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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Pamela's Gluten Free Classic Vanilla Cake Mix Review

Behold, the Cupcake. The Gluten Free Cupcake. The Gluten Free, Dairy Free Cupcake. Dude.  Now, bear with me, I'm going to wax a bit...well, dreamy. The Cupcake, you see, may very well represent all that is good and decent and pure in the world. Stay with me. A handful of delight, a perfect serving of sweetness, that little touch of love at the end of the day. We're not talking about some clunky piece of cake here. Not some layered monstrosity of mousse and cream and hardened icing rosettes. Never a hunk of gooey sludge you must squish down with a cool glass of milk to slick the way. But rather, the very symbol of simple satisfaction, a diminutive delight, a nod to your sugar craving without completely losing your head. An homage to the art of satiation. In a world of excess, waste, instant and overwhelming gratification, inflated serving sizes and general disproportion, we still have the noble little Cupcake to remind us, "slow down, take a breath, savor each bite, moment, smile".

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.

Top Ten Gluten Free Living Tips from 2009

 Making the commitment, the choice to leave the Pillsbury Dough Boy behind and fastidiously comb through the fine print of every ingredient list in the grocery store is a monumental step. Why, oh why do they have to make that type so small, what, are they trying to bring the monocle back? My two-step with gluten free living has been strewn with tiny successes (finding cereal that wasn't dense as stale packing peanuts!) major frustrations (I'm sorry, my choice brand of rice milk has WHAT in it?) and Dance Through The Kitchen With Glee triumphs (the cookies, ohhhh the cookies). Each year brings greater awareness, more jubilant victories, an even better gluten free bread recipe and handy little hacks that make life just that much more livable.

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.