Maddy's Gluten Free Life

HAMMER & NAILS

2012-01-30T18:12:00.000-05:00

SOMETIMES LIFE IS ANNOYING! It's almost like... life wants to beat me in the head with a hammer.

SOMETIMES MY NAILS ARE PRETTY!

Like right now.

This picture is NOT supposed to be upside-down, stupid
technological failures

Orly in Liquid Vinyl
OPI in De-Signer De Better (base color under the glitter)
Glitter = loose glitter I bought on EBAY!

Coming eventually: I take off glitter nail polish with the smoothest of ease, because all you chicas who have put ze glitter on your nails know that you basically need a chisel to remove it.

You need a chisel to remove it unless you're smart like that Maddy Varno.

Junk Food Detox

2012-01-22T13:43:00.000-05:00

When I am in charge of the world,
all meals will be french fries and
ice cream cones.

At one point last week, I planned to write a blog post about frosting lumps.

I LIED.

Not really, I just ate like an 8 year old who was in charge of the world would eat, and now I feel like my body wants vegetables.

So, I am officially launching my junk food detox. I am hoping this lasts longer than 20 minutes. I did hit rock bottom yesterday though when I was having a pity party for myself and went to CVS to buy a box of Fun Dip valentines.

JUST DO IT

I ate 24 dip-a-sticks. I don't even want the powder... I just wanted the dip-a-sticks! UGH It's like they're made of compressed crack, I couldn't stop!!

So now I'm just going to try toooo... I don't know. Eat an avocado or something. I'm gonna try to feel this one out.

Quinoa Says: It's cool, the frosting's with me!

2012-01-16T10:06:00.001-05:00

sup, buns

My day yesterday was spent eating cinnamon buns, quinoa, and sesame chicken. Quinoa is so healthy, it was probably ashamed to sit next to the several other trough-like dishes I spent my day hovering over. But, with the distant hope of accomplishing a cardio kickboxing workout before the end of the day, I ate dutifully ate my quinoa as this fantastic grain is high in protein.

Waking up this morning, I reached for another cinnamon bun. Making a cinnamon bun your breakfast is probably on the same plane as sitting on the floor and pouring a 1-lb bag of sugar on your face. Look, for your visual enjoyment I have included a picture of the bun before I ate it.

Frosting bowl, part of a
complete breakfast

After I finished it, I had a sugar headache. It's completely possible that the sugar headache has something to do with this:

If only I could eat some quinoa for breakfast and it could cover for the sugar and butter in the cinnamon bun, a concept that Mitch Hedberg once shared with the world.

"That would be cool if you could eat a good food with a bad food and the good food would cover for the bad food when it got to your stomach. Like, you could eat a carrot with an onion ring and they would travel down to your stomach, then they would get there, and the carrot would say, 'It's cool, he's with me'."

Foreshadowing next blog post: Frosting lumps

PS: The bread mix I used to make the cinnamon buns, The Gluten-Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix

Fun with Nail Paint

2012-01-15T18:51:00.000-05:00

Liquid Vinyl from Orly

Trying to get back into writing blogs! I've been posting pictures to Pinterest and Facebook, and I think there's probably a better way to post those online than throwing them in a facebook album.

Leopard!

Lately I've been into nail polish a lot; I have ginormous nails so each time I paint them, it's like an art project. I seem to paint my nails a lot on Sunday afternoons, mainly because it tends to be a time I'm home and sitting. The last two nail projects have been black curtain tips, and crazy grey leopard print!

As another note, today as I was painting my nails, I was also eating GF cinnamon buns and sesame chicken. I made both late last night because my boyfriend is about to start his 2nd semester at Cornell Law school, so I'm a little bummed about him being eaten by Cornellmonster again. Booooooo!

Random note to end on: Netflix really needs to get some sort of continuous play up in that bitch.

BLOG = BACK!

2012-01-15T17:41:00.002-05:00

I'm really gonna try to post more....... honest.

I also might rename my blog the pizza, cookies, and manicure factory.

