Toasted Ravioli

I just got back from a trip to see my family in St. Louis for Christmas. Many of my favorite foods from St. Louis are full of gluten. Toasted ravioli being the one food I decided I could not live without on this trip. So I indulged and ate delicious toasted raviloi and am thinking I will never cheat again. It was not fun afterwards.  Not fun.  Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed them in the moment, but shortly after I felt it.

Now that I know what caused my stomach issues all these years and am feeling extremely well, I really don't desire to mess with it. Not at all. So I'm thinking gluten truly is gone for good from my diet and I'm ok with that. Sure, I miss a lot of foods but I haven't cheated at all since going gluten free and my body thanks me each and every day. I'd like to keep it that way!

So cheers to feeling well and staying gluten free!

Another Shout Out to Pizza Fusion

http://www.pizzafusion.com/

Pizza Fusion is delicious.  Really delicious.  After yoga last night, I decided to have some gluten free pizza goodness at Pizza Fusion.  Quite convenient since it is just up the road from my fabulous yoga studio.  I am still living in a hotel, so unfortunately eating out is quite common right now.  The staff told me I need to return on a Thursday, as that is "get a free gluten free brownie night." Yes, Pizza Fusion - I will return on a Thursday!

Snacks

Two of my favorite gluten free snacks lately are Cinnamon Chex (I got my sister hooked last time she was in the States and now she is sad, because they don't make it in the UK), and rice crackers with Nutella (or Kroger brand).

Delicious!  I am eating lots of easy snacks right now, as I am still in the hotel for at least another 5 days.  Sigh.  Still hoping everything will work out with the floors, my washer, a new sink, oh and insurance too.  What a mess!  At least I have yummy gluten free snacks and a nice warm hotel to stay in, as more snow is on the way!

Hotel Living

Staying in a hotel for the next however many days, while the floors in my condo get fixed.

Original projection time of being out of my place and in a hotel=one week.

Actual amount of time spent at the hotel=TBD.

Floors were too wet to start working on the floors yesterday...grrrrr.

Trying to maintain my current lifestyle, of eating fairly healthy and normal life.  A bit harder to cook so I can have gluten free food without buying a ton of stuff, so we shall see how the week goes.

Hoping to hear some good news tomorrow!

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Success!

Eating Thanksgiving entirely gluten free was a success!  I think everything turned out quite nicely and Mom and Dad approved of the gluten free meal!  I should have taken more pictures of everything, but here is a small preview of what we ate.

Making the cranberries...  Super easy.

• combine 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar and stir over medium heat until dissolved
• add a 12 ounce bag of cranberries and bring to a boil
• reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes until cranberries "pop"
• I then added orange zest and stirred until dissolved
• let cool and then put in the refrigerator until serving

What else did we end up eating?

• sweet potatoes with marshmallows
• green beans with cherry tomatoes in a red wine vinegar/oil and shallot dressing
• turkey breast with gluten free gravy - simply used the strained, pan juices from the turkey, butter, and rice flour
• gluten free pumpkin chocolate chip bread
• gluten free apple crisp with vanilla ice cream

Overall it was delicious and I have more than my fair share of left overs!  Hope your Thanksgiving was full of great food and thankfulness as well!

Tday countdown

Well, Thanksgiving is obviously just around the corner.  My parents are coming for Thanksgiving and I decided that I wanted to stay in and cook, since it is my first gluten free Thanksgiving meal.  Over the years, most of our Thanksgiving meals have been eating out.  However, I am very excited about cooking and getting to make everything gluten free - hopefully the parents won't mind!  On a sidebar, I also have to move out of my condo for a week to FINALLY get my floors refinished, so it will be nice to stay home and start the packing process.

Here is what is on my list to make (could change!)...

• herb roasted turkey breast
• sweet potatoes with marshmallows
• green beans with cherry tomatoes
• gluten free pumpkin bread
• jello mold
• cranberry sauce
• gluten free apple crisp with vanilla ice cream

Too bad I don't like stuffing...  The Today Show just showed a gluten free stuffing.  

Another post to follow with pictures and what the meal ends up being.  It's almost Thanksgiving...I have much to be thankful for!!

Great time of year for soup!

I definitely LOVE soup during this time of year.  I have been eating my share of soup and chili lately and trying out some great new recipes sans flour.

So here is one soup I made this past week...

Potato Leek Soup
-2tbsp. butter
-2 leeks
-thyme (about 2 tsp)
-salt and pepper
-1 can chicken broth
-5 yukon potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
-1 cup heavy cream

Melt the butter and cook leeks in salt and pepper for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Pour broth into mixture and add the potatoes and the thyme.  Bring to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  Once they are tender, mash the potatoes up and then add heavy cream.  Cook for about 10 more minutes and season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Taco Tuesday!

