Celiac Disease Awareness month is in full swing!  Rudi’s Gluten-Free is running a pretty cool campaign right now called “Spread the Bread”. Fans of Rudi’s Gluten-Free Facebook page can participate by visiting this page.  Once on the page, it is simple.  You choose the Celiac foundation of your choice to get $1.00 and then you can get $1.00 coupon to use on Rudi’s Gluten-Free products.  There are four different foundations to choose from: Celiac Disease Foundation, Celiac Sprue Association, Gluten Intolerance Group of North America and the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.

While I think all of the above foundations are great resources, I find myself frequenting the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness page daily.  Not only do they have a wealth of information regarding Celiac Disease, symptoms and diagnosis, but they host monthly webinars to further spread awareness and to help educate people.  This is the organization I chose to receive the $1.00 donation in the Rudi’s “Spread the Bread” campaign.

Now for the fun part!  Rudi’s Gluten-Free has generously offered to give one lucky reader a fantastic giveaway package!  The package will include:

An apron to make cooking a little more fun, a gluten-free cookbook, “Gluten-Free on a Shoestring,” by Nicole Hunn, Rudi’s Gluten-Free coupons, a reusable shopping bag, and bread clips.

All you have to do to enter is follow the instructions below in the Rafflecopter box.  This giveaway will run until Monday, May 14, 2012 at midnight, EST.

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Coming off an exciting weekend and time to get back down to business.  My laptop is fixed, my race has been run, time to study!  Meals for the next 10 days need to be simple and easy and will probably involve a glass of this:

Only a few weeks of school left for the kids and they are done for the summer, too!  I am ready to relax!

Sunday – Salmon in parchment paper, steamed green beans, stoneground creamy grits and salad

Monday – Rotisserie chicken, steamed broccoli, quinoa and salad

Tuesday – Turkey tacos, refried black beans, corn and salad

Wednesday – Bison burgers, sweet potato puffs and salad

Thursday – Breakfast for dinner (pumpkin oatmeal protein pancakes – recipe to come soon!)

Friday – Make your own pizza and salad

Saturday – Italian grilled chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted veggies and salad

Baking

• Some kind of muffins for Jon
• Spice cookies
• Cake

Week in Review:

Enter to win the Nueva Cucina Giveaway

Review: So Delicious Almond Plus

Glutenator Beer

Review: Udi’s muffin tops

My new favorite cracker – Rosemary Herb Lentil Crackers

Meatball sub with a twist

Review: ZonePerfect Perfectly Simple bars

Coming up this week:

Another fun giveaway!

My new Celiac Awareness Pinterest board.

I can’t think of a better way to end a long, hot day than with a refreshing gluten-free beer.  Not only did I have a long day that started at 4:30 when I got up for my race, but it was Cinco de Mayo, so beer and Mexican food were on the menu.  I simplified the Mexican part by picking up Chipotle.  Seems a number of other people had the same idea, as the line was close to being out the front door.

When I was at Whole Foods a few weeks back, I stumbled upon a new-to-me gluten-free beer called “Glutenator” from Epic Brewing Company.  I had met up Andrea of Food Embrace for lunch and she asked if I had tried it yet.  I made a point to make it the next on my list to sample. 

What a phenomenal name!!  I love it!  This beer is not brewed from sorghum, it is brewed from millet, brown rice, sweet potato, molasses and American hops. 

This beer has a golden color, aromas of hops and sweet potatoes with a sweet grain flavor and a clean, sorghum-free finish.

This is now my favorite gluten-free beer!!  It was the perfect compliment to my chicken burrito bowl from Chipotle.  It was light and crisp and not heavy in the least.  The beer comes in large bottles that are approximately 2 servings (11 oz) each.  Each serving has 130 calories, which is less than many of the other gluten-free beers or ciders on the market.

In addition to finding this at Whole Foods, I have also seen this at Earth Fare in Columbus. 

What is your favorite gluten-free beer?  Have you tried Glutenator?

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Make sure to enter my Nueva Cucina giveaway!

Today I ran my 7th half marathon!  Knowing that I wasn’t going to race this race, I offered to pace a friend to reach her goal of finishing under 2:15.  I can’t tell you what a rewarding experience this was for me.  This is the second time that I have paced a friend in a race and I enjoy it as much, if not more than racing.  What can be more rewarding then helping someone reach their goal? 

Weather predictions weren’t pretty for today.  In fact, there was a heat warning issued on Thursday by the race’s medical director.  The goals shifted from setting out a specific minute per mile plan to running based on how we feel, pushing only if we felt able.  Hydrating started on Thursday with Nuun, my preferred hydration solution.  It is very easy on a sensitive tummy.  I drank more water than normal and 1 glass of Nuun per day those 2 days.  I knew it was working because I was tired of going to the bathroom! 

I picked my friend, Melissa, up at 5:15 AM this morning and we headed downtown to the MIT pre-race meet-up.  They took care of our gear, making that one less thing we had to worry about. 

Ready to go!

We got to our corrals about 20 minutes before the race started.  It was packed!!!  13,000 people ran this race today!!

Temperature was 64 and humidity was 93% at the start.  Fortunately the sun didn’t peek out from behind the clouds at all during the race.  There really wasn’t much of a breeze, but for a few times through the race and right at the finish as we were pushing up a hill.  Figures, right? 

Melissa ran a strong race!  We started with the 2:15 pacer and eventually ended up in front of them.  As we got through miles 6-7, we began to pick up the pace a little.  Our hydration belts were empty at this point and we saw the first of many runners down due to dehydration or heat exhaustion.  We made it a point to stop at each water stop from here on out.   There were a couple of stops where we actually had to wait for water to be poured. 

