Today, February 4, 2011 is National “Wear Red Day”.  Heart disease is a real problem in women and our symptoms tend to be much different than they are in men.  Make sure you are aware of the symptoms and don’t hesitate to act if you are experiencing them.  Better to go to the ER, Urgent Care or DR and be sent home because it is nothing than to wait and suffer serious consequences or death. 

Here is some very important information – please take the time to read this:

Signs of a Heart Attack:

Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience
some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.

Signs of Stroke and TIAs:

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden severe headache with no known cause

For more information, including Risk Factors, click here to view all kinds of resources and a Knowledge Tool Kit. 

In addition to wearing red today, here are some red foods you can eat to celebrate. 

• Tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Red bell pepper
• Red wine (my personal favorite) – 1 glass a day for women is good for your heart
• Cherries
• Apples
• Sun-dried Tomatoes
• Cranberries
• Cranberry Juice
• Cherry Juice
• Watermelon
• Pomegranate Juice (POM Wonderful rocks)
• Red Cabbage

All the above are naturally gluten-free, making them perfect for celebrating Wear Red Day. 

Some red recipe ideas:

• Lasagna
• Cranberry Sauce
• Parmesan Broiled Tomatoes
• Baked Apples topped with vanilla yogurt & cacao nibs
• Pizza
• Tacos with salsa

If you want to donate to help research, click here to find out where the money goes. 

And, last, but not least, if you head to Macy’s today and wear red, you will receive 20% off of your purchase!  Are you wearing red today?  I am!  I have a red sweatshirt on.

Anyone getting excited for the Super Bowl?  I am not a huge fan of football.  I do like to watch the commercials during the game, but the game itself is not of much interest to me.  I prefer to watch hockey.  One part of the Super Bowl festivities that I do enjoy is the food & drink.  How can you go wrong with a bunch of appetizers and gluten-free beer or wine? 

The other day I talked about some appetizer ideas over on Celiac-Disease.com.  Since then I have run across another recipe that I think will be a huge hit…Gluten-free Taco Party Dip!  How good does that sound? 

Picture & recipe courtesy of Crunchmaster

Ingredients:

1 can fat-free refried beans (most, like Trader Joe’s or Old El Paso are GF)
1 lb. lean ground beef (try ground bison/buffalo for an extra boost of iron)
1 (1.25 oz.) taco seasoning mix (Ortega is GF)
2 c. shredded Mexican blend ( cheddar/Monterey Jack) cheese
1 bag (4.5 oz) Crunchmaster® Roasted Garlic Multi-Seed Crackers
1/2 c. chopped fresh tomatoes
1/4 c. thinly sliced green onions

Optional additional toppings:
1 chopped avocado
3 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
1/2 c. sour cream

Pre-heat oven to 350˚F. In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and season with taco mix. Set aside. Spray a 24 oz. Au Gratin dish, or 9” deep dish pie pan with non-stick baking spray. Evenly spread 1 can of fat-free refried beans on the bottom of the dish. Top with ground beef/taco mixture. Sprinkle with Mexican blend cheese.
Layer the Multi-Seed Crackers around the outside of the dish in an overlapping pattern. Cover crackers with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning.
Bake at 350˚F for 15 minutes, until cheese melts, and dish is warmed through.
Take from oven and remove foil from crackers. Cover with fresh chopped tomatoes and sliced green onions.

Serves 8

My notes are in italics.  In order to get my family to eat that, I would have to leave out the tomatoes and onions.  Or, better yet, add them and I don’t have to worry about sharing!  HA! 

We quickly became fans of the Crunchmaster crackers the first time we tried them.  I believe that they are the perfect pairing for a dip like this. 

Sign up here for the Crunchmaster newsletter and $1 off coupon!

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Don’t feel like cooking for the Super Bowl?  Check out this offer that P.F. Chang’s put together when you place your take out order online and pick it up on Super Bowl Sunday. 

So, did your team make it to the Super Bowl?   Do you just watch for the commercials or not watch at all?

Right now I am thankful for one thing – power.  I pray that we don’t lose it, as many in our surrounding area have.  Kids are out of school again, so we must get creative today.  The roads seem to have been cleared with the higher temps overnight – 37 right now, but now the ice on the trees & power lines are the problem.  Oh, one more thing, winds up to 40 mph today. 

