gluten free

GF Easter Meals…Hints and Ideas

Preparing for a gluten free Easter can be daunting but if you plan carefully you can be eating some great food and all of it safe and easy to prepare.  Let me give you a few baking hints and menu ideas to assist in creating the best Easter ever, even gluten free.

First off, don’t forget the basics, read labels, avoid spice mixes and don’t assume stuff is gluten free just because you think it should be.  I have been tripped up by roasts with built in marinades that contained gluten, by seasoning mixes, or by tasty country ham which had no warnings but turned out to be full of gluten.  Read the label. I no longer buy ham or bacon unless the label reads gluten free as I have been taken down by hidden sources of gluten; seasonings, marinades and curing mixes.  So be very careful selecting that ham or roast.  Take the time to read and be sure before spending a lot on a roast that you will end up giving away the leftovers because it ruined your day due to hidden gluten.

Okay, done with the scary but necessary lecture and on to more fun things.  Like rolls that are light and tender yet easy to make.  I posted them last March but have moved them up so if you click on my blog they should be right at the top.  I’ve made them several times and they are a fantastic option for a holiday meal.  Also great choices are the French bread recipe in my blog or my Italian fennel and orange bread.  Both are delicious and my non-celiac family requests them regularly when we get together to visit.boston trip 002

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Orange flourless cake we had last spring for a dessert, topped with candied lemon slices, raspberries and slivered almonds. Yum!

I myself this Easter am making a roast chicken, requested by my mom.  It will not be stuffed in the interest of saving time but I will make roasted root veggies in the pan as well as homemade mashed potatoes.  All naturally gluten free. For dessert we are going to enjoy a cherry sunrise pie; also homemade, easy and gluten free; recently posted on my blog. I am using ginger snaps this time to make my crust; got them on sale last week. You can buy a redi-made gf crust at Wegmans or health food stores like Fry’s here in Hellertown.  Such an easy and tasty pie, I find it hard to even look at any other dessert for Easter lunch.

Other foods I am making for company include shrimp cannelloni with saffron sauce (adapted by me to be gluten free) and an Indonesian chicken curry with a dozen toppings.  Getting all the toppings ready and arranged is the tricky part but it is worth the effort.

And, we will be having a few other desserts.  I am making a lemon buttermilk bundt cake from my Heritage Classics cookbook by Annalise Roberts (I have made several items from that cookbook and each has been fantastic and not too tricky either!) and a ricotta based cannoli pie – http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-cannoli-pie/ .  Both sound perfect and I can’t wait to taste them. I sure miss cannolis!

In summary, don’t get all worked up on it; stick to simple menu choices, avoid eating a lot of processed foods and make things that are naturally gluten free where ever possible. This will be my fourth gluten free Easter and the best ever!

There Is Support Out There!

This is a brief post for anyone who hasn’t found a support group to help them deal with celiac disease.

If you are looking for help in adjusting to celiac disease and are active on facebook there are several national and international celiac support groups you can join.  I am in a few and find them helpful in a variety of ways: people post concerns and others respond with ideas or answers.  Recipes get posted, menu ideas shared as well as discussions on the safety of a wide variety of processed foods from rice mixes to chips to teas and a thousand foods in between.  You can put up pictures of tasty food you are serving, ask about places to dine out gf on vacation and share how your meals out went.  If you desire you can get personal; discuss your symptoms, treatments and test results in detail with others who suffer similarly. gluten free

Some of these are international and some more USA based. Just ask to be added, I have never been turned down by a group and you don’t have to post anything, just treat it as another good celiac resource.

The ones I know about are:

www.facebook.com/groups/glutenfreeconnections/

www.facebook.com/groups/community.glutenfree/

www.facebook.com/groups/Celiacdiseasesupport/

and one for low sugar types: www.facebook.com/groups/481501942001602/

Check them out. I doubt you will regret joining one and the wealth of support is a real boon when you feel “oh so alone” in your gluten free status.

There are also local chapters of national celiac organizations; just google and check them out.

Another site I like is glutenfreephilly.com.  gluten free phillyI used that site to find a great restaurant in Philadelphia last week for dinner after the flower show.  Had used it once before – works all over PA, NJ and Delaware.

It sure can’t hurt to have more  resources for help especially if you are new to being gluten free.

