The Open Face Elvis

I'm always looking for new options for breakfast. Here' one a throw in the rotation for a change of pace. I call it the Open Face Elvis.

Ingredients:
Two pieces of gluten free bread
Peanut butter
1 banana
bacon (optional)
Agave nectar (or honey)

Directions:
Toast two pieces of multigrain bread until crunchy. I use either Udi's whole grain bread or Rudi's multigrain bread. Spread peanut butter on the bread. Optionally, place crispy bacon on the bed of peanut butter. Arrange banana slices on the toast. Drizzle agave nectar over the sandwich. Enjoy!

Udi's on Twitter
Rudi's on Twitter

Gluten Free Items Found (and not purchased)

While wandering around Caputo's Market (on Twitter) in Plainfield last evening, I found a few gluten free items that were new to me. I purchased some (to be blogged later) and not others. Here are the ones I didn't buy (this time). Kudos to Caputo's for clear and easy to find shelf labels for gluten free items!

 I had never seen these Goya cookies. As perhaps you can tell from the photo, the box is a heavy duty cardboard. Really bizarre for a grocery item. Anyway, it was a huge box for $6 if I recall. A product of Spain I think. I'd hate to judge a cookie by its cover, but these didn't seem too appetizing to me.

 A lot of pepperoni claims to be gluten free, but there are very few pepperoni sticks that are labeled as gluten free. I was happy to see this stick from Boar's Head. Caputo's had a wide variety of Boar's Head meats, almost all of which were clearly marked as gluten free.

 There was a wide variety of meat products from Greenbridge Farm that were marked as gluten free. The picture is of some Black Forest Kielbasa.

Caputo's also had a full line of sausages from aidells (on Facebook).

More to come on the interesting items I bought...

Friday's Featured Music -- The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady

The ultimate name-dropping song:


Your Little Hoodrat Friend
Stuck Between Stations
Killer Parties
Chips Ahoy
Hurricane J

On Facebook
On MySpace
On Flikr
On Tour
On Twitter

Gluten Free Slawturday

Have you seen this recipe for slaw from Triumph Dining? I'm definitely going to make some slaw this weekend. Slawturday?

Man! The picture looks so tasty. I love these types of recipes, the kind that are essentially a list of variables.

Thanks Emily @TriumphDining

Schar Working on US Facility

From their website:

"On January 25th, 2011, we officially started the construction of our first manufacturing facility in the United States. Beginning early next year, this state-of-the-art, dedicated gluten-free facility will play a key role in bringing you the best in gluten-free taste and nutrition. And you will see some great new products as well - like our new frozen breads, Hearty White and Hearty Grain."

I have tried some of Schar's products, but should really try out a few more. It seems like I see something new at the grocery store every few weeks.

I wonder if a domestic production facility will result in lower prices. Schar says the new facility will result in a wider product line. That's good!

Gluten Free Tax Deductions Decoded

This may be the best explanation of how to deduct the cost of gluten free food from your taxes. Thanks to the Gluten Free Cooking School blog for the great post. Excellent!

BUT, it's not really practical for me.

On a related point. It's funny. I have found myself NOT noticing the price of the specialty gluten free food that I buy. I simply don't look at the price tag at the grocery store. Now, I'm fortunate to have the means to stay on a gluten free diet without too much financial worry. But still, when I first adopted the gluten free diet, it became apparent that the grocery budget was going to expand instantly. And yes, it did. In my view, grocery shopping can be enough of a struggle without the added stress of examining prices. Essentially, I made the choice to buy the food I like and need. This means that I regularly pay $5 for a loaf of bread (a small loaf of bread!), $8 for a package of cookies, and $6 for ONE bottle of beer.

The upside is that I have found a lot of really good organic or all natural foods (because they typically contain fewer ingredients and are typically produced by smaller companies that can pay closer attention to dietary needs). The price of specialty gluten free foods is what makes it a great celebration among the gluten free community when a "main stream" product goes gluten free. For example, it was a huge deal when Chex cereal went gluten free. This meant that there was now a more affordable gluten free cereal option. $2 for a box of Chex versus typically double that for a specialty gluten free cereal.

Google Search Adds Recipes

You can now search for recipes on Google! It's pretty cool. After you search for a recipe, you can limit your results by ingredients, cook time, and calories. Interesting. Hopefully some day they'll add allergy or dietary restrictions as a search feature. I tried searching "gluten free pizza" and "gluten free cake" and found some good results.

