Gluten Free for Valentine's Day

Cathy says... The Thursday before Valentine's Day we went to Sam's and bought a whole lot of various fruits – strawberries, blueberries, melon, kiwis and oranges. We also bought a very nice chicken sausage with feta and spinach that says gluten free right on the package and is very flavorful and versatile. The next morning I made our pre-Valentine breakfast. I juiced the oranges with our handy dandy new electric juicer, cut up lots of fruit for a fruit plate, and made a frittata with Eggbeaters, onions, spinach, mushrooms, peppers and tomato, using one half of one of the sausages cut into small squares, and frying up the other half split in two for us to share, so that the breakfast in and of itself was not too far off our low fat diet. I am thinking that a gf poppy seed muffin with it could not have gone wrong, but truly I did not miss the starch, and I was not hungry again till lunch.

Sandy says... we were supposed to have our "Valentine's Day" dinner on the Thursday before the 14th, as it's IMPOSSIBLE to get a sitter on Valentine's Day. Mark had grand plans; he bought tickets to the symphony, a box of GF chocolates from Vosges chocolates, and a pretty little heart charm from JC Penney. Poor Mark. It's really important to him that his gifts are a "suprise." The chocolates arrived two weeks early, and I got the package in a plain unmarked box... which I opened. The heart charm was sitting in the back seat of the car a week before the holiday, when my daughter exclaimed "Daddy, what's this jewelry box doing here?" while I was in the car. Finally, the day of the symphony, a huge snow storm hit Dallas (Dallas! What were the odds?) and the symphony was cancelled. He was crushed. Since we had to pay the sitter regardless, we decided to risk the roads and at least eat dinner together. Due to the road conditions, we thought it best to stay near home, so we went to a local favorite: TruFire. TruFire has always been good to me, and I was thrilled to hear that they now have an Official Gluten Free Menu (laminated and everything). I have been there many times, so I knew what I wanted -- Naked Avocado Salad with Grilled Chicken (hold the Pita, please.) Mmmmm.... always good. I did have a suprise though, when the server said that the vodka they use in their Lemon Drop cocktail is NOT gluten-free! The brand is Belvedere, and I cannot find any info online to suggest that it isn't gluten-free; grain-alcohols are gluten-free regardless of their source (rye, etc). However, it was a flavored vodka, so it is possible that there was an additive. It is also possible that they were misinformed and believed it to have gluten because Belvedere is a Rye based vodka, not potato based. Either way, it was nice to know they are being careful. The best thing about TruFire is their gluten-free flourless chocolate cake with caramel mousse. After all, Valentine's Day is all about the chocolate!