Holiday time for my family means a trek to a far away ice rink for one of the kids hockey tournaments.  During Christmas and New Years week that usually means we head east.  Off we go to Boston, Cape Cod area and the Big Apple for some playtime.  Being a hockey mom means having to eat at some restaurants I wouldn’t exactly choose on my own.  Whether you travel for soccer, tennis, dance competitions, chess tournaments or hockey, they tend to be in not such healthy food oriented towns.  I wanted to share my east coast travels for you so if you ever happen to be in these cities you have some safe food tips.  Because I don’t have any food allergies, I am gearing my reviews towards those who avoid gluten and seek healthy food options.  After a quick tour of Harvard, Tufts and Boston College, we landed in a sports bar just off the BC campus called Capital Grill in Chestnut Hill.  Great for watching sports, but not so great for the gluten free intolerant diner.  Although they had written on their menu in big bold red type, “please notify your server of any food allergies and/or dietary needs”, our waitress did not seem up on which meals would be healthier gluten free options for me.  As usual, I ended up with a small, tasteless salad with no dressing because no one knew which salad dressings were gluten free or not.  I gave them zero stars. 

Off to the Cape Cod area for the hockey tournament.  After a quick check-in at the hotel we headed to New Bedford, MA for some thai food for New Years Eve with the kids.   Thai is a Motew favorite because we love rice noodles.  

With Fall fast approaching, so too are our favorite holiday meals.  And with our favorite holiday meals comes those unwanted extra holiday pounds.  I know, it's so hard resisting every appetizer, every cookie, every specially wrapped candy at every holiday party.  If you've been part of the Zema's online community for a while now, you know that I come to this gluten free world from a health and wellness perspective, not due to allergies.  I try my best to fuel my five kids with clean, organic foods free of gluten, dairy, additives, color dyes and such.  So, of course when the holidays arrive, I feel mixed emotions about letting my kids eat 

Outside of the ongoing debate whether or not agave nectar is “good” or “bad” for you, drinking raw milk comes in a close second on hot food debates.  I, for one, have always shunned at the thought of drinking raw milk, let alone, allowing my kids to drink it for many years.  But, I was also highly uninformed of what raw milk is and how it differs from mainstream pasteurized milk.   I was raised in a suburb of Chicago where my mom shopped weekly for Coke and Wonder Bread.  Eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes cereal was how I started my day before school.  I never even knew there was such a thing as raw milk. 

Ah, the question that never fails to come up during any given lecture I do, "What do you pack your kids for lunch?"  The question of the decade.  How do we, as parents and caregivers feel when we pack a lunch for our kids filled with brightly colored, cartoon decorated and nutritionally dead food?  Lousy, I suspect.  With summer camp in full swing by now, school not so far off, let today be the day to start fresh.  There is an art to feeding our kids healthy and still get a hug!  How do I know this?  I have five of my own. 5 sets of tastebuds, 5 opinions, 5 mouthes to fuel.  Today, however, I am handing over the virtual mic to another voice on the topic.  Meet Heather, author and founder of the blog, The Gluten Free Cat.

Gluten-Free “Clean Food”

Created by: Amie Valpone, HHC, AADP and author of The Healthy Apple is a Manhattan based Culinary Nutritionist, Personal Chef, Professional Recipe Developer and Food Writer specializing in simple Gluten-Free ‘Clean’ recipes for the home cook.

What is ‘Clean’ Food? It’s about eating to complement all five tastes through a colorful rainbow of fresh produce, healthy fats and lean proteins.  It’s about training your taste buds to rid themselves of processed food flavors and sugar we face every day. It's about eating minimally processed foods with maximum nutrient value.

Here are a few helpful tips for how to create flavor within my ‘Clean’ Food parameters: