Here is a cool website that I found that lets you search for Gluten Free restaurants in your area.
This is how I found out about Chipotle.
It's been quite useful thus far.
I hope that you enjoy it.
The Gluten Free Registry
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Panera Bread
Let me start by saying that I LOVE PANERA! Pre GF life, I was a weekly visitor to the Panera at Parham and Staples Mill. They know me by my name there and I loved them dearly. All that is over-----for now.
My goal is to get Panera to do a few things:
1. Develop a GF menu, it doesn't have to be a lot of items, just a few things, but with the amount of people in this world that have to deal with eating gluten free, I think Panera, a company that prides themself on healthy eating, should have menu for the rest of us.
2. List on their website, a list of GF items they already have on there menu, if there are any at all.
Most importantly for me would be there French Onion Soup--delish to say the least....my mouth waters just thinking about it.
So my plan, for now, until I can talk to my favorite IT guy who can help me do something more web savvy is this: email Panera and tell them you want a GF menu, and there website upgraded to include GF items they already have.
Anyone who is much better at this than me, feel free to email me. I'd love some input.
My goal is to get Panera to do a few things:
1. Develop a GF menu, it doesn't have to be a lot of items, just a few things, but with the amount of people in this world that have to deal with eating gluten free, I think Panera, a company that prides themself on healthy eating, should have menu for the rest of us.
2. List on their website, a list of GF items they already have on there menu, if there are any at all.
Most importantly for me would be there French Onion Soup--delish to say the least....my mouth waters just thinking about it.
So my plan, for now, until I can talk to my favorite IT guy who can help me do something more web savvy is this: email Panera and tell them you want a GF menu, and there website upgraded to include GF items they already have.
Anyone who is much better at this than me, feel free to email me. I'd love some input.
Gluten Free Diet: Grains and Flours Glossary
Some rather useful information regarding grains and flours that can be consumed on the GF diet.
As useful when you need to do some label reading.
Grains and Flours Glossary
As useful when you need to do some label reading.
Grains and Flours Glossary
Gluten Free Eating--day three.
So Monday started out like any other Monday. I put my oldest on the bus and went back to the house to fix breakfast for the youngest one and myself. Since I wasn't in the mood for cereal, I decided that I'd fix eggs. Eggs that came out of the dairy section of my local supermarket. Wonderfully high in protein eggs. To my eggs I added some gluten free cheese (I'm giving up bread for godsakes, you really want me to give up cheese too? Little steps here.)
The Gluten Free diet is often referred to as the Stone Diet because of how "natural" it is and is similar (so everyone seems to think) to how Cavemen Eat, although there are no ingestion of stones involved, there are also some drastic differences. For example, cavemen ate tons of relatively "raw" meat until the invention of fire, and it was always fresh, because as we all know. refrigeration was relatively unheard of until the early 20th century. They also ate fresh veggies, but ate very little grains or potatoes. This is where the Stone Diet differs from the Celiac diet. There are many grains that celiacs can eat. They can also eat all the potatoes that they want, and most cheese, as long as there isn't an emulsifier that contains wheat added to the product.
So back to my diet for the day. After consuming my yummy breakfast of eggs and cheese with copious amounts of coffee (something I will never give up, or I will absolutely die, as I'm highly addicted to the delicious light brown liquid). I packed up my three year old and headed into town for a day of wheatfree shopping, lunch with the husband and fun in the rain.
On Sunday at work I had done some research relating to Gluten Free diets, etc. and attempted to make a shopping list of everything that I wanted to look for. I also downloaded a sample diet from the Amy's website that can be found here.
I had originally planned on going to Ellwood Thompson's which is a organic supermarket in downtown Richmond that is supposedly a wonderful store with a wide variety of foods for all kinds of people. We ended up not getting there. My little one was having a meltdown about being in the carseat (a recent development in my world) so I decided instead to go to a place called Good Foods Grocery, which I've driven by a ton over the past seven years, since it's down the street from my Pediatrician. After passing it and having to do a u-turn (something else that's not unfamiliar in my world, I get lost constantly) I found it, parked my mommy mobile, unloaded the screaming and at this point, utterly pathetic three year old and walked into the store.
What a great little place! Not only is everything clearly labeled as to what it contains (something that is rather annoying in regular supermarkets, where you have to read every single label), but in the event that you miss the rather obvious marking on every single container (that would be me) there are little labels on every shelf that indicates the "Gluten Free, Wheat Free" products. How awesome is that? Makes it so easy to figure out exactly what you want!!
I was able to find a lot of good stuff, most importantly, convenience foods that I can microwave at work and eat, without all that much work. Being a nurse, having something that I can heat and eat is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
So here's what I got a Good Foods:
Amy's Black Bean Enchilada (it was soooo good the first time, I just had to have another!)
