Protein filled 5 Layer Nachos

Living a gluten-free lifestyle can be hard enough to get used to as it is. Paired with the fact most "ready-to-eat" snacks and meals are not gluten-free friendly can make things much more difficult for those college students, recent grads or young professionals who rely on popping a frozen pizza into the oven after a long day. This is my quick & easy recipe for protein filled nachos. On a time crunch? Skip the chicken, pop a plate of nachos in the microwave & they work great as a quick snack!

Protein Filled 5 layer Nachos

Dark Chocolate Holiday Truffles

This recipe is super simple & is a fun way to stay involved during the holidays when everyone is baking cookies or giving away baked goods as gifts. Place truffles in mini cupcake liners to box up & give as gifts or to bring to a holiday party! Keep the toppings gluten-free for yourself, and add other toppings (like graham cracker crumbs or cookie crumbs) for those you plan to give away!

Dark Chocolate Holiday Truffles

Simple Garlic Penne Alfredo

I swear you won't even realize this recipe is gluten free! My boyfriend is what I'd call a hesitant eater, and he absolutely LOVES this dish. Whether or not he likes something is kind of how I gauge how good it is... so if someone who doesn't have to eat gluten-free loves it then I know it'll be a hit! 

Sauteed garlic, broccoli & chicken penne Alfredo

Fast-GF-Food, it exists!

MIAMI-> ST. PETE -> MIAMI,  MIAMI->JAX->MIAMI,  MIAMI->ORL->MIAMI....

You get the picture, I drive a lot. And by a lot, I mean that those are usually my "day" trips for work. I'm constantly on the road, and as I'm sure many of you have realized, gluten free & fast food don't exactly go hand in hand. Trust me, ordering a grilled chicken sandwich and only eating the chicken isn't exactly fulfilling. Until a few months ago I had never been to Chik-fil-a (a travesty, I know.) , but I found myself dragged in there one day and was wondering how I could just order fries without the people I was with thinking I had some type of eating disorder.

Grocery Scavenging

One of the worst things about staying gluten-free is that weekly trip to the grocery store. Some stores, like Publix, Whole Foods & Winn Dixie, make it a little easier than others, like Wal*Mart. But no matter where you shop, doing your gluten-free shopping is possible, it takes getting used to! Now that I have some regular snack items I always eat, I am able to make a grocery list before I go which makes things SO much easier, especially when I'm trying to do the gluten-free scavenger hunt. Living in Miami, Publix is basically the ONLY grocery store choice nearby so that's where I do my weekly shopping..and as I was unpacking my groceries today I thought it might be helpful to share what I bought & what some of my essentials are. I make a list by department to make it easier to grab what I need without forgetting anything. 

Pancake Breakfast

When I went gluten-free, the first thing I missed was breakfast. Breakfast is arguably my favorite meal of the day, and "breakfast for dinner" was always such a treat growing up. So, naturally my family faced an issue when weekends would come around and we wanted to have a nice family breakfast. Do they make pancakes/waffles/french toast/biscuits anyways or do they eat gluten free with me and stick to eggs & potato products? Luckily, early on I discovered Bisquick makes a gluten-free product that can be used for the same things as regular Bisquick. Now, whenever I'm home my mom will make a separate batch of pancakes or waffles for me and everyone else has the regular!

The first time I had the gluten-free pancakes made with Bisquick I remember thinking the texture was a little different than ordinary pancakes, however by the second time I had them I didn't even notice & I think they taste as close to regular pancakes as possible. I've tried other gluten-free pancake mixes, and though most I've tried are less expensive...they suck. Suck to the point where I end up just throwing them away. So, I suck it up and just buy the expensive, and tiny, box of gluten-free Bisquick and save it for weekends when I treat myself to a nice breakfast.

A little extra batter is the perfect excuse for a "Mickey" pancake :)

Oh, Gluten freedom

  

 

So these are probably not the kind of photos you were expecting to see on a gluten-free blog but a few months ago this was my life. I looked forward to ordering a belgian waffle when I went out to breakfast with the family on the weekends, indulged in a Publix sub for lunch every once in awhile, stopped to grab chicken nuggets whenever I was traveling on the road & when asked the question "where should we go for dinner?" it was always somewhere italian, usually Carrabba's. At Carrabba's I could easily take an entire loaf of bread to the face before my salad order even made it to the kitchen. Then my entree was always chicken parmesan, no questions asked.

Then this past July I had what was probably the worst 2 weeks of my life. Long story short, blood work confirmed I had both gluten & wheat sensitivities & that, eventually, my stomach would be able tolerate a small amount of gluten or wheat once a week. But, my days of hoarding loaves of Carrabba's bread to myself.. were over. 

Hi, my name is Melissa, and I have been gluten free for four months. If you're just starting out on the journey to gluten freedom then there's one thing I can tell you with confidence- It's way easier than it seems, especially if you are going gluten free for health reasons. Nothing works quite like negative reinforcement..

So far in my four months I've found awesome restaurants, apps, recipes, tricks & products that I'm looking forward to sharing with all of you. Gluten-free products are almost always more expensive than their normal gluten containing counterparts, and as a recent graduate living completely on my own dollar, I can speak from experience that it adds insult to injury when you buy an expensive gluten-free product and then you end up HATING how it tastes. So hopefully I'll be able to save you a few bucks & make gluten-free feel a little more like gluten-freedom.