Allergy or Intolerance? A fine line.

An informational MSNBC Health article published today, Is it a food allergy or a food intolerance? helps differentiate some of the most important differences between a food allergy and a food intolerance. This article is informative, especially to those unfamiliar or recently diagnosed. But don't be mistaken, in my opinion and from experience, intolerances are just as serious dangerous to your health and immune system & possibly deadly if gone untreated or not properly diagnosed!!

How informed are YOU? What do you think of this article?

Gluten Free Summer - Back to Basics

Has everyone had a great summer? Although fall is so very beautiful I am always a little sad to see summer go. I know I've mentioned this before but I love the beautiful warm summer weather. Tans, tank tops, sunshine....ah I'll miss you summer. There have been some ups & downs over here at The C Chronicles this summer. Job hunting has been at the forefront of my summer. It has certainly been a roller coaster of experiences & emotions! Following and respecting my gluten free/microscopic (lymphocytic) colitis diet is more important than ever through times like these, times of stress. One thing that I've learned is that my body reacts directly to my levels of stress!

I've experimented over the summer by incorporating some of my favorite summer veggies into my gluten free dishes. A trip to the local farmers market is a great way to get the best in season veggies, and it supports the awesome local farmers!

I love love stir fry! Brown rice with organic chicken, green & yellow zuccinni, red peppers, and pea pods. I've switched to all organic chicken because I learned that they add chicken broth to the frozen chicken I used to buy to preserve it and keep it's flavor. Is this chicken broth gluten free? I don't know... so I switched.

Gluten free turkey, olive & cheese burger. The gluten free bun from was key. Pam from the local Bread Stone Bakery gave me the bun to sample and it was absolutely fabulous! Yes, I'm getting that excited over a hamburger bun! Major kuddos Bread Stone Bakery.

The lettuce wraps at PF Changs are darn tasty so I thought I'd try making my own. They were delicious although next time I'm going to use a lot less of the wheat free soy sauce out of the sauce mixture, too much salt...and soy. Extra lean ground turkey, chopped up water cheastnuts, pea pods, & bean sprouts. Wheat free soy sauce, Rice vinegar, & red wine vinegar for the sauce.

...and obviously another stir fry concoction! This is actually one of my regulars because I love wax (yellow) beans. Brown rice with organic chicken, water chestnuts, & yellow beans. So simple!

Who says it's hard eating gluten free on a budget? Not me! I'm saving my money for upcoming fall shopping trip, candy apples, concerts, girls night out, and nice cheap bottle of vino!...ok maybe two cheap bottles of vino!

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Desert Giveaway!

Isn't it fascinating the lengths people go to for free stuff?  I include myself in this because I am blogging today not only to inform the public but to get an extra entry into a fabulous GF giveaway!  Was scanning through tweets this morning and came across GlutenFreeDude's tweet about this giveaway.  Clicked on it and it takes you to The Lucky Lady Bug's blog post about the giveaway.  Clicked on the Mommy Googles link and VOILA!  So basically, just click on Mommy Googles if you're reading this and want to enter!  I just had to share my frantic yet enthusiastic hunt for the entry information!

Here's what you get: 4 samples, one of each of the GF desert mixes, 2 free coupons, a tote bag, a magnetic grocery list pad & pen.  Kind of awesome right?  Ok, maybe I'm a little too excited about this! HA!  When you enter at Mommy Googles, you have to post a gluten free recipe to get at least one entry.  If you're not gluten free & you don't know one, don't fret.  I would recommend googling gluten free recipes, pick out one that you fancy and post it!  You never know what you might find in the process!  Expand your horizons people! (yes, I did just write that)

These GF products by Betty Crocker are brand new to the shelves and I have yet to find them in any of my surrounding grocery stores so weather I win or not, I am especially anxious to try them!  

B-B-B-Birthday Shout Out!

Happy Birthday to my dearest friend AC!  Are we getting older & wiser?  Hmmm, well at least one of the two for sure!  We've had (and continue to have) so many good, bad, and just plain craZZZY times!  

(new school)

(old school with the Tom Cruise circa Top Gun framed photo hanging on the wall)

(marti gras party or just your average Saturday night back in the day?  We'll never know.)

Happy Birthday to you!!!

GF Baking with Bob's!

Brace yourselves people, I've been baking!  Turns out one good thing about losing your job is it opens up a little free time to bake!

This Bob's Red Mill gluten free cinnamon raisin bread turned out great!  Waiting for it to rise then waiting for it to bake was the worst but totally worth it!  Many thanks to my mom for talking me into baking bread on a Saturday morning!

The cornbread was on a whim craving for something, anything bready.  Uhh, SO good!  I used an organic almond non-dairy substitute in place of the milk for this one and they still turned out fabulous, maybe even a little more flavorful because of the hint of almond.

A healthy alternative for non-Celiac's as well.

Bob's Red Mill products are highly recommended!

Yum!

Gluten Free fun in Vegas!!

They don't call it "sin city" for nothin!  I've been back from Vegas for a good month now and have yet to blog about it so I figure before I do anything else this Memorial Day weekend I better get on it!  Vegas was a total blast and I'm more happy now than ever that I went and that I enjoyed some great times with AC & LMO!  

For all of you non Celiacs, my gluten free restaurant rundown might bore you but to you I say, use this to your benefit for tips on good "overall" places to eat!

We stayed at the super fabulous New York New York Hotel & Casino.  The first restaurant we ate at was the Nine Fine Irishmen right in NYNY.  GF menu, awesome tasting food, live Irish music!  A wonderful welcoming experience to Vegas!  I ate the Brie Stuffed Chicken Breast and it tasted great!  

What better way to ring in the NFL draft on Saturday then to have lunch at the ESPN Zone, also in our hotel/casino?  Not to mention that the place was crawling with testosterone!  No GF menu here but I got a burger, no bun and a baked potato.  

PF Chang's inside Planet Hollywood was a favorite.  I've indulged in PF Chang's here in Michigan so I am very familiar with their GF menu.  I got my usual Singapore Street Noodles w/sauce on the side.  I would say that if you've never had PF Chang's, gluten free or not you absolutely need to!

The one and only unpleasant GF eating experience I had while I was in Vegas was on Saturday night ay the restaurant Olive's inside the Belagio.  Olive's was an early choice because of the awesome atmosphere.  A very positive email from the executive chef assuring us that there would be many GF options available set my comfort level pretty high.  Well let's just say there were NO GF options available.  Both managers on the floor knew I was frustrated and neither bothered to come over to the table to talk to us.  It was awful.  I ended up eating very little of this raw beef dish that our waiter, Rick, drummed up.  Thanks again Rick for your efforts and sorry again for my slight rudeness.  All frustrations were postponed until later the next day as I proceeded to enjoy the rest of my evening!  

Sunday night, after seeing the Cirque du Soleil show Zumanity we went out with a bang for our last meal of the trip at Gallagher's Steakhouse.  No GF menu here but I asked the waitress if the chef could accommodate and they did!  I got the filet with a baked potato and it was so amazing!

Overall, my Vegas GF dining experiences were very good.  You just have to do a little research before your trip.  Make sure you know your surroundings and be aware of the types of restaurants that are going to be in close vicinity to you.  You don't want to get there and be like, "duh, I don't know" and waste your whole trip trying to figure out where to eat!  

Yay!  Can't wait to go back!

I'm not worthy Betty Crocker...

Seriously! I had to blink TWICE when I saw this over at GF Steve! I love you Betty, I love you General Mills! A thousand thank you's! I will be anxiously awaiting the month of June!

Follow this link to get the scoop right from the horses mouth and spread the word! Don't worry...it's not gossip!