Tucson (the land of In-N-Out)

This three day vacation was exactly what I needed. I was almost to my breaking point, where I was starting to hate my classes and didn't want to study anymore. Already I feel rejuvenated and feel like I will be back in love with school when I start again in less than a week.

Friday afternoon, after a hectic, 'Did you grab this? What about that? And that thing? You packed it, right?' we got the car and dog packed and headed down to Tucson, about a four hour drive. We took a pit stop in Phoenix so Vince could get his boots re-fitted at a SkiPro, a quick pretein-style bite at In-N-Out (I think that would be Jesus' favorite place to eat were he here on Earth, or, ya know, real), and a potty break for Roxi, and continued on to Tucson.

(Packard is my maiden name!)
We arrived somewhat late, at least later than I wanted, around 7:45pm. After checking into our cheap hotel in the middle of nowhere, which I didn't think was possible in a huge city like Tucson, I realized that I had packed nothing to wear to my Certified Nursing Assistant exam, the main reason we were even in Tucson! I went into panic mode as I realized I didn't even bring a pair of regular jeans; I had a pink pair, a yellow pair, a mint pair, and a purple wear. WHAT THE HELL, self. We quickly drove to Wal-Mart in hopes of finding scrubs since that was the only place I could think of, and after google maps brought us to the shipping yard for Wal-Mart in the middle of the dark and I-think-this-is-the-start-of-a-Law-&-Order-episode warehouse district instead of an actual Wal-Mart, we came across Target. I knew Target wouldn't have scrubs, but I figured I could at least wear something nice. (Scrubs weren't actually mandatory, we could wear what we wanted, but it was recommended.) So I tried on a million things and ended up buying an outfit. 

At that point I was stressing about not wearing scrubs, realizing I was hungry, and at the same time reminding myself that I still had to study. I hadn't even read through the skills list that I needed to know and I took the class almost a year and a half ago! Some would call me a procrastinator, but I like to say I work better under stress. (My body is shaking it's head no saying, 'Next time, PREPARE BETTER. The stress, it's so painful.')

After a quick stop for a round of animal-fries-minus-the-cheese from In-N-Out we got to the hotel and I crammed some information into my brain before falling asleep around midnight. When I woke up in the morning, I rushed around getting dressed, packing the car, yelling at Vince and trying to calm myself saying that if I failed, I failed. I could take the test again. I sped off to the test site way ahead of schedule and arrived early, giving myself time to eat an apple, some almonds, and to study. 

Finally at 7:30 I went inside to check in. This is where the annoying part came in. We were supposed to get there by 7:40 to check in and go over the rules to start the written test at 8 with the skills test to follow. After the observer finished her explanation at 8, she said, 'Ok, the written test will start around 9, so you can just stay out here until then and I'll see you later for your skills portion.' What?! Why did I need to get here so early if we weren't even going to start the test until 9? 

So I sat. And sat. And sat for what seemed like a long time because I was so nervous. 

Once we got to the test I was the first to finish (only 25 minutes - my observer said it's the fastest she's seen in all the years she's been doing this. What can I say, I've always been a fast and good test taker!) Then it was time to sit and wait. Again. About a half hour later another girl finished the test and sat in the waiting area with me. At that point, the other observer came out to get me for the skills portion, and the other girl cut in front of me! I was so annoyed, I was ready to get this over with! So then I had to wait another 45 minutes for her to take her skills test. 

When I was finally able to take my test, there was one skill I did NOT want out of the 20 or so skills that I had the chance of getting, which was making an occupied bed. What was one of the four I had to do? Change an occupied bed. Fortunately, I found out last night that I passed! I passed my written test with a 95% and passed all four of my skills. (They are pass or fail.)

I'm glad the test was our first morning in Tucson so that I could enjoy the next couple days, which I will share in another post! Clearly this post is already too long. Also, the next post won't be so stressful and will be full of pretty pictures; I'm sure you were gripping your seats wondering what was going to happen next. Oh, the stress! Here's a sneak peak at what's to come:

Flourless chocolate cake!

Zoinkers.

