Goodie Goodie Gluten-Free®

Gushers, Fruit Roll-ups, Gummy Candies, Licorice, Sour Straws, Gummy snacks.  Ahh, those days... Those days I didn't worry about the ingredients or the calorie intake.  I could sit home watching TV and eat an entire box of Fruit Roll-ups and never feel sick (whether it be gluten induced or junk food crap stomach-ache induced).  I could eat candy, chocolate and ice cream for eternity.  I used to dream candy and processed junk food like it was my job.  The only thing I needed to worry about was cavities.  As a kid and a teen I seemed to have a very fast metabolism, and never had to worry about gaining weight.  I somehow just lost it.  So it was cavities.   As a child my mom did the grocery shopping so I didn't need to worry about reading labels, decoding ingredients and sounding out the gluten from the side ingredient list on the box.  Does this have gluten? Is this an additive? a thickener? hidden gluten? aye aye!.  But like I said, I didn't have to worry, or think

                             My Grocery Cart About 3 months ago I was in the market as usual,  doing my weekly grocery shopping, in the second to last row: the freezer section.  I wanted my weekly fudge pop indulgence.  I grabbed the package in the backity back!! The most frozen one I could find, and decided to blog this wonderful gluten free treat.  I realized I had never blogged about this fudge pop being gluten-free, and how silly of me to keep this tid bit to myself.  So I grabbed my phone to take a picture of the front and back of the box.  I gasped! omg, omg, omg.  I starred at the ingredients.  MALT FLOUR.  Yikes!  No way!  It can't be.  How come I never noticed this before?  Did the ingredients change?  Was it always like this?  Something had to have changed and then to top it off I noticed at the bottom of the ingredients list: CARAMEL COLORING (yes, sometimes derived from corn, and yes always check, but I have a serious reaction to Caramel coloring, and many oth

**found in April 2011, Food And Wine Magazine Total Prep: 25 minutes This is the perfect salad for those who LOVE Blue Cheese: wisk some cheese into the vinaigrette, then sprinkle more on top of the salad before serving. 1/2 cup walnuts 1 Tbsp. very finely chopped shallot 1 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard 3 tbsp. Cider Vinegar Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled 2 romaine hearts, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise 1/2 fennel bulb, cored and finely chopped 2 carrots, finely chopped 1/2 seedless cucumber, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice 1 Fuji apple, cut into 1/2-inch dice 1 Hass avocado, cut into 1/2-inch dice 2 Tbsp. thinly shredded basil leaves 1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the walnuts in a pie plate and toast them for about 10 minutes, until they are golden.  Let cool, then coarsely chop. 2. In a large bowl, whisk the shallot with the Dijon mustard an