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Showing posts from November, 2011

Udi's

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So I heard, or I should say my wife heard, about this company called  Udi's .  They are based in Denver, Colorado.  They are not only a Gluten Free Food company but by looking at their website they are truly interested in those with Celiac Disease.  They have a forum, they have a step by step for those recently diagnosed and a page reviewing the signs and symptoms of the disease.  You should also check out the article today (11/28/2012) in the NY Times on going GF. We picked up some frozen bagels although I have not tried them yet.  But I did get a chance to try their whole grain bread.  I have tried a few GF breads and they were horrible - and that is being nice.  I have made my own but it usually only lasts a day or so.  Being that I have just made 3 loaves of bread for stuffing and cooked for Thanksgiving the last thing I wanted to do was cook more bread.  In comes Udi's to the rescue for my leftover sandwich. Let's just say it was a welcome surprise as to how g

C Level / Island Prime

The Cohn Family owns a number of Southern Cali restaurants and I have eaten at a few, including 333 Pacific, Prado, Indigo Grill and Corvette Diner (we have kids).   C Level is within the Island Prime building but a more casual dining experience all located at the end of Harbor Island. This was my first time going back since being diagnosed and I'll give them an overall grade of a B; let me explain. We called ahead.  Yes, they have a separate GF menu.  The chef even got on the phone with my wife and asked if I had Celiac and to ask for him when we arrived so he could be sure that there was no cross contamination.  He said they had a separate GF fryer. So this is where things go downhill.  After arriving I asked for the GF menu.  First three items: fried potato chips, french fries, and tuna stack with fried taro chips.  But they have a GF fryer right?  I ordered the tuna stack (did not have soy sauce, I checked) and the chicken.  I asked the waitress to have the chef come out

Gluten Free Thanksgiving 2011

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So this is my first gluten free Thanksgiving. We have gone to friends in the past where everyone brought a dish.  No way I can be sure that everything is GF or cross contaminated so that was out.  So we invited friends and family and had a house of adults, children and one in the oven. I will preface this by saying I am a foodie and like to cook.  So I put the menu together, we made a list of ingredients and then a layout of what could be made when; because, there is never enough oven space. To take the risk of cross contamination out of the picture we had our friends who are Napa lovers bring the wine.  It was delicious.  I used to be able to drink a few glasses a night, especially on a long, special night.  But since I was diagnosed I can usually drink one glass otherwise my stomach feels a little rough.  The wines they brought were delicious.  The Arns is a delicate but full wine with nice oaky tones and Pride is a full napa cab. My sister and brother-in-law brought over c

My Wife

I have to say I really do love her.  She has been great through all of this.  I would hope that I would be as accomodating as she has been but I can be a bit hard headed. She was the one that saw that something was wrong but backed off and gave me space for a while.  She eventually pushed me to see someone and since the diagnosis she has been great. Our house now is probably 90% GF and moving to 100%. It's expensive.  We threw out or gave away wood cutting boards and tons of food.  The next expensive issues was buying and tasting GF food.  We tasted many things only to throw them away because of how bad they tasted. Currently we have one cabinet of "gluten" foods (kid cereal, dog treats (they have flour too so I have to be careful handling them - but we are going to GF dog and cat food), and some snacks). But we have found a ton of GF snack, chips and treats.  Enviro kids cereal has been great for me and the kids but more on that another time. She has watched

Pressure Cookers

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So my new kitchen gadget is a pressure cooker.  I had been talking about getting one for years and finally my wife went out and bought one for me.  We got the Cuisinart electric pressure cooker and at first I thought, "no I wanted an on the stove pressure cooker like all the cool chefs on t.v. have.  I have to admit this is a nice product.  I can program it and take the dog for a walk or go to the park with the kids and it will shut off and stay warm (you still have to relieve the pressure but it gives you some leeway). The pressure cooker purchase came about due to beans.  I wanted beans for my dishes and the more I looked into canned beans, many were processed in a factory that processes wheat. I contacted Organics, which is a branch of Safeway.  After three emails going back and forth about what store did I buy the can at, what was the bar code number, etc I gave up.  Either they are or they are not and if some of the beans are processed in a factory with wheat I am not to

