Gluten free, from me to you!

Welcome!
My name is Laura Hill, I was diagnosed with celiac disease ten years ago. Like many others, it was like pulling teeth to get a diagnosis! When my doctor had performed numerous tests and prescribed a vareity of medication with no cure, I requested he test me for celiac disease by the recommendation of a friend and he refused. He told me I could not live the rest of my life without gluten. He also suggested I was making myself sick. I finally decided to seek a second opinion. The next doctor performed the blood work and the results came back confirmed celiac disease. Starting the gluten free diet totally changed my life. The condition I was in before the diagnosis was scary, without the gluten free diet I am not sure I would be here today! From my experience with celiac disease over the years, I have a desire to help others with the condition.

It can be daunting starting the diet and changing over to the gluten free lifestyle. This inspired me to become a dietitian, in order to help those make dietary changes. I just graduated with a B.S. in Nutrition and I am currently a dietetic intern. I enjoy researching celiac disease, recipes, and the correlation between diet and disease. In this blog I want to share recipes and general information to help you navigate the gluten free diet, in the gluten filled world.


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Udi's Gluten Free Products

If you have not heard of Udi's gluten free products.. Please check out their website. I was so excited to receive a sample package of their delightful products. I had heard numerous reviews about how Udi's  gluten free products taste like the real thing and the products did not disappoint! I am in charge of a local celiac support group and wanted the chance to share these products with the members. The kind people at Udi's sent me white and whole grain sandwich bread, blueberry muffins, and pizza crusts. I will give a review of the products I have tried. The pizza crusts and white sandwich bread are in the still in the freezer. I am stretching the products out as long as I can because they are not offered locally.. However, you can order on line.



The whole grain bread tastes great right out of the package, if you have tried many gluten free breads they all require toasting. Most gluten free packaged breads taste like sawdust un-toasted. This bread does not need toasting. It is great for sandwiches and morning toast. It is made of a healthy flour blend and comes in at 160 calories for 2 slices.
Here are the ingredients Water, Tapioca Starch, Brown Rice Flour, Potato Starch, Canola Oil, Egg Whites, Sugar, Teff Flour, Flax Seed Meal, Yeast, Xanthan Gum, Salt, Baking Powder (Sodium Bicarbonate, Cornstarch, Calcium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Cultured Dextrose, Ascorbic Acid (Ascorbic Acid, Microcrystalline Cellulose, Corn Starch), Enzymes

This is a great bread for lunch boxes, both children and adults would love opening up a lunch box to a "normal" sandwich.. it beats rice cakes, thats for sure!




Blueberrymuffins_large
Blueberry Muffins

You can see from the picture the texture of these muffins are light and fluffy. They are sweet, but not overly sweet, which makes them an ideal breakfast treat! A lot of muffins have so much sugar they will spike your blood sugar and lead you to a "crash" within a few hours of eating. There are 4 muffins to a container, and they are huge muffins!! They are great right out of the package or for a fresh baked flavor you could toast them in the oven for a few minutes.

I will report back when I try the pizza crusts and white sandwich bread but after trying these products I have complete confidence they will not disappoint.. Check out their website.. and order your tasty products today. http://www.udisglutenfree.com/products

Monday, February 15, 2010

Valentines Breakfast

Saturday morning I cooked breakfast for my family for a pre-valentine's day treat! I have been studying the recipes of The Gluten Free Homemaker. She has beautiful recipes and she inspired me to experiment, I have tried to make cinnamon rolls and the recipes I have tried were so complicated and just so "okay" after all the work.  The Gluten Free Homemaker has a great cinnamon roll recipe that I just had to try... and wow not only were they simple to make they were wonderful!! I made them Friday afternoon, baked the rolls for 10 minutes, refrigerated overnight, iced them in the morning, and baked for 10 more minutes. They turned out great!! My family has already voted me in charge of Christmas breakfast this year. Here is the recipe for the cinnamon rolls. Sorghum is really a great flour to work with, it makes soft, non-gritty baked goods. Not to mention I lucked up on a bag for a dollar at the health food store the other day.. can't beat that deal!

