Gluten-Free Valentine’s Day for the Gluten-Free Challenged

Time is ticking away…T-minus 10 days until Valentine’s Day, I’ve got some great gluten-free hints for people on the gluten-free diet. So if you’re the celiac reading this feel free to send this off to the loved one in your family who might be making (or not making) plans for you! If you’re the “celiac supporter” take a secret peek at these quick tips and impress your partner, date, fiancée or spouse. This guide should help even the novices in the crowd.  Believe me, I’m not trying to insult anyone by writing this post, I just know my husband might have a challenge on his hands to come up with a 100% gluten-free date night for us.

Gluten-Free Candy Treat

Candy basket: Find out her favorites and bag them up together. If you’re doing the work to find out if it’s gluten-free, they’ll love the extra effort! Some quick tips: Hershey’s has a lot of gluten-free items, they say wheat, oats, barley and rye will be listed on the ingredient list if it’s in there. ** Post-publishing note, check on Hershey’s products as the company has narrowed down its list of gluten-free products.

For me I’m a sweet and sour person – Sweet Tarts, Blow Pops, Smarties, Pixie Sticks all have a spot on my heart and my tummy.

Out for a Gluten-Free Dinner

Here’s the deal, if you’re going out for dinner, make sure you take your honey to a celiac-friendly restaurant. They do exist! I’ve talked about them before, look up information on glutenfreeregistry.com, celiachandbook.com, glutenfreeonthego.com, glutenfreetravelsite.com. Find a place and make it happen! I discovered Wildfire recently on one of these sites and even reserved our seat online and told them about the three gluten-free people who were coming along!

One place to look into is Carrabba’s. It is an Italian restaurant with a gluten free menu. Now you can go there on Valentine’s Day, but one option could be to go earlier in the week (when you can actually get a babysitter) and take part in the restaurant’s Dal Cuore Nights on February 11th and 12th. It includes a fixed-price menu with several items from which to choose. However there will be gluten-free menu options available as well. The evening includes $10 off a bottle of wine and a chance to win a cruise vacation! Plus, watch for details on Thursday about a giveaway I’ll be doing for Carrabba’s – stay tuned!

Stay In…

That can be romantic as well. How about some crab legs or lobster or a fantastic porterhouse steak? Yum! You should be able to find all of these at your local grocery store. Just make sure whatever you buy it is NOT preseasoned. Top it off with a baked potato and some steamed vegetables with a little butter (not contaminated) or olive oil and you’re doing great!

Ice cream is a good dessert: Edy’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Dreyer’s, Breyer’s, all are very good about listing gluten ingredients on their labels. If you look for a kind that’s more obviously gluten-free (no cookies, pie crust), it will make it much easier.

Good luck in your Valentine’s Day plans!

Tags: date, gluten-free, plans, valentines day