(Try to figure out whether I'm kidding or not on that one!)

I dedicate this post to everyone who has told me "You're not a nerd"

2011-03-11T11:33:00.002-05:00

This week, much like every other week, I have consumed a lot of bagels. I prefer my bagel-per-day rate to be at least one. I think it's important to note that I hate Udi's bagels and the more I think about it, most their products aren't that great. They make a good sandwich bread. The rest is just marketing and you're all shmucks for falling for it. I prefer either Kinnikinnickinickicnicnikinckindcick (Kinnikinnick) bagels or Glutino because I think they taste the best.

Why I like bagels

Glutino bagels are delicious
You can slice them up and make GF bagel chips (8 mins at 425)
They make a perfectly acceptable breakfast, lunch or dinner, lupper, brunch or snack
When I was little, we would get (gluten) bagels from this place called Bagel Land and I'd eat like 10 for breakfast
Bagel Land still exists and if any gluten-eaters in Rochester wanted to get Bagel Land bagels, I would like to watch you eat ten bagels from there for my vicarious enjoyment

On another note:

Mrs. Beast (my car) needs repair. The check engine light came on for the first time since I obtained the car in December. This startled me for two reasons.

1) The last time I was driving and the check engine light came on was in my old car when the head gasket blew and I had to hitch a ride home with someone from New Jersey
2) Unlike my old car's "CHECK ENGINE SOON" warning, this car illuminates a yellow engine icon.

On the illuminated engine icon: Is that really what the engine looks like?! I prefer to imagine my car's engine looking all shiny and cool, like the one Danny Zuco rides on while singing Greased Lighning in my top-10 favorite movie of all time, Grease. I prefer to imagine my car at all times having a young John Travolta under the hood, clad in tight leather pants sitting on top of the engine surrounded by other singing and dancing men. Unfortunately, my imagined perception has been altered by this engine icon.


Help castle.

Why, do you ask? Becasue the check engine burns images of Super Mario 3 (NES game) into my brain. AHH! No! I was immediately flooded with memories of trying to beat the "Help" castle at the end of each land and failing miserably by something stupid like accidentally getting smooshed between the Koopa and the wall right before I was about to jump on him the 3rd time and win. Nooooo I have died! Cue the "fail" music, Mario's neck dissapears into the rest of his body and he flies off the screen, then the game returns to the main world where all the boards are shown. What happens next? The ship FLIES AWAY, ZOoooooooooooooooom and does something stupid like land between two boards that I need to beat all over again because I died all the way or found a different route to the castle.

Where am I going with this?

My check engine light looks exactly like the ship after it flies out of the castle.

End guy in Bubble Bobble. Leprechaun that
hurls whiskey bottles.

What other awesome games have I beat before on NES? Bubble Bobble. The end guy was a giant leprechaun that hurled whiskey bottles. I feel this is relevant to mention because St. Patrick's Day is next week.

Making Tracks for Celiacs in 2011

2011-02-28T12:30:00.000-05:00

QUICK UPDATE! I know I promised to discuss bagels, but I'm going to do that later this week.

Right now I am working on an internet marketing proposal for the Rochester Celiac Support Group to help with the 2011 walk. This is very exciting for me because it combines the two things I love most in the world: social media and the internet, and gluten-free food!

I hope to have a lot more to say about this project after I present my proposal to the walk committee and have a sense of whether or not they would like to move forward with my ideas. I am kind of excited that I actually have time do this this. I have completed all of the academic coursework for my bachelor's degree and am finishing up the remaining portion of my degree by working part-time. I finish my co-op in May, and I graduate! Holla.

I have a collection of pictures I take of my food from my intentions to blog about it. I should upload that too, sometime. Hmmmm.

By the end of the week, my friends. By the end of the week!

Completing my undergrad degree has been like watching a .jpg load on dialup

2011-02-10T17:19:00.000-05:00

This seems like the easier option, sometimes.

