Before I get started with my crazy week, I would like to take a moment to wish my sister, Kelly, a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I won’t disclose how old she is, but I can say that she closed the gap for the next 5 weeks and is only 1 year younger than me!

Last night we head to Bonefish Grill with a couple of friends. I was a bit hesitant to eat out since my luck hasn’t been the best lately and I seem to be sending back an awful lot of food. I am pleased to report that we had an amazing meal, complete with a Black Cherry Guava Mojito full of cherries!! Man, that drink was tasty! I had the Chilean Sea Bass with chimichurri, jasmine rice, broccoli and we all split the crème brulee for dessert. The only issue we had was that they forgot to bring Aaron’s salad. It is always something, huh?

This week continues with a super busy schedule. Is it time to hibernate yet?

Sunday – Pei Wei take out

Monday – Grilled chicken marinated in Italian dressing, baked potatoes, broccoli & salad

Tuesday – Mexican pizzas, corn, refried beans

Wednesday – Eggplant Parmesan, spaghetti & salad

Thursday-Burgers, sweet potato puffs, green beans & salad

Friday – Individual pizzas and salad

Saturday -Breakfast for dinner

Baked Goods

Lemon bars

Bread

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Weekly Recap

Don’t forget to enter my fun giveaway – click here to enter! Hurry, you only have until the 15th!

NFCA offers a webinar to help get you through the holidays.

Gluten-free Yogi Tea to help keep you warm!

Livefreeda is a new approach to the gluten-free diet.

The Gluten-Free Bar review.

‘Tis the season for gift giving.

I get a lot of interesting samples to sample & review for my blog. One of the most interesting products I have received were the Savory Choice all-natural broth concentrates. This is not bouillon, but a concentrate that you add liquid to to create an amazing broth. The broth can then be used for any soups, stuffing, cooking rice, etc.

Savory Choice is a product made by Savory Creations International. Some more information about SCI:

Founded in 2003 by a team of experts with over 30 years experience in the food industry, Savory Creations International mission is to develop, manufacture, and distribute competitively priced food products that use only the highest-quality natural flavors and ingredients.
We’re committed to delivering only “Clean Label” products that contain no chemical additives such Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), hydrolyzed vegetable proteins (HVPs), or Disodium Inosonate + Disodium Guanalate (I + G).

Savory Choice is a line of exceptional liquid broth concentrates made from natural ingredients. Developed using proprietary natural flavor technologies the result is superior taste, aroma, and overall quality.

The Savory Choice liquid broth concentrates come in several different varieties:

Chicken Flavor -Liquid broth concentrate packed in single-serve foil pouches; Free of MSG, preservatives, gluten, trans-fats, and non-GMO; Great value: 1 box (4 stick pouches) makes 32 ounces of chicken broth (equal to 2 x 14 oz cans or 1 quart boxed broth); Uses: soups, stews, gravies, or as an ingredient in your marinade; Convenience: no more opening a full box of broth when you only need 1 cup; Each stick pouch of liquid broth concentrate is reconstituted with 1 cup (8 oz) hot water.

Reduced Sodium Chicken Flavor –Reduced sodium verision of the above. Only 360mg sodium vs. 770mg sodium.

Beef Flavor –Liquid broth concentrate packed in single-serve foil pouches; Free of MSG, preservatives, gluten, trans-fats, and non-GMO; Great value: 1 box (4 stick pouches) makes 32 ounces of beef broth (equal to 2 x 14 oz cans or 1 quart boxed broth); Uses: soups, stews, gravies, or as an ingredient in your marinade; Convenience: no more opening a full box of broth when you only need 1 cup; Each stick pouch of liquid broth concentrate is reconstituted with 1 cup (8 oz) hot water.

Beef Demi Glace – Free of MSG, preservatives, gluten, trans–fats, and non-GMO; Restaurant quality sauce in minutes that is perfect to drizzle over steaks; Uses: enhance stews and soups; Perfect for braising pot roasts and short ribs; Each pouch makes 1/4 cup demi glace (four 1 ounce servings.

Reduced Sodium Vegetable Flavor –Reduced sodium; Liquid broth concentrate packed in single-serve foil pouches; Free of MSG, preservatives, gluten, trans-fat, and non-GMO; Great value: 1 box (4 stick pouches) makes 32 ounces of vegetable broth; (equal to 2 x 14 oz cans or 1 quart boxed broth); Uses: soups, stews, gravies, or as an ingredient in your marinade; Convenience: no more opening a full box of broth when you only need 1 cup; Each stick pouch of liquid broth concentrate is reconstituted with 1 cup (8 oz) hot water.

Turkey Flavor – Finally, turkey broth that tastes like turkey, not chicken; Liquid broth concentrate packed in single-serve foil pouches; Free of MSG, preservatives, gluten, trans-fat, and non-GMO; Great value: 1 box (12 stick pouches) makes 96 ounces of turkey broth; (equal to 7 x 14 oz cans or 3 x 1 quart boxed broth); Uses: soups, stews, gravies, injection, brine, or as an ingredient in your marinade; Convenience: no more opening a full box of broth when you only need 1 cup; Each stick pouch of liquid broth concentrate is reconstituted with 1 cup (8 oz) hot water.

