Month: May 2016

Time to End Cross Contamination on GF Labeled Foods

As much as I love Aldi’s (See my last two posts!) I have a peeve with them and also with Trader Joe’s.  I ate some mini edemame chips a friend gave me last week, the packet said GF on it  When I got done I went back and read that it was made on a processing line that might have had contact with wheat.  Gross as I had eaten the whole bag over a few days snacking.  Not the first time that has happened.  When people give me gifts that say GF on them I tend to have my guard down and feel safe to consume.  Not a good situation.  Happened with those pea pod snap crackers a few months ago too…

This sort of issue is pretty common at both Aldi’s and Trader Joe’s. Many times I put food items back on the shelf after scanning the package and finding words of shared processing equipment. I can’t buy much of their nuts, dried fruits or seeds due to the shared equipment.  Most of them don’t say GF on them but honestly, I expect a jar of plain roasted peanuts or plain almonds to be GF, not to mention dried fruit.  It is so disappointing to look at the package and see those fatal words of possible cross contamination. aldi' nuts

FYI: GF means no wheat, rye or barley of any form or version in the ingredients 20 ppm (parts per million) gluten in it.  Cross contamination is when my normally safe food picks up tiny amounts of gluten from the processing equipment because it was previously used to process food that contains gluten i.e. Wheat/rye/barley flour or grain.

Anyone who knows celiac disease knows that cross contamination is a major issue for celiac persons.  I generally don’t buy food that has that possible contamination disclaimer on the package.  If you have celiac you try to avoid even small amounts of gluten as they have such a terrible effect on your body.  So the possibility of even a tiny bit is enough to make me reluctantly put back chips, nuts, etc.  Who wants to spend good money on food that you end up pitching or giving away because of a slight amount of gluten that is making you feel terrible?

Aldi’s, and to some extent Trader Joe’s, make a big deal out of catering to gluten free eaters.  The biggest and most vocal group is those of us with celiac.  We have to avoid anything with 20 ppm or more of gluten in our food, some get sick even at that low level of contamination. I am very careful to avoid any possible gluten.  I get pretty sick and if it happens again within a week or two I feel even worse the second time.  God forbid it happens a third time….

If you put that “GF” labeling on your package of food I am trusting that it will be safe for me, someone with celiac disease.  A tiny bit of gluten is still terrible for me. That label is misleading if there is even a small chance of contamination due to shared processing lines. Telling me “No gluten ingredients used” is simply NOT enough.

baptism and beef goulash 023

This is the back of the bag for those edamame crackers.  See the shared equipment statement? And their No Gluten Ingredients Used marker?

So why, do they use the same equipment that processed gluten containing products?  Why not have dedicated GF foods only equipment?  It makes a lot of sense to all of us who’s lives depend on eating safely every. single. day. This is not a “choice” this is a life style for our very survival.  You mess with that when you label food as GF which for me means totally safe.  And yet….it might not be safe for a celiac due to this cross contamination issue.  I can’t even understand how they can use that label if there is a cross contamination possibility due to shared equipment.  If you want the right to put GF on your package you darn well better create it in a gluten free environment and that means equipment that NEVER processed gluten containing foods.  It is very difficult to fully clean this equipment to return it to a fully gf state.

Time for both Aldi’s and Trader Joe’s to clean up their act and use only dedicated GF equipment for foods that normally do not contain gluten products.  May is National Celiac Awareness Month; a perfect time to come clean both of you, Aldi’s and Trader Joe’s.  Just do it.  We with celiac will eat safer and buy more gf foods at your stores. I promise.

OMG: More Good Stuff at Aldi’s!

More Aldi’s reviews.  Went back this Friday for gardening gear and came away with that and so much more!  Last time I got some of the General Tso’s Chicken; frozen Chinese meal; general Tzo's chickenbreaded chicken chunks and packets of sauce. I served mine over brown rice with side of steamed broccoli.  It was pretty good, especially since I really haven’t eaten out for Chinese food in over 2 years.  I can’t find any local places that are truly safe in terms of gluten.  Soy sauce is a big issue not to mention the cross contamination problems.  I don’t think I will eat it regularly; not cheap and it is prepared food so there are additives and more salt, fat and sugar than I would like.  Still, I sure enjoyed it. For me the 22 ounce package made 3 regular servings, not the 4.5 the package says.

