It’s the Little (Gluten-Free) Things: Corn Bread Review, Airport Find, Savvy Info, & more

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged.  10+ days is a long time for me.  I was on vacation and my other jobs have pulled me away a bit.  But I’m back and kicking it all off with a few interesting nuggets of gluten-free news, including gluten-free samples, a yummy corn bread mix, a little restaurant info and more.

Gluten-Free Restaurant Finds

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is the busiest in the world, serving approximately 250,000 passengers every day! So naturally there must be some gluten-free people who walk through there…hint to ATL folks — likely more than just a few.  During my recent lay over there, I had a chance to snoop around on the gluten-free front.

My hubby and I ate at Cafe Intermezzo in Concourse B.  I would describe it as an upscale restaurant with a book store inside.  It also has a view of the planes coming in and out.  Anyway, they have a greek salad that’s labeled gluten-free on their menu as well as a salmon dish.  I am not sure I’d bring the kids here for gluten-free food, but if either of these dishes are to your liking, you should stop by. The service was good.  As a back up there’s a McDonald’s there plus a few Chili’s and Houlihan’s.

Donatelli’s in White Bear Lake

Donatelli’s in White Bear Lake, Minnesota sure looks like it has a great selection of gluten-free pasta goodies!  Its gluten-free menu includes Gluten-Free Italian Fries (cheese on a gf crust and dip in sauce)– Emma would love that, plus pizza, ravioli and stuffed shells. Sounds yummy!!

Twisted Bakery's Corn Bread Mix

Twisted Bakery Gluten-Free Corn Bread

Recently I had the opportunity to make up a batch of gluten-free corn bread from the Twisted Bakery, a gluten-free company based in North Dakota.  The folks at the Linden Hills Co-op gave one for me to try and review.

I make corn bread from scratch using regular corn meal and my gluten-free flour mix.  Mine is good, but the Twisted Bakery’s was MUCH better!  It’s soft and fluffy and sweeter than what I’ve managed to make from scratch (despite adding honey instead of oil).  There were very few ingredients — I did have to run out and get sour cream for the occasion. I don’t usually have that around.

Overall the mix was easy to make.  It was quite thick which made me concerned it would be dry, but it was not. In fact, we cut up pieces, froze it and ate the rest a week later, and my husband asked me which one it was because he really liked it.  I’m pretty sure he just picked this mix over my home made corn bread.  (Sigh)  Oh well.  I think I did too.

You can find this and other Twisted Bakery items at the  Linden Hills Co-op in Minneapolis.

Free Celiac/Gluten-Free Event

It is always great to find an event that is very accessible to people with celiac disease or who have gluten-free issues.  There is a free event in Duluth, Minnesota this week.  Registered Dietician Heather Pitschka will talk about what celiac disease and the gluten-free diet are, plus there will be free samples.  It’s all happening at the Duluth YMCA on St. Patrick’s Day! Click here for more information.

Become a member or don’t become a member? Usually people who live near a big warehouse club store like Costco or Sam’s Club at some point consider whether they want to join.  But if you are gluten-free you have an added question — Is it even worth it now that my food choices are more limited?

It’s true, people on the gluten-free diet won’t be hanging out in the Costco bakery any time soon, but I will tell you after a recent visit, I think a Costco membership is worth it.

What can you get at Costco that’s Gluten Free?

The answer is: more than you might think.  When I visited the Costco in Maple Grove Minnesota, I found many things that are gluten free.  Now as always keep in mind that products at these stores do change, but you can appeal to them if they discontinue a product — with enough demand they may bring it back.

GF Smoked Pulled Pork

With that said, here’s what I found.  For years I have known that their pre-made rotisserie chicken is gluten-free. But now there’s a sign at the warming counter declaring it’s gluten-freeness!  To celebrate, I bought one. And at $5.00, it’s a great deal (you can’t buy one and cook it for less)!