I have been insanely busy lately, and for that I blame my senior thesis. The project, which is an empirical research study on simultaneous food consumption and media use, has taken hold of my soul like the jaws of life, and is slowly depriving me of major nutrients. While gathering qualitative data and then analyzing the findings is a bit amazing, I look forward to a future in which I both have a bachelor’s degree, and the ability to sleep at night.

When I do have the luxury of time to eat, I’ve been eating a lot of bagels. Bagels are awesome, which is why I have decided to write my next blog post on bagels.

Until then, I will leave you with a picture of what I will look like after I run away from life to join the circus.

Biohazard Girl. Wait, you mean it’s genetic?

2011-01-26T20:59:00.000-05:00

SCIENCE

The number of diagnosed celiacs is growing rapidly. While the Mayo Clinic’s famous statistic estimates 1 in 133 Americans have celiac disease, that study also found only 3% of them are diagnosed. I believe this study took place in 2003. While I would love to fact-check and provide you with highly accurate information on that date, I ended up on a government website recruiting individuals with celiac disease for various clinical trials when I was googling the study date. So, if you’re afflicted with the celiac and aching for some clinical trials of the hep B vaccine, there’s a website waiting for you.

Getting sidetracked = why we’ll never know what year that one study on celiac disease took place… unless someone leaves a comment with that information.

So of the 2 million people in the USA with celiac disease, apparently only 3 percent of them are diagnosed—BUT—these are the numbers from 2003! Nobody has a more recent finding. (For the love of god, if you do, give it to me!) So, formulating my hypothesis: If 3% of the 2 million celiacs were actually diagnosed in 2003, then … MORE will have been diagnosed in 2011! Oh, wait, I forgot to mention another variable to this occasion: I seem to spread celiac disease wherever I go, like some kind of fairy.

My theoretical constructs are becoming more complicated!

They seem to be dropping like flies...

Two girls I was friends with in high school were diagnosed years after I graduated (that would put 3 celiacs in a graduating class of 233), nearly everyone in my family has celiac disease, countless others I know eat GF without a formal diagnosis, and the icing on the cake? Getting a random text message from an ex boyfriend I had forgot existed because I repressed his existence from memory. “Is this maddy varno? You need to call me right now!” Next text, “I was diagnosed celiac and I don’t know what I can eat, I’m starving and I need help!” F that, I don’t care, figure it out yourself. If you’re out there, I have this message for you: Ohhh dear, that’s unfortunate, I suggest you alter your diet from beer to include: not beer. For the record, if you go 6 years without talking to an ex, you usually forget their phone number. And next time you date somebody, please don’t almost trade them for a Mitsubishi Eclipse (true story). After that text message, I was tempted to pull a P. Diddy (reference image).

"If too many people know your name,
change it. Then, change it again.
Worked for me."

So, to those of you who I’ve ruined with celiac disease, I apologize. May your gluten-free bread remain spongy, and may your cookies always crumble minimally.

Wait, what, you mean celiac disease is genetic, not contagious? … Well, that’s a relief, I no longer fear being ostracized and sent to live in a bubble…

Have S'more Sloppy Joes

2011-01-24T08:07:00.002-05:00

Today, we salute a long-lost friend of my appetite: The Sloppy Joe.

Lets start with a brief, subjectively-recalled history of this main dish:

1993: Somewhere in Webster, NY, a young Maddy Varno is served sloppy joes in the Schlegel Road School lunch room. Later that evening, she comes home and asks, "Momma, why can't you cook like the school cafeteria?"

Crazy sloppy joes lady

1995: Billy Madison is released in theaters. Movie-watchers everywhere witness the crazy cafeteria lady saying "Have s'more schloppy joes. I made'em extra sloppy for ya!" Then, everyone laughs maniacally, and Billy says, "Lady, you're scaring us!"

2002: Maddy is diagnosed with Celiac disease, sloppy joes are exiled from her diet because mom wasn't eager to make a GF replacement after the whole "why can't you cook like the school" comment.

