The Un-Gluten Guy (My Gluten Free Recipes & GF Adventures)

Visiting family is stressful but sometimes helpful.  The stress of cooking in a non-GF kitchen and finding restaurants that can cater to a GF diner is difficult.  Finding GF products that you are accustom to using is hard. We usually pack some staples (pasta, snacks, oatmeal, etc) and send stuff.  This week we were visiting my parents in Florida and we sent down a box ahead of time with our favorites - peanut butter, risotto rice, GF quinoa, rice pasta and my pre-made flour blends. Like all mothers with a son visiting - she felt the inner need to feed her child. She did some shopping and understood how difficult it can be for someone who has to eat gluten free.  She visiting 6 different shopping markets and found some new items.  Some were good, some not so good. First up. BOPS oven baked Potato Snacks.  They are made by their parent company  Good Boy Organics  out of New York.  They produce non-GMO, organic, GF products. They has an Organicasaurus cheddar snack that we w

Osteoporosis can be a deadly disease.  Osteoporosis related fractures (hip, spine, wrist) may be preventable but currently account for 1.5 million fractures per year in the US in patients over the age of 65.  Many patients admitted to the hospital with a hip fracture may die or suffer medical complications in the year following their fracture, and many have a life-long deterioration in function. So what does this have to do with Celiac Disease? When I was diagnosed with celiac disease I had my vitamin D level checked.   It was low.   After going GF, allowing my GI tract to heal, and supplementing my diet with calcium and vitamin D I was able to bring my levels back into the normal range. Some Signs/Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficieny Fatigue Muscle weakness or soreness Joint Pain Depression Our body stores calcium in our bones and if we do not have sufficient stores of vitamin D we can not absorb the calcium from our GI tract.  When the small intestines are damaged due to celi

Come fall and winter, as the leaves change and the weather turns cold, nothing goes down as nice as a hot bowl of soup.  Soup can be a snack, side dish or a whole meal.  It is  great for leftovers (stored in the freezer) and is usually welcomed by neighbors (I always make a big pot which is more than we can eat). This soup is super easy to make.  It can be tweaked many ways by changing what vegetables you use. Ingredients: garlic - 2-3 cloves crushed and finely chopped large yellow onion - about 2 cups of diced (diced is going to be equal size of all ingredients) celery ribs - 1 cup of diced celery large carrots - 1 cup of diced carrots bell pepper - 1 cup de-ribbed and diced new potatoes - 1 cup diced, peeled potatoes 1 baby zucchini (optional but it was in my fridge and fresh) - diced but before to cut out the inner white part and leave the green skin and tougher meat underneath otherwise it will be mushy in the soup beans - 1 cup cooked beans (slightly undercooked o

What American kid does not grow up eating Mac & Cheese?  Well, my daughter did eat it and love it.  One of the big concerns we had early on was what were we going to do about her Mac & Cheese now that she had to be GF. We tried many different brands - Amy's, Pastaristo and Namaste.  But after many different attempts to find one that she liked we found Trader Joe's GF Rice Pasta & Cheddar In a box just like Kraft (which used to be her favorite).  It comes with the same packet of bright yellow powder.  The pasta is rice pasta and the flavoring contains milk but no other allergens.  Its easy to make and fills a small shelf in our pantry. Me, I prefer a homemade mac & cheese with cheddar and blue and gruyere topped with GF bread crumbs that are toasted.  But what my little one wants, she gets (sometimes). Put on some water to boil and cook up some TJ's GF M&C, The Un-Gluten Guy

Potato latkes are a favorite food during Hannukkah.  Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights and although they only had enough oil to burn their candles for one night it magically lasted 8 nights.  In addition to lighting the menorah and eating sufganiyot (jelly donuts) we eat potato pancakes or latkes. These are great anytime of year and at anytime.  Make them for breakfast, have for a snack, this time of year they become a dinner time appetizer.  There are numerous ways to make them.  Many people add flour, some add eggs, some add cornstarch.  I have made them every way and I like them best made simple - potatoes, onions and salt.  Cornstarch or eggs are a simple GF binding agents and if you want to use eggs add 1 beaten egg for 3 large potatoes big.  But for a nice size, tasty latka you can get by with out it. For this batch I grated 3 large russet potatoes after pealing them.  I also grated in 1/2 of a large yellow onion.  Next take it all and place into a heavy dish cloth, o

What's in your lunch box.  Lunch is one of those things that I constantly deal with.  At work there are no safe food items at the cafeteria and if a company brings in lunch from a restaurant there is never a GF item on table. So I bring my lunch - every day.  When I decide what I will bring for lunch it usually depends on how much time I have the night before to prepare my food for the next day. Factors include - do you have a refrigerator, microwave or toaster at work?  Is there a risk of cross contamination?(such as in the toaster)  I luckily have a personal refrigerator and microwave in my office. I decided to keep track of what I brought to work for lunch for two weeks.  Hopefully this helps you and gives you some ideas for lunch.  Please comment on what you bring for lunch.  We may all learn some new packable GF lunches. Week One Monday - Turkey salad (the last of Thanksgiving leftovers).  I brought GF Matzo crackers to eat the turkey salad with (since I do not have

A friend introduced me to  Pamela's  a while back.  I am not a believer that any one blend is perfect for everything, but this is good for many recipes.  I have tried many commercial blends and mixed up blends from various cookbook authors.  I have found I use my own blends for very specific recipes but sometimes you want something handy that you can go to quickly. Her blend contains brown, white and sweet white rice flour, cultured buttermilk, almond meal, tapioca starch, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum.  So obviously you need to avoid it if you have dairy or nut allergies. Pamela's baking mix is one that we keep handy in the large size.  We routinely make pancakes and her recipe of her mix plus egg, water and oil is very simple and produces breakfast quickly.  We usually make a large batch on the weekend and the kids reheat them during the week for breakfast.  They have the appearance of a pancake (some GF I tried in the early phases wer

When it comes to spices you have many options.  We initially went through our spice cabinet and threw out many things when I was first diagnosed.  We have found some things that were okay and technically did not contain any gluten ingredients.  But when you look into many companies that produce many products and state that they clean lines but do not test batches to verify that they are GF. Then I ran across  Spicely .  They are a company out of Fremont, California that produces spices and extracts.  They are certified organic, vegan, kosher and GF.  Yes, certified GF.  This always reduces my anxiety level, especially if I am making a dish and adding a lot of spice. It was time to clean out our spices anyway - they all tend to lose flavor over time so we picked up a bunch of things that I commonly use. I have used the chili powder and smoked paprika on chili and taco seasoning.  The dry chili flakes are great on pasta and pizza.  Garlic and oregano on garlic bread.  Herbs de P