Living Gluten Free: the documentary

Oh my. Has it really been 6 months since my last post?

A lot has happened during that time: my husband got out of the military and got a job in upstate New York. We bought a house there and I will move in one week to join him. It's an exciting time with a lot of changes (and a kitchen of my own which means I will be posting here a lot more - I promise)

But, none of that is gluten-free related, so here's the exciting news and why I haven't been posting: All of my energy on the topic has been going into my gluten-free documentary. For my master's program I have to have a final project, a "thesis" if you will that is a documentary. And my topic of choice? Celiac Disease and gluten sensitivity.

I have around 15 interviews on tape ranging from newly diagnosed Celiacs' to the gluten sensitive, world renowned experts on the topic, dietitians, researchers, gluten free cafe owners, and many more. It's a one-woman project - I acted as researcher, videographer, interviewer and editor. It's a lot of work, and nothing is perfect, but I'm excited to get this story out.

It will be 30 minutes long. I am hoping to apply for some grants so that I can make it feature length and tell the full story, I also hope to get funding to travel to people with unique stories.

Below you can watch a very brief teaser:

Untitled from liz clancy lerner on Vimeo.

Not Dead...

...just overwhelmed with end-of-the-semester projects, half-marathon training and roller derby stuff (we have our first bout in less than a month!)

Oh yeah, and my husband's home from deployment -- his LAST deployment. I am beyond relieved.

Updates and recipes will be up once I'm able (or want to procrastinate from school work).

And if you need some Henry in your life, here's some trouble he recently got himself into...

Photo Phriday: The End of a Chapter

Big news in the life of Liz: not only am I getting married in two weeks, but I am leaving my job, moving to Virginia, and then moving to Illinois to begin a Master's program. Phew.

That's a lot of change. 

It's incredibly bittersweet for me. I love my job and I love the community that I live and work in, but in order to live like a married couple, I had to move. My co-workers and members from the tv station I work for threw a party for me yesterday. I was overwhelmed with the support I received from everyone and never will I forget this place and these people. 

My folks even attended and brought a giant, delicious cake from Celia Cakes -- it was absolutely amazing and no one could tell it was gluten-free.  



And in honor of SNL's Weekend Update, I threw my pen at the tv camera during my very last show today. I'm going to miss this place.

Wedding Musings

In case anyone's curious, this is a quick snapshot of part of the grounds where the wedding will be. It's an estate on 90 acres of land with sheep and llama and lots of natural beauty.

The wedding is now under five months away and it has me thinking:

I'm trying not to be one of those brides. You know the kind: obsessing over whether the tablecloths will clash with the color of grass that time of year, the kind who goes on extreme diets so that she looks emaciated on her wedding day, or the kind that freaks out that her bridesmaids have tattoos. Thankfully, I could really care less about those sorts of details. The goal for the A-man and I on our wedding day is to profess our love to one another in front of the people that mean most to us in the world, and for our guests to have a whole lot of fun.

However, I am a bit neurotic about one thing: I have a deep desire to feel at my best on my wedding day(and really, what bride doesn't?); the keyword there is feel. Sure I want to look good too, but I believe they go hand in hand: if you feel good, you will look good.

Here's my goal: I want to be in the state of mind to fully enjoy the day, to jump-out-of-bed feeling energetic yet calm, muscles feeling tight but not sore, totally aware, not feeling hungry and not feeling full, skin hydrated, with my heart beating at a calm rhythm. In order to achieve this goal I know my life has to be in perfect balance. It's a balance that I would like to achieve daily, but if I can do it for a few months before the wedding, it's a good start.

1. I have to be eating right, which in my case, along with being gluten and casein free, also means no sugar, very little caffeine and eating loads of vegetables. I'm attempting to figure out if carbs are the best thing for me too.

2. I have to be physically well and in an attempt to be that way I will try to keep up on taking my vitamins daily and staying away from alochol which I know knocks my immune system down a bit.

3. I want to be in the best shape I've ever been in. Not the skinniest, but the most fit. I have fond memories of the way my body felt when I was deep in college tennis season: running and playing tennis for at least three hours a day. I don't have time for such things now, but I will outline my exercise plan come February (meanwhile, I've been chronicling my workouts on the sidebar of this blog)

4. Stress has to be at a minimum. This will be difficult to achieve due to the stress involved in planning such an event, but relying on family and friends to help out and dealing with my stress through yoga, deep breathing and venting to friends will help. Massage is only something I've received a few times, but surely makes a difference for me. Accupuncture is also something I'm interested in.