Hoagies and grinders,
navy beans navy beans
sloppy joes, sloppy sloppy joes

2004: An environmental science teacher shows the class The Best of Chris Farley on SNL instead of teaching that day. Maddy is exposed to "Lunch Lady Land" by Adam Sandler.

2010: Maddy requests sloppy joes for her birthday dinner. Her family acts slightly appalled, and I am required to choose a different meal. I settled for eggplant parm. :(

I present: last night's dinner

2011: Alex and Maddy, while strolling through Wegmans in Pittsford, NY, walk past a can of Manwich. "Sloppy joes for dinner," I demand!

So, last night, I dug my face into some sloppy joes and ended up with sauce all over my nose, forehead, and shirt (We just made Manwich and I ate it on Udi's bread). It was very satisfying for my quarter-life crisis, which has been to find a gluten-free alternative for my childhood favorites. What should I tackle next? Mozzarella sticks are a possibility, but honestly, I'm waiting for someone to come out with frozen ones. Can someone tell me why nobody has done this yet? baaaaa

For anyone interested, I would love to dress up like a cafeteria food and prance around.

Oh, on another note, my blog address is now MaddyVarno.com. I'm working on getting my portfolio of writing samples up on portfolio.maddyvarno.com. To all 4 of my loyal readers, I thank you for your continued support!

Chip Face

2011-01-18T16:42:00.001-05:00

As I sit here, eating my nuggs, I am reminded of a recent Facebook comment I receieved shortly after my last blog post. I will display the comment below:

"What is a nugg?"

I am pleased to answer this! A nugg is what I call chicken nuggets. My vernacular regarding this food stems mainly from the excitement and urgency I usually feel when I decide I want some nuggs. It is such a pressing urgency, that articulating the entire phrase "chicken nuggets" soon became the simple term of "nuggs."

Chips are part of my imbalanced diet.

Since I can't stroll through the Burger King drive through for some nuggs, I buy mine frozen. I've mentioned the mass quantities of frozen foods I consume previously, so today I'm feeling like examining another staple of my diet: chips.

I love many different kinds of chips; please don't make me choose between my babies. That being said, every week I buy at least one bag of the following:

Lundberg rice chips (my favorite flavors are barbecue and honey dijon)
Kettle brand potato chips (favorite flavors are baked barbecue, and backyard barbecue)
Baked Lays (favorite flavor is Parmesan and Tuscan herb)

The good kind of rice chips.

Chip Face Rookie Mistake: "rice chips:"

Not to be confused with Lundberg rice chips which actually look more like tortilla chips, the rice chips I'm referring to here are small round discs that come in a pack, not a bag. They are packaged like they're supposed to be Oreos or something. I advise against these. If the situation occurs where you are presented with these rice chips, I suggest licking the salt and/or flavor off, then throwing the rest of the "chip" away.

The wrong kind of rice chips.

In other news, I'm sitting here writing this blog as I listen to NPR. They're talking about new health care regulations and how dependent children can now stay on their parent's health insurance policy until age 26. They had a sound clip from a woman talking about how it is a relief for her son in college, who has Celiac disease. This just seemed weird to me. Were they trying to make it sound like Celiac disease required frequent medical care? From my experience it doesn't... if my health insurance were to be in jeopardy, my first though wouldn't be "Oh no, but I have Celiac disease!" It would probably be, "Oh no, I'm a goddamn KLUTZ!"

How to live an awesome gluten free life

2011-01-12T20:21:00.000-05:00

I will now share my expertise on how to live an awesome gluten-free life.

I propose the following guidelines:

As depicted, it is usually
overcast.

#1 Pick your location wisely

From my experience, larger metropolitan areas tend to see more people, and as a result, are more aware of accomodating unusual requests, especially of a dietarty nature. I do not live in a thriving metropolis, I live in a wilting metropolis (Rochester), but I am fortunate that this city is extremely knowledgable on gluten free food and the celiac lifestyle.

If your bread needs this, you're
making it wrong.