Tito's Handmade Vodka

There is still some concern over gluten content in vodka distilled from gluten-containing grains. See the discussion over at G-Free Foodie.

photo by miller prosser

In the face of this concern, it is comforting to see a clearly labeled gluten free vodka. Tito's Handmade Vodka is that vodka. It comes clearly labelled as gluten free, distilled from corn.

From their website:

"Tito’s is made from 100% corn and as a distilled spirit, is completely gluten-free. The distillation process removes the prolamines from the grain, the primary component that causes celiac disease sufferers to become ill when they consume products with gluten in them. Some producers add a little bit of the mash back into the spirit after distillation, which would add gluten content into an otherwise gluten-free distillate, but I don’t. It’s an important thing for us, and we actually include “GLUTEN-FREE” in lots of our materials and on the website so people can make informed choices. But, I am a vodka man, not a doctor, so if you have more questions or concerns, you should definitely talk to your doctor about it!"

I love that the explanation is informed.

Not only is it gluten free, but highly rated as well. I'm no expert taster, so I'm not qualified to judge critically one vodka from another. I know there are a few brands that strike my palate as slightly off. Tito's tastes smooth. It is drinkable neat or mixed. 

Tito's is based in Austin, TX. So, put on some James McMurtry tunes and sip some Tito's, even if it's snowing and cold outside.

Find Tito's on Twitter @titosvodka and Facebook. You can also find them of Flikr.

Free WebMD Magazine Subscription (digital)

Wow. Zinio is offering 8 free issues of WebMD the Magazine. They usually dedicate a few articles to allergies.

Check it out here.

BOGO Deal from Chipotle

NBC is offering a buy one get one deal from Chipotle, a popular restaurant for gluten free grub.

Click here to go to NBC's Facebook page. Watch a commercial to get the coupon.

(h/t Slickdeals)

GF Italian Potato and Sausage WIN

I stumbled my way into an amazing dinner last night.  I had been wanting to try two new gluten free products I found recently, Simply Potatoes Rosemary and Garlic Red Potato Wedges and Al Fresco Sweet Italian Style chicken sausages. So, I just tossed the potatoes and two sausages (sliced) in a skillet with some oil and sauteed until done. It doesn't get much easier than that.

The flavors complemented each other really well. Next time I may saute some minced garlic in oil before adding the potatoes and sausage.

Simply Potatoes is a product from Crystal Farms, which is in turn a Michael Foods company (twitter @michaelfoods). According to their website, all Simply Potatoes have been confirmed to be gluten free.

 These were the second flavor of Al Fresco sausages I have tried. Both have been great. All the Al Fresco sausages are gluten free EXCEPT the Mango Chipotle Chicken Sausage, which contains gluten in soy sauce. (Of course, they could use a gluten free soy sauce if they wanted to make the whole line gluten free!)

I can't wait to fix it again. That's usually the test for how much I like a new dish.

GF Rice and Chicken Casserole

Wondering what to make with the new gluten free condensed soup from Pacific Foods?

Try this recipe from their website.

I followed their recipe as closely as I could, which meant visiting three grocery stores before finding celery flakes.

Tasted great. Should be great as left-overs. 

Photos of the Day (wish we were there)

splash

tropical

Block My IL-15, PLEASE!

A new approach suggests possible help for treating Celiac disease:

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/news/20110208/new-treatment-for-celiac-disease

Another interesting take-away from this article: a vitamin A derivative may by complicit in the onset of Celiac disease. Wow.

Gluten Cross-Reactivity?

photo © 2006 Ben Cumming | more info (via: Wylio)

When I was diagnosed as having Celiac Disease (and DH), I was told that a strict gluten free diet was the only course of action. I am currently living the gluten free lifestyle. In theory, as long as I avoid gluten, I should expect to see a complete remission of the negative side effects, right? RIGHT?! Well, now I'm reading about a sticky little concept called gluten cross-reactivity.


"Cross-reactivity is a condition where your body’s autoimmune antibodies mistake other food proteins for ones you can’t tolerate. Cross-reaction to other foods creates the same effect as though you consumed gluten" (Paul Smith).


AWW, COME ON!! So, you're telling me that there are other food proteins that my body is mistaking for gluten? Sweet fancy Moses, that is depressing. So what are these other foods? Having read the list, I started to wonder if some of the IBS-type symptoms I have are related to these foods. It really seems possible.