Of course in the meat section there are tons of steaks, hamburger and chicken to purchase — sans gluten.  But I found a container in the meat cooler of smoked pulled pork!  Gluten-Free is written right on the package of the Smoked Pulled Pork, by the Costco house brand Kirkland Signature. Again — I bought it to celebrate the great labeling! I haven’t tried it yet.  I hope it’s good!

Other good features of Costco is the produce section.  There is a lot of fresh produce.  Sometimes buying that in bulk is great, especially if you’re having a party.  But I’ve purchased more than enough there only to have extra go bad.  So that’s something to keep in mind.

In the freezer section they carry Alexa Waffle Fries and (this one at least) carries Bell and Evans Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets.  Moms in my ROCK group swear by them.  Emma doesn’t really have a hankering for chicken nuggets.  Update: I just got an email from Costco saying their Kirkland Signature Hot Dogs are gluten free. In the dairy section you can get milk for as much as dollar cheaper than a regular grocery store, plus you can get butter and eggs as well.

In the snack section there are Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-ups, dried fruit, nuts.  I found these snack bars by Mrs. Mays, which also were loudly displayed as gluten-free.

Kirkland GF Vitamins

Then in the vitamin section we have been purchasing their vitamins for years.  Especially the Children’s vitamins.  I’ve found it hard to buy just regular chewable vitamins for my gluten-free gal so these are perfect.  The three containers I have all say “no yeast or gluten”.

So while I am sure there is more.  In fact, feel free to add any gluten-free item I may not know about or have overlooked or isn’t in my store in the comment section below.  But at $50 for an annual membership, I think it’s worth it.

*I don’t have a membership at Sam’s Club so I cannot give you good comprehensive information about that warehouse club.

Did your child get celiac because you introduced gluten at a time when they had an infection, including gastroenteritis?  Researchers in this latest study want to know if the timing of this played a role in the triggering of celiac disease.

The research out of Sweden and recently published the Journal Pediatrics looked into just that — basically finding that it didn’t matter if a parent introduced gluten when a child had an infection, that it probably didn’t trigger celiac. “After adjusting for age at gluten introduction and breast-feeding duration, they found that neither any infection nor gastroenteritis was associated with a future diagnosis of celiac disease,” reported HealthDay News.

“This study adds valuable information to the current discussion regarding environmental risk factors and the pathogenesis of celiac disease,” the authors conclude. “However, we cannot rule out the possibility that specific pathogens constitute risk factors for celiac disease, because risk estimates for infection at the time of gluten introduction were of borderline statistical significance.”

According to the Pediatrics Abstract researchers report they also “found no associations between breastfeeding duration, age at gluten introduction, and future CD [celiac disease].”  They said overall “these results indicate that parent-reported infection at the time of gluten introduction is not a major risk factor for CD.”

Despite the results, this study does make me look back at the time of gluten introduction and my child’s reactions.  Emma was given Cheerios at about 7 -8 months-old and had crackers here or there.  But it wasn’t really until just before turning a year that she was on a regular gluten diet.  She had a horrible virus that she couldn’t shake for 3 months between 12-15 months old. We always figured that triggered the celiac for her, it probably still did, but maybe with the combination of adding the gluten and getting the infection at a crucial time in a baby’s life, it was too much for her system to handle, thus triggering the celiac disease.  We will probably never really know.  But I thought this research would be interesting for any parent with a young diagnosis of celiac.

If you have a child newly diagnosed with celiac disease, the Children’s Digestive Health and Nutrition Foundation and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition put together a family guide, which you might find helpful.  Although it appears to be 5-years-old, it looks to be quick and comprehensive.

New research revealed in a conference this week shows that lactose intolerance (60% of adults in this world can’t digest dairy) is not well understood.  But the research also looked at whether the gut issues involved with lactose intolerance could be something else…that’s where celiac comes in.

The research discussed and published with the National Institutes of Health shows that that many people struggle or think they struggle with lactose intolerance.   Researchers say there is one thing that can be done to give you more information about how your body reacts to dairy:  drop lactose from your diet — at least temporarily.

