Angel Food Cake!!!!

I enjoyed some pretty good gluten free cake today at a GF birthday party. All this cake made me think of one of the best gluten free items I've ever eaten.

It was Gluten Free Pantry's Angel Food Cake Mix. I say "was," because for some reason, they discontinued the product. When I googled the item I found this blog post here on the Gluten Free Food Reviews blog.

I am shocked and distressed that they've discontinued this product.

When I started the diet back in '05, this was one of my favorite GF items. It was so encouraging that you could still even have ANGEL FOOD cake! Hooray! I have never tried any other brand, because I knew after trying this one, I wouldn't need to try any other. It was that good.

So now I've got a hankerin' for Angel Food cake topped with a can of cherry pie filling and what's a girl to do...?

One of the comments on the above blog suggests asking glutenfree.com to reinstate the product. Click the email link or you can call their customer service line and ask them to bring it back (and/or why they lost their minds and discontinued this awesome product in the first place)! (800) 291-8386

Unfortunately, until we convince them, you'll have to take my word for it that this product was GREAT. It was THE BEST!

Check out the picture on the blog--doesn't it look good to you? I promise you, it is. Here's another 5 star rating, from amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1ZCM8H89AASI5

more reviews: http://www.glutensmart.com/gfpangel.html#customer-reviews
(I also added a review to the above link)

Well, why don't we all try to get this back on the store shelves. The thing is, now we know they can make something so good.

So my only question is: why not give us what we want, if we are ready to pay for it??

(The Frugal) Celiac Road Trip

Well, it's that time of year! Off to the Beach, the Mountains, or wherever for vacation fun!

I had a brief overnight at the Outer Banks (NC) this weekend, and I will fill you here in on the details of my gluten free eating while on this trip.

There is an essential item for every Celiac for any road trip, however brief. I can't think of anything more useful or more helpful.

Do you know what it is?

It's a COOLER!

Are you the type of person that hates to worry about tomorrow, hates to make food ahead, or loves to eat out?

Well, I want to encourage you to reinvent the way you think about food while traveling.

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Almost everywhere I go for more than a day, I take a cooler. I even take a cooler on many day trips, with lunches and/or dinners. This not only ensures that you can know with 100% certainty that your food is safe to eat, but also saves you money by preventing you from buying food and beverage!

And it's not like it takes up that much room in the car.

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What's in Emily's cooler?

You might be thinking: If it's a bunch of cold leftovers, I'll have to say, "no thanks."

Right. Well, I agree. Nothing like choking down that last piece of leftover chicken out of obligation (but you do have to do that now and then).

This overnight trip (noon Friday to noon Saturday) I filled my cooler with:

• 4 water bottles
• 3 diet coke bottles

• 2 Larabars
• 3 Attune probiotic white chocolate bars
• 1 Envirokids crispy rice bar

• 2 yogurt cups
  
• 4 frozen Pamela's Lemon Shortbread cookies
• 1 sliced tomato
• 4 pcs. sliced mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves
• 1 frozen Glutino plain bagel

• Don't forget Ice Packs

That sounds like a lot, but it's just a few drinks, snacks and meal food.

So what did I eat?

On the 3 hour trip going, I drank one water and ate one Attune bar.

For dinner, I went out to eat, at the Full Moon Cafe in Manteo, NC. I had their nacho plate. The waitress checked and they use Utz corn chips, which only have corn, oil, and salt. (remember, some restaurants, especially if they make their own chips, have corn chips that are not gluten free). It was good, no reaction for me.

For after-concert snack back at the hotel, while unwinding with friends--I had the mozzarella, tomato, and basil. MMM.

For 2nd day's breakfast, I had hotel coffee, 2 hard boiled eggs from the hotel's continental breakfast, my rice bagel heated in my room's microwave (topped with cream cheese from the hotel).