The other food proteins include: dairy (big suprise), nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, tomatoes, aubergines), carrageenan, and potentially other foods including coffee. NOOOOOOO!!!!! See the list of foods under Array 4 in this information. At least this lab thinks that coffee is worth testing for. Has anybody had a test done by Cyrex labs?


From my experience, I think I am sensitive to the highly acidic items on the list, particularly tomatoes and coffee. I will sometimes notice that a home made gluten free pizza with home made tomato sauce will cause distress. Also, if I have coffee in the afternoon--forget it, I'm sick. It seems like I can get away with coffee in limited quantities. I am going to have to do some more testing on the tomato front.


It seems to me that there is not a lot of information on gluten cross-reactivity. If you have links to studies or other resources, please pass them along. Thx.


UPDATE: Here's a five minute video overview of cross-reactivity by Dr. Vikki Petersen.

Gluten Free Pantry French Bread & Pizza Mix

The great white whale of the gluten free food industry is bread and, by extension, pizza crust. Great strides have been made in the last few years toward capturing the whale, but we're still far short of the mark. Wow. When I first went gluten free nearly three years ago, the bread market was a pure disaster. I won't name specific brands, but it was a real nightmare. The current market is slightly better. I will even go so far as to assert that the gluten free bread industry still needs huge improvements. If we're honest, there is no way that the currently available pre-made loaves come close to glutinous bread. This just means that there is a lot of room in the market for new brands or improved older brands.

I usually keep a loaf of Rudi's Multigrain gluten free bread, a loaf of Udi's white bread, and a loaf of Udi's cinnamon and raisin bread in the freezer at all times. On the pizza front, I switch between Udi's and Rustic Crust.

The Rudi's bread is the closest to regular bread, in my opinion. It is the size of a typical loaf of sandwich bread. The multigrain tends to mask whatever negative gluten free taste may be there otherwise. I really like Udi's white bread for grilled cheese. But the size of Udi's bread makes it difficult to use for a cold cut sandwich. The cinnamon raisin bread makes great toast in the morning. The major problem with Udi's bread is the not uncommon presence of huge air bubbles through the loaf. Not a huge problem for toast, but a real pain for PB&J or grilled cheese. ALL of these breads will crumble when bent.

But this post is about a Gluten Free Pantry bread mix.

This mix requires more ingredients than some other mixes. For example, you need apple cider vinegar and honey. That's not a problem. Just more complex. Still, it was very easy to make. Unlike some mixes the dough really rose a lot.

With this mix I was able to make a medium thick pizza crust and a medium sized loaf of bread. Like most gluten free mixes, the dough was incredibly difficult to manipulate. It was extremely sticky. I didn't really try too hard to spread it thinly. Although, in retrospect, I think that would have improved the crust a great deal. In the end, it just didn't taste or feel like pizza crust. I wonder if I spread it cracker thin if it would be better. Hmmm.

As for the loaf of white bread, the picture shows how it formed, with a nice crispy crust and airy interior. In the end, the look and feel of the bread was very close to glutinous French bread. But again, the taste just didn't impress me. Honestly, most of the bread is going to go to waste just because it wasn't that great.

In the end, I would probably try this mix again as a super thin pizza crust. I, personally, have no use for this kind of French bread loaf. It's definitely no French baguette. HOWEVER, I can see how some people may enjoy it, so I guess I would still recommend it.

Breathing In Train Fumes is Dangerous

CBS News Chicago has the story. Turns out that it's dangerous to breath in train exhaust. Who would have guessed?


"Questions first mounted about the dangers of soot on Metra trains after an earlier test last year by the Tribune and the Chicago Respiratory Health Association. The test found that Metra trains pulling out of Union Station and the Ogilvie Transportation Center can have air trapped inside passenger cars that contains levels of diesel soot up to 72 times higher than on neighboring streets."


Anybody who has ever taken the train outbound from Union Station south knows not to walk down the platform toward the engine. Just get on the train at the first car and slowly work your way to the front. Or, just sit down in the middle of the train and walk ahead to the front of the train before your stop. Or, go ahead and breath in some deadly deadly fumes.


Hey, let's build the train station under streets and buildings. What could possibly go wrong!?

Photo of the Day

'merica

Photo of the Day

HDR photo - view from my window

GFOH - San-J Thai Peanut Sauce

GFOH is the on-going series of posts in which I present the gluten free products that are always on hand in my cupboards and fridge, thus, Gluten Free On Hand.

