ENJOY!

Slightly Messy but Tasty and Cheaper Than Storebought Energy Bars

• ½ cup dry roasted peanuts (the ones I found were not salted but they could be)
• ½ cup sunflower seeds (no shells)
• ¼ cup flax seed
• ½ cup (or slightly more) flavored craisins- I found them in orange, raspberry, and blueberry at WinCo
• 4 cups Gluten Free Rice Chex (works better if you do not crush them)
• ½ cup Natural Creamy Peanut butter (be sure to mix the oils in beforehand)
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup light corn syrup
• 1 t vanilla

Mix first 5 ingredients together in a big bowl and set aside. Heat peanut butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla in the microwave on high for 2 minutes. Combine ingredients until more or less evenly mixed with a scraper. Scoop mix into lightly greased 8×8 pan.  Press into pan firmly with a metal or non stick flipper.  Don’t be afraid to use some hutspa so that it will stick together.  Let sit for 1 hour.  Cut into desired size (10 bars in an 8×8 pan seems to work well).  It may be necessary to form up bars with hands when removing from the pan (so this is not for those of you who are grossed out by a little stickiness).  I cut them up and put them in snack bags to take camping with my kids.

If you’ve been to Denver recently or live there, you probably know that I had nothing to fear! I ate like a gluten free queen!

The Mercury Cafe had an nearly an entire menu that could be made gluten free. Not to mention dancing! I shouldn’t have eaten Elk Bean and Cheese Enchilada’s before a night of east coast swing but it was worth it! We loved our waitress who was also great entertainment. What a fantastic dancer! She was cute. We tipped her well.

Denver’s gluten free treasures had only begun that night. The next day for lunch, my friend took me to Udi’s, a bakery with a dedicated gluten free facility. Woo HOO! I ate a huge sandwich on bread that was to die for. It was so exciting I took a picture.

The fries are made in a dedicated vat and everything tasted amazing! Going gluten free only cost an addition $1. Not bad especially after you’ve taken a bite. Udi’s is a must if you are in Denver.

For the grand finale we ate chinese at PF Changs who, since my glutening experience, have been forgiven. I talked with the manager and have seen all the precautions they take in assuring their gluten free guests are safe and can confidently say, they are one of the few places I trust implicitly. NOW.

The trick is, look for your food to be served on round plates with the PF Changs label. I got glutened by eating an appetizer on the plain square plate, which the server neglected to recognize. Purely human error.

Now I ask a lot of questions and am never afraid to say, “How do I know this is gluten free?” or “This is something I’ve never seen before, what’s the breading on the chicken?” That “breading”, by the way, is potato starch.

Have you been to any great gluten free digs lately?