For lunch the 2nd day, I lunched at Adrianna's Restaurant on the water in Manteo, NC. They didn't have too much to choose from, but I had a Kobe burger without bun, and a house salad. It was very filling, and tasted very good. On my receipt it said "GLUT ALLERGY", so whether or not they really know what to do, they at least have it in their computer that they should do something.

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So was I completely isolated and did I hide in my hotel eating cheese and crackers out of my cooler? (Oh, cheese and crackers are good!).
--no! I was out and about, eating and asking questions.

Did I save money by not having to go out for breakfast and evening snack (2nd dinner)?
--absolutely!

But this little bit of planning ahead helped fill in the cracks of snacks and incomplete meals (like hotel breakfast). I always had something I could eat, so I knew I wouldn't starve. I didn't eat everything I took, but I could have if I needed to. And I could mix-n-match my food with the food I found (like using the hotel cream cheese).

What came home with me in the cooler?

• Yogurts
• 2 Larabars
• 1 Envirokids bar
  
• 1 Attune bar
• 3 Diet Cokes
• 1 water

Had I been staying longer, I'd have done a little more to eat things frugally in my hotel room. But this was a short trip and I had a carpool friend (so eating out was the better choice for some meals).

Maybe you are wondering--How did I keep all that from spoiling?

---ICE PACKS! and the hotel had a fridge in my room.

Oh, no! you say. What if my hotel doesn't have a fridge? How can I be a happy celiac traveler then?

--Easy. Old traveling musician trick. Keep all items in cooler. Take along a couple gallon-size ziplock freezer bags. When you arrive at the hotel, take the bags to the ice machine, and fill up with ice. Voila-- you have instant ice packs. You can keep refilling them as long as you stay at the hotel.

Underground tip: Don't stress out. Pretty much you can take all kinds of stuff to eat on road trips. Just plan ahead and think of what you'll need beforehand.

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Epilogue. The Pamela's Lemon Shortbread cookies. Did you notice they were unaccounted for? I don't know what happened, but they didn't make it home. Those cookies are missing in action. Where could they possibly have gone?? (read: my tummy says "mmm").

Dr. Peter Green, MD on The People's Pharmacy

Everyone go listen to the podcast of this week's radio program:

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2009/06/12/727-celiac-dise/

I heard part of this in the car yesterday, and I'm listening to the podcast right now!

New bread experiment (Onion Dill Bread)

Direct from Breadman (my bread machine), I present to you: Onion Dill Bread!


Made from 365 Sandwich Bread Mix, Dill (fresh from outside), and a small chopped onion!

Taste: GREAT!

Texture: Like BREAD!

Difficulty: EASY!


I think next time I go to an Italian Restaurant I'll take some of this along to dip in the bread oil.


Here's a close-up of the texture. Next time, I will add much more Dill. Much more.

Why "Celiac Underground"?

So you may think my blog name is funny, or maybe you think it's strange, or maybe didn't even think about it for a second.

But I'd like to tell you how and why I thought of it.

Most all of us, after we find out we're gluten intolerant, and as our health improves exponentially as we start our gluten free journey through life, start to think and feel differently about the world. We lose our faith in the doctors who misdiagnosed us for years (or decades), we lose our faith in the nutritionists and magazine articles recommending whole grains and whole wheat bread, etc. etc.

So who do we have left? Blogs, I guess. Other people like us. People who actually believe us. (doesn't every Celiac have friends or family who think we're just crazy, like, bread can't kill anyone?)

So every time I go to any grocery store, every time I go to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, or Earth Fare, and when I see people tossing a pack of gluten free bagels into their cart, a gluten free pizza box or GF cake mix, I think to myself, "Hi there, you're one of us!" or, "Now you're better too, hooray!"

You and I, we are part of a gluten-free movement: we are part of The Celiac Underground.

To the wheat-eaters I say: we work beside you in the next cubicle, we're behind you in line at the grocery store, we're driving in the car next to you on the highway. We blend right in. (That is, until you ask us why we aren't having any cake at the office birthday party...)

