Jet Fuel isn’t always about the foods just for me, or for those who have been diagnosed with celiac. It’s about feeding my family and friends, and making meals completely gluten-free—even if I don’t mention GF.

I will sometimes make “real” brownies for family and friends who love them or get a “true” loaf of French or Italian bread to accompany my gluten free meal. I’ll eat one of my faves—Rustic Meatballs with a salad—and they’ll eat theirs with a yummy piece of warm Italian bread and a salad too. It works! 🙂

This Christmas we went to several of our favorite shops to get the best quality foods with which to prepare our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals. It’s easy to get the purest ingredients when most things you make have just one component.

At Joseph’s Italian Market we picked up Maine lobsters for Christmas eve—with fresh artichokes to steam on the side. Simple and special. Loved by all.

We went to The Fresh Market to get skirt steak for Christmas breakfast that Doug made with scrambled eggs. So delicious!

Dinner was Chicken Parmesan with Gillian’s bread crumbs, Rao’s sauce and fresh Buffalo Mozzarella, served with roasted brussels sprouts and zucchini. These were all things I’ve had before and knew were great!

All the meals went super smooth and everyone was bouncing around with Christmas spirit, but for some reason I was the only person who didn’t feel so terrific on Christmas morning. We all tried to figure it out. We reviewed the night’s events, and remembered the gluten free ice cream cones we ate outside on the seawall. It was a full moon and gorgeous outside. And yes… they tasted great! But in all the hustle and bustle of Christmas and not wanting to make everyone go to the market again, we made a hasty stop at the Farm Fresh express drive thru (minute market) to pick up the one thing we forgot for dessert—ice cream.

I have never done this before. If I’m getting ice cream, I’ll usually get Häagen Dazs Vanilla. It seemed simple enough. So I picked up what I thought to be a straightforward Neapolitan, and off we went.

My mistake was I didn’t read the label… and it contained wheat flour! I was so busy and never looked. I know to check nutrition labels for hidden wheat, and for years and years I’ve done this. But I let my guard down this one time and there it was. Lesson Relearned!

The good news is the rest of the holiday was a dream—beautiful family times sharing past years memories together around the table!

Looking forward to 2016, and I will keep reading labels… always!