Things have been pretty good. Here are some reasons:

|| I most likely have a new awesome second job next semester! In addition to working at the place I work now selling' Pin the Penis on the Man' games, funny t-shirts, and 'Coffee Makes Me Poop' mugs, I will also be a Biology Lab Tech at my college. It still pays crap, but it'll be good experience and something fun to do.

|| I've been eating WAY too much good food.

What, how did that In-N-Out receipt get there?! And yes, that is a peanut butter, banana, and bacon sandwich on homemade grain free bread.
I've been thinking of having some kind of 'healthy food for dummies' thing here on the blog. There are SO many people who comment/text/message me saying that the food I cook is so healthy and they can never do it because they don't cook, when really it takes fifteen minutes and is super easy. Would you be interested? Over the past couple years I've really grown to love good and healthy food and could talk about it for lifetimes, so I want to share it with people! For shits and giggles, here is a poll. Also, if there is anything you specifically want to learn about/how to do, leave a comment or message me!

|| This link about assumptions that reminds me of an old post. That a weird garbage bag on the side of the road contains either the whole body of a child or assorted body parts of an adult.

|| I'm reading a book that Sara recommended, Diary of a Mad Mom-To-Be. It is SO funny. It's diary style (obviously) so it's a quick read. 

|| I'll only be taking 12 credits next semester. It seems like SUCH a small amount since I've been doing 16 or 17 credits the past couple semesters. I'll have so much more time even though I'll also be working two part time jobs! I'm only taking 12 credits because this will be my last semester at the community college and I'll have the maximum amount of credits I can have that will transfer to Northern Arizona University. Woohoo!

|| I've been crafting again with the aid of my trusty side-kick who messes things up. I'm making a cute little quilt, finishing the Christmas table runner (how the heck is Christmas already so close) and some Christmas presents. 

|| Listening to this song. It just makes me want to go on a road trip with friends I grew up with and sing on repeat, even though it's not a happy song. Because hello, we all know the words to this song.

|| Family pictures with my sister, her boy, and baby girl. My niece was refusing to take pictures and kept hiding her face or pointing at the camera and shouting, 'NO!' I was so worried I didn't get any good ones of her! Fortunately, I got plenty and my sister loved them.

|| Happiness, it's all around me. Friends are happy, family is happy, things are good. Real good.

Paleo Musings + Coconut Curry Recipe

I'm slowly diving into the world of the paleo lifestyle and am currently really liking it so far. For those of you that don't know what it is, I'll try to sum it up: essentially it's trying to eat as close to what our ancestors ate, though obviously not exactly what they ate because most of those foods don't actually exist anymore. It includes cutting out ALL grains (including rice, quinoa, gluten, etc), legumes (beans), refined sugars, and pasteurized dairy products (though I'll drink raw milk). For someone who eats a fast food diet this would be an extreme (though very smart!) change of diet, but it's not that far off from what I eat now; I'm already gluten free and I eat a pretty small amount of sugar. It will still be hard to cut out so many foods I love, like beans in chili, corn tortillas, and pretty much anything processed like my beloved pistachio gelato and waffles!

I'm not going to tell you that you should live this way or try to convert you, but I do plan on sharing my experience about it over the next few months. I am NOT eating fully paleo right now. In fact I just ate a white chicken chili and some cornbread that a friend brought over and it was delicious. I am, however, slowly transitioning my meals so that are mostly paleo, and trying to have one meal a day be fully paleo. I know that if I just give away everything that's 'bad' in my kitchen today, I'll want to go right to the store tomorrow and buy it again. So instead, I'm doing it step by step, meal by meal, because this is something that I want to stick with and honestly, I think it will stick with this plan. I know that I feel like crap after I eat a lot of the 'bad' foods, and if I can cut out gluten and sugar, I can do anything!

If you want to join me with this, DO. I love talking about it and food in general and would love to help you with it, as well as you help me. You can start slow, like making more meals at your house, or if you already do, trying to cut out gluten or something. Take small steps! Along with Dooce, I HIGHLY recommend the book Practical Paleo*. It has great 30 day meal plans (which I plan on using) and some are specific to certain people, like weight loss, thyroid issues, etc.

Anyways, I have a good recipe to share: Coconut Curry.

