Another Tasty Low-Cal Snack

Let me introduce you to this little joy. It's wonderful! Personal sized bags! You get a delicious snack without all the guilt. 

Not too horrible for pop corn. 

Cute little bag, full of deliciousness. 

I like to put it in a bowl and add just a teeny bit of grass fed butter and some salt. It's a perfect size for a little pick me up snack and the best part...its gluten free! 

Enjoy! 

G Free Just Got Sweeter!

It's hard enough being g free. But try being g free and trying to eat healthy, low fat and low carb. Sigh. The fruit and veggies are fine. But other food....gluten galore. Until now...

This is my new favorite sweet treat! It is not only gluten free, it's 80 calories and has only 9 grams of carbs! It's perfect for a low-cal, belly-fat cure diet. The belly-fat cure is a great book from Jorge Cruise. (http://www.everydiet.org/diet/belly-fat-cure). This is a fabulous way to loose weight. It works great! When I was on this way of eating, I lost 39 pounds. I'm looking forward to dropping that off again. 

See? G free! 

Proof! It's healthy! It's Greek yogurt and healthy and you feel amazing eating it. It has great flavor too! I also purchased toasted coconut with vanilla. I am curious to see what that tastes like. 

I am in half-marathon training so I need to drop some weight while building muscle. Problem is, I really, really like food. So o need healthy and tasty options. I think I found it. Get some of this fabulous yogurt and you be the judge. 

Airplane Safe Snacks

Normally I pack g free snacks for my flights. Normally. For whatever reason, I somehow managed to not have time to pack snacks for our flight. Thankfully, it would be a short flight. 

The terminal we were in is pretty new, with lots of new vendors. One of which is healthy living. While they do still have your usual junk food, they also offer a range of healthy snacks. For instance they have Fage yogurt, almonds, kale chips, veggie chips, hummus and more. 

Look at all the tasty, mostly g free, options!! 

I picked the Eat your Veggies brand. Looked good. It said on their packaging that it is processed in a g free environment, so cool. 

We boarded our plane and were on our merry way to Seattle. About the time the drink cart comes out, I pull out my veggie chips. 

Ok, these things are pretty good. Even the hubs thought so. Veggie chips for the win! 

If you find yourself in the A terminal at Sacramento International Airport, swing by and grab some yummy and safe treats. 

Not Your Normal Fish Sticks

My mom is always on the look out for cool g free cook books for me. I am so fortunate to have a mom like her. One day, she came over with this gem...

I do not know where she got it from and there is no author. I imagine Barnes and Noble has it or can get it and then there's amazon.com.

One day, I was flipping through it, seeing what recipes it has and trying to figure out something for dinner. Then I came across the Salmon Sticks. I love fried food. However, most fried food tends to be toxic poison for people with gluten intolerance or celiacs.

Looks good, right? I thought so. So I decided to give it a whirl. Looked easy enough. So off to Raley's I go. My favorite go to grocery store for gluten free and organic items. It's also less than a mile from my house...so there's that.

I picked up some salmon and prepared it for dipping. I suggest buying salmon that already has the skin removed. I didn't...It was a challenge. 

The recipe calls for sun flower oil. I couldn't find any, but I did find a Sun Coco oil. This stuff is amazing! 

I have not worked with corn meal before...so we shall see how this turns out. 

The cooking part took no time at all. I followed the suggested time in the recipe and hoped for the best. It smelled wonderful. Another nice thing about this oil is that there is no real splash or oil "popping"...you know that fun thing that happens with hot oil that burns you.

I served the salmon sticks with sauteed brocclini. For sauces, I used ranch, but my husband made a delicious honey mustard dipping sauce. 

Honey Mustard Recipe:

3 Tbs Dijon mustard

1 Tbs Honey

Stir

For the brocolini I sauteed it in olive oil with minced garlic and very little rock salt. I love broccolini. It doesn't have the expected side affects of regular broccoli. 

Ok...here's the final verdict: I either need more practice, or I need to mix the cornmeal with coconut flour. It was crispy...like teeth shattering crispy. I used 100% cornmeal to coat the salmon. I think the next time I make this, I will do a blend. 

It was sort of a win...A win that needs more practice. 

Chips, Chips and More Chips!