Along with the fabulous cinnamon rolls, I made sausage swirls with my biscuit dough I recently posted. Sausage swirls were something we grew up having on Christmas and special occasions.  So I promised I would experiment with the biscuit dough and report back. Well as I imagined, they were a huge success! I rolled out the dough, about a 1/2 inch thickness. Next I put a layer of uncooked Honey Suckle turkey sausage. I used this sausage to spread a think layer on top of the dough, and then rolled them with one of the longer ends, creating a long log. After I had my log made, I sliced them into 18-20 sausage swirls and baked in a preheated oven 350 for 18-20 minutes.

I have pictures of our Valentines breakfast that will be up hopefully soon, I am experiencing a little computer technical difficulties..

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Nature's Path New Sunrise Cereals

Nature’s Path Fan of the week!!!

I am a huge fan of Nature’s Path. They really have it figured out when it comes to quality gluten free products. I was privileged to be their fan of the week on Facebook a few months ago. If you have a Facebook account, become their fan and send in a picture of yourself enjoying their products and you might be lucky enough to win!

It is hard to find a gluten free cereal that packs much of a nutritional punch. Many gluten free cereals are made of refined gluten free flour and sugar. Nature’s Path has come to the rescue. Natures Path cereals are made with with whole grain, organic ingredients, and natural sweeteners. Not to mention, they are so tasty! I knew I already loved their Whole O’s, Panda Puffs, Mesa Sunrise, and Crispy Rice cereals. So I was anxious to try the new Crunchy Maple Sunrise and Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise.

The Crunchy Maple Sunrise: This cereal is a combination of corn, rice, flax, quinoa, buckwheat, and amaranth. Talk about super grains, this cereal is loaded with nutritious ingridents! Just the right amount of maple and molasses create the perfect amount of sweetness. The texture is wonderful, the cereal contains flakes like that in the Mesa Sunrise, crispy rice, and corn puffs similar to the Gorllia Munch cereal. I usually like to mix my cereals so this just saves me a step.

The Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise:I love vanilla, and this cereal did not disappoint. It reminded me of an adult version of the gluten filled Rice Krispy TREATS cereal. Which to me is a really good thing! It contains the same good combination of whole grains and a sweet vanilla flavor. This partners well with fresh blueberries, bananas, almond slivers, and soy milk.

Neither of the new sunrise cereal’s are available at my local Whole Food’s yet but I have requested them. I will definitely buy these when they are available in my market area.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Delicious Gluten Free Biscuits!


I feel Hardee’s, Cracker Barrel, or KFC knocking on my door! We received an unusual amount of snow today and that lead to day filled of internship applications and lots of cooking!! Gluten free lasagna, brown rice crispy treats, fish tacos with pineapple salsa, and the most delicious gluten free biscuits I have ever made.I know you are thinking these items are not complimentary, but the lasanga is for Sunday night. Fish Tacos were dinner and we baked a few biscuits to try and put the others in the refrigerator uncooked to enjoy for breakfast. Even my non-gluten free mom thought they were better than the gluten filled ones. They actually had flakey layers, and were light in texture, not dense like many other gluten free biscuits I have made. I know if you have been gluten free for long you know the bricks I am talking about, they land in your stomach like cement, these are not that way. Try these you won’t be sorry!

Gluten Free Flakey Biscuits

1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sorghum “sweet rice flour”
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1 3/4 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
3/4 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 375. Mix potato starch, cornstarch, sorghum, brown rice flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and soda, salt, sugar. With a pastry cutter, cut in cold butter to flour mixture until the butter is blended into the flour. Add buttermilk to flour and butter mixture, mix til blended. Roll dough out with rolling pin or pat out with hands. Cut with round cookie cutter and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

These are great with apple butter, blackberry jam, honey, eggs, and sausage.

You could also use this dough to make sausage swirls (old childhood favorite). I will experiment and report back on those!



Begining the Gluten Free Diet



If you have just received the diagnosis that you have celiac disease, or someone you love has been diagnosed, I would like to help get you started on the gluten free diet! It can be complicated in the beginning so I hope this information can give you a boost. I am no expert but I have learned lots through personal experience over the past 10 years!


Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and some oats. Gluten acts as a glue in bakery products like bread, pizza, cookies, pasta, and cake. It is even used to thicken a variety of store bought soups, some salad dressings, and oddly enough the seal on envelopes. Reading a food label is a skill you MUST master on the gluten free diet. Wheat, Barely, Rye, Starch, and Malt are the key offenders to look for but there are others that you should investigate further like modified food starch, artificial and natural flavorings.

Make your kitchen a safe haven. Some people have a mixed kitchen, which may lead to cross contamination but here are a few tips to make your kitchen safe before beginning the diet.

Ways to make your kitchen safe
1.Scrub stainless steel pots and pans well. The smooth surface is usually easy to clean, so these do not need to be replaced.

2.Non-stick, Teflon type pans should be replaced. They are easily scratched and gluten can be hard to clean out of the crevice.

3. Clean out silverware drawer, bread crumbs often fall in this drawer.

4. Silverware and cooking utensils should be cleaned good between use.

5. Purchase a new toaster for gluten free waffles, bread, and bagels. It is not possible to have a shared toaster. Label gluten free toaster to prevent accidents.

6. Purchase separate condiments, jams, peanut butter, and butter. Label with sticky note or marker gluten free to prevent cross contamination.

7. Replace wooden spoons, pizza stone, and colander. These items are hard to clean.

Navigating the Grocery
The first trip to the grocery score can be intimidating. I would suggest starting the diet by basing your diet around natural gluten free foods. This will make it easier on your mind, with fewer labels to read. It will also be good for your body to eat whole foods in the beginning to help your body heal. The outside of the grocery store contains lots of naturally gluten free foods. I will include some naturally gluten free and a few proceed foods.

Beginners List

Fresh non marinated meat, seafood, chicken, and eggs.
Canned tuna and chicken
Chicken broth- read label many are gluten free ( Pacific and Kroger brand are labeled gluten free)
Fresh, most canned, and frozen vegetables
Potatoes- white and sweet
Canola oil, olive oil, and butter
Salsa and most hummus brands
Fresh, frozen, and dried fruits
Dairy- milk, most cheeses ( read label some blue cheese contains gluten) and yogurt ( a few gluten free brands Yo plait and Stony field Farms)
Many soy and almond milks
Gluten free grains- Quinoa, rice- brown, white, and saffron
Gluten free cereal- Bob’s Red Mill Hot and Tasty Cereal, Natures Path has many variety’s, Chex, and Enjoy Life
Corn tortillas- read label, most are gluten free
Whole kernel popcorn- Microwave popcorn can cause problems for some
Nuts- all raw nuts are gluten free, read label to make sure
Nut butters-almond, sun butter, and peanut butter


Meal Examples

Breakfast:

1. Nature’s Path Buckwheat toaster waffles/ Van’s gluten free waffles- toasted with peanut butter

Banana

Coffee

2. Spinach omelet with mozzarella cheese

2 slices of Udi’s gluten free toast

Clementine

Coffee/ Tea

3. Gluten free cereal- Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise

Soy milk/ cow’s milk

Blueberries

Coffee/Tea



Lunch:

1. Tuna salad- mustard/mayo, pickles, hard boiled eggs mixed with canned tuna. Serve over mixed greens, carrots, and grape tomatoes.

Crunchmaster gluten free multi-grain crackers with hummus

2. Quesadilla made with corn tortillas,Hormel gluten free deli meat, and cheese of choice

Pacific tomato soup

Apple

3. Ham or turkey sandwich made with gluten free bread

carrot sticks/ celery/ grape tomatoes and hummus

yogurt



Dinner:

1. Salmon, roasted summer squash, tomatoes, and zucchini

quinoa pilaf and side salad

2. Chicken, broccoli, cheese, and rice casserole

green beans, cornbread and applesauce

3. Grilled pork tenderloin, baked sweet potato, and green beans



Snacks:

String cheese

Nuts

Trail mix- nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, gluten free cereal and M&Ms

Gluten free corn chips and salsa

Fresh fruit

Gluten free yogurt

Popcorn

Gluten free rice cakes ( some Quaker are now labeled gluten free) with nut butter

Smoothies