Spring Italian Wedding Soup

My dear friend Cathy’s kids used to call this grass soup when they were little because it is chock full of fresh spinach that melts into this healthy and tasty soup.  I make mine with ground chicken for the tiny meatballs.  You could use ground turkey, veal or beef.  You can make this soup with canned broth; be sure it is gluten free if you have celiac disease like I do, for some odd reason many manufacturers add some (wheat) flour to their broth.  My favorite broth choice is Kitchen Basic, and they also have a low salt broth.  Homemade chicken broth is going to make it more flavorful if you have some around but sometimes we just don’t have time to make fresh broth.  The recipe is my modifications of a soup by Ina Garten, which can be found on foodnetwork.com.

I discovered a new bread crumb by Alieas Love of Artisan Food; gluten free Italian bread crumbs; and it worked perfectly for this recipe. I found them in my local Giant grocery store. They do have dairy and egg in them if you want to know. The store also had panko bread crumbs by this same company; next time I need panko I know what I am getting.

Don’t freak out if you only have one carrot or don’t want as much of any ingredient; relax and make it your way.  Some versions have fresh dill chopped up and added at the end 2-3 tbsp. of it. Next time! stir fry, pan dowdey and crocus 007

Angie’s Italian Wedding Soup

Meatballs

1 lb ground chicken

1 large egg

About ½-2/3 cup gf bread crumbs

¼ cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

½ tsp. sea salt

Soup

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium to large yellow onion, diced

2 carrots, unpeeled, sliced into quarter rounds

2 celery stalks diced including the leaves

1 or 2 garlic cloves

½ cup white wine

1 1/2 quarts of gluten free chicken broth

½ cup tiny gf pasta; I found some tiny ring shaped pasta

1 package fresh baby spinach, standard size

½ to 1 tsp. sea salt and some fresh black pepper

Directions: Crack the egg and mix it up well before you dump the rest of your meatball ingredients into a large mixing bowl, stir up with your hands and form into 1 1/4 inch diameter meatballs, 1 and ½ inches maximum.  Place them 1-2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, bigger ones will need a few more minutes. If you feel perfectionistic, turn them half way though the baking, not really that necessary though.

While they bake, heat the olive oil in a large saucepan; I used a two quart one.  Add the diced onion, celery and carrots.  Cook them about 6-8 minutes until soft, add the garlic and cook another minute.  Add the broth and white wine to the soup, stirring frequently; bring to a boil and add the meatballs, reheat, add the pasta, cook until nearly done, add the spinach, cook 1-2 minutes; taste and adjust the salt. Add fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Pour in a bowl.  I topped mine with some more fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Perfect meal when you want to sooth a still slightly iffy tummy.

Banana Chip Snafu

A few weeks ago I bought a bag of banana chips at Aldi’s, one of my favorite shopping places. I never got around to them until the other day, home recovering from a twenty four hour stomach bug.  The thing is, if you have celiac, you tend to take a bit longer to get over that which used to be 24 hours.  One’s tummy just doesn’t rebound like it used to.  More time, lighter fair and less stress are called for.  So banana chips seemed like a suitable snack.  I ate a lot of them.  And within an hour I was fairly ill with that familiar burning pain of being glutened.  It isn’t the same as a tummy ache.  Just to be clear, not the same area nor the same feeling.  Not fun.

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After several days for my digestive system to recover from the setback I am mostly better this week, finally back to exercising, and almost able to eat as before although it will be a few more days before I attempt anything too spicy!  Learned my lesson…the packaging didn’t say gluten free.  It didn’t list wheat or any type of gluten on the package.  Nor did it say processed on equipment that processed wheat.  But somehow it had been cross contaminated and that was a real shame for my health and my peace of mind.  I had been feeling so comfortable with Aldi’s foods.  Now I need to re think them and make more careful choices.  I won’t stop shopping there but no more banana chips and I suggest you avoid them if you have celiac disease. If you suffer from it as I do, you know how easily we can become ill from a tiny amount of gluten.  It is no exaggeration but hard reality. So be cautious when you are snacking and look for that gf label folks. There are lots of safe snacks available from fresh produce to homemade snacks and store bought processed items.  Just read the packages and be safe.

Three Years Gluten Free and Still Baking

Right about now it is three years since I first felt the wonderful moment when my tummy made its happiness known to me.  I had been totally gluten free for about two weeks.  It came to me that something was missing and that something was the pain in my gut that never ever went away.  It was a revelation.  So I am mostly pain free, still some issues.  I do get glutened by accident upon occasion, usually rarely. Once, several times in a month: which left me in a state of nearly constant nausea.   Thankfully that hasn’t happened in over a year. In fact, my blood work in October 2015 was totally normal for my liver levels and celiac markers.  That doesn’t mean I don’t have celiac, just that I am eating very safely. Yay!