In addition to your city of location, being happy in the physical setting of your home environment is also important. For example, I once lived in a college apartment with a roommate who decided to briefly date one of my best friends halfway into the lease. When they broke up, I became highly suspect (and not just because she wen't through my phone and saw I texted him to "dump his ho," ...oh wait, yes, that was why she hated me). I spent the duration of the lease finding open boxes of vital wheat gluten in the living room. Needless to say, I moved out early one day while she was at work. It is important to live with people who understand that gluten causes a bad autoimmune reaction when it gets into your body.

#2 Find fabulous food

To reiterate my love of food, I have
included a picture of my freezer.

A gluten-free diet does not equal a boring diet! If it does, you're doing it wrong. I spice my diet up with restaurant food and frozen meals all the time, mainly because I'm lazy and busy. One of my on-the-go favorites right now is ordering sandwiches from Panera without the bread. They neatly assemble the sandwich content onto a plate and hand that to me, and I whip out my Udi's white sandwich bread and assemble my sandwich. I also enjoy pre-cooked food and salt, so a staple of my diet is TV dinners. My favorite right now is Pasta Primavera from Gluten Free Cafe.

#3 Work a baller job

Gluten-free food doesn't come cheap. With this appetite, working is a necessity. I've still got a couple months to graduation, so I'm still a full-time student, thus a part-time worker. Maximizing work benefits becomes crucial to an awesome life. Ideally, employment should is on par with your career goals, pay well for the work, and be for a company you like. Employment example: I work for Barnes & Noble college as a brand ambassador, so I execute marketing tactics on my campus for the brand.


Paper bag clothes and .49 cent meals offset the expenses of my education (not that I eat Ramen)

I love the work, like today I had a meeting with the store manager at RIT (I don't work for the store, I work for the brand) and learned that if course instructors don't submit the textbook titles they're using next quarter, students who go to sell the books back get like $15 for the book. If it's a book that a professor told the book store they're gonna use, students will get 3-4 times more money. It makes me frustrated that some teachers take their time! They're trying to help take the risk out of that by offering textbook rentals though, because you just pay less to begin with instead of crossing your fingers and hoping for favorable economics at the end of the quarter. I know my Health Awareness book was $80 less for rental. I kind of laugh when I remember the bookstore at MCC, waiting in line to buy your textbooks usually took an hour. You weren't allowed to bring your backpack into the store, either, ahahah, they handed out quarters and you had to put it in a locker! WOW in retrospect, that is so bootleg. Glad I transferred!

So, remember: Location, food, and work = an awesome life by Maddy's standards. Now, I'm going to go eat some nuggs.

2011 Gluten Free trends?

2011-01-03T08:52:00.000-05:00

Amy's gluten free TV dinners are why
I hate vegetarians.

What will the big trend be in gluten free food for 2011?

2010 gave us Udi's. I'd consider that the biggest GF trend of 2010. The bread is good, for sandwiches, but it can get really soggy really quick. I think normal gluten bread does that too though.

I would sandwich this between two steaks.

What do I hope will become mainstream in 2011? Gluten free food that any normal, rational person would want to eat. When I was diagnosed 6 years ago, the only TV dinners I could find were vegetarian, dairy free, vegan, tasteless, weird looking, ethnic foods. What the hell. I had to go from Banquet fried chicken to tofu and rice?? Mother F! Can't someone invent American foods that are gluten free? I'm talking mozzarella sticks, or fried chicken, or, I don't know. Something that comes with a lot of meat that was brutally slaughtered, stuffed full of preservatives, covered in salt, and delivered to a frozen food department near me. This is all I want. Please deliver it to my face.

Companies have gotten a good start on making food that normal Americans would want to eat, for example, Glutino makes bootleg Oreos, or as they like to call them, "chocolate vanilla dream cookies." My open letter to their marketing department: That name is a little too creative. You are clearly over-stimulated, next time tone it down a notch.

The moon looks like a cookie too,
but you can't eat that!