I would like to thank you all for the wonderful comments on my post yesterday.  You guys have lots of great ideas for orange juice!  I need the following 8 people to email me at kim@glutenfreeislife.com with your address so I can put your coupons in the mail!

1. Susan
2. Kate
3. Christy M
4. Michelle
5. Shelly H
6. Alison C
7. Michelle
8. Ed

Here is a list of ideas for things to do when stuck inside on snow or ice days:

Power:

Skype with others stuck in the same situation.  Consider playing dress up (little girls) or make funny faces at each other

Bake gluten-free goodies.  I am thinking the flourless chocolate cookies that Martha Stewart made with Elisabeth Hasselbeck last week are the perfect activity for today!

Vacuum the house (why not kill 2 birds with one stone?)

No Power:

Head to the nearest friend or relative that does have power (I am a wimp, have I mentioned that?)

Pray

Gather candles for night/dark

Pray some more

As I am typing this out, I heard that OSU has cancelled classes today.  You know something big is going down when OSU closes. 

I am thinking it is time for some of these:

and some of this to go with it:

And, if we do lose power and have several days without, I will be needing a lot of this:

Wherever you are – stay safe.  I know that there are many locations across the US that are experiencing extreme weather conditions this week.  Do you have a gluten-free emergency kit made up?  If not, now may be the time to put one together so that you are always prepared.  This doesn’t only go for those who are gluten-free, it is a good idea for every family to have a kit & plan in place for emergency situations (and I am not talking about just running out of coffee). 

Oh, and finally, it is Groundhog Day.  Please, for the love of my sanity, let there be an early spring.  This girl needs to get her miles in.  I have never invested in a treadmill because I run outside or at my gym, which is literally 2-3 miles up the street.  Never have I had such a hard time getting to the gym to run.   Anyone know if groundhogs like chocolate?  Can they be bribed?  I just heard on our local news that 9 of the last 10 years our local groundhog (Buckeye Chuck) has predicted more winter.  His accuracy rate is 39%. 

Wherever you are, stay safe & be smart.  My OCD self is really itching to get out, but I am trying to be smart, so here I sit and write. 

The weather here sucks.  There is no way to sugar coat it.  Maybe this ice is payback for my complaining about the cold & snow?  Today the kids are off for ice.  Tonight we have snow coming.  Let’s hope that it isn’t too much snow and they can go back to school tomorrow.  Since we can’t do a whole lot here, I put together a post full of thoughts that are running around in my head.

Have you seen the commercial for Gluten-Free Chex Cereals?  Click here to view.  I love that gluten-free food is getting more exposure because this equals more awareness for Celiac Disease.

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A few weeks back I received a coupon to get a free sample of Florida’s Natural Orange Juice from Smile.ly and Florida’s Natural.  I picked up some while shopping on Sunday and I am glad that I did.  Just in time for the storm!  I am usually an OJ snob and stick with my Tropicana, however, I was really impressed with the Florida’s Natural.  They have many varieties, including my favorite – no pulp with added vitamin D & calcium! 

I have 8 coupons for $1.00 off Florida’s Natural OJ for the first 8 people to comment on this post! 

Another bonus when you buy OJ and have a crippling ice storm…

You have something to mix your Stoli’s with.    The Stoli’s is reserved for evening hours only. 

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Snow day lunch will include some pasta to help keep us warm.  I prefer to use marinara & roasted veggies for mine, but Jon prefers “Noodles Baldini”.  I don’t believe that I have talked about the NB here on the blog before, so I will give you a brief overview.  Like most dishes Aaron makes, there is not a written recipe.  It is more of a combination of ingredients in amounts he feels tastes good on that specific day.  Today we will be using Goldbaum’s gluten-free pasta. 

Into the mix….

• butter
• garlic powder
• oregano
• basil
• parmesan cheese
• cooked gluten-free pasta

That, my friends is “Noodles Baldini”.  Aaron has made this for the kids for years and it was only recently that Jon learned that he had created this dish.  He thought is was something like “Chicken Parmesan” that he could go order in a restaurant!  LOL!  So cute.  I do believe Gluten-Free Drumsticks are in order for dessert. 

Are you crippled by the recent weather?  What are you doing to stay entertained?  Remember to leave me a comment for your OJ coupon!  Tell me what you will do with your Florida’s Natural OJ!   Too bad they aren’t coupons for the vodka, huh?