I used the Chicken broth to make brown rice and our Thanksgiving stuffing. I used the Vegetable broth to make this amazing soup from Jules Sheperd Dowler of Jules Gluten Free Flour. Such a warm, comforting meal on a cold winter day! I loved how easy the concentrates were to make into a broth. All you do is take 1 cup of hot water and mix with 1 stick of concentrate. So simple! I enjoyed the flavor of the broths as is, in addition to using them in another dish.

Butternut Soup

The cost of this product is very reasonable at $2.29/box of 4 sticks of concentrate (4 cups of broth). The 12 stick boxes are priced at $4.99. There are many places across the US and online to purchase the Savory Choice liquid concentrates. If you are looking to get creative, make sure to check out the recipes page on the Savory Choice website.

I am so thrilled to be a part of this amazing giveaway that I can’t contain my excitement! I love this kind of stuff so that I can help spread the gluten-free word and get great products into my readers’ hands.

Katie Chalmers, Author and Illustrator of the unique new book, “Mommy, What is Celiac Disease ?” is offering (think: perfect gift!) the “Gluten-Free Holiday Giveaway Galore x10!” to 10 lucky winners. Where do I come in? I get to host 1 of the 10 giveaways, meaning that 1 of my lucky readers will win the amazing prizes below:

PRIZE CONTENT DETAILS:

-Signed copy of Mommy, What is Celiac Disease?

-Schar 123 Milly PlayMais- dice game & biodegradable natural toy activity brick set

-Schar products: Cheese Bites, Chocolate -or- Vanilla Sandwich Creme Cookies, Hazelnut Wafers

-Pamela’s Products: Single Serve Pancake Mix, Single Serve Brownie Mix, Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookie two-pack, Tablespoon/teaspoon measuring spoon, kids sized t-shirt- color will vary

-Nature’s Path: Peanut Butter Panda Puffs & crispy rice bars- flavors will vary, $1 off coupons

-Mary’s Gone Crackers: one of the following: box of cookies -or- crackers -or- Sticks & Twigs

-Snyder’s of Hanover: bag of gluten-free pretzel sticks

-Chebe: pizza crust mix -or- all purpose bread mix

-Bob’s Sweet Stripes: one bag of soft peppermint candy sticks

-Stuffed teddy bear: colors may vary

-Holiday pencils, eraser, holiday notepad & plastic snowman cereal bowl

-Large holiday gift bag & small holiday gift bag & tissue paper- will need to be assembled to give as gift

*Contents may vary

I was able to read this book a month or so ago and was really impressed with it. Not only are the pictures attractive to the adult eye, but to a young child’s eye, too. I’ve shared this book with my daughter (8) and God daughter (3) and they both loved the little girl (and her curly hair). Inspiration for the little girl in the book came from Chalmers’ own daughter, Morgan, who was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 2008. The book helps explain what Celiac Disease is in terms that are easy for a younger child to understand. Topics covered in the book include foods that are safe for the gluten-free diet and ideas about what to do when your child needs to avoid gluten-containing food away from home and bring along something safe to eat. The book ends by talking about how eating is such a small part of life and concentrating on all of the fun things there are to do in life helps us keep a positive attitude. I love all of the positivity radiating from this book! It is easy to get discouraged with a new diagnosis, especially one that involves a major diet change like the gluten-free diet. Explaining all of the details can be made just a little easier (and fun) with a book like “Mommy, What is Celiac Disease?”

I am hosting this giveaway in conjunction with these 9 other gluten-free/celiac bloggers. The giveaway will run from from Wed. Dec. 1 – Wed. Dec. 15, 2010:

Accustomed Chaos – Devan

Adventures of a GF Mom – Heidi

Be Free For Me – Kathleen

Celiac Family – Heather

Gluten Free Betsy – Betsy

Gluten Free Easily (gfe) – Shirley

Gluten Free Philly – Michael

Gluten Free Taste of Home – Cinde

Simply Sugar & Gluten Free – Amy

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Contest Rules:

• All 10 of these contests are open to residents of the USA. Only the Accustomed Chaos & Gluten-Free Easily contests are also open to Canadian residents.

• All 10 contests begin on Wed. Dec. 1, 2010 and will end on Wed. Dec. 15, 2010 at 10pm EST.

• Entry requirements will vary between bloggers. Please follow their directions to enter.

• Entrants can only win once total within all 10 giveaways. If anyone is chosen more than once as a winner, another winner will be chosen so everyone only wins once.

• One winner per household.

• Winners with valid entries will be selected at random. The winners will be announced and notified via email and must reply within 24 hours to claim. Otherwise, another eligible entry will be chosen, in order that all prizes will arrive before Christmas. So please remember to check your email on Dec.16th.

• If any of the 10 prizes do not arrive before Christmas because of any unforeseen holiday mail rush problems, the USPS, Katie Chalmers and hosting bloggers will not be held accountable.

Now, all you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling me what your favorite gluten-free product is.

For additional entries, complete one or more of the following, leaving a comment for each one completed.  This can increase your chances of winning.

1.  Follow me on Twitter.

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

3.  Subscribe to my blog or blog about this giveaway & link back.

Good luck!!