Olive Garden - Gluten Free?!?!

So Hubby and I went out to lunch last week - it was a cold and snowy day so soup sounded perfect! And what better place to get soup than Olive Garden??

I ordered the:

Zuppa Toscana

Spicy sausage, russet potatoes and

cavolo greens in a creamy broth.

And Hubby got the:

Chicken & Gnocchi

A creamy soup made with roasted chicken,

traditional Italian dumplings and spinach.

During this visit our waiter "Disney" told us that they have a Gluten Free Menu! I had NO idea they did so I thought - why not share it with the world! Obviously OUR choices were not Gluten Free haha BUT I have many friends that need this type of Diet so I wanted to share it with everyone!

If You Want Gluten Free Alternatives

Explore these gluten-free versions of some of your favorite Olive Garden recipes.

Garden Fresh Salad without croutons Our famous house salad, tossed with our signature Italian dressing. 300 24 4.5 16 1860

Caesar Salad without croutons 800 61 13 8 1750

Pennine Rigate with Marinara Marinara sauce made with a blend of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions and Italian herbs. Served over gluten free penne pasta. 561 19 4 90 693

Steak Toscano Grilled 14 oz choice center cut Strip steak brushed with Italian herbs and extra-virgin olive oil. Served with grilled vegetables. 760 46 18.5 9 1370

Herb-Grilled Salmon Salmon filet brushed with Italian herbs and extra-virgin olive oil. Served with broccoli and red bell peppers. 510 26 6 5 760

Mixed Grill Skewers of grilled steak and chicken marinated in Italian herbs and extra-virgin olive oil. Served with broccoli and grilled vegetables. 745 24 6.2 25 1755

Mixed Grill (all chicken) Skewered chicken marinated in Italian herbs and extra-virgin olive oil. Served with broccoli and grilled vegetables. 630 20 3.7 27 1255

Children's Grilled Chicken Grilled chicken breast served with broccoli and grilled vegetables. 210 5.5 0.7 12 505

Olive Garden created this menu for our gluten intolerant guests in accordance with the 2000 American Dietetic Association guidelines.

If You're Looking for Low Fat Children's Options We offer these low-fat selections for children. Cheese Ravioli with Tomato Sauce 300 8 4 43 440 4 Children's Grilled Chicken Served with spaghetti and broccoli. 310 5 1 33 680 6 Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce 250 3 .5 45 370 4

If You're Watching Sugar We are proud to offer a dessert with no added sugar, sweetened with sugar alcohols. Torta di Chocolate A warm double chocolate cake served with vanilla cream sauce and fresh strawberries. No sugar added. 800 51 29 75 125 4

Olive Garden has made an effort to provide complete and current nutrition information, but the hand-crafted nature of our menu items and changes in recipes, ingredients and kitchen procedures can cause variations from these values to occur. Therefore, the values shown here should be considered approximations. In addition, guests who have special food sensitivities or dietary needs should not rely solely on this information as the basis for deciding whether to consume a particular menu item.
Nutritional information valid for US only.

So if you are living a Gluten Free Lifestyle keep Olive Garden in mind for your next Dinner out!

Sassy Holiday Affair

Mark your Calendar and plan to attend:

The Sassy Holiday Affair Shopping Extravaganza

Sponsored by Sassy Sisters In Sales

November, 21st
10:00am - 5:00 pm EST

Click HERE to learn more......
And be sure to Follow The Sassy Sisters!!

Sunday Stills .. Halloween

So as many of you know we did a Haunted House at The American Legion on Friday Night .. here are a few pictures we took .. it was hard to get *great* shots due to the fog and how dark it was but hopefully you will enjoy :)

This was the Sensory box -
we had Intestines, Eyeballs and a Heart
in the holes for the kids to feel and try and guess what they were!

This was a table full of specimens and herbs and other crazy stuff

This was the mad scientist cutting up her latest victim!Fred should not have been drinking while mowing the lawn ....

Grim Reaper and the Mad Scientist colaborating

This bride never saw her wedding night

one of the ghouls in the caskets in the spider room

And what haunted houe is complete without Jason chasing people out with a chainsaw!
(this is the hubby ;) hehe )

I hope you enjoyed my lil walk through of the haunted house! I look forward to next weeks Sunday Stills :)

You can always join in and play along with the challenge yourself here http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/

Sunday Stills ... Photoshop

So the challenge today was altering photos in a picture type program ..

Here is the original photo:


And here is my Altered one: I first increased the back-light to -200%, then i used an antique filter and the sepia setting.. i think it looks pretty dern cool :)

This is my first time playing with filters and such so this was pretty fun :)

Feel Free to play along! Just go to Sunday Stills and either do today's challenge or get ready for next weeks!

New venture .. Custom Italian Charms!

As many of you know I have been working on a few new ventures! One is a website to sell my charms direct as well as offer affiliate sites! Well that is still in the works so keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming blog once it is complete!

The other project/ venture is that I am going to be making Custom Italian Charms! With Custom Charms you can choose any picture you want and we will re-size it and print it and put it on a charm! You can get an Entire Bracelet with custom pictures or you can order a few to add to a bracelet you have started or you can get a starter and choose some already on my site!



here is a link to my current site (it is just pictures and then you have to email me the ones you are interested in) Debs Charms .. soon i will have a full service website for you to shop from :)

Here are a few examples of Custom Charms I will be offering!

Please let me know if you have any questions! And I am thinking a giveaway is in the near future :)

And the winner is....

Wow I LOVED reading all of the stories you all shared with a positive memory in your life!

Well I know I said I was going to do the drawing on Friday but well my weekend went crazy! However, I did the drawing tonight - put everyone's name in the randomizer and the winner is....... Amanda! From Dawn Correspondence! haha you told everyone you were going to win and you did!!

Amanda wins a copy of this amazing book:


Amanda this book is FULL of great info for all relationships in your life! I hope you really enjoy it!

I will contact you for your address! Thank you everyone that participated and who knows I may do another one soon :)

October Bloggie Give-A-Way from Cara Retz - Discovery Toys!

October Bloggie Give-A-Way

I'm going to start having a monthly Bloggie Give-A-Way. This month, you can win:

Wipe Clean Learning to Read & Write

Colorful wipe-clean activity book comes with removable stickers, a washable-ink felt-tip pen, and engaging puzzles and activities. Children learn visual tracking, tracing, placing stickers, color and shape recognition, sequencing, matching. 38 page soft-cover book.

Learning Pathways: from 3 years - preschool READING & LANGUAGE, EXPRESSION, MOTOR SKILLS
KEY BENEFITS:
Foster visual tracking and fine motor skills with activities involving tracing, placing stickers, color and shape recognition;
Develop sequencing and matching skills;
Explore early concepts related to shape, size, position and directionality;
Practice tracing foundational letter line forms (straight, diagonal, curvy and circular);
Encourage playful "do-it-again" practice with write-on/wipe-off feature;
Progresses from ABC & 123 WIPE CLEAN WORKBOOKS



Ways to enter:

Go to Cara's Blog and do the following!

-If you follow my blog, leave a comment that you are! (1 entry)
-Follow my blog and leave a comment that you are a new follower. (1 entry)
-Post my give-a-way on Facebook, Twitter, etc and leave a comment with the link. (1 entry each)
-Post on your blog about my give-a-way and lave a comment with your link. (1 entry)
-Subscribe to my montly newsletter and leave a comment that you did. (1 entry)

*You have until October 15th to enter. Winner will be drawn on October 16th.

Cara Retz
Educational Leader
http://www.playsmartstore.com/
playsmartstore@gmail.com