I was a baker since my childhood; stirring up batches of Christmas cookies.  I’ve cooked meals since I was 14 or so and have been a lover of good food all my life.  So I had a good foundation of cooking skills and knowledge before having to change my lifestyle to totally gluten free. I thought it was like a death sentence being denied my bread and pasta.  I hear that sentiment sometimes from acquaintances who blurt it out upon hearing what I can’t eat anymore. I make no response most of the time to such negativity.  Occasionally I do respond with something to the effect that, Nope, it’s okay: I am doing great and enjoying eating tasty food.  And that, my friends, is the honest truth.  I am doing great and I really do eat a lot of delicious food, all gluten free. pretzels 011I can honestly say I have not knowingly eaten gluten, not more than a scrap of cheese ball (3 Christmases ago) which had a tiny amount of blue cheese that was possibly a tiny bit wheat. It did teach me a lesson and I am very careful on my blue cheese; FYI: most American blue cheese is safe.

I have learned to be a more careful baker; I follow recipes for baking much closer with consistent results. I blend up my own gf flour mixes, saves a lot of cash.  I actually enjoy the self sufficiency of baking my own cookies, muffins, pies and quick breads.  I have enjoyed adventures in making my own gf foods including pasta, soft pretzels, breads, muffins and healthy things like raw sauerkraut,

my own kefir and I have just started creating kombucha tea starter. These last three items are specifically for gut health and they can be pricey so I make my own which is very satisfying and is about a quarter the cost of readi-made.  DIY is fun and saves cash.  It helps me avoid saturated and hydrogenated fats as well as a heap of sugar and salt.  Processed gf foods are full of such and I am glad to avoid most of it. My focus is more and more on seasonal produce and fresh meats in small portions with the addition of grains like quinoa or rice.  I especially love stir fries which combine lots of veggies, great flavors like ginger and toasted sesame with small servings of meat or fish.  Served over rice they are perfect suppers.  Sometimes I make rice noodles to stir into the dish for a light touch that soaks up the flavor of the stir fry.

skinny quinoa sticksDon’t get me wrong, I eat snacks, even store gf cookies and chips at times but they are limited to occasional, even rare treats.  I am not depriving myself, lots of homemade cookies and muffins in the freezer keeping fresh and tasty.  I love baking pies and tarts – this is my year of pie on this blog and it is heartfelt love.  My dad, gone 15 years adored pies, so did my sister Margie, gone almost 3 years.  Actually, she urged me to start this blog to get over the trauma of my diagnosis and the loss of my dear friend Wheat.  She would be pleased at my success at baking and cooking gluten free and would be smiling as she read these words.  My blog is almost three years old and it has been so much fun.  I plan to continue sharing recipes, restaurant experiences, gf products and advice to help those who must live gluten free and for their families and friends who want to bake/cook for them.

I wish you much happiness in your gluten free life style.  To be sure that is what I have found as well as peace in knowing how to take good care of my body.  I am so glad to have been diagnosed in less than a year; many folks with celiac struggle for years to figure out what is wrong inside them.  I am happy to eat healthy, yummy food.  I am not the least deprived when I cook. When I visit family they cook gluten free for me or select restaurants with a gluten free menu so I never get glutened when I am with them. I am very thankful that they seem to understand and do their best to keep me safe in what they serve for meals. They ask for seconds of my gf breads and desserts which makes my heart happy. My guy is just as careful as my family to keep my food safe when we eat out. He gets my need for totally gluten free foods and that makes it less stressful for choosing where to eat out and what to cook.

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It is still tough to eat out but I have enjoyed some wonderful meals, particularly at Bellas right here in town. I also love Big Bite’s in Quakertown for their gf BBQ foods; eaten there many times; yummy and safe for celiacs. Food is a bit difficult at functions and parties. I tend to not go as it is just easier sometimes.  When I do attend, I eat only the fresh fruit at dessert tables and I bring a gf sandwich to luncheons at church so I know I am eating safely. Maybe someday, the places we get the catering from will  provide safe gluten free choices for people like me.  I hope so!  Peace and happy healthy eating to all who read my blog. Three happy gluten free years and counting…