Amy's Garden Vegetable Lasagna
Amy's Rice Macaroni and Cheese
Amy's Lentil Soup
EnviroKidz Organic Frosted Flakes
EnviroKidz Organic Cheetah Berry Crispy Rice Bars
Enjoy Life's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (you should also know that I have a major sweet tooth, and being able to find chocolate chips that taste good has been a struggle in the past when I've tried to go gluten free!)
Tinkyada Rice Penne Pasta
Tinkyada Rice Spiral Pasta
Bioanturae Spaghetti
Caesars Manicotti
Caesars Stuffed Shells
Glutino 3 Cheese Pizza
Glutino Spinach Pizza
Samisbakery Millet and Flax Bread (this I was the most skeptical of, as all the bread I've tried in the past sucked).
Annie's Gluten Free Rice Pasta and Cheddar
I also purchased Corn Tortillas sold by Chichi's. (the cheapest thing I purchased), Brownie Mix, Pancake Mix and rolled oats ('cause it's getting cold here and I like oatmeal in the morning).
After leaving Good Foods spending a little over $100 (by no means is maintaining a GF diet cheap, but worth it) I headed over to my friendly, neighborhood Chipotle to get lunch for the hubby and I.
Chipotle (which I love by the way) is Gluten Free, with the exception of the flour tortilla. Here is the information re: gluten, from the official website. One suggestion I got from a Twitter friend is to ask the preparer to change gloves before preparing your food, as some wheat might transfer from the flour tortilla. I'd also read (from another Twitterer) that Chipotle had corn tortilla. My Chipotle said "yes, we have them, but they tend to fall apart", so instead I had a yummy and delicious bowl. It was truly yummy. It should be noted though that for people who are also allergic to Soy, Chipotle would NOT be a good place for you, as almost all there food has soy in it.
After dropping my groceries and my little one off at home I headed to a class that I am taking. I took two snack with me, a EnviroKidz bar and two of the chocolate chip cookies. I ate them after leaving class on my way home. The EnviroKidz bar was ok. I made the mistake of letting my little one pick the flavor out, and she picked based on the animal on the box and not the flavor. I've never been a big fan of Berries, but overall, it wasn't bad and wasn't overly berry. I also tried two of the cookies, which were actually quite delicious. They were definitely chocolatey and soft. I read the label details because I was interested in what made them so Sweet. There were several different juices added to give it sweetness and firmness, they also had Rosemary in them, which I couldn't taste. Overall, it was pretty good.
That's all I've got for now. After tonight, I'm going to talk about what I had today and how I"m going to handle working the weekend on a GF diet.
Stay Tuned.
The Gluten Free diet is often referred to as the Stone Diet because of how "natural" it is and is similar (so everyone seems to think) to how Cavemen Eat, although there are no ingestion of stones involved, there are also some drastic differences. For example, cavemen ate tons of relatively "raw" meat until the invention of fire, and it was always fresh, because as we all know. refrigeration was relatively unheard of until the early 20th century. They also ate fresh veggies, but ate very little grains or potatoes. This is where the Stone Diet differs from the Celiac diet. There are many grains that celiacs can eat. They can also eat all the potatoes that they want, and most cheese, as long as there isn't an emulsifier that contains wheat added to the product.
So back to my diet for the day. After consuming my yummy breakfast of eggs and cheese with copious amounts of coffee (something I will never give up, or I will absolutely die, as I'm highly addicted to the delicious light brown liquid). I packed up my three year old and headed into town for a day of wheatfree shopping, lunch with the husband and fun in the rain.
On Sunday at work I had done some research relating to Gluten Free diets, etc. and attempted to make a shopping list of everything that I wanted to look for. I also downloaded a sample diet from the Amy's website that can be found here.
I had originally planned on going to Ellwood Thompson's which is a organic supermarket in downtown Richmond that is supposedly a wonderful store with a wide variety of foods for all kinds of people. We ended up not getting there. My little one was having a meltdown about being in the carseat (a recent development in my world) so I decided instead to go to a place called Good Foods Grocery, which I've driven by a ton over the past seven years, since it's down the street from my Pediatrician. After passing it and having to do a u-turn (something else that's not unfamiliar in my world, I get lost constantly) I found it, parked my mommy mobile, unloaded the screaming and at this point, utterly pathetic three year old and walked into the store.
What a great little place! Not only is everything clearly labeled as to what it contains (something that is rather annoying in regular supermarkets, where you have to read every single label), but in the event that you miss the rather obvious marking on every single container (that would be me) there are little labels on every shelf that indicates the "Gluten Free, Wheat Free" products. How awesome is that? Makes it so easy to figure out exactly what you want!!