I think the Kinnickinick Kinni-toos have the excitement of traditional oreos, but the cookies are a little stiff and the cream really tastes like lard (I think traditional Nabisco Oreos are stuffed with lard anyways, but... yeah, sorry if I just ruined Oreos for you). If I could take the Kinni-toos packaging, and stuff it with the Chocolate and Vanilla Dream Cookies, I'd be in cookie monster heaven.

Now, since I've just really put myself in the mood for cookies, I'm going to go implement gluten free cookies into my advertising homework as much as possible (Print ad mock-ups, here I come!)

Gluten-Free Holiday Goodies (city-style)!

2010-12-19T23:08:00.000-05:00

Even though I live in downtown Rochester now, I used to live in a townhouse in the suburbs. I was usually there by myself, so there was tons of elbow room. My kitchen wasn't huge, but it was big enough to leave the kitchen aid on the counter, roll out sugar cookies at Christmas time, and experiment with new recipes and treats to feed my predominately gluten-free family. One of my favorite treats was the year me and my mom made lemon mousse-filled meringue cups. They were really good, but you had to eat them quick because after about a day the meringue got soft from the mousse (not that I would complain about having to eat more than one of those in quick succession). Random recipes aside, two staples I always make are cookie-cutter sugar cookies, and chex mix (both gluten free, of course!)
In my city apartment, I don't think I have the mixer or the counter space for sugar cookies, so sadly those will not come to fruition this year. I will say though that the Bette Hagman Revised Sugar Cookie Recipe is the best I've tried though, very close to the Joy of Cooking recipe my grandma used to make. As far as the Chex mix, man I was making that stuff before Chex decided to be cool and go GF! I used to use "Rice Munch'ems" or some random GF cereal knockoff. Because Chex are more gluten free than ever, my GF recipe revision is now better than ever and I challenge you to eat it without sneaking handfulls of mix each time you go to stir ;)

Secrets to my holiday Chex Mix! By Maddy Varno.

Secret #1! Buy a box of corn chex! Apparently, the recipe is on the side. This is helpful, as I had to scramble to find the recipe back when I used Rice Munch'ems. I also discovered the recipe for Chex Mix on a package of butter once (?), which I thought was pleasantly surprising. I actually think I have that butter container in a recipe binder somewhere.

Secret #2! There are several ingredients you should not put in your chex mix! These include wheat chex (durrr) and bagel chips. I have yet to come across GF bagel chips, so I make my own. I take two Glutino plain bagels and slice them into skinny little slices and toast them on a pan in the toaster oven. This has worked very well for me, however I suffer extreme distractability and usually forget I put them in the toaster about 10 seconds after I've turned the knob to toast. I make more than I know I'll need because I always get casualties and burn victims. Also, I don't add peanuts just because I've never liked them in my Chex Mix. As a young (un-diagnosed Celiac) child, the peanuts always got thrown out with the empty bag. I think I'd suck the seasoning off them and spit them out, lol.

More secrets and details on my recipe after the jump!

Secret #3: Do not be alarmed when you are instructed to microwave your cereal. I, too, felt this went against my every instinct to, y'know, not stick a 10-cup bowl of chex into the microwave. For years I resisted and used the oven. Then on a whim I tried the microwave, and was like "Oh, I see. This no longer takes an hour."

I figured I'd post my amended recipe here, for those who want the Maddy experience in their GF holiday chex mix.

Ingredients
4 cups Rice Chex
4 cups Corn Chex
1 1/2 cups homemade bagel chips
1 cup Snyders GF pretzels
6 TBS melted butter (Mmmm resist urge to drink it*)
2 TBS worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

First, prepare your homemade bagel chips by slicing two plain glutino bagels into skinny little slices (think quarter sized, but a little thicker. Easiest with the bagel at room temp) and toasting them on a pan until they're really lightly toasted on both sides. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn. I almost always burn mine.

Shovel your chex, bagel chips, and pretzels into a really big microwavable bowl. Get your hands all up in its business and stir so everything's mixed even.

In a glass Pyrex measuring cup or something similar, melt down your glorious butter. I find it melts a lot faster if you hack the stick into smaller pieces. The chex box told me it would melt in 40 seconds, but the chex box lied unless your butter is at room temperature or something. From the fridge cut into little pieces, it was melted after two rounds of 30-second nuking.