 

cheddar crackersThis time I got some  crazy yummy LiveGfree gluten free cheddar cheese crackers.  They were more than a little additive, reminding me of Cheezits. Only 110 calories for 28 crackers. I enjoyed them as I pulled out of the Aldi’s parking lot, starved and they were handy!.

 

Then I saw this item in the bargain bin, bought it and later tested the fusion Jerky Island Teriyaki Artisan Pork Jerky, tasty if a bit chewy.  Really long time since I had jerky so I honestly don’t remember what it tastes like much less the chew factor. pork jerky  Still, a handy portable snack.  The package advertises no artificial ingredients and minimally processed.  There were two other flavors, one was garlic jalapeño and chipotle lime, thinking on them….

 

roasted popcornAnd then there was the somewhat tasty spicy Roasted Sweet Corn Popcorn. I thought it a tad dry, rather roasty for me.  I didn’t eat too much of it, yet.  Maybe it will grow on me.

 

There are so many gluten free food items at Aldi’s these days I have to stop and just walk away towards the register, I want them all.  But I don’t like to eat too much processed foods so I try to restrain myself.  Looking for fruit, I did buy a big bag of navel oranges for three bucks and chose some USDA Choice stew meat for making my beef goulash this weekend. They have some fairly decent fruits and veggies; seems like more than in past months. Worth a trip especially if you eat gluten free.

Aldi’s has a lot of gardening, patio, camping, outdoor dining gear at great prices if you need some of that sort of thing.  I went for some garden stuff and came away with the cheese crackers and other food items…well I was actually looking for those crackers; heard they were tasty.  And I found a sweet looking, pale blue glass Mason jar patio light for my porch set.  Cool!  mason jar light

Aldi’s Celebrates National Celiac Awareness Month

Aldi’s has some new gluten free stuff of late.  May is National Celiac Awareness Month so everyone I know who has celiac is buzzing to help everyone understand celiac disease and it seems Aldi’s has brought out a bunch of new LiveGFree products in the past few weeks.  Aldi’s is a German company but they have a number of stores in the US and sell many gluten free products (the LiveGFree line comes to mind) and mark some of their store brand prepared foods GF which is a big help…I get tired of reading tiny print to check for questionable ingredients.  Anyway, I got a few things there last week and I want to share my thoughts.

First off, gluten free spinach and cheese ravioli sold as frozen loose ones in a bag. I boiled them for 7-8 minutes and served with a simple puttanesca sauce; spicy tomato sauce with black olives and capers.  Topped it with some fresh grated real Parmesan cheese.  Fantastic! The texture of the dough was great and the filling delish. Bet they would be great sautéed with onions and butter.

aldi ravioli

I have some plain cheese ones too; I am guessing they are good too. They also sell a rectangular box of ravioli in sauce that is pretty tasty when heated in the microwave, get them often for a treat. I just don’t have time to make homemade ravioli these day so I am thrilled that Aldi’s is providing tasty choices for me; was really missing my ravs!

multigrain tortilla chips

Secondly, I love their Simply Nature multigrain tortilla chips….just addictive with hummus.  Speaking of which, Giant has store brand hummus in a wide variety of flavors.  Most are marked gluten free right on the lid.  Excellent flavor and texture and I especially like the spinach artichoke and roasted garlic varieties.hummus

Aldi’s has some yummy crackers and chips; these sweet chili ones are nearly addictive if spicy! chili rice crisps

Finally, I found a couple varieties of gf hot pockets, ham and cheese and spinach, artichoke and kale pockets. I think I wrote before about the tasty pepperoni hot pockets and the Southwestern ones which are okay.  Ham and cheese hot pockets are quite nice but I really enjoy the spinach, artichoke and kale ones, really great flavor.  Love them for quick work lunches, with a yogurt and a piece of fresh fruit. spinach hot pockets

They sell eggs cheap which I use in great quantity when I bake as well as decent produce like baby kale, arugula, berries, citrus and avocados.  Better prices than most grocery stores.