Once we hit mile 10, we picked up the pace a little more and were running about 9:30/mile.  We were closing in on the end of the race and were getting excited!  After we hit mile 12, Melissa informed me that this was the farthest she had ever run!!!   YAY!!!  She was doing great!!  I told her that I would just follow her lead – run as fast or as slow as felt good and I would be right there. 

She finished   strong and is now part of the half marathon club!! Congrats to you, Melissa!!!! I had a blast helping you reach your goal today – thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day!!! Official time: 2:10:53!!

I quickly refueled on half of a banana and a Perfectly Simple protein bar.  A real meal would come later, but first things first. 

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this race!  I can’t wait to run my next half in August!!! 

Celiac Awareness month is in full swing!  Gluten-free and Celiac chatter is filling up the Facebook and Twitter threads helping to educate more and more people.  Nueva Cucina has generously offered to give one lucky reader a sampling of their product line.  Before I get to the fun stuff make sure to check out this blog post about how “delicioso” awareness can be.  It includes this amazing Coconut Raisin Rice Parfait and lots of great information!

Coconut Raisin Rice Parfait

• 1 box of Nueva Cocina Coconut Raisin Rice
• 1 Cup of unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 Cup of cream of coconut
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tub of gluten-free pudding (you can also cook the instant kind)
• Whipped cream (you can use Cool Whip or make your own with heavy whipping cream)

Follow the directions on the Nueva Cocina box to cook the Coconut Raisin Rice.  Once cooked, add 1 cup of cream of coconut, 1 cup of the unsweetened coconut milk and 1 tablespoon of butter.  Cook on low heat until liquid is absorbed and rice has a thick and creamy consistency, approximately 20 minutes.  Remove from heat and refrigerate covered for at least an hour.  When ready to serve, spoon a layer of pudding into a wine glass, then add a layer of the rice mixture.  Continue to build your layers and top it off with whipped cream.  Garnish with toasted coconut and/or fruit of your choice.

Now for the fun stuff!!  Make sure to follow the directions below to enter to win one of each of the following.  *Please note the picture shows 2 of each product, the giveaway winner will receive 1 of each product.

Mexican Rice/Arroz a la Mexicana(1), Red Bean Rice/Gallo Pinto(1), Black Bean Rice/Moros y Cristianos(1), Coconut Rice/Arroz con Coco(1), Rice for Chicken/Arroz con Pollo(1), Rice for Seafood/Paella Rice(1), Cuban Black Bean Soup/Sopa de Frijoles Negros(1), Chipotle Black Bean Soup/Sopa de Frijoles de Negros con Chipotle(1), Corn Soup/Sopa de Maiz(1), Latin Lentil Soup/Sopa de Lentejas(1), White Bean Soup/Caldo Gallego(1), Picadillo/Latin Beef Seasoning(1), Taco Fresco Seasoning(1) and Chipotle Taco Seasoning(1).

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I think that the only way those 2 work well are together!  I apologize if you have received multiple updates with the same post – I am having some computer issues.  I think I have narrowed it down to uploading pictures or data that requires the wireless to cooperate for a period of time.  My computer was the only one in the house with this issue, so clearly it doesn’t like me or is conspiring against me.

This is what I felt like last night:

The beer picture I posted yesterday was Omission gluten-free beer.  You can read a full review of it here.  It was pretty fantastic, so I hope that they expand their distribution.

Maybe if I drink more of the beer my computer will work better?  I have a lot of fun stuff to share with you guys, so hang in there.  I hope to get a giveaway up tomorrow – I promise you won’t be disappointed!

So many fun things going on this month!  I will be launching a fun giveaway later this week or early next week – just finalizing some last minute details. 

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness has a great celebration planned!  The theme this year is “Keep It Simple and Safe”.  They have rounded up 16 bloggers to share about every stage of the gluten-free journey!  Should be an awesome series to follow, so make sure to keep checking back each day for new posts! 

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Jules of Jules Gluten Free Flour has a great “Deal of the Day” today:

Free CookiE-book

To impart my cookie-baking secrets, and in response to the many, many requests I get, I’ve created a new cookie e-book.

Featuring stunning color photography, this 18 page e-cookbook features 11 cookie recipes your friends and family will love, including:

• Chocolate Chip
• Graham Crackers
• Gingerbread
• Linzertorte
• Oatmeal Raisin
• Peanut Butter

• Peanut Butter and Jelly
• Pecan Snowball
• Filled Raisin
• Snickerdoodles
• Vanilla Wafers

Making your own cookies allows you to control the sugar content, fat content…and is cheaper and more satisfying than buying pre-packaged ones. And this e-book will show you how easy it is!

I am downloading this now, as I loved the Oatmeal Raisin recipe can’t wait to try the Graham Crackers for s’mores over our new fire pit!

• 1 in 133 people have Celiac Disease
• 97% of those people are undiagnosed
• Celiac Disease is not an allergy, but an autoimmune disease

Quick Facts about the gluten-free diet:

• It is not a fad diet
• It will not necessarily make or help you lose weight
• It will not necessarily make or help you gain weight
• It is free of wheat, rye, barley and oats (there are oats that are certified gluten-free that some people can tolerate)
• The easiest way to transition to a gluten-free diet is to start by eating naturally gluten-free foods – whole, unprocessed foods

What can you do to help spread awareness?  Take an extra minute to explain what Celiac Disease is the next time you are asked about it.