The following scenario is happening to me more and more:

I am standing at the Whole Foods GF freezer case and thinking about if I really need gluten free hamburger buns or not (probably not). Meanwhile, I see you (my fellow Celiac) grab the Kinnickinnick Donuts box or the Whole Foods GF Bakehouse Peach Pie, and think--"Oh, wonderful, you are cured too!"

I become very happy for you and almost want to exclaim, "Aren't you so glad you figured out how to become healthy?! Don't you feel great, like me?!"

Well, now, I am something of an introvert in real life, so I rarely speak up at times like these. But I think to myself, we're all in this together. We all are part of a growing force that will drive the market to bring us better GF products. We are part of a movement that is pushing to educate our healthcare providers to save people's lives by early testing for the disease.

I'm so glad we're in this together. And I think our voices are starting to be heard. It's exciting. Hooray!

Whole Foods GF Bakehouse Almond Cookies

I don't know if this item is nationally available, or if it's just local because the bakehouse is in NC.

Regardless, it's a great product and I hope it's something everyone has the pleasure of trying at some point.

These cookies are soft and melt in your mouth. They are a relatively new Gluten Free Bakehouse item, but Whole Foods in Raleigh used to have a similar cookie (which they don't have anymore) that was a "regular" (non-gluten free) bakery item.

I think they realized I was buying up all those cookies and decided to tap into the market potential of the Celiac World (Underworld?)--and now they are baked in a gluten free facility. Hooray!

Good thinking!

Ingredients:

• Almond Paste (Sugar, Almonds, Natural Flavors)
• Confectioners Sugar (Sugar, Cornstarch)
• Egg Whites
• Evaporated Cane Juice
• Almond Meal
• Rice Flour
• Almond Emulsion

One fourth of the package is the serving size, and of 270 calories, there are 110 from fat, 20 mg sodium (that's low!), and 12 total grams of fat. Compared to a lot of other items, that's all pretty good, and it's just a special now-and-then kind of treat anyway.

Try them out! I was pleasantly surprised when I first did--and I continue to gobble them up!

Grilled Cheese (with Bread Machine Bread)

Ingredients:

• 2 slices sandwich bread
• 1-2 slices cheese (I like American!)
• butter

Butter one side of a bread slice. Place face down in skillet or on griddle. Put a slice of cheese on the bread. Put a buttered slice on top of the cheese. Pan-fry until golden brown on both sides.

But you already knew that.

Mmm...delicious. Tomato soup, anyone?

Call for Flour Tortillas

I haven't had a real burrito since 2005. When I say the word, "real," I am not referring to food containing gluten. My use of the word real is, "something (I actually want to eat) that doesn't malfunction or taste terrible."

I prefer to blog about gluten free things I enjoy eating, and have had success with. Unfortunately, I cannot say this for any burrito. And the problem I've found so far is the rice tortilla.

Two gluten free south-of-the-border items that I think are pretty easy to make are enchiladas and quesadillas. I actually improvise with corn tortillas and make something like a grilled cheese with them (I call it skillet enchiladas--if you douse them in salsa verde, then, "Salsa Verde Skillet Enchiladas"). Make the quesadilla with a flour tortilla and cheese. No problem.

The problem comes about when you try to wrap up anything with a rice flour tortilla. I think both Food for Life Brown Rice Tortillas and Trader Joe's Brown Rice Tortillas are both great tasting, but unfortunately both are too brittle to make into a burrito, or even a delicious wrap sandwich.

Pretty much, you make the first burrito fold, or the first turn of the wrap, and crack--it's broken into pieces. Mmm...(insert record scratch here)? Plate of tortilla pieces and wrap sandwich fillings?? eeh.

So my question for everyone out there is, do you know any good flour tortillas that are available that are more pliable? I wonder if some company is working on it...might be a good idea...

I wonder if Teff might be a good ingredient; perhaps a combination of flours. I think of this because of the flatbread I've had at Ethopian restaurants.

If you know about, or even manufacture a tortilla that is trying to be more versatile than those I mention here, I would be very interested in knowing about it!