I always have a bottle of San-J Thai Peanut sauce on hand. It is gluten free and fantastic. There is nothing about the taste or flavor that would indicate that it is gluten free. It just takes like a great Thai sauce. It is very simple to use. I have used it in a wok. I have marinated with it. I have baked with it. And I have just poured it over chicken and rice, as pictured. It's so sad, I could probably eat this three times a week. I'm getting hungry just looking at this picture.

"The Daily" iPad App

I read a lot of news on my iPad, mostly through RSS feeds. However, I also use a lot a free apps like BBC, HuffPo, NPR, AP, et al. So, when I saw that the new The Daily app had been released, I was curious. There has been a lot of buzz about how the app has been built from the ground up and that millions of dollars went into its development. Luckily, the app is free for two weeks or else I never would have tried it. After the two week free trial, the app will charge $.99/week or $39.99/year. Much cheaper than a real newspaper, much more expensive than the numerous free news apps. Oh, and by the way, there are still ads (at least in the free trial version).

The opening splash screen is a horizontal carousel. By the way, it will rotate on its own if you just leave it alone. Along the bottom of the screen are news sections. A bright light shines beneath the current section. Tapping a section navigates to that section and leaves the carousel. Then, a sort of horizontal timeline at the top of the screen shows the current location in the "newspaper." The section splash screens contain links to some of the stories in that sections, apparently NOT to all the stories in the section. That seems odd to me. The sections are static and cannot be customized. Compare the FREE Huffington Post iPad app that is highly customizable.

At the top right of the main splash screen is a weather bug, which when tapped navigates to a weather page with a 5-day or 12-hour forecast, radar maps, and a daily horoscope. Really? Horoscope? Sheesh. Also along the bottom of the splash screen is an arrow that brings up six buttons: video, audio, forward to next story, random story, saved pages, and settings. There are very few settings in this iteration of the app (version 1.0.0).

What stands out immediately about this app is the creative interactive elements. At some points it is very disappointing. At other points it is exactly what the iPad is all about. For example, on the disappointing side, one might guess that the video button would play a video associated with the story currently being displayed. No. As best I can tell, it just plays the same daily summary video clip. Why? On the creative side, the app will display a lot of images in landscape mode, but switch to the text of the story in portrait mode. Also, I saw one story that included a 360 degree rotating image. Pretty cool.

What about the content. If today's edition of The Daily is representative, I would characterize the content as unserious. Ok fine. It is the day after the Super Bowl, and most newspapers are going to be football heavy. But The Daily offers "Gossip" as its second category. No, not World News. No, not Politics. Not even Local News, which you might think it capable of. Gossip! And the third section...Opinion. After that, you're getting into the deep sections of the newspaper, ones that tend not to be journalistic. Don't get me wrong, Arts & Life is a good read and can be educational but its not typically hard-hitting journalism. The Apps & Games section has daily Sudoku, Crossword, and articles.

In the end, The Daily is a flashy, interactive, shallow, and unserious news source that I will not be subscribing to.

More on the Gluten Free Bubble

This article asks some of the same questions that I asked in a previous post. Turns out, others foresee a decline in the gluten free market.

Photo of the Day

snow falling

Gluten Free at Jersey Mike's

Eating gluten free at the sub shop. What's the point, right? Well, when the food and service are as good as Jersey Mike's, it might just be worth it.

I had read online that this sub shop had some gluten free offerings so I decided to give it a try. We were lucky to go early enough in the day because it wasn't busy. The manager at the Naperville, IL location was great. He walked us through the menu and explained the "sub in a tub", which is the gluten free option. I could see crumbs all over the preparation area so I asked if he could take precautions to prevent cross-contamination. He immediately understood and made sure his staff used a different preparation area and changed into new gloves.

I ordered the Italian sub in a tub with all the oils and spices. It tasted great. Essentially, the sub in a tub is the sandwich fixin's (sans bread) served in a plastic clamshell thingy. My lunch-mate had the turkey and provolone on white bread. The bread looked and smelled amazing, so stay away you Celiacs if this is too tempting for you! Otherwise I highly recommend this sub shop.

When Will the GF Bubble Burst?

I feel incredibly fortunate to live in an area that has an abundance of gluten free options, both in grocery stores and restaurants. I can usually find any gluten free product I want. Sadly, I don't take advantage of all the resources that are available to me. I take for granted that restaurants will have gluten free menus and that Whole Foods will have gluten free seminars. And somewhere in the back of my mind there is a nagging fear that one day this bubble will burst. Someday the market for gluten free products will decline and retailers will reduce shelf space dedicated to specialty products. Someday there won't be enough demand in restaurants to justify specialty training of cooks and servers. But these are all just fears right? There's really no reason to worry, right?