I was able to find a lot of good stuff, most importantly, convenience foods that I can microwave at work and eat, without all that much work. Being a nurse, having something that I can heat and eat is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
So here's what I got a Good Foods:
Amy's Black Bean Enchilada (it was soooo good the first time, I just had to have another!)
Amy's Garden Vegetable Lasagna
Amy's Rice Macaroni and Cheese
Amy's Lentil Soup
EnviroKidz Organic Frosted Flakes
EnviroKidz Organic Cheetah Berry Crispy Rice Bars
Enjoy Life's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (you should also know that I have a major sweet tooth, and being able to find chocolate chips that taste good has been a struggle in the past when I've tried to go gluten free!)
Tinkyada Rice Penne Pasta
Tinkyada Rice Spiral Pasta
Bioanturae Spaghetti
Caesars Manicotti
Caesars Stuffed Shells
Glutino 3 Cheese Pizza
Glutino Spinach Pizza
Samisbakery Millet and Flax Bread (this I was the most skeptical of, as all the bread I've tried in the past sucked).
Annie's Gluten Free Rice Pasta and Cheddar
I also purchased Corn Tortillas sold by Chichi's. (the cheapest thing I purchased), Brownie Mix, Pancake Mix and rolled oats ('cause it's getting cold here and I like oatmeal in the morning).
After leaving Good Foods spending a little over $100 (by no means is maintaining a GF diet cheap, but worth it) I headed over to my friendly, neighborhood Chipotle to get lunch for the hubby and I.
Chipotle (which I love by the way) is Gluten Free, with the exception of the flour tortilla. Here is the information re: gluten, from the official website. One suggestion I got from a Twitter friend is to ask the preparer to change gloves before preparing your food, as some wheat might transfer from the flour tortilla. I'd also read (from another Twitterer) that Chipotle had corn tortilla. My Chipotle said "yes, we have them, but they tend to fall apart", so instead I had a yummy and delicious bowl. It was truly yummy. It should be noted though that for people who are also allergic to Soy, Chipotle would NOT be a good place for you, as almost all there food has soy in it.
After dropping my groceries and my little one off at home I headed to a class that I am taking. I took two snack with me, a EnviroKidz bar and two of the chocolate chip cookies. I ate them after leaving class on my way home. The EnviroKidz bar was ok. I made the mistake of letting my little one pick the flavor out, and she picked based on the animal on the box and not the flavor. I've never been a big fan of Berries, but overall, it wasn't bad and wasn't overly berry. I also tried two of the cookies, which were actually quite delicious. They were definitely chocolatey and soft. I read the label details because I was interested in what made them so Sweet. There were several different juices added to give it sweetness and firmness, they also had Rosemary in them, which I couldn't taste. Overall, it was pretty good.
That's all I've got for now. After tonight, I'm going to talk about what I had today and how I"m going to handle working the weekend on a GF diet.
Stay Tuned.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Food Lion, Ukrops and Good Foods Grocery.
I live in the country. Away from most means of civilization. The closest supermarket (that's worth going too) is a half hour away. This is a brand-spanking new Food Lion that's been around for about a year. Before that, it was an hour's drive into suburban Richmond, VA for anything that resembled a supermarket. I was skeptical that I'd find anything that I could eat at Food Lion besides homegrown fruits and veggies. I was looking for something fast and microwaveable. I didn't have the time to cook because in my line of work (the EMS kind, that is) you never know if your going to have time to cook a meal before someone needs you to jump into the ambulance and save there ass. So I was looking for "convenience" foods. After spending an hour (yes, an hour!) in the veggie/fruit/organic section, I came away with bagged salad, Newman's Own Ranch Dressing (score, it's Gluten free and not overpriced!), and fresh Strawberries. So to say that I was grumpy (and made everyone grumpy around me) was an understatment. It's not there fault, I'm just going through the steps of grieving (my loss being something I've had a Love/Hate relationship with for the past 30 yrs). So I knew that, even though Salad and fruit are healthy for me, I couldn't live off them alone.
The next day I ventured to Ukrops, a locally owned and operated supermarket in the Richmond area (although it will soon be owned by Harris Teeter). I had about 45 minutes before I need to be at work, so the plan was to get in/out as quick as possible and get my butt to work.
So this is what I found:
Amy's Black Bean Enchilada
Puffins Peanut Butter Cereal
Ener-G Crisp Pretzels (which by far are the BEST gluten free pretzels I've ever tried. Fan-freakin-tastic!!!!!!!!!)