Anyone out there with stress-free suggestions? Tips on feeling good? Exercises they love? I'm all ears.

7 Randoms

My sister of a k8, a cat, a mission fame recently tagged me to do a "7 Random Things" meme and I'm currently procrastinating, so here it goes:

1. Throughout the years I have been diagnosed with a long list of ailments: scoliosis, asthma, raynauds disease, a heart murmur, a short eustachian tube, a hyperactive thyroid and borderline high blood pressure.

Luckily, my scoliosis doesn't really bother me anymore (I was diagnosed with it in junior high). My lung capacity isn't great, but my asthma (diagnosed as a child) has pretty much gone away. The raynauds disease is basically just a nuisance. The heart murmur was only discovered three years ago during an annual physical and (hopefully) has no serious repercussions. My short eustachian tube makes flying painful and annoying and caused me to perforate my eardrum when scuba diving (I could get surgery for it, but I don't miss scuba diving that much). My hyperactive thyroid was discovered by a GI doctor a few years ago, but was never treated (it's not terribly overactive, just slightly) and my blood pressure hasn't been checked since cutting coffee out of my diet three weeks ago, so hopefully that made a difference.

Medically, I'm just strange. But I count my lucky stars that all of these ailments are easily lived with.

2. I'm the runt of my family at 5'5 1/2. My sister is 5'8. My mother is 5'8. And my father is 6'0.

3. My wedding is exactly five months away today. I've already had nightmares regarding the ceremony and forgetting my vows. I'm worried about it raining (it's supposed to be outside) and I haven't even sent the save-the-dates out yet. But! I know how lucky I am to be marrying the love of my life; if there's a hurricane, if I completely flub up my vows, if the save the dates get lost in the mail, it won't really matter as long as we're standing there together, saying "I do."

4. I get really pissy if a few days pass and I haven't worked out.

5. Henry and I went for a walk today that was only supposed to be 45 minutes. It ended up being 1 1/2 hours long because I forgot my keys, got locked out of my place, and my mother had to drive from 15 miles away to open up the place with her extra set of keys (reminder: my parents are saints).

6. My sister is acting as the celebrant (ie she's marrying the A-man and I) at the wedding. Massachusetts has a great law that let's individuals get one day liscenses to marry people. I did the same for her wedding.

7. I own close to fifty sweaters. I think it's time to donate some.

I tag everyone that reads this, and especially my favorite twenty-something, female, gluten-free bloggers: Jenny of Sugar and Spice and My Gluten Free Life, Ali of Sorry I Can't Eat That, Marlow of Gluten Hates Me But I'm Surviving, and Jill Elise of Hey! That Tastes Good.

A Belated Happy Holidays!

From Henry, the A-man and me. If we were going to send out Christmas cards, we would surely use this photo taken on Thanksgiving. Though, it's difficult to get Henry to stand still when ten sheep are to the right of him.


I'm traveling quite a bit for the holidays, making my posts sparse, but I'm still cooking up a storm! Happy Holidays Everyone!

The Good Eatah?

The past week has me questioning the nickname that my Grandmother gave me (and the title of this blog). You see, I've been sick. Flu-like symptoms, one-hundred and one temperature, and... no appetite. Zero! Zilch! Nada! It's coming back, kind of, but I'm beginning to force-feed myself.

This is really strange for a few reasons. You see, I'm not one of those people who forgets to eat a meal. Only once before have I been sick enough to lose my appetite. And rare is the day I don't get excited about what I'm going to make myself for lunch. The weirdest thing? Forty-eight hours went by without me eating. That is just unheard of for me. Really, it's mind-blowing. Even at my sickest I'm usually able to gain an appetite by turning on the food network for a minute, or peaking at a cooking magazine. But not this time.

So, blog readers -- forgive my lack of posts. I blame it on the sickness (I should add I was also attached to the couch and unable to bring myself to shower even, for most of those 48 hours). I know! I'll try watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives -- that will get my mouth watering again and I'll be back with a vengence. If that doesn't work, I'll just keep looking at the photo at the top of this post of my niece while singing the L.L. Cool J song "I'm gonna knock you out. Mama said knock you out" because it makes me laugh. And I think she looks like a mini-boxer warming up for a fight in this photo.