I love curry a heck of a lot, and the restaurant I used to eat it at that was gluten free stopped making it gluten free. (Though they claimed it was gluten free, my intestines told me it definitely wasn't!) This meal is pretty close in taste to what I used to pay $13 for, though a lot less sweet and it only takes 15 or 20 minutes, and even less after you've done it once!

This is naturally a paleo recipe when you don't eat it with rice. The only reason it's not in most restaurants is because they add soy sauce which is not needed! So if you love curry, try it, you'll love it. (Or as Yo Gabba Gabba says, "Try it, you'll like it!") Inspired by this recipe and this recipe.

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Coconut Curry
Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Paleo, and Optionally Vegan 
Servings: 4       Prep time: 5 minutes      Cook Time: 15-20 minutes (more if you use fresh veggies)

Ingredients:
2 cans coconut milk
1 1/2 tablespoons green or red curry paste (depending on if you want red or green curry)
3/4-1 pound shrimp, beef, chicken, pork, etc (optional)(And I feel pretentious saying it, but try to get grass-fed, free-range, organic meat)
2 tablespoons curry powder (If you want it spicy, use SPICY curry powder; regular is not spicy)
1 teaspoon pepper
2-4 tablespoons fish sauce (optional)
2 1/2 cups veggies of your choice (I used two ten-ounce bags of organic frozen veggies for a faster prep: california style with broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini and carrots and the thai style pictured)

Step 1: Cut meat into bite sized pieces and well as veggies if you used fresh ones. Do not shake coconut milk cans, but open them. Using a spoon, transfer all the 'fat' into a little bowl. It should be about the top half of the can. It's important to have it in a separate container so that when you add the 'fat' to the pan in Step 3, it's all at once and you don't have to spoon it out.

Step 2: Preheat your pan, preferably a 12-inch cast iron or stainless steel. Do not add any oil or anything, just let it sit on the burner for a minute or two.  While pan is preheating, gather all of your ingredients, take off the lids and have measuring utensils within arms reach of the stove because once you start cooking, you don't want to leave the stove for a few minutes.

Step 3: Once the pan is hot, pour in the coconut 'fat' that was in the bowl. It will get a little smoking, but shouldn't spray too much. Start stirring it immediately, and continue to do so for a few minutes. This is called 'cracking the coconut'. What's happening is you are letting all the water to evaporate leaving you with coconut oil. After a while of stirring, you'll notice a difference and it will start  to  get thick and blobby. How long it takes depends on how fatty the can was. I used Thai Kitchen coconut milk the first time and it was very fatty (though it's because it had an added thickener, xanthan gum) and turned to oil after 2 or 3 minutes. The second time I used Natural Value brand and it took closer to 7 minutes because it was just straight up coconut milk and wasn't as thick (which I recommend as xanthan gum is not paleo).

You can see it start very liquidy with a lot of steam fogging up the picture, then gets a little thicker, then thick enough to put into a little pile and not spread everywhere.

Step 4: Once you have 'cracked the coconut', add the curry paste. Stir until it's mostly mixed. If it started to stick to your pan and seem caked on, don't worry about it. When you add the coconut milk it'll cook it off and add flavor.

Step 5: Add your meat, curry powder, pepper and fish sauce. The amount of fish sauce depends on if you want more flavor; I add 4 or 5 tablespoons because I like the flavor. It's not a fishy flavor, per se, and it's delicious. Stir the meat around until it's mixed in with the coconut/paste/fish sauce and let sit a few minutes until mostly cooked through.

Step 6: Add veggies and stir, then add milk and stir. The amounts above all fit in my cast iron pan, but it was a close fit so be careful stirring if you use one! Let simmer until veggies are cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.

Step 7: Eat! You can eat it over rice if you aren't paleo, and if you are paleo I recommend eating it over cauliflower 'rice' like we did. (Basically you just put half a cauliflower head into a food processor until it's the size of rice, then add a few tablespoons broth to a pan and cook the cauliflower a few minutes, then drain the broth.) I thought it was better than regular rice and Vince loved it!

I recommend eating it with a Thai cucumber salad, or just regular one like us. If you try the recipe, let me know how it turned out!

*I'm an Amazon Affiliate so I make money if you buy something from a link. If you don't like that, click here to go to the regular Amazon website!

Honeymoon Road Trip: Day 2

Even though Vince and I got married almost a year ago in September, we are just now taking our honeymoon. Between school full time and work full time, it just hasn't been able to happen until now! To celebrate, we are taking a 15 day road trip from Flagstaff up to Seattle, then slowly down the coast. I will post about each day, though not necessarily on that day! I feel like breaking it up will be the only way I'll actually post about the trip because it's a lot less daunting. Some pictures are taken with the iPhone and the other with my Canon Rebel T2i. To read previous days, click here and scroll down.

Day 2 was one heck of a day. We were due to drive 12.5 hours, but with all the stops we needed to take along the way, it was about a 16 hour drive. We woke up around 7:30am at the Hitch & Post and quickly packed up the tent. 

We wanted to hit the road as soon as we could. I took a shower before we left, as well as toasted a bagel. What, not everyone bring  toaster with them on a road trip?


Well, I must say it is SO much easier for me to eat gluten free when I bring a toaster. My gluten free bread is kept frozen (or on ice) to keep it tasting good and it tastes odd if it's not toasted. By bringing a toaster, I know that I'll have a filling breakfast/snack wherever I am. I highly recommend it if you are gluten free! The toaster is small and was $7 at Target.

So once we got on the road, we stopped many places, most of which I didn't take pictures of because they weren't exciting...mainly gas stations! 




One of the gas stations was strange, though, because it had a dentists office and a chiropractor above it. We're guessing it was mainly for truck drivers on the road that needed an easy stop.

Another strange thing to see was an area where a fire burned. At first we thought they did a prescribed burn until I realized they have no reason to do prescribed burns in the middle of a desert. So we assumed there was a fire because it went on for miles and over a couple hills. It was crazy to see where it stopped at the road! Some parts it crossed over, though. 

One place that I was excited to stop at was Salt Lake City. We ate at In & Out and it was amazing. I was so hungry and I knew there was one there so I was holding out for it. Despite only being 3 hours into the drive that day, we wanted to take a little walk break so we walked around the mall for 15 minutes before eating. While there, we took silly photos in the photo booth! They're somewhere in the car a few block away so I'll have to post the photo later.

When we were driving through town again, I noticed the train/public transport and was in awe of it. 

I've never been on that kind of transportation and it's so cool that it goes on the main roads! We were stopped at a red light and one pulled up super fast and stopped next to us and it scared me so bad I thought I was going to throw up. I didn't know what it was! If I had time in Salt Lake City, I'd totally ride it though.

The next big city we stopped in was Boise, Idaho. Neither Vince nor I had any opinions on Idaho because we've never been there and never think about it, so it was interesting to see what was actually there. I did learn that it should be known as the cow state instead of the potato state because holy heck, there were so many cows and the entire 5 hour drive through there smelled like cow dung. Seriously. 

The downtown area was great though and reminded us of a clean Tempe, and they have a huge football stadium so they definitely take pride in their college team! 

We got PF Chang's to go because I was about to have a major hunger meltdown and the hostess told us it was a 45 minute wait time, which we didn't have. Fortunately the coffee shop catty corner to us let us eat on their patio since we were getting coffee, which was nice because it was perfect outside and we didn't want to eat in the car.




One thing that really threw us off was how late the sun set. We left Boise around 10pm and it was still bright! This was taken before we got in the car, around 9:50pm.

The sun finally set around 10:30, which was so weird. It was nice for driving though because it meant less time in the dark.

Finally, around 1am, we arrived at our campsite at Hat Rock Campground in Hermiston, OR. We were meeting a friend named Charlie there who lives in Montana who was also going to Hood River with us, so it was good seeing him. I wasn't feeling very well, I think from the coffee since I never drink it, so I went to lay down early. Vince and Charlie ended up going down to Hat Rock Lake and watching the thunder and lightning while I watched it from the tent. I have never seen so much lightning before and it was so bright! I wish I was feeling well and could have taken photos of it, but with the rain pitter pattering on our tent, I stayed in my sleeping bag and went to sleep.

