gluten-free is me, too.

One of the most annoying things about having Celiac's disease is finding a recipe that looks delicious only to realize it is chock-full of wheat or something else my body hates. You can adapt, but things that aren't designed to be made with gluten-free ingredients are often missing something in the taste department. So you can guess my happiness when I ran across Feed Me Phoebe, a new blog from one of the founders of another one of my favorite cooking blogs, Big Girls Small Kitchen. One of her regular columns on the site is called "Gluten-Free is Me." On it she features recipes that are made to be cooked with gluten-free ingredients. Since this is just a new discovery, I have yet to try anything out, but I'm looking forward to making some, especially the black bean arepas, which are one of my favorite Latin American foods. Please share any new recipes in the comments, especially the gluten-free variety!

alas, no more java.

Several weeks ago, I came to the unfortunate realization that one of my most favorite things ever happened to be making me rather sick. Every morning I would get these stomach-turning pangs of nausea, and while they would go away by 10 am, they were still terrible. I tried changing around a lot of things: what I was eating, how much I was eating, and when. But no matter what I did with breakfast food, I still got sick. Then I realized I would probably have to eliminate the lowest common denominator: coffee.

Now tell any regular, caffeine-laced grad student that they will have to part with their coffee (or other form of caffeine), and they will probably throw a heavy textbook full of theory at you. The last morning I had coffee, and knew that it would be my last cup of any kind of caffeine for awhile, I felt like Hamlet saying goodbye to Yorick. I questioned how I would make it through life without caffeinated tea, diet coke, and most importantly, soy lattes, but the results have been surprisingly pleasant.

Me, with a new found appreciation for all things pepperminty and tea-y.

Now, I worked in a tea shop in high school, and went back to my roots for my new morning drink go-to: tisane. It has strong flavors like tea, but no actual tea leaves, just herbs, roots, flowers, and whatnot. After trying a few, I've gotten hooked on any green or white tea, or tisane, that has strong peppermint flavors, which I really need to wake up in the morning. Fortunately, I've felt much better since this little switch. I don't know when, or if, I will go back to caffeine, but right now I'm enjoying my life without java.

recipes: cinnamon cafe ole

I am an unapologetic coffee addict. If it has caffeine in it, I will probably drink it. A few months ago when I realized I was lactose intolerant, I thought I might have to cut back on the coffee-milk drinks because I always had an aversion to soy milk. However, those days are long gone and now I am an official vanilla soy milk addict. But this new realization of how yummy vanilla soy milk has also hurt my purse on account of how much I was spending on frilly coffee drinks without even realizing it.

 

 

 

Don't judge me. I work right above a Starbucks. 

However, I have found a great solution to this which actually gives you a couple of benefits. Instead of getting the sugary coffee drink, opt for a cafe ole. It is half coffee, half milk (soy, skim, or half and half). It's cheaper,and it has calcium - something everyone (especially women) need to stay healthy in the long run. To get an extra flavor fix add some cinnamon. Not only does it taste delicious, it has many health benefits, including clearing sinuses, preventing cancer and heart disease, and warding off colds. Even if all that doesn't hook you, it just tastes great and is easy on your wallet.

back to bedtimes.

I have come to the unfortunate realization that I need more sleep. Okay, it wasn't so much a realization as a huge slap in my face with a freezing hand after I had almost fallen asleep at work several days in a row. Unfortunately, in graduate school, sleep is just not an option sometimes when you have work, homework, and a million other things to do. So instead of more sleep, why not get more efficient sleep? I found this website called Sleepy Time that will count out REM cycles, and tell you when to wake up in between REM cycles so that you wake up, actually awake. According to their website, waking up in the middle of an REM cycle makes you feel groggy, and maybe just makes you want to go back to sleep. I've tried it out for the last couple of nights, and so far it actually does seem to be working. I go to bed a few minutes later than I normally do for my 5:30 a.m. wakeup call, but I have been feeling a bit less groggy. I'll let you know how this goes at the end of the week...