Or it could just be the lack of food has gotten to my head and I'm halucinating...

Where I've Been & Double Chocolate Cookies

My apologies for the lack of posts this past week, but I have good reason -- I swear! I spent the last ten days in North Carolina soaking up some quality vacation time with my love, the A-man. We went sky-diving, mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, played some tennis.... oh yeah, and WE GOT ENGAGED! I don't like to brag, but his proposal was pretty darn amazing. He organized a "surprise" sky-diving trip (he jumped solo, I jumped tandem) and right before he exited the plane he yelled "Lizzie!", peeled off some tape he had on his helmet to reveal the words "Will you marry me?" and jumped 5,500 feet (which is really low and an entirely different story) to the ground. I was in total shock, so I didn't answer right away, but once we both landed he got on one knee, presented a gorgeous ring and asked me again. I managed to mutter a yes and gave him a really long, teary-eyed hug. All of this was apparently caught on camera; I can't wait to see it.

The hat I'm wearing in the photo above actually says "bride" on it in sparkly, gold lettering and was given to me by my sister (as a joke) when she found it in the dollar bin in target. Showing off the ring isn't really my style, but it really is quite gorgeous. Since we have never discussed rings before, I have no idea how the A-man chose the perfect ring for me (actually, I think my sister helped quite a bit) but I know he put a lot of research and effort into it, so in addition to me wearing it the rest of my life, I thought it deserves a feature photo (with some gluten-free, dairy-free double chocolate cookies) in my blog.


What's really cool about the ring is that it's a conflict-free diamond from Canada and it's in an "active" setting, which means I won't clumsily snag it on things. So, the past week or so has been amazing and life-changing. It's a pretty wonderful thing to talk about the future with the man you love for a week straight and bask in the afterglow of being asked for your hand in marriage. The real frosting on the gluten-free cake? Knowing this is only the beginning.

Oh, and a recipe! My family is so extremely supportive of our relationship, they love him just as much as I do, so in order to celebrate when I got home, my parents, sister, brother-in-law and niece picked me up at the airport with flowers and gifts and had a wonderful gluten-free, dairy-free dinner that ended with what will now be called "Double Chocolate Engagement Cookies" created by my sister. It's pretty difficult to describe how good these cookies are, so I'll use the Boston phrase for awesome: they're wicked pissah.

Double Chocolate Cookies (aka Engagement Cookies) gluten-free, dairy-free

*adapted from Annalise Roberts chocolate chip cookie recipe

1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (make sure it's gluten-free)
1 1/2 cup, plus two tablespoons of gluten free flour mix (she uses a superfine brown rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch mix)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon xantham gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 ozs. vegan, gluten-free good quality chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Beat shortening and sugars at medium speed in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add flour, baking soda, xantham gum and salt and mix at medium until well blended. Mix in chocolate chunks by hand.

Drop heaping teaspoons of the dough onto a greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake in the center of the oven 8-10 minutes.

Photo Phriday

This is me and Henry and Henry's new backpack. He is the epitome of high-energy, so this backpack is great for him to wear when we go on runs and hikes. It's the perfect size for a couple of water bottles, a bag full of gluten-free, dairy-free snacks for me and some dog treats for him.

I highly recommend a doggie backpack for pet owners with high energy dogs.

Me Me Me!

I have been tagged by Melanie over at The Gluti Girls. I've been following her awesome blog for a few months now, so I'm pretty honored! Along with her great recipes, check out the post about her dogs; it's really touching.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random or weird things about yourself.

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Random, weird things? I've got plenty!

1. As a child I would hum when I was eating.

2. I was voted "Most Athletic" in high school.

3. I currently work in Public Access Television and co-host a few shows in my city. Sometimes I get recognized when I'm out and about.

4. My boyfriend of 5+ years is on his second tour of duty in Iraq. I miss him a lot.

5. I have been sky-diving and just two weeks ago did a "polar plunge."

6. During the summer in high school and college I worked as a tennis instructor at a swanky country club.

7. I'm going to be an Aunt in under two months! I am beyond excited.

Now it's my turn to tag seven more people! I choose:

Kate at K8 and Cat

The Grumpster at Grumpsterboy

Jill at Hey That Tastes Good

Melissa at Gluten Free For Good

Sally at Aprovechar

Jeena at Jeena's Kitchen

CaliValleyGirl