After all, it would stand to reason that the increase in demand for gluten free products is directly related to the increase in diagnosis and awareness of Celiac and gluten intolerance, right? But is that really the case? What if the increase in demand is due to the perception that "gluten free" is inherently healthier? Check out this quote from a recent industry survey:

"Only 8 to 12 percent of gluten free consumers said they bought gluten free products because they or a member of their household has celiac disease or an intolerance to gluten, wheat or other ingredients."

Wow! 46% of respondents said they bought gluten free products because they thought they were healthier overall. This 46% is the bubble.

Of course a gluten free diet is not necessarily healthier for people without gluten intolerance. Typically a gluten free diet lacks in certain nutrients and should be followed with care and intention.

My fearful prediction is that the gluten free bubble will burst once these voluntary gluten free eaters learn that it is not a healthy diet for them. In the mean time, I continue to enjoy the expanding bubble.

Are Wow Bakery GF Cookies Available in Chicagoland?

As far as I can remember I have not seen any products from Wow Baking company in my local stores. They look mighty tasty.  Now I'm on a mission...

How Do You Respond to Misinformation?

In general, this is a question we all have to deal with on a daily basis. With the normalization of the internet and the increase in potential media inputs, it stands to reason that we all have more information than we need really. But is any of this information reliable? Between Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and even TV and ancient media like radio, one is faced with a wide range of potentially conflicting information. Which inputs are reliable and which can be brushed aside? It is sometimes difficult to make this type of determination. It begins with the assumption that we ourselves have access to correct information upon which to base our conclusions about new inputs. Can I trust any news website? (Hint: No.) Ultimately, we all develop our own filter for evaluating information that we read or hear. Ideally, after a lot of exposure to a given topic we can develop a reliable filter. Maybe even an informed filter. Even if we still cannot say which input is right or wrong, we can at least identify the perspective and viewpoint of a given input.

I would like to think that I have developed a well-informed filter when it comes to a few specific topics, two of these being Celiac disease and the gluten free diet in general. I have read enough medical journal articles, specialized magazines, books, and professional blogs to develop a fairly advanced filter for accurate and inaccurate information. Even if I am not a medical specialist, I can sniff out when a source is somehow not entirely trustworthy. And of course, a lot of information is easily searched out on the internet. So, if someone tweets, "Red Stripe beer is gluten free," I can search the internet and find out pretty quickly that this is false and that perhaps the person meant to tweet Redbridge instead.

All this introduction to ask, what is the appropriate response to incorrect information, whether in print or online? With the Twitter example of Red Stripe, it is rather easy to respond on Twitter and correct the information. In this case I would hate to have someone drink a Red Stripe and react negatively to the gluten content. But, what about other cases where the information is more complex or controversial. For example, every week or so it seems I see an online post about the dangers of using creams, shampoos, and other external products that contain gluten. Immediately, my filter sets off a red blinking light. I think, "Now wait, my understanding is that the negative side effects of gluten intolerance are triggered by ingesting gluten." At first, I doubt myself. Then, I recover my certainty and realize that the person posting this information is either confused or has done a poor job explaining themselves. Either they are talking about a gluten allergy and have confused this with Celiac disease, or they read an unreliable source and accepted it as fact. Ok. So then what is the next step? Do I go through the entire process of explaining the difference between a gluten allergy and Celiac disease? Do I post a response on this person's blog? Sadly, I'm usually too lazy or busy to respond and I just move one.

Thoughts?

Photo of the Day

Snow packs in between the screen and storm window.

New GF: Kohinoor Rice Treat

The "International Aisle" at the grocery store can be overwhelming some times. There are a lot of items that I've never eaten before and don't know if I can eat on a gluten free diet. Kohinoor Rice Treat,clearly labeled as gluten free, is a ready-to-eat rice pilaf that is easily prepared in the microwave. I would call this more of a side dish than a treat. We're not talking about a Rice Krispie treat here. This is a spicy rice side dish. I tried the Hyderabad Vegetable Pilaf. It had a complex flavor profile, including seasonings that you don't find in most packaged foods, like clove, cinnamon, bay leaf, large cardamon, mace, nutmeg, and saffron. No artificial flavors or preservatives! While the final product looks nothing like the photo on the packaging, the flavor was bold and satisfying. There are a few other flavors in the "Rice Treat" line and I'm looking forward to trying them all.