Almond Nut-Thins, Cheddar Cheese Flavor
Lundberg Sea Salt Rice Chips
Miguel's Fully Loaded Tortilla Chips
For lunch that day I had a nice salad topped with Bleu Cheese and Ranch Dressing. (Completely yummy!) followed by a desert of fresh strawberries. I work twelve hour shifts so I also ate dinner at work and enjoyed my Enchilada. Unlike most of the GF food I've tried, it had, first and foremost, taste! Always an important aspect when eating. It also smelled good. Also important in eating since you smell, before you taste. After microwaving it for the allotted time, I took it out and dug in. (Now imagine doing this in front of three people who've been listening to you talk about "your new diet" for the past 10 hours, so essentially, I felt like a lion being watched at the zoo). It was good. Fresh, full of flavor and perfectly cooked. Onions, Zucchini, Black Beans, Rice, Tofu. All rolled up together in a nice burrito, and covered with a nice brown sauce that was just spicy enough. Throughout the day, I snacked on my Ener-G Gluten Free pretzels (as previously stated, by far the BEST gluten free pretzels available and salty!)
The next day I ventured to Ukrops, a locally owned and operated supermarket in the Richmond area (although it will soon be owned by Harris Teeter). I had about 45 minutes before I need to be at work, so the plan was to get in/out as quick as possible and get my butt to work.
So this is what I found:
Amy's Black Bean Enchilada
Puffins Peanut Butter Cereal
Ener-G Crisp Pretzels (which by far are the BEST gluten free pretzels I've ever tried. Fan-freakin-tastic!!!!!!!!!)
Almond Nut-Thins, Cheddar Cheese Flavor
Lundberg Sea Salt Rice Chips
Miguel's Fully Loaded Tortilla Chips
For lunch that day I had a nice salad topped with Bleu Cheese and Ranch Dressing. (Completely yummy!) followed by a desert of fresh strawberries. I work twelve hour shifts so I also ate dinner at work and enjoyed my Enchilada. Unlike most of the GF food I've tried, it had, first and foremost, taste! Always an important aspect when eating. It also smelled good. Also important in eating since you smell, before you taste. After microwaving it for the allotted time, I took it out and dug in. (Now imagine doing this in front of three people who've been listening to you talk about "your new diet" for the past 10 hours, so essentially, I felt like a lion being watched at the zoo). It was good. Fresh, full of flavor and perfectly cooked. Onions, Zucchini, Black Beans, Rice, Tofu. All rolled up together in a nice burrito, and covered with a nice brown sauce that was just spicy enough. Throughout the day, I snacked on my Ener-G Gluten Free pretzels (as previously stated, by far the BEST gluten free pretzels available and salty!)
First week on the GF diet.
So let me just start by saying that I was diagnosed with Celiac's Sprue around the same time I was told that I was pregnant with my first child. I sortof looked at my doctor, snickered and went on my merry way. I looked it up online and thought "well I guess I'll try to not eat bread." I'm a big bread eater, so this was easier said than done. I did the whole "I'll try not to eat bread thing" for about two weeks and gave up, failing miserably.
Fast forward six (almost seven) years (yes, it took me that long to get it into my stubborn head that this is something I need to DEAL WITH!), I'm thirty years old with two kids, a full-time job, a house, a husband and a rather time consuming hobby. I'm exhausted. I can't sleep, even when I'm exahusted. My hair is falling out in clumps. My stomach hurts. My bones ache. I can barely walk up stairs my knees hurt so much. I have yucky bathrooms experiences (which I won't go into), and I lose a tooth. It's disturbing. I shouldn't be this way. I have a long life ahead of me and I'm essentially poisoning myself with all the gluten rich food I've been eating over the years. So I made a resolution to stop doing it. Stop poisoning myself. Start eating better and healthier. That's the plan. We'll see how it goes. I have a support system in place and I"m going to do it this time.
Fast forward six (almost seven) years (yes, it took me that long to get it into my stubborn head that this is something I need to DEAL WITH!), I'm thirty years old with two kids, a full-time job, a house, a husband and a rather time consuming hobby. I'm exhausted. I can't sleep, even when I'm exahusted. My hair is falling out in clumps. My stomach hurts. My bones ache. I can barely walk up stairs my knees hurt so much. I have yucky bathrooms experiences (which I won't go into), and I lose a tooth. It's disturbing. I shouldn't be this way. I have a long life ahead of me and I'm essentially poisoning myself with all the gluten rich food I've been eating over the years. So I made a resolution to stop doing it. Stop poisoning myself. Start eating better and healthier. That's the plan. We'll see how it goes. I have a support system in place and I"m going to do it this time.
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