Petite Snow Bunny

Yes that's me. I grew up in the snow. Since it sort of snowed here in Sacramento a few days ago, and it's butt cold outside, I was inspired to scan through some old photos. It's fun to play in, but living in it eventually gets annoying.

Gluten Free Hair Care: HEAD Organics

If you're new to the gluten free diet have you thought about all those other things besides for the food that might have gluten in it? I know it took me awhile to convert all my beauty products to ones that I knew were safe for me. And if you are gluten free, are you sure your beauty products are?

I tried out the trukid line and liked it, but I like to explore my options, so I'm currently trying out the HEAD brand. They make a shampoo & conditioner combo, as well as individual shampoo and conditioner, and of course, all those other needed hair products: style wax, hair spray, leave in conditioner, etc. I really like the smell of all of their products, and in fact my husband can't stop sniffing my head sometimes when I use the leave in conditioner. All of their products seem to make my hair feel soft and silky, and a little seems to go a long way. So if you're unsure if your current hair care regime is gluten free, or if you can't seem to figure out what in your "diet" continues to cause a reaction, or you just want to try a new hair product, consider treating your HEAD.

Final note: the also make trial size bottles, and Gluten Free Specialty just got them in. Great for holiday stocking stuffer or any travel :-)

The Pros of Pre & Probiotics

Probiotic. A word that most Celiacs are familiar with; a word that has been slowly migrating to mainstream status. Prebiotic, a little less commonly known, but they're basically a welcome party, prepping your body to absorb the probiotics better. Cruising through the grocery store you might stumble upon Activia, a yogurt by Dannon that contains probiotics. It was one of the first probiotic products that I stumbled upon a few years before I found out I had to eliminate the gluten. Now I see more and more products with a probiotic component, from juices to snack bars, to chocolate. A popular drink, Kombucha/Synergy, which is a tea drink with a somewhat vinegar taste and has bits of floating beneficial mushroom cultures. I've tried several flavors, but never found one that I actually wanted to drink. I've asked people who drink it what their favorite flavor is, and the typical response I get is they don't have one; they all kind of taste the same.

Recently Gluten Free Specialty brought in a new probiotic drink, PRE. Pre is a probiotic enhancer, and contains 3.5 grams of jarrow prebiotic blend. I was skeptical, but I figured what the hey. The flavors sounded appealing: peach mango, pomegranate blueberry, and 5 other fruity flavors. I loved the peach mango, and every other flavor I've tried thus far. It's really like drinking juice that only has 20 calories in 16 ounces, with the added benefits of aiding in vitamin absorption, maintaining my weak immune system, and aiding in digestion.

At around $2 a bottle, I've decided to try and drink a PRE 5 times a week for the next month, and see if I not only make it through the winter without getting really sick, but also if it helps me absorb all my vitamins and minerals better, as I'm currently Vitamin D deficient. I'm 6 days into it, I feel like my digestive track might be working a touch smoother, and I feel like it might be helping in leveling out my mood, as I think all of us suffer a little in the winter (again Vitamin D related).

On the Hunt

I was in Micheal's the other day and saw for $40 I could have a small 4 1/2 foot tree, that would be with us for more than 1 year, and yet something about a real tree is more fun. One year we cut down a big tree, but the last two years we've been so busy we end up at a tree stand that pops up the night after Thanksgiving.
We really liked this one, but we were hoping to do better on the price, and so we left without it, so for now we are still tree-less, but in the next few days we'll find the right one for us. Know of a great tree farm in Sacramento? Let us know. We're hoping to find a 4 ft tree for $15-$20. The one in the pick was $25 plus tax, so we figured we still had time, and passed, but it was fun smelling the trees.

Gift Ideas for those who are Gluten Free

Our local gluten free store in Sacramento has come up with a cool concept for the holiday season: GF Food Grab Bags! As a part time craft vendor I am always amazed at how fast grab bags go. I've sold them for $1- $10, and they always go fast. It must be something about the thrill & surprise of the unknown.

So let's say you just found out a friend, or family member just discovered he/she is allergic to gluten, dairy, or nuts. You want to help easy their transition, but need product recommendations. Why not buy them a GF Food Grab Bag! Gluten Free Specialty is offering several Holiday Grab Bags, which will include foods that fit your specified needs, and are staff recommended. All the work and worry is taken off your shoulders. Check out their holiday specials section to find the right grab bag for you!

And if grab bags don't interest you, how about buying your cookbooks and allergy-friendly guides from a small, local California business, instead of those large bookstore chains. I recently found out that Gluten Free Specialty is offering 20% off all preorders on books, or free shipping to your home. Your choice. In my opinion one can never have too many cookbooks :-) Some titles I recommend include:

• 125 Best Gluten Free Recipes
• Cooking for Celiacs, Colitis, Crohns, & IBS
• Sweet Alternative
• Food Allergy Survival Guide
• The Gluten Connection
  

Gluten Free Mama's Scone Mix

The scone, a breakfast or dessert item, sweet or savory. Usually a scone is made with, surprise!, wheat and barley, and sometimes oatmeal, but lucky there are gluten free scone mixes. To my knowledge, I have never had a scone, until now, so I can not compare these gluten free scones to your typical scone, but I can tell you what I thought of the Gluten Free Mama Scone Mix. My husband and I previously reviewed her sugar cookie mix, and she a was kind enough to send us a few other mixes, and I'm finally getting around to trying them out.

She has so many different scone recipes listed online, but I ended up making apple crumble scones. Her recipes call for cream, but I just used almond milk, and it worked out fine. In the instructions for the scones it sounded like I was only supposed to end up with eight big circles, but that didn't seem right to me, so I made them the same size I would with biscuits. The dough mixed up real well, but I found the sprinkling of the "crumble" to just be an unnecessary, messy step that can be skipped.

In the end, they tasted great, very moist, and light, although because of the fruit, (and really this goes for any baked good with fruit in it) they only lasted about 3 days, and I had to throw some away because I just could not eat them that fast. Would I buy this mix, which comes in a 2lb bag, and makes 3 batches of scones for around $9- if I loved scones, absolutely.

Conte's Pasta Microwave Meals

A while back I received a generous delivery from Conte's Pasta. Their raviloi are fantastic, their pizzas could use some serious work, so how did their microwave meals fare? Well we were sent at least 1 of each of their microwave meal options which come in the following meal options: Cheese Lasagna, Meat Lasagna, Vegetable Lasagna, Cheese Stuffed Shells, Cheese Manicotti, Cheese Raviloi
and Spaghetti & Meatballs.

So 1 container has 2 servings and retails for about $10. Do I think it's worth it? Well yes and no. During the heating process the meals got pretty liquidy, and with a few of the meals we actually had to drain the liquid into the sink. And due to the extra liquid the pasta really broke down and pretty much feel apart. Specifically the lasagna became more like a cheesy tomato soup, and did not retain any resemblance to lasagna.

The cheese ravioli and the shells on the other hand were better, maybe because I got smart, and half way through the heating process I removed the shells from the plastic container with the liquid and put them on a plate. I think this prohibited them from falling apart, and made the meal much more enjoyable. They had a great cheesy flavor. And we actually ran out of freezer space, so we gave a few of the meals to our gluten-consuming friends to see what they thought, and they were all generally happy with them. Those who tried the Spaghetti and Meatballs thought the meatballs were better than expected for a frozen meal, and said it slightly resembled spaghetti O's in both taste and texture.

The final verdict: A little too saucy, but the flavor is right now. With a little tweaking I think these meals could be a really good to great product option for gluten free folks.