Potato chips are an amazing snack. I love them dearly, much to the annoyance of my trainer. I have been on the hunt for the perfect g free potato chip that is not only tasty, but reasonably healthy too. That rules out Dorritos and Lay's.

While wandering through Raleys, my go to grocery store for g free items, I discovered a wall of Kettle Chips. They are non-gmo and most importantly, G free. Raley's had a sale going on while I was there...2 for$5. Perfect! Now is the time to try some flavors. And they do have A LOT of flavors. 

  

The first flavor I tried was the Sour Cream and Onion. This is one of my favorites from Lay's, so lets see how it compares. It was pretty darn good. One thing that I really like about this brand is that the sour cream and onion flavor wasn't too potent. 

The next flavor that was up for the taste test was the Backyard Barbecue. Ok. This was amazing! Again, not to over-powering, but great flavor.

I am currently enjoying the Maple Bacon. It's sweet, salty and bacon! Great flavor also! I was skeptical at first, but I was sold after the first bite.

 

Last, but certainly not least is the good ol' fashioned Sea Salt. This is a great one for tagging along with sandwiches, picnics and dips! Delicious and not too terribly unhealthy. 

There ya go! 4 amazing flavors to try out. Gluten free, non-gmo and totally delicious. There are a lot of other flavors that I would love to try out...

For more information on flavors and such, here is the website:http://www.kettlebrand.com/our_products/potato_chips/#/our_products/potato_chips/?pid=68  

Spaghetti~ Safe and Delicious

I love pasta. Alfredo. Spaghetti Bolognese. Lasagna. And more... The problem is, most of these items contain things that are harmful to celiacs and gluten intolerant people. Until now!

Sometimes you just want something quick. Who wants to make homemade pasta sauces when your exhausted. I certainly don't. I had to stop at Walmart for some stuff...uggg. I am not a fan of Walmart. To me, it's the epitome of everything wrong with our way of eating...until now. Walmart is now carrying gluten free products and  organic products. That's new and exciting.

Ok, so I am tired from a crazy week of classes and hosting my organized event. Dinner tonight will be quick and easy and somewhat healthy. Prego is pretty yummy and its g free!

That's right! Gluten Free. 

I like to kick up my Prego with some extra goodies. I found this in the freezer section at Walmart. I will confess, I was looking for gluten free chicken strips. I am excited. Most meatballs, even the turkey ones, have gluten in it.

This is my go to pasta. I love the flavor and the texture. It's not mushy or taste odd. It even holds up great the next day. The have a great linguine too. It takes a little longer to cook than regular pasta, but it's worth the wait.

 

After everything is all cooked up, serve and enjoy! 

The flavor is fantastic. Now I can enjoy a regular pasta dish without all the pain and suffering!

Enjoy! 

A Whole New Blog

I want to thank you for faithfully following me on here. However, I have decided to take my blog to the next level. And to do that, I need to move onto to a full on website. I have spent some time working on the new website and it is finally ready...

Please join me on my gluten free adventures over at Wix...Here's the new link:
My Gluten Free Life

Thank you so much and I will see you over there!

Thank you again for reading my posts and having the grace for me as I learned about blogging.

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy Mother's Day. We sure did. My hubs BBQ'd for us. It was fabulous and g free. He made marinated g free chicken and zucchini spears. 

This recipe is brought to you by the hubs. 

Recipe for the marinade:

Half a bottle of g free Kikkoman teriyaki 

1/4 c of honey

1/4 c of brown sugar 

Pepper to taste

1 tsp of ground ginger

2 scallions 

2 spoonfuls crushed garlic

Be sure to make extra to serve over the cooked chicken later. 

Stir all together 

Place washed skinless chicken breasts into a ziplock bag and poor over meat. Seal and allow to marinate for at least 2 hours. The longer the better. 

Looks yummy! 

Then BBQ it at 450-500 on the grill for 5 minutes a side. 

Slice it up, poor some more sauce on it and sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds. 

So I knew the MIL (mother-in-law) was bringing a pie for dessert, which was not going to be g free safe, so I thought I would pick up something too. I wanted to have dessert also! I swung by Whole Foods and picked up this little guy...

Salted Carmel Mousse Cake! Oh snap! Yes, yes indeed it was a good as it looked. Everyone ended up having some of my g free dessert. See?!? G free doesn't mean it has to suck or taste like cardboard. 

