Silly Rabbit... Bread is for non celiacs!

It was Easter yesterday, and my parents hosted the event at their home, which was wonderful.

There was a lot of excellent food, my Mom is an amazing chef - ask anyone I know, dinner at her house is always a special treat. I was spoiled growing up with her cooking, which is what I attribute my need to spend more money than I have on good food & restaurants.

Anyway -- I did a very funny thing. I was slicing the Easter Bread (the kind with the eggs cooked into it)... I had already gotten over my jealousy of the bread-eaters at this point; but it looked & smelled delicious (this was the only non-gluten free thing on the day, well that and some amazing looking deserts, but we had GF cupcakes & cheesecake)... so anyway, I was slicing the bread, and what did I do? I popped a piece of it into my mouth!

This was the first time I've done this... just popped it in, without knowing what I was doing. When I tasted the wonderful bread texture & that sweet taste of easter bread, I realized what I did and sortof yelled out... my cousins & Aunt were standing around and looked at me as I spit out the bread in my mouth, and they laughed when they realized what I'd done.

It was really pretty funny... I think I probably ingested a tiny bit, but I was fine. And I must say, I had that great taste in my mouth for at least a few minutes, and I really enjoyed it.

I guess it just goes to show how the GF diet really isn't affecting my daily life much anymore -- it's just the way I eat now.

Glutino

With my renewed vigor for the gluten free lifestyle, thanks to test results below... I splurged on some new gluten free items. Mainly, Glutino brand bagels, breads, snacks and cereal.

I'm assuming most of you have tried this brand before right?

It's excellent. Expensive, but excellent.

I REALLY enjoy their bagels, which I buy once every few months, but I just found their cereal! I started with the Honey Nut and I LOVE it... I really wish it didn't cost so much, but I may try to order on-line for a better price. Perhaps I'll see if I can get my local Trader Joe's to stock it... Anyway, this cereal is great because it's not overly sweet like many others, but just enough sweetness, and I love the texture. YUM.

Kudos to this company for their delicious products!

UPDATE: I found & tried the Apple Cinnamon Cereal. It's good, but not as good as the Honey Nut. Let me add though, that I don't like any kind of fruity flavor in my cereal - so I'm negatively biased.

The Diet actually works!!!

Great news today.

I got some 6-month blood work back today & my iron levels (my worst side effect) are WAY UP!!

Here's my levels in the past:

Jun 21 '06, 12:08PM Iron 14 L 30-160 mcg/dl
Aug 16 '06, 18:33PM Iron 18 L 30-160 mcg/dl
Sep 18 '06, 18:15PM Iron 29 L 30-160 mcg/dl


So I was psyched today when I got this:

Mar 19 '07, 10:29AM Iron 201 H 30-160 mcg/dl

WOO HOO!!! 201!! I'm so pumped. My primary care doc said at my age I should be in the hundreds range - so that's good!

It's so great to know that the diet is working for me. What's funny is you'd think I'd be absolutely bursting with energy, but I basically feel the same... I think I was anemic for so long I just got used it -- down the road, I'm sure it would have been a major problem.

Anyway - happy day for me!

Wagamama Update

Great news on the Wagamama front. They are opening their first US location in Boston's Faneuil Hall on April 23, 2007!

I emailed with Barnaby Godden - their local head chef - and he wrote the following:

"... It's great to know that there is so much interest building in the opening of our first us site here in Boston.

I am currently working on our allergy table to accommodate as many dietary requirements as possible. When completed it would be great if you could give us feedback in case there are any areas that we may have overlooked...."


He also is sending along an invite to go to one of their dry-runs to try out their dinner & give feedback! I'm beyond excited!
I'll be sure to fill you all in, and I'll post his allergen table as soon as he emails it to me!


(ughh -- tried to upload a cute pic, but blogger wouldn't allow it... ps - I'm making the switch to wordpress very soon, I'll let you all know the new address)

Bisquick Blunder

My loving boyfriend decided to make me breakfast in bed this morning - we decided on pancakes and I mumbled something about the new Pamela's Pancake Mix that I just bought, and he was off to the kitchen.

He brought in my mini tower of pancakes and my first thought was that they weren't as good as the Kinnickinnick mix that we had just run out of. I then headed into the kitchen with my empty plate to see a box of BISQUICK on the counter!!!

Yup, you guessed it - my boyfriend poisoned me this morning - completely unintentionally though. I think he just had a brain fart or something - he assumes since I do most of the shopping around there that everything is GF. (I find people get confused, they ask about celiac - I say I can't have wheat, flower, etc. and someone inevitably says, "Wait, but you can eat pasta & cookies right?")

Anyway... It was such a shock that this happened! I haven't ingested that much gluten since before the diagnosis! And you know what? I barely had any reaction to it. I was waiting for it all day... I'm sure internally my intestines are being ravaged, and now I have to heal again.. but I can't help thinking - WHY couldn't i have accidentally eaten that mouth-watering slice of pepperoni pizza he had last night? Pancakes are such a waste on this accident. I actually much prefer the gluten free mixes - I think they're delicious & a little sweet.

So, it looks like i'll be asking questions about every meal he prepares for me from now on....

Gluten Free Cooking Spree - Coming to Boston?

I was bouncing around blogs, websites, forums and saw that the NFCA Gluten-Free Cooking Spree was happening in NYC, and that it is sold out!

Here is some info about the Gluten-Free Cooking Spree:

The Gluten-Free Cooking Spree is an event that joins together the medical and lifestyle aspects of celiac disease. The event began as a partnership between the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, the Drexel University School of Public Health and the Drexel University School of Hospitality Management in an effort to educate people about the wonderful world of gluten-free cooking.

NFCA paired culinary arts students with prominent physicians from nine hospitals in the Philadelphia area and taught them basic lessons about celiac disease and how to prepare gluten-free meals. After the training, the doctors partnered with students to compete in developing gluten-free recipes and preparing the delicious results. George Perrier of Le Bec-Fin and Christina Pirello, host of Christina Cooks, judged the food entries on taste and presentation. The winning team received a cooking lesson from George Perrier.

People who attended the event were able to watch the teams prepare their recipes and enjoyed a variety of gluten-free food and drinks from local vendors.

Here is the page online:
http://www.celiaccentral.org/Events/Gluten_Free_Cooking_Sprees/331/

Scrolling down to the bottom I see that there will be cooking sprees in Boston in 2007!

This event will also be taking place in Washington, Philly, Atlanta, San Fran & St. Louis.... I signed up at the bottom, it sounds like a great idea and a lot of fun.

I have no other information right now, but emailed to find out more - I'll let you know what I hear.

Bread Dilemma

I need to issue a few questions to breadmakers out there.

As you know I bought the Breadman Breadmaker last week and was very excited to use it this weekend. My bread mix I ordered had not yet arrived, so I went to the store and bought the Gluten Free Pantry's Favorite Sandwich Bread. The problem: this was a 2 lb mix, and the Breadman can only make 1.5 lb on gluten free setting.

SO - do I pick a different setting? How do I modify the 2lb recipe for a 1.5 lb?? It seems tricky, especially with the yeast.

Also, my Pamela's Mix that I ordered last week jsut got here today and sure enough, it's a 2 lb loaf recipe!

Any thoughts greatly appreciated... I'm a novice baker to be sure, and bread-making is a tricky business, I don't want to waste a lot of mix!

THANK YOU