Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Variations in Prices for GF items

I just read this article written by Tiffany Janes from the Atlanta Gluten-Free Food Examiner.

Welcome to the panhandle of Florida! No wonder we're spending a small fortune here when we can find items, but most of our $$ is going to Amazon!!!

http://www.examiner.com/x-11318-Atlanta-GlutenFree-Food-Examiner~y2009m8d11-Why-do-glutenfree-food-prices-fluctuate-so-much

Sunday, August 2, 2009

YEAH!! Five Guys comes to Tallahassee!!

My husband and I grabbed a burger (sans bun for me) and fries at the brand new Five Guys yesterday for lunch.

THANK YOU for giving me the opportunity to eat "fast food" again!! It was wonderful and we'll be back!!

-KAGFG

Things that irritate me...

Other than Elizabeth Hasselbeck being the "poster child" for Celiac and calling it an allergy....

It's this!

http://www.slate.com/id/2223745/?from=3Drss

It's not a fad diet, although I agree that people are self-diagnosing themselves and going gluten-free prior to having the tests done...which may bias the results.

It's not an allergy! It's an autoimmune disease, just like diabetes, lupus, etc. The list goes on and on.

I wish people would take the time to become educated about what Celiac is!


-KAGFG

When they say it's GF, is it REALLY GF?

One of my friends (thanks Kappy) recently found this article and sent it to me.

http://tinyurl.com/lvm2gp

If you don't want to read it, here's the cliff notes version:
The Swedish Embassy in Germany hosted a luncheon for kids from across Europe with Celiac Disease.
The kids were served SPELT pasta. Spelt contains gluten.
Kids were very ill.
The Swedish Celiac Youth Society (SCUF) now wants an apology from the Embassy.
The Sweden's Ambassador in Berlin says they aren't to blame, because the canteen is operated by an outside company.

SOOO..What's the problem here?

No one wants to accept blame. Clearly the canteen wasn't as aware of Celiac Disease and gluten-free foods as it should have been and that is the biggest problem.

For a restaurant or catering company to ensure people that they will be able to eat there safely and then not really understand what gluten-free means...that's a disappointment to me. Actually, it really makes me angry.

There are restaurants that have gluten-free menus and can be accommodating, but there may be an issue in the kitchen with cross-contamination or someone equating gluten to not being able to eat bread. (I can't tell you how many times I've ordered from the gluten-free menu and I still got the bread basket.) They don't realize that gluten is in so many products.

Who is responsible to help ensure the meals are safe? The culinary schools? The restaurant management? Me as the consumer with Celiac?

I think education and training has a long way to go in this country about what Celiac Disease is and what gluten really is. No people...it's not just bread and it's not a fad diet, which leads me to my next post! :)


-KAGFG



Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Monthly Grocery Bill

No one ever said that eating healthy was inexpensive, but we're shelling out about $1,000 a month on groceries. That's for 2 adults (one who entirely eats gluten-free food and one who cooks/bakes gluten-free but eats/drinks non-gluten-free food too). For that price I'd expect to have a personal chef who is making me filet mignon every night, but that's not the case.

Let's take a look at some of the typical foods our family eats. It's probably not so much different than a family who doesn't have to be gluten free.

Breakfast:
A bowl of Rice Chex (now GF) or Nature's Path GF Corn Flakes with some skim milk
On Sundays we splurge and eat GF waffles (from the Namaste mix) with GF peanut butter and GF syrup. We also have some GF bacon (Walmart brand is GF; thankfully, because we can't find Hormel here)
Banana
Stonyfield Farms yogurt --on occassion, but rare

Snacks:
Fresh fruit, like an apple or banana
Enjoy Life trail mix
Chips and salsa

Lunch:
Amy's frozen meals or leftovers from dinner
Bean salad (Bush's black beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans) with diced tomatoes, onions, artichoke hearts, cucumbers, corn

Dinner:
Burgers (diced onion, egg, GF breadcrumbs, McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning) with cheese (Applegate Farms Pepperjack) and an avocaco, and Ore-ida fries with Annie's Naturals GF ketchup
Spaghetti or other pasta like penne (from Tinkyada) with Classico sauce (sometimes meatballs with GF breadcrumbs) and parmesan
Grilled chicken (with salt/pepper) and baked sweet potatoes or roasted red potatoes and corn or asparagus
Stir fry (rice (make extra for fried rice the next night), pack of frozen mixed vegetables)
Fried rice (cooked rice, egg, vegetable oil, San-J GF soy sauce, green onion)
Pan-fried tilapia (olive oil, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, freshly-squeezed lemon)
Garden salad (romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers) and Annie's Naturals GF salad dressing
Pizza (pepperoni, black olives, artichoke hearts, mozzarella, parmesan, Classico sauce, freshly grown basil) made on a GF crust (that's homemade from Arrowhead Mills & Bob's Red Mill products)
Grilled chicken fajitas (homemade marinade with red wine vinegar, olive oil, onion, garlic) on a GF corn tortilla with homemade guacamole
Grilled cedar-plank salmon
Tacos (corn tortilla chips, ground beef, onion, Amy's refried beans, tomatoes, avocado, black olives)
Pasta salad (Tinkyada spirals, celery, onion, cheddar cheese chunks, black olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar)



This is just a basic list. We're always looking to expand. My husband LOVES to cook, so he's learning all about gluten-free cooking! :)

-KAGFG

Friday, July 24, 2009

Where are you Betty Crocker?

I really wanted to try the new Betty Crocker gluten-free chocolate chip cookie mix last night. So, off to Walmart we went. We searched the small shelf of gluten-free items and the baking aisle.

No luck! :(

I remember walking up and down various aisles thinking "I can't eat a SINGLE thing in this aisle." Has food become that processed that I can't eat anything in the majority of a grocery store?

After I get my hands on the Betty Crocker mixes, I'll post my opinion. I hope it isn't too grity -- that's one of my complaints about gluten-free baked goods.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to resort to Alton Brown's yummy recipe for the time being!

-KAGFG

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Starbucks Petition

I'm forwarding an e-mail from Triumph Dining about Starbucks discontinuing the ONLY gluten-free treat it offered!

Please sign the petition. We need to voice our opinion!

-KAGFG

Despite what appears to be strong support from the gluten-free community, Starbucks is discontinuing its Valencia Orange Cake. This is a tremendous blow to the gluten-free community. It’s already so hard to find good, safe gluten-free options. Having a gluten-free treat at Starbucks was an enormous win for the community. It’s sad to see it disappear such a short time later, without any real explanation.
We’ve put together a petition to let Starbucks know how much we miss the gluten-free cake and to let them know we’d love to see it back in our local Starbucks!
Please share this petition with your support group members and ask them to sign it. The petition is located here: http://www.triumphdining.com/blog/petition-to-starbucks-bring-back-the-gluten-free-cake/.