Simple Gluten Free Ingredients for Your Kitchen

Lately I've felt very...how to say this...well, "eh" about food. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say I've been feeling pretty lukewarm on the whole traditional dinner front. You know, chicken - vegetables - sauces. Maybe just meat in general. I go through phases like this, you see. I will be intense and unrelenting in my need for pasta with a meat sauce and then BAM the next week the very thought of such a dish will launch me down a sickly yellow sea of nausea. Bottom line? I'm pretty much like a pregnant woman nixing that whole womb-invasion thing. Thank God. Still, salvation remains. I have in my posession a solid list of Gluten Free go-to ingredients to punch up, dish out and tuck in to almost any dish - whether you're feeling culinarily lethargic or ready to take on a round of Chopped.

Love is Thicker Than Gluten: How to Live With a Gluten Eater

It's getting late,  the corners of our loft are softened by the mellow golden light melting out from frosted glass and crinkled paper. After a long day of mind grating web related work I'm perched on the couch, contemplating dinner while Anthony Bourdain curses with brass in the background. Alex won't be home for several hours, the oven timer sounding as his keys struggle in the lock. We'll pad the floor with oversize pillows and wade through another episode of Lost as we tuck into Creamy Garlic Chicken, mashed potatoes and crisp salad. Yes, foil wrapped dressing chicken...that sounds good, I'll make that. I'll make it for someone I love, who I know will appreciate it - whatever it is.

Udi's Gluten Free Bread Review

I am canceling my bread mix subscription through Amazon. My beloved Breadman Pro will now deliver scrumptious pumpkin breads and blueberry strewn loafs instead of thick, rustic sandwich slices. This review is either going to be short and sweet or a horrible mess of rambling because, really, how many ways can I say that Udi's Gluten Free Bread is kick-ass, life altering, and so stunningly far outside of my previous realm of Gluten Free possibility that I would really rather be eating it than crafting this review?

6 Simple Ways to Save on Your Grocery Bill

Confession time: I'm dirt poor. Okay, maybe not 1920's Depression-era, living in a truck tire poor, but the whole 'breaking even monthly' thing has been a challenge. I'm feeling okay about it though; I'm just out of college, Alex and I are both employed and have additional skills we are looking to pursue for income, but most of all - we're on top of it. We have a budget. We plan, we save, we know where our money is coming from and where it's going. Basically, we're walking through a land of uncertainty with our eyes wide open.

Gluten Free & Dairy Free Pizza

Hi, my name is Jessica, and I've been off pizza for two and a half years. Grudgingly. Bitterly. Even with the occassional pout. You see, all sorts of restaurants and maufactuerers want to provide a Gluten Free pizza. They know the electrifying hold these sweet little triangles have on us. They know some of us will do anything to sink our teeth into that ooey, gooey - slightly crispy - landscape of yum. But do they ever think to themselves, these white-aproned chefs, that we GF folks might need a Gluten Free, DAIRY FREE version of their tasty little pie? No, I'm saddened to say, rarely. And so, I've gone without, watching others pile into cheesy rounds of delight - GF or not. Until now. And hell, am I making up for it.

5 Important Questions for Celiacs

I am dead tired. It could be the season, or the moon or maybe just the way work and life are overflowing like a suitcase that simply won't shut. Not to be melodramatic or anything, but life can be tiring. Sometimes I get so caught up in the cycle of the week, the month, that I forget to take time to consider where I am in my life, the steps I've taken to get here, and reflect on the kind of choices I'm making. While this speaks to almost every aspect of my life, I've been mulling over what I consider to be some of the most important decisions surrounding my life as a person with Celiac Disease.

Top 10 Ready Made Snacks for GF College Students

You know that dream nightmare almost every Celiac admits to? The one where they are enjoying a giant sub or a tasty slice of pizza and suddenly, to their infinite horror realize they are eating GLUTEN? I will join the ranks, I have indeed experienced this dream, more than once in fact. There's been a few times when I've munched down on a new discovery and suddenly stopped chewing, scanning the label...is this....Gluten FREE? Some of the foods that make it onto this list are those 'I can't believe it's not GF' products - you know, the ones my non-GF friends in college would mow down on when they came over to my room.

What Every Celiac Should Know: Probiotics

I'm going to make a controversial statement. Many of you have probably heard this, sat at a lab bench and heard a white coat drone about it. People just don't like to talk about it (unless we're talking yogurt). Here it is: You have bacteria in you! And some of it is really, really good and necessary! But, because of Celiac Disease, you probably don't have enough. Have you been GF for a while but have started to feel terrible again? Bloating? Discomfort? Trouble after you eat? Come on, you can admit it. Don't immediately think you have developed an intolerance to every edible item on earth. Stop a moment. Take a breath. And read this little ditty. I'm going to kick this off with something near and dear to my heart (and stomach): Probiotics.

Gluten Free Shredded Beef Tacos

I abhor the idea that your meal must be encrusted or sauteed, drizzled or infused with twelve totally obscure ingredients that come in one ounce packages for $21.99 to be considered legitimate or healthy or super fricken awesome. I'm about food. Food I can make with ingredients I have. Food I can cook up when my eyes are heavy and my hair is all out of whack and I've just driven from Torrance to Santa Monica in 35 minutes (No easy feat, I assure you). I'm all over food I can eat while Alex and I perch on floor cusions, taking in the last few episodes of The Wire, Season Two. Sure, every now and then I like to mix it up a little bit, get a little encrusting action going. (Despite the fact that encrust sounds like the very last word I want anywhere near my food. I'm conjuring up a vision of the underside of a 100 year old dock.) But when I want something good? Like "moan with delight" good? Break out the tortillas, it's GF taco night.

GF College Guide: Must Have Products for Gluten Free College Students

Okay, so it's not September. The Back To School commercials aren't bouncing around our television screens and in most places it's downright ass-biting cold. But since it is time for college students to pack up the car for their Spring semester I think now is probably the second best time of the year to start my Gluten Free College Student Guide. Or my Guide to Gluten Free College Living (and Drinking). Or, better yet, my Guide On How Not To Exist On Hummus and Glutino Pretzels for Three and a Half Months. 

5 Misconceptions About Celiac Disease

In case you took off earlier this week on a brief stint as a member of the Amish community I'd like to bring your attention to this tasty little bit of validation from Dr. Mark Hyman, a swoon-worthy MD for any Celiac who's ever gotten the uber-expensive brushoff from a member of the medical community. Anyone who boldly shoots down misconceptions about Celiac Disease gets a gold star in my book. Make it two.