Learning from pizza mistakes

So a couple weeks ago I decided to pick up a couple of pizza's from Connie's Pizza on Archer.
1- Small gluten free veggie pizza
1 - Small veggie pizza
Both thin crust.
Both un-labeled.

Are you starting to see the problem here? Yeah, they both looked practically identical.
Freak out ensued as I got home. I've had their gluten free pizza before but I was the only one that ordered a small gluten free margherita pizza while everyone else had sausage.
When we called Connie's they apologized and told us that the suuuper thin crust was the gluten free version. Did I mentioned Connie's is known for their insanely thin crust (non-gluten free pizzas)? Luckily I had my mom and bf there so they gladly offered to taste test both.One definitely was more bland and less buttery, tasty, delicious than the other. Also the dough on one them looked pre-made and not as crispy.
Case in point, always make sure you get your pizzas labeled or ask for one with a  slightly different ingredient to easily tell the difference. Yeah I know...duh??!

My New Fav Healthy Lunch/Dinner/Anything but Breakfast or Dessert

So I have been on this quinoa kick for awhile now, it is so much lighter and fluffier than rice. And guess what? It's better for you. In my transition into becoming a healthier version of me, I created a new go to recipe with some Latin flavor.
All you need is:
- 1 cup quinoa (Bob's Red Mill is the one I have found in most grocery stores)
- 1/2 cup of spinach (or however much you like)
- Handful of mushrooms
- Any other veggie you like (such as bell peppers, asparagus, kale-good way to get your greens in)
- Cut up onions
- Salsa or pico de gallo
- Crumbled Mexican cheese
- Tortilla Chips (all natural, gluten-free)
- Salt/Pepper/Garlic seasoning

Preparation:
- Boil 2 cups of water, then add 1 cup of quinoa and let simmer, covered for about 15 minutes or until quinoa has taken in all the water
- When quinoa is just about done, season with salt and garlic seasoning
- Sautee your veggies adding salt and pepper to them
- Once quinoa is cooked, scoop into a bowl, add veggies on top, add salsa, cheese and eat alone or with tortilla chips

Enjoy!

Intro

Hello world! In this blog I plan to help those navigating their way through a gluten free lifestyle through my own personal eyes. I added the "Latina" here because I feel I have undergone a more specific experience that this added descriptor gives. This addition to the blog title means several things to me: I may not always have access to the best gluten free choices, I will be commenting on my family's experience with my experience, and most importantly my food experience!

Anyway, just to give to you some background I was diagnosed with Celiac disease this past summer 2010. No one in my family has had it and I personally never knew anyone who had, or actually even heard of the disease before then. I knew something was very wrong when I had these severe stomach pains for about a week straight and nothing seemed to help...not even Beano. The pain I speak of was like contraction pain. I mean I've never been pregnant, but I assume it would have felt something like this. After seeing the doctor and one blood test later, my doctor called and said she found traces of celiac sprue in my blood. My initial thoughts were the following:

1. Is "celiac" a fun nickname for cancer?

2. Is it highly contagious?

3. Does this mean I can't get preggers?

4. Why would I have this?

4. When does my official freak out session start?

Upon second confirmation with an endoscopy I was told to immediately start eliminating gluten. And so the journey began...