Humpty-Dumpty 1.4.12...er...1.5.12

I'm late...I'm late...I'm late for an important date! Woops. I forgot to post this yesterday.

Humpty-Dumpty...get it? An iPhone photo dump on hump day? I know, it's so clever I can't believe I actually thought of it on my own. This happens every Wednesday, or every Wednesday I manage to do it. Click here to see previous entries. Want to join in? Leave me a link!

||1|| Salad for lunch!

||2|| Roxanne and the stuffed animal skunk that my Grandma Jenkins sent her.


||3|| A step in the project I did this year for Christmas presents...more info to come!

||4|| I'm now addicted, despite the fact that I hated the first few bites.

||5|| Cauliflower, steak, and zuchinni over quinoa...my new favorite love!

||6|| Vince and Roxi on our walk through campus the other night.


||7|| I watched my best friend Annie jump into a frozen lake on New Year's Day. CRAZY!

||8|| Mini Cheesecakes before they hit the oven!

||9|| Finished cheesecake with strawberries on top!

||10|| We get a new apartment sized fridge on Tuesday which means I've have like 3 more square feet in my house. I've got the best landlord!

Food Love: Gluten Free Breads

I don't typically buy prepackaged gluten free food or mixes for a couple of reasons:
1) It usually tastes like crap. Yes, manufacturer's have come a long way in the way gluten free food tastes, but a lot of the time it's still not great. It's always a little too dry or too off. I know that I can always make something better myself, so I don't even want to try it.
2) It's expensive. Like way way way expensive. A box of cookies that has 10 cookies? $6. And if you refer back to #1, they typically taste like crap. A mix for one loaf of bread? $5. And then I have to have the ingredients like oil, eggs, etc, on top of that. Sorry, but I'm too cheap for that!

So given those two reasons above, I usually steer clear of gluten free foods. A few weeks ago, I was given some prepackaged stuff from my grandma and another was on sale, and I'm in love with one of them and kind of like the other.

The first one I tried was Bob's Red Mill GF Cinnamon Raisin Bread Mix. If I bought it at my local grocery it's about $5.50, though it's frequently on sale at 2/$7, which is still quite pricey because the mix only makes one loaf.

What I liked about it: 

• It's a mix, so it's obviously simple to do. Throw everything in a mixer a ta-da, you're done! 
• The loaf wasn't too crumbly. It sticks together pretty well so it doesn't fall apart when you bring it to your mouth.
• It tasted great. There was just the right amount of raisins and cinnamon.
• The loaf was a real sized loaf. It rose quite a bit and didn't sink like some GF bread does.

What I didn't like:

• You have to let it rise for an hour in addition to cooking it for an hour, and I am way to impatient for that! 
• The crust was hard. Like super hard. I couldn't eat the end pieces and I cut off the crust on most pieces I ate.
• I had to load it up with butter because it was a little too dry. I don't mind butter, but when I ran out of butter a couple of pieces were wasted because I didn't want to eat it plain.

Final Opinion:

• Overall, it wasn't bad, but I don't know if I'd ever buy it again, even on sale. I might buy it one more time and put it in muffin rings instead of making a loaf to see how they turn out. 

The second one I tried was Eating Gluten Free's GF Bread/Pizza Mix.

I have to say, I AM IN LOVE.  The EGF cookbook was the GF cookbook I ever bought and it's still one of my favorites. (Pst, all of the recipes in the book are also on their website for free!) One of the owners, Betsy, is my second cousin (or something?) so my grandma told me about her and her upcoming company at the time. I never bought any of the mixes, though, I just followed their online bread recipe (which I think is the exact same as the mix, you just have to mix the flours yourself). When my grandma was getting ready to leave for Peru, she asked me if I wanted all the mixes she had and I of course said YES.

