. Follow Gluten-free is Life and Boar’s Head on Facebook. Leave a comment.

4. Tweet or blog about this contest and make sure to include @kbouldin and @Boars_Head in your tweet. Leave a comment.

Good luck!! Contest ends Sunday, August 1, 2010 at midnight! One lucky winner will be chosen Monday morning.

Hey guys! Hope you all had a good week last week. Some fun things are coming up here in the next week – I will have a post up tomorrow with the details! We have been spending a lot of time indoors – it is just too hot. Things are supposed to cool down some this week. The kids go back to school in one month. I need to start gathering supplies, having them try their clothes on, etc. Fun times!

This week’s menu:

Sunday – Leftovers – I had a gluten-free convenience meal that I am reviewing several of – watch for the review, it was good!

Monday -Fajitas/tacos, refried beans & salad

Tuesday – BBQ chicken breast, volcano rice, green beans & salad

Wednesday- Burgers (veggie burgers), cheesy chili potatoes, zucchini & salad

Thursday-Roasted veggie (chicken) stir fry using a teriyaki sauce over rice, broccoli & salad

Friday – Pizza bagels (Udi’s – my fav) and salad

Saturday-leftovers or out

Baked Goods

Blueberry scones

bread

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Week in review:

Debole’s recalls gluten-free pasta

Raisin Rack is carrying Rudi’s gluten-free bread

Great Harvest Bread in Columbus/Upper Arlington is carrying gluten-free bread

Take advantage of P.F. Chang’s free lettuce wraps for another 6 days!

I reviewed Lotus Foods exotic rice

I made caprese turkey burgers

Don’t forget you can keep up with me on Twitter or Facebook, too! 🙂 Have something in mind you would like to see here on Gluten-free is Life? Leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do!

Good morning to you all!! It is hot and humid here – like too hot to go to the pool hot. Ick!! I am glad that I have plans that require me to be inside. Here is the news you are all waiting for – the winner of the Zensah & Jay Robb giveaway! Here we go…….the winner is…….

Andrea (Off Her Cork)
July 20th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
Already following you and Zensha, just added Jay Robb.

Congrats ANDREA!!!! Shoot me an email so I can get some information from you.

Thank you to everyone who entered!! If you didn’t win this on, don’t fret, there will be several more giveaways over the next month! How exciting is that?

Hannah was playing around with my camera yesterday and took a picture of me while I was feeding the little boy that I watch. She asked if I was going to post the picture on my blog. Initially I was thinking that there was no way b/c I had no make up on. Then, I reconsidered. I thought that this would make a good post for showing that make up is not always necessary, especially when hanging out at home.

So, there you have it – no make up and hair was left to air dry. 🙂 This is for Hannah. 🙂

Anyone care to join me and share how you are “Keeping it Real”?

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There was an article that I read yesterday that really ruffled my feathers. The article, “New Ways to Just Say No to Dessert” was on the Reader’s Digest website. The author suggests using Celiac Disease, among other ailments, as an excuse for passing up dessert. I was appalled, to say the least. Having Celiac Disease and following the gluten-free diet is not to be taken lightly. Celiac Disease awareness is growing day to day, but using it as an excuse to avoid dessert for fear of offending the host/hostess is not only careless, but is an insult to those that have to follow the diet. Not to mention how confusing it could be. What if the main course of the meal consisted of pasta or bread? Then the host/hostess is thinking that pasta, bread or whatever was served is gluten-free, but dessert is not. GRRR!!! I have a suggestion – how about putting on your big girl panties or manning up and simply saying “No, thank you” or “Thanks, but I am too full to even consider eating that fabulous looking dessert” or even “Thank you, but I am trying to watch what I eat these days”. Rant over.

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So now that I have bared my “naked” face and ranted about RD, I can go on with my day. 🙂 Don’t forget to enter the Jay Robb/Zensah giveaway today! Only 15 hours left!!

Last fall I had the pleasure of reviewing my own combination of cereal made by Custom Choice Cereal. Custom Choice allows gluten-free customers to create their own mix of cereal from 3 different bases and then add up to 11 additional ingredients. Addition choices include, dried fruit, nuts and seeds.

Ever wanted to see behind the scenes of an operation like this? Well, now is your chance! Check out this video for an up close look at where Custom Choice makes their cereal.

It is super simple to order your cereal from Custom Choice.  Just follow the 3 steps – select base, add ingredients and place your order.

Follow Custom Choice on both Facebook and Twitter for current news.

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Don’t forget to enter here for a chance to win some Jay Robb protein powder and Zensah compression sleeves.