Gluten Free Cookies

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Is it just me or is all of the Gluten Free craze about sweets - cookies, brownies, cakes and muffins.  Me, I miss scones, cranberry walnut scones to be exact.  That is my next project is trying to recreate that in a GF form. Cookies are the other big one.  We have tried many but the house hold standard has been Nestle Tollhouse right off the back of the bag. So we went big and started with Thomas Keller's Gluten free Bouchon cookies. You can find them at Williams Sonoma.  They do taste good but they are flat and crunchy.  If that is how you like your cookies you will be happy.  If you like chewy and soft it will disappoint.  The flavor is great though - as you would expect.  I am going to retry them and turn down the oven temp and cook for a few minutes less.  We tried a batch in the fridge before baking but they still came out flat and crunchy.  I don't mind crunchy and the taste did have you thinking you were eating a GF product. They also passed the kid test.  They

Rendezvous Del Mar

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Well, I found it.  I thought after being diagnosed that chinese food was out.  I figured that there was no way to prevent cross contamination.  I assumed that wonton soup and fried food dishes would keep me away from the woks and fryers. Well, luckily I was wrong.  I found Rendezvous  in Del Mar.  Actually I have driven by here for years but never ventured in to try the food. They have a GF menu and it is big.  Three tapas, four soups, 27 entrees.  And they are super receptive to those with Gluten allergies.  We did take out the other day and they even put my GF food in a completely separate take out bag then the rest of the families food. And it was delicious. I had their hot and sour soup.  Tofu and mushrooms in a delicate broth. Next I had the Curry chicken over rice.  Tender pieces of chicken in a pungent curry sauce (I know, not typical american Chinese food). Next, (I just got off a crazy long day at work and was super hungry) I had the shrimp pad thai.  Usually

Pizza Night

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I mentioned it before, so here it is.  Sunday used to be homemade pizza night.  We would make the dough and sauce in the morning and cook it up for dinner on the grill with a pizza stone.  It tastes great, works for leftovers and is fun for the kids to help out. Now I get diagnosed with celiac disease.  Well I tried a few mixes and they just didn't cut it.  I starting using Thomas Keller's Cup 4 Cup and that has worked.  Although it is gluten free it is not dairy free, but luckily I don't have any dairy issues. Here is the recipe I use.  If you are able to eat anything use regular flour but if you have celiac or a gluten sensitivity replace with your own mix or some other GF flour. 1.  1/4 Cup warm water in a bowl and a packet of yeast (make sure it activates) 2.  Add 1 1/2 Cups flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp salt, 3 TBSP EVOO and mix 3.  Knead it on a board with some extra flour. 4.  I usually split it into two doughs and place in bowls, cover with dish towel and let

My Advice for Restaurants

For all of those chefs, owners, managers out there please learn about celiac disease as one of the 8 common food allergens.  If you don't have the time to learn and a patron calls to ask if you have a GF menu just say no, we can eat elsewhere. You can check out The Celiac Disease Foundation  and a local site Gluten Free in San Diego . Those places that are GF friendly usually offer a separate menu.  This takes away the issue of dealing with a wait staff person who does not fully know the menu or is not educated on Celiac Disease.  Nothing makes the restaurant look worse than when the waiter recommends an item that clearly contains gluten after being told that I have celiac disease and can only eat GF foods. We are not on a fad GF diet but it is a treatable disease by avoiding all gluten.  This even means cross contamination.  That means nothing in the fryer unless you have a dedicated GF fryer.  Hand washing, cleaning knives and utensils to serve the food are essential to pre