What I like:

• Just like the cinnamon bread, it's a mix, so it's simple!
• It smells amazing, just like gluten filled bread. I know it's the yeast, but it reminds me of making regular bread as a kid. 
• After the bread is mixed, the dough looks so yummy and creamy. I know this has nothing to do with the quality of the bread, but it looks so pretty!
• It isn't crumbly at all. It's SO light and fluffy.
• Vince loves it, even though he is not gluten free. When we make sandwiches, he eats it and devours it. The downside of that is that I have to make bread more often!
• I can cook it in muffin rings so it's only a 25 minute rise time and 20 minute cook time. Fresh bread in 45 minutes!
• It freezes WONDERFULLY. If you're gluten free, you know that you need to freeze bread so it stays good. With other breads I've eaten, it sometimes gets a little 'tough' after it's been in the freezer but with this, after a minute in the microwave it tastes fresh out of the oven.
• It's $10 a bag, which seems like a lot, but I get SO much bread out of a bag. I've only used about half a bag (maybe a little more) and I've made bread three times, which is about 42 bread rounds. (As you can see in the pictures, I use english muffin rings to make my bread, which are about 4 inch circles.)

What I don't like:

• Sometimes I wish it were more 'multigrain', but most of the time I don't care. My grandma uses this mix and a lot of the time she'll substitute a small portion of the mix with something else, like oat flour, which gives it a little more nutritional value. 
• I can't buy it unless I'm in Utah or want to pay quite a bit for shipping. In the past I would chip in with my grandma to buy large quantities of flour (think 50lb bags of corn starch, teff flour, etc) and she would drive up there and get it when she visited family. Now I don't have that option! Now I'll have to keep an ear out for people who are driving to Utah...

Final Opinion:

• I have tons of flour to make this bread with, so I am excited about that, otherwise I would make a trip up to Utah, I love it that much. When I run out, I will definitely buy more, given the opportunity to. It's SO nice to have everything pre-mixed so that when I'm ready I just have to throw everything into the mixer and know it will taste delicious every time.

Do you have any recommendations for gluten free mixes?

Gluten-free training.

I just thought of a GENIUS idea, and I am so excited about it. My idea is towards the end of the post, this first part is a little background story...

I can't even tell you how many times I have gone to a restaurant that advertises their food as being gluten free, asked them a few questions about there products, and the person working there has NO idea what I'm talking about. They think gluten is sugar or dairy or something and hey, that's cool with me because I didn't know what the hell gluten was until I was gluten-free myself, BUT if they advertise gluten free products, the employee should know a little bit about it...like what gluten-free even means.

Tonight I was eating at a local pizzeria in town that is new to selling gluten free crust. I asked the guy at the front if he knew if their ranch was gluten free. (Do you know how long it's been since I've dipped greasy pepperoni pizza into ranch? THREE YEARS.) He didn't know, so he asked another girl. She didn't know, so she asked her manager. After a few minutes, she came back to tell me that the ranch was not gluten-free because it has mayonaise. I feel so horrible because the look on my face must have said, 'Uhh....are you stupid?' because why in the world would mayo have gluten?

I kindly told her that mayo shouldn't have gluten, and with a very serious face she asked me if I was sure. I sweetly laughed as I told her I was 100% sure, that I've eaten it hundreds of times. Then I said, 'I'm gluten free...maybe you thought I meant vegan?' All the while, the monologue in my head was saying, Even if I was vegan and couldn't have the mayo, I couldn't have the ranch anyway with all that MILK it's made up of! Dur!

She again questioned me, 'Are you sure though? Because my manager says it does. But if you say it doesn't, then you should be good to eat it.' Ha! I wish I could tell her what happens when I'm not so sure about something.

So on my walk home, after deciding not to go with the ranch, my brilliant idea came to me: I will write a letter to the businesses in town that offer gluten free options and volunteer myself to speak at an employee meeting to explain what gluten is and what it means to have celiac disease/be gluten intolerant. I will tell them where hidden gluten is, how they can avoid some cross-contamination, and what gluten does to a person who shouldn't have it, among other things.

I of course would be extremely happy to do it for free because it's MY body that will benefit from it, but hey, if the business throws a few freebies my way? I won't decline. I would think businesses could benefit so much from it because it's really not a hard thing to understand when it's explained properly; most people just don't know about it or have heard false information. It's also never a fun thing to look 'stupid' in front of your customer!