Combine the worcestershire sauce and seasonings into the butter and stir it all up. It should look weird but smell delicious. Pour this mixture lovingly over your dry mix, then mix it around to try and get an even distribution. I use a spatula and my hand to make sure nothing spills out of the bowl, because the bowl is pretty full to begin with.

Set the microwave for 6 minutes, and stop to stir every 2 minutes. Tada! After, spread it out on paper towels to cool, then shovel into your face and enjoy.

Warm Soup and Cold Weather

2010-12-01T17:56:00.005-05:00

Mrs. Beast

Welcome to December! Nasty business that snow storm--holy cow. I picked up the used car I just purchased today (a freaking beast, which is why I named it Mrs. Beast), and after fumbling around in it like an idiot*, I quickly adjusted and decided it was actually a nice car to ride in despite the snow. Plus, it has ABS. How did I make it this far in Rochester without anti-lock breaks! High-5 to whoever invented those things! So anyways, since I've been all over the place trying to straighten things out with this car, I've been on the run a lot and not planning ahead my lunches like a good Celiac should. But I didn't fret, instead I've been grabbing lunch at Lori's Natural Foods all week. Located in Henrietta, NY, they have premade foods that make really good lunches for all those with finicky vegan-so-the-plant-died-of-loneliness, gluten-free, dairy free, free range this, etc. I mean, the building has sunflowers painted on the side of it. Anyways. Lots of options for natural foodies, and I love how 99% of all their premade foods are gluten free. So I had soup for lunch on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. They didn't have a whole lot in the pre-made food department other than soup that I was interested in (read: sesame tofu? naw thanks) for meals, but desserts? Ahhh hook them up to my face! Pumpkin moon-pie? Gluten free? Mmmmmmm!!!! Two cake-like cookies sandwiching cream cheese frosting or something, I love it. The types of soup I had were:

vegetable noodle (very good, I liked the quinoa noodles which was odd bc quinoa freaks me out)
Leek and butternut squash (also very good. I added a lot of salt, but salt is my favorite food)
Corn and roasted pepper bisque (needed the most salt. I think this could have used some garlic)

All in all, as a celiac, I couldn't have asked for better options on the go. The only thing I wish they had was a place to sit and eat in the store with WIFI or something. But I like to be antisocial when I eat my lunch and I go to a tech school, so I would make that suggestion.

What are the hidden gem gluten free food havens in your city? I love that Rochester, NY has tons of Celiac options. I think between Wegmans and general natural food awareness here, we're one of the best Celiac-friendly cities.

In other deliciousness, I was watching the TODAY show this morning, and Martha Stewart was on making some "glitter balls," basically sugar cookie dough in balls, rolled in "glitter" made by mixing sugar and powdered food coloring. You then lightly smoosh the cookies so they're kind of flat, then bake--and once they're baked, make a frosting sandwich. Doesn't that just make your mouth water?! Have I mentioned I love glitter?!?! That's gotta be real easy to make GF. I just need a good sugar cookie recipe.

*When I say fumbling around like an idiot, I got in the car to drive away and couldn't see over the wheel. This sedan is twice as big as my previous lil 2-door, so I felt like I was driving a bus. I stopped to get gas and couldn't figure out what side the gas door was on, so I tried turning around and couldn't maneuver the car in the snow!! At this point I was in the middle of the road trying to figure out how to work the "PRNDDL" (pronounced "prindle", read: transmission) ready to put my fist through the windsheild when my dad had to came over and was like do you need help? lol. Thank you, dad! The good news is, once I moved the steering wheel down, I could see.

Thanksgiving and Chocolates

2010-11-28T00:05:00.001-05:00

Ok, got the layout in acceptable shape! I figured I'd make a quick post before going to bed.