I got a few other new food items at Aldi’s.  I will be testing them in coming weeks. Yumm!

Lemon Meringue Pie for Mom

This pie is old school delicious.  Yes, more pie…per my promise of a recipe a week for the whole year. This is my mom’s bastardized version of a Betty Crocker recipe and made gluten free with my favorite crust.  It has no gelatin for you gel haters! I make it with the lesser amount of sugar in the filling but you can more than double it if you are a sweet freak.  I have never met a man who didn’t love it, well…maybe one. My friend Russel doesn’t care for anything with lemons. But his wife Claire adores lemon so this pie is for her and my mom…(It’s Mother’s Day after all!) and my brother Christopher who often requests this pie when he is in town.

If I have them, I always use Meyer lemons for this recipe.  Your pie will have a really delicate flavor – so light I sometimes call it lemon cloud pie!  Don’t worry; regular lemons work just fine. It can be difficult to find Meyer lemons and pricey too.

I have never gotten my mom to admit it but I am positive she added extra egg whites to her meringue.  Her pie was towering with the white fluffy stuff unlike my nearly level pie made with just three whites.  It is up to you how impressive you want your dessert to look. But if you have company you might want to go for the big bang of a four- five egg white meringue topping for maximum wow power

My mom added the touch of corn syrup to replace some of the reduced out sugar and because it makes the texture of this pie creamier and more delicate.  Don’t make this pie on a very humid day or the meringue will weep and bead on the top.  It will taste fine but the look will suffer from the humidity. My slice picture shows some of that beading; it started to get humid that day and my pie still tasted fantastic even with the slight beading issue.

Store any leftover pie in the fridge. It doesn’t keep more than two days but frankly none of it ever lasts more than two days.

 

Mom’s Lemon Meringue Pie

Crust:

1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe) [King Arthur plain mix]

2 tbsp sweet rice flour

1 Tbps. granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

6 Tbps. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 lg egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Spray 9 inch metal pie pan with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice.  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes. Then roll it out and line a 9 inch pie pan with it.  Make sure you get the middle nice and thin; this crust can be tough to get the center as thin as the edges. Prick it all over with a fork to keep it from bubbling out and bake the empty crust at 375 for 10-12 minutes until light brown.  Let cool.

Lemon Filling:

Ingredients:

1/3 to ¾ cup sugar

1/3 plus 1 tbsp. corn starch

1 ½ cup water

3 eggs, separated; yolks for filling, save whites for meringue

1-2 tsp. lemon zest

½ cup fresh lemon juice

2-3 tbsp. clear corn syrup

3 tbsp. butter cut in small chunks

Directions:

Start oven heating to 400 degrees for browning the topped pie.

Mix the sugar and corn starch in a heavy bottomed medium sized saucepan.  Add the water, stirring.  Heat until it boils, stirring constantly, boil one minute, take off heat.  Beat yolks briefly in a small mixing bowl, then add the hot stuff slowly to it; half the hot mixture, stirring constantly.  Then dump it all back into the saucepan, bring to a boil, stir like a crazy person so it doesn’t scorch. Boil 1 minute at medium heat.  Remove from heat, stir in the lemon juice and zest and then stir in the butter.  Let it melt as you stir.  Glug in some corn syrup. Pour the hot lemon filling into the pie crust.  Top while still hot with the meringue you just beat up. Make sure you get the meringue all the way across the top and along every single edge. No cracks, no gaps. Bake it 10-11 minutes until light brown. Cool to room temperature and then chill for 2-6 hours.  Slice and serve.

Meringue topping

The three egg whites (or 4-5)

¼ tsp. cream of tarter

6 tbsp. granulated sugar (or 8-10 tbsp.)

Beat the whites and the cream of tarter until it is past the foamy stage, add the sugar half a tbsp. at a time beating on high until the whites are stiff and glossy.  This will take several minutes.

If you add one or two extra egg whites add another ¼ tsp. cream of tarter and add 2 tbsp. sugar for each extra white.

—————–

Brown Rice Flour Mix (Same as King Arthur All purpose blend)
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

Originally posted March 2015, slightly revised for this posting.

