I have the best cousin, ever.

Last Saturday we had the extreme fortune of being able to hang out with my distant cousin Sara, who is also a great friend. She brought me a very tasty gluten-free cookie from cookiesforme.com and brought me some TVP because she read my blog post about my family having faux meatballs with their spaghetti and me having unadorned red sauce, which was good, but I had faux meatball envy. I knew about TVP, but in my readings about celiac had come to believe that TVP was glutenous by definition. Lo and behold, I should have realized Bob's Red Mill would have a gluten-free TVP. Yay, Sara!

Then we all went to lunch at Olive Garden. I had read on-line that they have a gluten-free menu, and was curious to try and see what my experience would be. I'm pleased to report that while the vegetarian gluten-free pasta offering wasn't thrilling it was a) vegetarian, b) gluten-free, and c) not-cheesy. I had salad and requested no croutons and dressing on the side, thinking that they'd bring me my own little salad. Instead, they served the table salad with croutons and dressing on the side. Sara noted (and I agree) that OG tends to use too much dressing on their salads anyway, so it suited her just fine.

 In Sara's honor, I added TVP to the lentil, kale and veggie soup I made that evening. It was delish!

Thanks for caring and being a loyal reader, Sara!