How to Navigate Gluten Free College Dining

 

It's difficult, writing with a little kitten snoozing on your shoulder. You'd really like to have full arm movement in order to type properly, (your 6th grade typing instructor would be so proud) but one look at that tiny little nose, a sweep of velvety fur across your cheek, a single plaintive mew - you resign yourself to a state of half-body petrification. Ahh, that's better. He has removed himself to melt into the top of the couch, clutching his favorite green feather. At last, I can comfortably write about the biggest decision Gluten Free college students are confronted with: how am I going to eat Gluten Free in College?

Homemade Gluten Free Dairy Free Chocolates

Chocolate making is uncontrollably messy and sometimes painful, but isn't that what love is all about? The instantaneous delight which ricochets around the room after opening a box of personalized chocolates is well worth the stained table cloths and sticky-melty-chocolate burns you will potentially endure. If your snugbuddy has spent whole shopping trips sorting through the chocolate aisle trying to find a safe dairy free and gluten free chocolate with a delectable filling with no luck - well you can just go ahead and clear your calendar because there's going to be some love a plenty.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

welcome

who are you? 

I'm Jessica, a writer, photographer and generally creative (read: introverted) newly transplanted Los Angelino who also happens to be a Gluten Free-ite. I am a bacon lover, a cook by necessity, a squirrel fiend and an ex-mormon. (I can tell that last one really reeled you in, oh the stories to share. No, I'm aware Dooce has the edge on post religious fervor, there's plenty to go around.) My boyfriend Alex and I are also part of that uprising young Celiac horde who were born at about the right time to fall into post-diagnosis before the collective midlife crisis hit so, lucky for us, there's still more insanity to come.