Kappa Sushi

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Kappa Sushi  is a sushi place in SD at the end of Mira Mesa near the 15.  We found the place by following one of our favorite Sushi Chefs - Kat.  We met her at Roy's in La Jolla then followed her to Nozomi in Carlsbad and now to Kappa Sushi.  One of the owner's Eric we knew from Sushi on the Rock in La Jolla.  This place is hands down great sushi and the myth about women's hands being too warm - she does not ruin the fish - it is delicious and melts in your mouth. When I was diagnosed even sushi became a problem.  I had to search out new GF soy sauce.  I tried Tamari but it didn't agree with me, I think, on two separate occasions, I then tried Bragg's soy alternative.  That was okay but I was not fond of the taste.  I then found Kikkoman's GF soy and that is my choice now.  I bring it with when ever we go out. I still have to find GF ponzu or make it myself. So unfortunately, that takes away some of the great plates they make. I usually stick with th

SD GF Food Expo

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Today was the 1st ever GF Expo in San Diego and we got there.  Boy was it raining hard. Inside there were many vendors with lots of things to taste.  I can't touch on everything but I'm gonna give you my favorites. I'll start with Mountain Mike's Pizza .  Let didn't have any to try but I've seen there ads and website and was curious.  The owner said his daughter has Celiac Disease.  They have the dough produced offsite to prevent contamination.  The sauce and other bins of toppings for the GF pizza is kept separate and remade everyday.  The flour used in the entire place to prevent sticking is corn flour.  I am definitely gonna try this one. As far as bars.  I have been using Lara Bars or Think Thin.  A company that I saw today was PureFit.  These were really good.  I tried the berry almond crunch and almond crunch.  They look like the texture of old power bars but taste good.  For athletes the are 40/30/30.  I'll definitely pick these up. Cookies.

Nine-Ten

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If you are in a rush let me get right to the point.  If you have Celiac Disease DO NOT go here. I am sad to say that because before I was diagnosed I have eaten there and liked the food.  Chef Jason Knibb does a great job, BUT. We went for dinner and we were meeting friends.  Called in advance and spoke with the manager who said that although there is not a GF menu but to let the server know and they would communicate that to the kitchen.  Sounds good so far, right?  I thought so too. Sit down at the table and asked the waiter if he could direct me to what was GF on the menu.  He bends down to look at my menu with a big UM?  Soon as he started with "I think"  I should have walked.  But you know the situation, I am out with friends, don't want to make a scene, and I'm hungry.  After pointing out that I could have the farro I let him know that farro was part of the wheat family, a whole grain form, and is something I have to avoid we moved on. Lets say I have th

GF Cooking. The never ending battle

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My wife says it's good that I like to cook. I have always liked to cook.  It is a way to relax and I like my food.  Only now I have to change what I cook. So this weekend we had rain.  An uncommon occurance in Southern California but a great reason to stay in the kitchen. I made another batch of Brownies from Ad Hoc (see my other post on Brownies). I made my French Onion soup.  I use a combination of yellow onions, a few sweet onions and leeks.  I cook them down slowly until they just about carmelize.  I add beef broth and some fresh thyme and bay leaves. As for the cruoton, I made a loaf of GF bread, nothing special.  It worked great for a panini style grilled cheese with gruyere, provalone, swiss and mozarella. and now I had something for my soup A thin slice of toasted bread on top of the soup then covered with a slice of gruyere and under the broiler until bubbling. YUM. Then, another way to do chicken.  Green Curry.  I start with some oil in a pan, wack a stalk o

What to bring for Lunch

This was a big problem once I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.  I used to live on PB&J for a breakfast snack on the go at work.  Lunch usually consisted of a sandwich (tuna, turkey, chickenbreast). So now what? I can't have bread, no pasta, can't go the cafeteria and risk cross contamination (that is, even if they had something that was GF).  On top of that no kitchen, so it has to keep in the fridge or be easily heated in the nuke machine. So this is what I have come up with so far, hopefully it helps you. 1.  SALAD, no shit.  But I have come up with variations with tuna, chicken, salmon, nuts, cheese.  Use your imagination but it is possible to make a salad at work more than a boring pile of lettuce. 2.  Quinoa.  I have done it cold and heated.  The leftover dinner is usually an easy lunch.  Usually sauted onions &/or peppers mixed in.  My new cold dish is a take on the greek salad.  Quinoa with olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta cheese and a little drizzle