Saturday, August 6, 2011

4 Kisses for Finding Sanctuary

http://top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/finding-sanctuary-by-dc-juris/

4 Stars for Who Better Than Canyon

http://glbt.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=3017

Gluten Free - Days 5, 6, & &

The past three days have been hellabusy!

So it's been a week on the gluten free diet. Not only am I not getting sick anymore but...brace yourself... I don't have any muscle pain, either. The chronic, excruciating pain I've been in for the past 32 years is gone.

I don't even know what to think of that, at this point. It's hard to process. It's like living life in black and white, and suddenly everything's in color. Technicolor, even. It's odd. I'm still dealing with the fatigue, a bit, but not as bad as it was, and I'm sleeping a little better.

On to new products! Gluten Free stuff we tried this week:

1. Enjoy Life Cinnamon Crunch Granola - Did I tell you about this one already? I'm not sure. It's tasty! It has raisins in it.

2. Hot Kid Cheese Rice Crisps - YUCK! With a capital Y U C K. These have the texture and taste of cardboard dusted with cheese doodle leavings. Blech!

3. Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta Rotelle - WOW! I honestly can't taste a difference between this and regular pasta. The only difference I saw was that the water turns a lovely yellow color because of the corn content. I topped it with Prego Spaghetti Sauce (labeled GF) and some cheese.

For dinner tonight, I had steak and Ore-Ida Potatoes O'Brien with Onions and Peppers (labeled GF) and Birds Eye Steamfresh Mini Corn on the Cob (which isn't labeled GF, but the only ingredient is corn). For dessert I had Kozy Shack Original Rice Pudding (labeled GF).

It occurred to me that I normally stop eating half way through my meal because I'm in pain. Not because I'm fully - I typically leave the meal still hungry. But for the last few days, that hasn't been happening. I'm able to actually eat and not get sick, so I don't walk away hungry. As a result, I don't snack in between meals - I don't even want to.

Get down and dirty with Mark and Gabe from "Buried Treasure"

http://www.sexmarksthegspot.com/2011/08/character-interview-with-mark-and-gabe.html

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

5 Divas for "On Solid Ground"

http://www.blackravensreviews.com/?cat=2041

Gluten Free - Day 4

Today was Day 4. Had my cereal lunch and chips snack at work again today. Didn't get sick!

Tonight for dinner I had Minute Ready to Serve Natural Whole Grain Brown Rice (which is gluten free) with Hormel canned chicken (also gluten free) seasoned with ginger (fresh ground and powdered b/c I get lazy with the grinder) and pan "fried" in I Can't Believe it's Not Butter (gluten free). I topped it with Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry sauce (which doesn't say it's gluten free on it, but according to Ocean Spray, it is). YUM! I like to cook the chicken until it's crispy and brown, and sort of caramelizes the ginger.  Didn't get sick.

As a side note, for those who grew up not liking Minute Rice, I have to say the flavor and texture of what's available now is a LOT different and much better.

For snack tonight, we made another attempt at gluten free pizza. We used Schar Pizza Crust, topped it with Prego spaghetti sauce, the local grocery store brand pizza cheese mix, and pepperoni slices. I've done the spaghetti sauce before on what Hubby and I call "Poor Man's Pizzas" (english muffins with sauce and some pepperoni) and it wasn't bad. In a larger quantity like this though, I think I want to try to find an actual pizza sauce for next time. It just tastes different to me. As far as the pizza crust - not bad. Not the best crust - reminded me of like Tonys frozen pizzas - but definitely better than last night's pizza. I had to cook it about 10 minutes longer than the box instructions, but that could just be my oven - it's a tiny little thing and takes longer on everything.

None if it made me sick, which makes me question if I actually *am* lactose intolerant, because I dumped an ass load of cheese on the pizza, and it didn't bother me. Maybe the issue was the gluten all along.

Another product I wanted to mention is:

Lundberg Rice Chips - Sesame and Seaweed. These are tasty! They have a subtle flavor, but it's a hearty one. Very nice!

Also, have figured out, by looking up ingredients and trial and error - I can have Almond Joy Pieces and Payday candy bars, which is awesome, as I love both!

Another product I tried (and I can't remember if I mentioned this one, but I don't think I did) is:

Pamela's Products Ginger with Sliced Almond cookies. These are very good! They're soft, so you don't get that CRUNCH that you like with Ginger Snaps, but the ginger flavor is there, and the almond gives a next texture change.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Gluten Free - Day 3

Day three.

Had lunch - Cinnamon Chex cereal, and that didn't make me sick.

After work, Hubby and I went to Wegman's to see what they had. Thankfully, a lot of the gluten free products are all in one spot. However, the Wegmans brand stuff is throughout the store. Will have to go back when it's not so crazy/busy.

We bought a few things, a couple of which we tried tonight.

1. Schar Rolls, Classic White - Um...nope. The taste was okay, but the texture of these was too squishy for me, and they were very dry. Pan fried in butter they might be nice, or tossed on the grill. Rather pricey - paid $5.99 for 4 rolls.

2. Foods by George Gluten Free Pizza - Yeah, another no. It wasn't *bad*, but if you're craving pizza, this won't curb your desire. The crust was okay - I liked the crispier parts better, but the blend of cheese was meh. I put pepperoni on mine, which helped a little, but not much. Maybe it's just my oven, but the crust didn't bake evenly either. The outside was crispy, the inner part mushy. If I'd left it in any longer, though, the outer part would've burned. Quite pricey, considering it's the size of a Pizza Hut Personal Pizza and costs $6.29

3. Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers - YUM! I love these! Crunchy and nutty. It's like whole wheat bread in a cracker, but gluten free. Paid $2.69 for a 4.5 oz bag.

4. Glutino Gluten Free Pretzel Twists - I couldn't try these because they have sea salt (I'm allergic to it), but Hubby got them for himself, and said they're not bad, although they tasted like they'd been soaked in sea salt. Not a great pretzel, but a decent pretzel. "Would definitely fix a case of the munchies!"

None of which made me sick! :-D

I'm on Kindlegraph!

Head over and request an autograph!

http://kindlegraph.com/authors/DCJuris

Get Your Freak On!

1st Annual Beepie Awards

Voting is open, folks!! Go vote for me! I never win anything - so help me win this!! I've got entries under Adonis and Holiday.

http://voting.breathlesspress.org/forums/125865-nominations