Skippy
Welch's Grape Jelly
I was craving a PB & J sandwich as I hadn’t had one in a while. Back in Scotland I eat an amazing peanut butter from an organic store in Glasgow but since being in the States I haven’t known which varieties I could eat. It was the same with Jam (or Jelly as they call it here).
A few weeks ago I signed up for my first Marathon. It takes place on the 10th of October this year (10/10/10) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Through research into what more experienced athletes and marathon runners say, I have prepared my own training schedule. This consists of 5 running days, including one long run day, one medium run day and two days of resting.
All of this training means that I’m hungry pretty much constantly and finding interesting and varied gluten free meals to eat gets pretty difficult. Much of what I’ve read talks about loading up on carbs and since many carb filled foods tend to also be filled with gluten, I’m careful to ensure I still get enough carbs whilst remaining gluten free.
I’m doing the first half of my training in Iowa and my second half when we move to Argentina, 2 months before the race.
Tasty Chex for breakfast
Vegetable sushi
My tasty tortilla lunch
Cream of Rice with pineapple and cinnamon
In Iowa, I like to start my day with a bowl of Chex. On a short run day I’ll nibble a few pieces of fruit before my run and leave the cereal for afterwards but on a long run day I’ll fuel up with cereal first thing when I wake up. I’ve starting mixing corn, rice and honey nut chex and I love it. Some days I substitute Chex for Cream of Rice, which tastes great with fruit and cinnamon.
Dots
Junior Mints
In the States, a large number of the candy and chocolate snacks that you find in stores are produced by Tootsie Roll Industries. A lot of the snacks associated with going to the movie theatre like Junior Mints, Dots and Sugar Babies are also made by Tootsie Roll, which always has me wondering which ones are safe for me to eat…
Which Tootsie Roll Industries products are gluten free?
Last weekend I went with some friends to listen to classical music and watch some amazing fireworks. The event was Symphony Blast in Burlington, Iowa and it was lots of fun. We lay in a grassy park listening and watching. I’ve never been so close to a fireworks display before and it was awesome.
Morgan's delicious Gluten Free tamales
The Red Avocado
I’d been meaning to try The Red Avocado for a while but we always seemed to be in the vicinity between the hours of 2pm and 5pm, when it’s not open. It’s a vegan restaurant in Iowa city and I’d heard that they do quite a few gluten free dishes too. I haven’t found too many gluten friendly restaurants in Iowa that also have personality so I was very excited to try this locally inspired, organic place.
Butterfinger
Baby Ruth
I called Nestle North America to find out which of their candy products are gluten free.
This is the list I was given….
Blue Bunny ice cream
When the sun is shining and the heat sweltering, what better than a freezing cold bowl of delicious, creamy, ice cream….
For a while now I’ve wondered whether I’m being over cautious when it comes to finding safe ice cream. Are all ice creams gluten free unless then have some obvious cake or cookie topping or do some varieties include certain flavourings or colourings that may contain gluten? I figure the later is probably true which is what keeps me from freely ordering ice cream whenever I get a taste for it.
Welcome Blue Bunny, an ice cream company which started in Iowa but whose products are now available all over the States.
Continue reading
Today I picked up a packed of Skittles and smiled when I saw that they are labelled ‘gluten free’. I still stand by my opinion that Skittles taste better in the UK but back home we only have a couple of different varieties whereas the States seem to have gone Skittles mad. I found the chocolate ones today and they are yummy with their S’mores, vanilla, chocolate caramel, chocolate pudding and brownie batter flavours.
Original skittles
Lots of tasty gluten free flavours
Reece's peanut butter cups (by Hershey's)
Last week I called Hershey’s….
I explained to the man who answered my call that I was looking to find out which of their products are gluten free as this is not apparent on their labelling.
He gave me this short list (confirmed as gluten free by Hershey’s corporate Headquarters):
Continue reading
Bone Fish in West Des Moines
I was in Des Moines last weekend to visit friends and enjoyed a wonderful meal at Bone Fish in West Des Moines. On their website you can download their gluten free menu. (I found it strange that their gf menu is an exact replica of the ordinary menu but with GF beside the gluten free items. Why not just make this the menu that everyone gets?) Anyway…there were a variety of dishes to choose from and they all sounded really good. The friend we were visiting said he had been to this restaurant a couple of times and really enjoyed the food so we decided to give it a try.
Continue reading
The GF Traveller