So this past Thursday was annual turkey day, AKA Thanksgiving. A beautiful holiday where people everywhere eat until they're no loner to move under their own volition--something I like to call AWESOME. It's not uncommon that I eat until I can't walk, so a day where this is not just socially acceptable but encouraged is good in my book. Typically my family has a big dinner together, but a variety of work and life situations left us dispersed this year. Instead of eating with my family, I ate at my boyfriend's sister's house. Anna and her boyfriend Marcelino were quite the GF hosts, I think all the food was gluten free.

Now, the thought of going over to someone's house and just sitting down and trusting the food probably sends most Celiacs (myself included) into a panicky fright. I'll admit I was nervous to see what they came up with, because they were very reassuring everything would be fine (normally people are perplexed and confused at the thought of cooking GF). But after getting there, I was really impressed with what they came up with. Both Anna and Marcelino work at Wegmans, and any of my east coast homies know how wonderful Wegmans is about GF food. So they got the inside scoop on what bread/crackers/flours to buy, etc. It was pretty cool

I know Udi's products have been gaining popularity lately. Did anyone else try using their bread for stuffing/dressing? Marcelino had the whole grain sandwich bread and he was a little frightened over how much chicken stock it absorbed. Compared to what I usually make, it was a bit on the mushy side. I know Udi's makes amazing sandwiches, but I don't think that soft texture is fit for stuffing. I usually make my stuffing out of the bread I'd never make a sandwich with, just because it handles all the butter and chicken broth I use. So I do have that observation. I'm curious what worked/didn't work for other GF stuffing recipes.

So the day after Thanksgiving, my cousin came to visit me at my apartment downtown. We wanted to get coffee, and decided on Chocolate and Vines on University Ave in downtown Rochester. I have been eyeing this place ever since there was a groupon for there a couple weeks ago which I (regrettably) did not buy. I was so impressed!! I tried two chocolates: mango, and eggnog. SO GOOD. Holy cow. I also got a cup of tea. I was so excited when I noticed on the menu that gluten-free crackers are available upon request for their cheese/wine plate. Needless to say, I will return to there.

As the weekend winds down, I was left feeling stuffing deprived as I normally make my joy of cooking recipe for Thanksgiving dinner. Feeling lazy and realizing I don't own the Joy of Cooking (used to steal it from my mom), I bought a GF store-bought stuffing mix I found at Wegmans tonight. I think it's from The Grainless Baker. The packaging looks a little primitive, but I was hopeful. I cooked it up, hoping to be wowed by flavors of sage and chickens:

But sadly, it was reminiscent of the soggy Udi's stuffing. Two thoughts crossed my mind: Flashbulb memories of eating stuffing on Thanksgiving are amplifying the "wow" flavors I am thinking of, or, I'm going to have to buy a poultry and stuff it and then eat that stuffed bird to satisfy my itch. Not really sure how that situation will turn out as I'm kind of lazy. But, in conclusion, I declare the food I ate this past week a success.

Sup new blog

2010-11-27T23:27:00.000-05:00

I'm pleased to announce the launch of Maddy's Gluten Free Life! Which can always be found at www.gfree.maddyvarno.com. Over the last week I purchased my own domain name, and decided to launch a gluten free blog with one of my sub domains.

Why a gluten free blog? Six years ago, I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. It was a feisty experience and I was not a happy camper (and I'm pretty sure the medical lab staff had to hold me down to get the needle in my arm for the blood test), but with time I've accepted and embraced my dietary requirements. It's taught me a lot about responsibility, planning ahead, and so much about food and cooking.

I can be a little bit of a food snob, but those standards make for good gluten-free preferences! I'm a diverse foodie--I love snacking, sometimes try to be healthy, can cook/bake/roast any animal but I'm also quite handy pressing "start" to microwave a TV dinner. Where I live in Rochester, NY, Celiac awareness is abundant, so I like to eat the local GF scene when I can. These are all topics I expect to draw on for future blog posts.

I'm still trying to kick the layout until it appeases my demands so this isn't the prettiest blog yet, but I am pleased that the title banner I created seems to reflect my vibrant personality! Stop back soon for more updates.