It was great because as I was about to leave, and after explaining to the guy what gluten is, he asked me if I wanted peppers or parmesan cheese. I said yes to both and he asked me, 'Just so I know for the future, peppers and parmesan are usually gluten free, right?' I wanted to jump and give him a high five and say, 'Yes, I'm so glad you want to learn what is and isn't gluten-free! SMART MAN.'

So here's my questions to you: Have any of you worked in a restaurant and gluten-free questions came up? Do you feel if you were an employee this kind of brief training would interest you? What kind of things would you like brought up in the training?

My realization that the gluten free food I just ate does, in fact, have gluten.

This is kind of a 'Day in the Life' of post, but not really. Just an experience from eating something I thought was gluten free. Don't know what gluten free means? It means I have celiac disease and that I can't eat wheat, rye, or barley. So in a nutshell, anything with regular flour is out and will make me super sick. Think bread, cookies, tortillas...most people ask what 'super sick' means and it's awkward, so here's a link instead. I of course suffer from the more extreme symptoms.

So back in April you may have read that I discovered Ice Cream Snickers Bars. The delicious, amazing, gooey, peanuty, Ice Cream Snickers. I bought a 24 pack from Sam's Club and quickly devoured them, then continued to go back to Sam's Club and quickly devour more. I must have eaten 4 boxes while I lived in my old house, and kind of forgot about them once we moved back to our new/old house.

I was at Sam's Club a few weeks ago and saw the package for Ice Cream Snickers and my heart skipped a beat. It was like finding my one lost love. I immediately grabbed the box and left the store, completely forgetting what else I had come here for. It was only wedding stuff, so not that important compared to Ice Cream Snickers, right?

I got into my car and ripped the box open. I slowly opened the wrapper savoring the sweet chocolatey smell that wafted into my nose and knew at once I was in heaven. I ate that whole bar up and was so excited to have been reacquainted!

I drove about 5 minutes home and realized that I was really hungry and that I should eat something so I don't get sick from the dairy/sugar, especially since my stomach was already started to feel a bit off. I decided I would try this new tamale that we got from a local grocery store that was pretty cheap and delicious looking. Since it was a new food, I looked at the food label over and over again to be sure it was gluten free so that I wouldn't end up on the toilet for the rest of the night being sick.

I finally decided I could eat them, and eat I did. They were so frickin' amazing!

Vince and I decided to watch a movie after that, but he clearly wasn't interested in the movie because he kept trying to make moves on me. I was interested in the movie so I kept shoving him away and that's when it happened.

My stomach started to hurt. It got all bubbly and started making weird sounds, so I told Vince I think I ate something with gluten in it. He thought I was lying and assumed I was just trying to avoid kissing him.

I sat on the couch for a little while longer and realized that I most definitely ate something bad. I was getting all sweaty, my stomach was killing me, and I felt like I was going to poop myself! So I went to the bathroom and did my business, the whole time cursing those damn tamales. How dare they contain gluten after I scoured the entire package!

As I was in the bathroom, I was also contemplating what else I ate that day because I was really hoping it was something besides the tamales. I had eaten cereal in the morning, had a Pepsi a work along with some leftovers that treated me well the night before, some chips and beans, and an ice cream bar...everything I've eaten a million times before. So I officially decided that it was, in fact, the tamales. I could never eat those amazing things again and I'd have to settle for the extremely expensive and not so delicious ones from the health food store.

The next day I was feeling a little better and decided to treat myself to an Ice Cream Snickers. As I was reaching for one, my gut told me to check the label. Even though I'd eaten a 100 of them before, the ingredients could still change for every box!

And guess what? THEY DID. Ice Cream Snickers are now processed on the same equipment as gluten, which is enough to make me sick. I literally stood in front of my freezer and cried because this was yet another thing that I could not eat. Granted, there are thousands of things I can eat as a gluten free person, but all it takes is one thing I can't eat to make me a sad person for a little while.

Then I quickly realized that Hey! I can eat those tamales!

Thus, I got over the Ice Cream Snickers and moved on.

For all those gluten free people out there, take this as a reminder to check every single label, even if you've bought it a million times before! I sure would have rather spent an extra 7 seconds reading a label instead of spending $10 and being sick for a night.