Enjoy!!!

The challenges of G Free Baking- The Struggle is Real

Being g free is tough enough when you have endure all your friends and family eating delicious baked goodies. There are substitutes, but let's be honest. Sometimes they are truly horrible. I have been endeavoring to make yummy g free version of baked goods counterparts. Some have been met with success and some...not so much. 

My first bust: chocolate chip cookies from a recipe. Instead of regular flour, I used plain g free flour. They tasted alright, but they were very, very fragile. They would crumble if you even looked at it wrong. So, no pics, they turned to dust before pics could be taken. I gave up on trying to make these and I leave it to the professionals. I will post about this one later. 

Another bust: g free cinnamon rolls. I had this brilliant idea of making these for Christmas morning. This wasn't so much the g free products fault as my own and apparent lack of reading ability. Tee hee I will be trying this again.

A win: banana nut bread 

My friend Cindy sent me a link to this other fabulous blog that had a banana nut bread recipe (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2014/10/gluten-free-lightened-up-banana-nut.html?m=1). This turned out fabulously! I have since made this a few more times. In fact my non-g free friends like it too. The last time I made this, I added in some chocolate chips. Win! 

It turned out really most and delicious. 

Another win: pumpkin bread! 

I love all things pumpkin spice. Soooo good and perfect for fall. Or anytime you feel like having a reminder of fall. This recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. I love that website. They even have an app now. 

Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread http://allrecipes.com/recipe/downeast-maine-pumpkin-bread/. I just substituted the regular stuff for g free safe items. 

Another one for the win: Russian Tea Cookies. I love these things. One of my favorite Christmas cookies. 

Again, AllRecipes.com to the rescue. Russian Tea Cakes I http://allrecipes.com/recipe/russian-tea-cakes-i/. 

This is my favorite brand of g free flour. It tastes great as is very versatile. 

I followed the recipe and made the cookies. 

They smelled pretty amazing while baking. After they cooked enough to handle, I rolled them in powdered sugar and let them cool. Delicious! 

There are some wins and losses in g free baking for me. But I will keep trying and keep posting about them to help others to enjoy and have an easier time on their g free journey. 

Farm to Fork Restaurants are Your Friend

The hubs and I were headed  up to Truckee for the weekend when we decided to stop in Auburn for lunch. We were going to hit up our usual place, a pub, but it was over an hour wait and incredibly loud. We were discussing where to go and that's when I saw it. Bistro 103~ Farm Fresh, Local Fare. We had parked up behind this place and had walked by it, smelling some amazing things. There was plenty of seating so let's give it a shot.

The decor is pretty cool. Lots of brick, art and of course, good food! The prices are really, really reasonable too. 

I had ordered a BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomatoe and avacado. I had told the waitress that I had a gluten issue and she said that their ciabatta bread is gluten free!!!!! Oh man! That is really, really excellent news. I was good and ordered a salad with my sandwich. It came with pickled onions and some of the best dressing ever. Its called Kicked Up. It was super delicous. 

I was wearing my UC Davis shirt and the owner had greated us and said that she had went to Davis also! Bonus! When we had eaten here the first time (yes, we have been back), they were only open for 3 weeks. Our second time there, they had a crowd. I am so glad to see that.

They offer g free ciabatta bread, pastas and more. If you find yourself in Auburn, you need to check this place out.  Organic, local farmed food that not only tastes great but it is good for you too. We will definitely be going back.

  Here's the website for more information: http://www.bistro103auburn.com 

Go Ags!

It's been a long time coming...

In August of 2014, my body had decided that it was no longer tolerant of gluten. It was sudden and it was very, very clear on the matter. 

It started out with some relatively minor symptoms that were painful, but not too unimaginable. After 2 weeks of dealing with intestinal discomfort and other things I won't mention here, my mom had suggested going g free. I had always laughed at the notion, but, I was desperate. 2 weeks of this. I cut out all gluten. Cold turkey. Within 24 hours all the symptoms had left and I began loosing weight. Wow! How cool is this?

I've been g free for 9 months now. And with each gluten attack, my symptoms worsened. They worsened to the point of having 10 out of the 12 celiac symptoms. I was nervous, but mostly fed up. So I emailed my doctor to find out if I was indeed a celiac. 