The Perils of Eating Out…

Everyone loves to eat out.  So nice to have someone cook for you, no dishes, right?  Well, if you have celiac disease you must avoid even tiny amounts of gluten. So eating out is sadly a huge problem in this geographic area as there are very few restaurants that have a real gluten free menu.  If we were in California, that’s another story; most every restaurant there has a gf menu and they know what they are doing.  Here in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania it is not like that.  Most of the times I get glutened I am eating in a restaurant, food that was allegedly prepared for me knowing I have celiac.  And yet I get sick sometimes. Why is that I wonder?

I was glutened just recently and since this place has a gluten free menu I felt it shouldn’t have happened. I have eaten there several times safely in the past three years. Great food generally. I know the chef was in so it wasn’t like someone was subbing for him.  I have asked and am told they have separate pots for gluten free pasta.  I didn’t get desperately ill; call it medium sick so I know it’s not like they served me regular pasta.  But there must have been some form of definite contamination. Bummer.  The thing is, when restaurants go to the trouble of having a gf menu and serving great safe gluten free foods they are providing an important service.  People with celiac celebrate birthdays, events, anniversaries, have dates or just get sick of eating at home. There are so few places one can eat dinner out; it would be a shame to no longer go to my once favorite restaurant.  It took me six days to get over this moderate illness from my dinner out.  Six days of tummy pain and not feeling myself.  It is something I take seriously as the problem is not just the pain, it is the damage to my digestive system.  It can cause cancer and a whole host of diseases when you get glutened again and again.

So, I want to go over a few basic facts to remind folks who say they serve gf food what that should be like.  Maybe that place will read it and take some notes!

Pasta: If you have gf pasta on your menu you need a separate pot for boiling the pasta, separate strainer, separate colander and separate spoons.  You can NOT use the same water for gf pasta that you were making regular pasta in.  You can not use the same colander or strainer; tiny gummy bits of pasta stick in the holes and it is incredibly difficult to get them completely clean.  You can’t use the same baking dishes to make gf baked goods like muffins or cake; the tiny crumbs that remain even after a good washing are a major source of contamination.  Twenty parts per million, yes I said Million are considered contaminated food that a person with celiac disease cannot tolerate.  We are not exaggerating, we really, really need you to be careful.

Spices and Herbs: You can’t use spice blends as they often have flour in them.  But you can use single spices like cinnamon, paprika, ginger, etc.  I find much gf menu choices to be incredibly bland and lacking in any spices or herbs.  How drab.fresh herbs All fresh herbs are safe, so are typical dried ones like basil, oregano, thyme, sage, etc. Just skip the blends, or make your own, I do. All single McCormack spices are all safely gluten free.  I have  made gf homemade taco seasoning, garam masala and other blends.  Garlic is safe and adds a lot of flavor. Sometimes I am served a bone plain tomato sauce with not a single kind of herb or garlic.  That is just not appetizing. For anyone.  Why should folks with celiac have to eat drab boring bland food? Shouldn’t!  mcCormick spices

Misc. Ingredients: You can’t use butter from a common stick or dish; the knife that dips there might have touched regular bread.  Not safe for anyone with celiac. You can’t use the same mayo or mustard jar for the same reason.

Meats and more : Avoid meats that are sold in a marinade solution.  Ditto for poultry like whole turkeys or chickens. Unless the label says gf don’t get any meat in a marinade as they are more often than not unsafe for someone with celiac.

breadcrumbsMisc. Stuff: No regular bread crumbs; they sell gf ones, get some or grind up dry gf bread.  The canned broth stores sell is a contamination issue; wheat is in them for some darn reason.  But, there are safe brands; find one and stick to it. Or make your own which is far cheaper and there is no real reason for wheat flour in broth.

Okay, Restaurant Chefs: now that I have covered the basics; you know what you need to do.  Just stick to these simple rules for cooking your gluten free menu items. And do it every single day you are open.  So I don’t get sick again. Plus, you will be rewarded with repeat gluten free customers who tell all their gf friends to come to your place for a safe gluten free meal.  I know I share great eating places with others on social media and so do others.   Just please make it actually safe if you say it is gluten free on your menu.

I feel like sending a copy of this post to every restaurant within 40 miles of Hellertown.  Maybe I will!