31 Days to a Better Blog: The 142-day Version

As you may or may not recall, I signed up to do 31 Days To Build a Better Blog with the fine people at yeah write during the month of July. I failed. Whatever the reasons, I did NOT follow the 31-day plan to make my blog better.

Accordingly, I have now embarked on my own path to make my blog better by implementing the 142-day version.

If all goes well, my blog should be all better by Thanksgiving. (Sounds like it has a disease!) Assuming that life doesn’t get in the way again. Today I’m doing the assignment for Day 7 – Write a Link Post.

Honestly? I’ve written posts with links before. My post about 5 Things I Learned at BlogHer 2013 was FUUUULL of links. (See how cleverly I added a link to this post?)

Anyway…

My Favorite Resources for Living Gluten Free

Websites

I love Gluten Dude. He tells the naked truth about living gluten free. He has a great website and is active on facebook. He keeps me up-to-date on current issues in the gluten free world.

I also love Gluten-free Girl. She has a beautiful website full of lovely pictures and wonderful recipes. The writing is amazing. She really remembers what it was like to be so sick from gluten and how hard it was to learn a totally new way of eating. Go. Read.

Another fabulous resource for gluten free recipes is Gluten Free Goddess. Recipes are organized by season or by category and she has a great article on how to get started.

A Year of Slow Cooking by Stephanie O’Dea has gluten free recipes for your crock pot. Stephanie’s family eats gluten free because her daughter was diagnosed with Celiac Disease shortly before she turned two.

Finally, GFreek is another good website. They are the home of the Annual Gluten Free Awards.

Foods

It’s really difficult to make a major dietary change. I’m accustomed to eating this way now, and I no longer spend hours and hours trying to replace the food that I cannot have. But when I first went gluten free it was a Very Big Deal trying to find GF products that I thought tasted edible. Here are some of my favorites.

Bagels: Udi’s bagels are really quite good. In fact, I’ve been happy with almost everything I’ve ever bought from Udi’s.

Crackers: Nut Thins from Blue Diamond (the almond people).

Cookies: Ginger Snaps from Mi-del. They almost taste like normal ginger snaps.

Brownie Mix: Betty Crocker all the way. They make several gluten-free products.

Restaurants

Face it, when you have a special diet you still want to go out to eat occasionally. I’m listing restaurants that I have found to be safe and delicious. The first three have gluten free menus and properly trained staff.

P. F. Chang’s

Bonefish Grill

Carrabba’s Italian Grill

Chik-Fil-A – No, they don’t have a gluten free menu, but their french fries are cooked at a different temperature than the chicken so there’s no cross-contamination and they now offer grilled nugget meals.

Eating gluten free wears me out some days. Occasionally, when a child asks what’s for dinner I tell her that I’ve decided to go with photosynthesis. Since none of us have any chlorophyll it hasn’t worked yet.

In the meantime I try to find recipes, foods, and restaurants that satisfy our need for sustenance without making anybody sick. Now, I’d better go figure out what’s for dinner.