This post is long overdue. I've been meaning to share some of our family's near misses -- and one actual "glutening" episode -- for a while. All have been a result of wonderful gluten free products whose packaging just happens to look almost exactly like the same company's non-GF version. I want others to be aware of these products so we can all be super-vigilant as we rush through our favorite grocery stores quickly loading up our carts with our favorite gluten free staples. I'm also hoping that bringing this blog post to these companies' attention might get them to reconsider their packaging choices. Don't get me wrong...all these companies and their products are favorites of ours, and we are so grateful they have chosen to offer gluten free varieties. But the mistake is easy to make when grocery shopping, and I'm sure our family wasn't the first to experience these "near misses." Exhibit #1: Annie's Mac-n-Cheese varieties Annie's makes some wonderful varieties of mac-n-cheese. They have different shapes of pasta, both yellow and white cheese sauces, gluten free and regular pasta, and even vegan gluten free and non-gluten free varieties. It's easy to think you're grabbing one thing on... Read more →
March 2017
Last month, over the President's Day long weekend, our family ventured down to the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina for a hockey tournament with our younger son's team. Typically we head north for tournaments, but this year the team was in the mood for something a bit warmer. And in that department, we lucked out...the temperature hovered right around 72 degrees each day, making it not only a glorious weekend for travel, but a perfect weekend to squeeze in visits to some college campuses for our older son, a sophomore in high school. While it's still a bit early for him to be narrowing his choices for colleges, we've been trying to drive or walk through any campuses in areas we've visited over the past year or so. It's a great opportunity for him to get a feel for big state schools versus smaller private universities, urban campuses versus rural or suburban, and liberal-leaning versus more conservative. Although our older son is not Celiac like our younger son, these campus visits give us a feel for "what's to come" in another few years when our Celiac son begins his own college search. Like other Celiac teens, his decision will... Read more →
Most of you know I try to keep my posts on this blog focused on gluten free dining and travel, not sharing recipes. There are so many other great bloggers who do that so well! However, every now and then, I like to share favorite family recipes from our own kitchen -- or ones passed down from other family members. It's especially nice when a treasured family recipe enjoyed over the years can easily be adapted to be gluten free. Such is the case with the recipe I'm sharing today. My mother-in-law's Marinated Butterflied Leg of Lamb recipe was something I first enjoyed when visiting my future in-laws about 20 years ago, when my now-husband and I first started dating. It was a dish my mother-in-law would often make when entertaining guests, and it works especially well in warmer months, when you can cook it on the outdoor grill (although it's so good, it's worth donning a warm jacket and manning the grill in the winter!). The recipe is extremely easy, and the only modification I've made from the original recipe is to replace the soy sauce with gluten free tamari (I use San-J's low sodium gluten free tamari). There... Read more →