He ordered the the blood test and I went in. I was a bit nervous, but I wanted to know. 

The results are in...

This is the face of a person who DOES NOT have celiacs. I am autoimmune disease free! What I do have is a severe intolerance to gluten. And like celiacs, I need to continue to avoid it. But I am so happy and relieved to know that I don't have it. I still need to be careful of what I eat. For those of you who suffer from celiacs, I am so sorry. I feel your pain, literally. But know, this blog and I will endeavor to bring forth many delicious recipes and g free friendly places and ideas! 

The Mariposa Baking Co

This last Monday, I was in San Francisco doing a walk through on a meeting sight. I took my parents along so we could have a nice day in the city together. After my meeting at the hotel, we went for lunch at the Plant Cafe. I previously blogged about this place. Afterwards, my parents suggested walking through the ferry building. I've never been there, so sure! Let's explore! 

Inside, it was like a magical place and Pikes place came together. We walked past the various shops and restaurants and then I spotted it! Mariposa Baking Co. A totally g free bakery! 

They had all kinds of things! Cookies, biscottis, pot pies, breads, doughnuts and tons more! Of course I wanted to buy it all! I was so happy, I about cried. 

Not wanting to make my poor parents wait, I quickly made some selections. 

I purchased some chocolate centered short bread cookies. 

Some biscottis that are amazing when dunked in coffee. 

I couldn't leave without purchasing some sandwich bread. Oh my gosh! This bread blows the doors off Udi's and glutino!!! It tasted like sour dough. So soft, moist and delicious!!!! 

I was sad. This bakery is only in the Bay Area. And then...the sales associate told me they ship all over! Hallelujah! I know where I will be ordering all my bread from!!!! 

Here's their website: http://www.mariposabaking.com. I will be purchasing from them again! 

A Gem in San Francisco

I was in the city (San Francisco) on Monday for work. I always like to take some time to explore and find good eats. Well this trip my parents went with me. It was fun! They had suggested this fabulous place for lunch...the Plant Cafe. They are located on the Embarcadero. 

http://www.theplantcafe.com 

This place is amazing. It's a sustainable restaurant with organic food and g free options. Just eating there, I felt like I was helping the environment. Now before you think, great a tree hugger place...have no fear. This place looks and feels like class. 

This is the view from our table! 

Lunch is not complete without a delicious glass of Malbec. 

For lunch, I decided to have the pizza as they have a g free option. 

I ordered the BBQ chicken pizza. It had scallions, blue cheese, shredded basil. It was so delicious! 

If you find yourself in the city, I highly recommend stopping here for a meal. 

Stuffed Bell Peppers

The other night I was trying to figure out what on earth to make for dinner. I went through the freezer, the fridge and the cupboards. I had ground turkey and some goodies to add to it...but what...Enter Pintrest. Have I told you how much I love that webiste? 

I was thinking of making stuffed tomatoes. Those are pretty tasty. But then I thought I remembered seeing stuffed bell peppers. The hubs and I both like bell peppers. I found this one recipe on pintrest called Enchilada stuffed bell peppers. Sounds good. I looked at the recipe. Cool! I have everything but the bell peppers. I ran off to Raley's for a quick purchase. 

Items I found in my cupbaord.

The recipe is really easy and the prep work isn't too long. 

First thing to do is hollow out the peppers

Grabbed my turkey out of the freezer

Cooked it up. Only took about 10 minutes. 

Remove turkey from the pan. This also helps to cut down on the grease.

Add black beans...but only after you rinse them.

Add in the corn

I went a little heavy on the cheese

Add in the enchilada sauce

I added in green onions. That was a recipe deviation. And I good one I might add.

Along with the seasonings in the recipe, I added in garlic salt, salt and pepper. Garlic makes everything better.

Stir like the dickens.

Fill each pepper to the top.

Ta da! Look at how beautiful they are!

Cover the peppers with foil and bake in the oven for 1 hour. Then you remove the foil, add shredded cheese to the top and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Looks pretty darn good!

Holy cow! This thing is mega tasty!!!! I will be making this again! Both the hubs and I really, really liked it! And it is completely G free!!!!

Here's the link: http://www.chef-in-training.com/2015/01/enchilada-stuffed-bell-peppers/

Enjoy!!!!