I am so incredibly glad that eating gluten free means I can still have most Mexican food.  I could live off of chips and guacamole if someone told me that I needed to.

I made some delicious gluten free chicken tacos for dinner - and of course many days of left overs!

Here is what I did...

• cut up chicken breasts
• seasoned with spices - I used paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder and salt and pepper
• cooked the chicken on the stove

While the chicken was cooking, I sauteed peppers, corn and zucchini in garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.  

As all of this was cooking, I chopped up tomatoes, black olives, and avocado.  I put the corn tortillas in the oven to them up and voila, taco night!

A weekend of food!

My good friend, Aya, was visiting this weekend from Boston.  It is always so much fun to hang out and catch up on life and eat our way through whatever city we are in!  So here is a highlight of some of the things that we did this weekend.  If only I had Aya's pictures to post, this blog would be even better!

Happy hour at Zengo upon Aya getting to Denver!  This restaurant is amazing and all the more reasonable at happy hour.  They have a gluten free menu and delicious drinks!  

 

www.richardsandoval.com/zengodenver/

We went to Snooze, an absolute must to take guests to.  I love that they have gluten free pancakes so that I can still enjoy brunch there.  The food was delicious, however I lost my coat somewhere between there and the car and I am still sad about it.  Hopefully it will turn up.

http://www.snoozeeatery.com/

Saturday after eating at Snooze and wandering through the Highlands, we headed to Sloan's Lake Park to walk around with smoothies.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day out so we had to take advantage of it.  Then, we decided for a last minute trip to Red Rocks to try to catch the sunset.  It couldn't have been a more beautiful day in November!  

After that, I knew exactly where we needed to head next: Forest Room 5.  It would be a place that Aya would absolutely love.  And, I was correct.  They also have Saturday happy hour, which is a huge bonus.  

We also stopped at Stella's for some coffee in Wash Park, which I love.  

And then my favorite ice cream in Denver: Sweet Action.  Sweet delicious action.  Yum!  http://sweetactionicecream.com/

Final food stop of the weekend was bunch at Watercourse Foods.  Who knew that they made their own gluten free granola?!  I didn't, but was pleasantly surprised to find this out.  Delicious food weekend all around!

Gluten Free Pizza Goodness

I love pizza.  Absolutely love it.  When we went to Italy as a family two years ago, I definitely ate my way through Italy in pizza and pasta.  Both of which I am now no longer supposed to eat.  These were two of hardest foods for me to consider not eating anymore (along with beer).  So after a few months of really not eating many of the "normal" foods I used to eat, I am branching out and trying new gluten free brands.  I last posted on a pizza place in town that is absolutely delicious.  I made some pizza yesterday that turned out quite well.

http://www.namastefoods.com/

Namaste Gluten Free Pizza!  Works perfectly in my little life these days as I am currently obsessed with yoga.  I have been going to an absolutely uh-mazing yoga studio thanks to a grant through work.  LOVE it.  So there you have it, namaste everyone! 

Pizza Fusion

I had my first experience with Pizza Fusion this week.  It was delicious!  I have only tried a handful of gluten free pizza so far on my new journey, but this by far was my favorite!   They have both gluten free and normal pizza, along with salads and sandwiches.  Right now there is only one Colorado location - on Colfax and Pearl, but they have several locations throughout Florida, New Jersey, and Ohio and even one in Saudi Arabia.  I highly recommend it...so go check out.

http://www.pizzafusion.com

Gluten Free Journey

Welcome to my blog!  I have started a blog due to my new gluten free life.  As a newly diagnosed celiac, I plan to use this blog as a means to share recipe and snack ideas, eating out tips, restaurant reviews, and all things related to living gluten free.

After a random stint with mono last winter, I was still not feeling well in the early part of the year.  I was napping almost every day after work and feeling exhausted almost all the time.  So in the early spring, I finally decided to get a full physical, since I had not had one in many, many years.  I had blood work done and found out that my iron levels were very low.  After a series of re-checks and more dialogue with my doctor about my years of stomach problems, she decided to test for celiac disease.  Sure enough, the blood work came back positive and it seemed that my years and years of IBS diagnoses and unsolved stomach mysteries had been solved.  I began my gluten free journey directly after and am now choosing to blog about my new journey!  Welcome to my blog - I hope you find it helpful if you are living with a celiac diagnosis or if you are someone who wants to just voluntarily cut out gluten from your diet.