Happy Halloween!

Thinking back on past Halloweens lately has been fun.  I've dressed up as a Powerpuff Girl, a nun, a vampire, naughty Little Miss Muffet (not my proudest moment), just to name a few.  I am kind of looking forward to kids so I can get back into planning costumes again. The idea of doing family themed costumes with my husband and kids, really appeals to me.  I haven't really had much of a desire to dress up the last few years....partially due to lack of time and pre-planning, partially because there are less people having Halloween parties after age 30.

As a kid, my birthday parties were almost always Halloween themed since my birthday is Nov. 3rd.  I can't remember the last time I had a birthday party...or really dressed up for Halloween.  Last year, (or possibly the year before, I can't remember), I slapped on my Renaissance Faire dress and put on a long blond wig to pass out candy.  The turnout in my neighborhood was extremely lackluster, even though there are kids in the neighborhood.  I wound up eating half the candy.  This year, I'll be leaving the porch light off.

And most unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to eat most of the candy I like anyway.  So many hidden sources of gluten!  Since today is the last day of the old Celiac Awareness Month, I found a neat info-graphic about gluten free (see below...I put it a the end because it's HUGE).  What really amazed me was the cost difference, of which I have been acutely aware.

 Halloween is the signal that the holidays are bearing down on us.  Christmas decor is flooding in to shops and holiday foods abound.  With all the baking to be done, it can be intimidating to find gluten free (GF) substitutes.  This will be my first GF holiday so I'm scared!  I hate going to dinners with friends and family and having to say "I can't eat it" or have to ask what's in everything.  If you are starting a GF diet, wait till the holiday season has died down if you can!  In general, my best advice to anyone thinking about going GF is to start out eating foods that are naturally gluten free (fruit, nuts, veggies, meat, cheese, corn tortillas, rice, etc) for a little while before trying to incorporate substitutes like pasta, crackers, and bread.  Two reasons in my mind: you are less likely to have such a shock to the taste buds if you go from a regular cracker to a rice cracker in the same day, and you can more easily decide what you really need in your diet. (For example: I don't really miss muffins and things like that, so I just don't bother buying the expensive GF muffin mix)

Happy Halloween and here's hoping the holiday season is stress free and fun!