“Dairy exclusion diets may decrease gastrointestinal symptoms (bloating, cramps, flatus, and diarrhea) in symptomatic individuals who have lactose malabsorption or lactose intolerance. The degree of relief is likely related to the level of expression of lactase and the quantity of lactose ingested.”

If the pain goes away then you should discuss this further with your doctor and you may want to consider discussing how to get calcium and other important nutrients into your body, whether it’s through supplements or diet.  The big question with regards to celiac and many other health issues happens when the pain doesn’t go away:

“People who remain symptomatic on a dairy exclusion diet may have other causes for their gastrointestinal symptoms, such as irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, or small bowel bacterial overgrowth.”   National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference: Lactose Intolerance and Health

A Celiac Connection to Lactose Intolerance

Why look at celiac disease as a possible cause?  As many of us know, when the villi in our small intestine is blunted, undiagnosed celiacs often become lactose intolerant. It is only when the villi grow back that many of us can tolerate it again — thus helping us absorb calcium, and other nutrients again. Nancy Lapid explained this well in a post from last year.

Bottom line is doctors should treat lactose intolerance or malabsorption seriously, but they should also consider looking beyond the gut pain as only being caused by lactose intolerance.  Something else could be the root cause like celiac disease. Also, be sure you are getting proper nutrients during this time– whether you get it through food or supplements.

*Note, I am not a medical professional, you should always consult your doctor with any of your health concerns.

Amy Speaking During Wildfire Event

Tuesday night was busy as my husband and I went to Wildfire Restaurant’s Wine and Gluten-Free Event and it was so awesome!

Wildfire specializes in steaks, fish and pork shops.  I’ve raved about the restaurant before, but this was a special event in which 40 people RSVP’d to attend and all the food was gluten free.

My apologies to the restaurant because I forgot to bring home the printed menu they gave each diner for the evening. So I’ll give you my best descriptions of the food.  The appetizer included two kinds of pizzas. The crust was perfect, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  But at the same time, the crust was pretty thin. The next course was Ahi Tuna and a salad, then we had beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes and a sauce with crab meat on top.  For dessert a bread pudding.  YUM!

I learned during the evening that Wildfire is now making its own gluten-free bread.  While that was not on the menu on this night, I hope some day to try it!  Each course was paired with tasting a special wine — four to be exact. And the meal was only $45 per person.  Really quite reasonable — considering the full courses we received plus all the wine.

I had the pleasure of speaking to the group a few times about a few different gluten-free/celiac subjects, and the crowd seemed very engaged and interested in the topics.   Thank you for being a great audience!

Udi’s Gluten-Free Foods has a few items I’ve been able to try in the last month.  The company sent me some of their products to try. Emma has been going through a pizza transformation so we put that to the test, plus we tried the Lemon Streusel Muffins.

Udi's Pizza Crust Before

Udi’s Pizza Crust

The crusts come in a two pack and they’re about 7- 8 inches in diameter and serve two (according to the label). The crusts were easy enough, just put your toppings on and bake.  For Emma, however, her “love” for pizza  really hasn’t  quite been embraced as quickly as one would think.  We have recently deduced that what she appears to not like is the tomato sauce.  So lately we’ve been eating at Boston’s Gourmet Pizza near our house and we  have basically ordered pizza crust and cheese.

Pizza After

And that’s how I made her pizza with Udi’s crust.   I put a touch of olive oil on the crust and then put a combination of mozzarella and Marble Jack mix of cheeses on top. Emma LOVED IT!   She ended up eating nearly the whole thing — minus the slice she gave me to try.  I thought the crust was very tasty.  According to their website, the crusts are $5.00 (less if you buy 8 packages at a time).  It is probably most worth it to buy the 8-pack. Shipping costs have gone up these days and these items need to be shipped quickly in order to maintain their freshness.  Estimates on that are about $10 for 2-day Fed Ex for one package or just under $14.00 for the 8 packages.

Lemon Streusel Muffin

These muffins are similar in size to the giant blueberry muffins I tried back in December.  They are the approximate size of the “mammoth” muffins you find at nice bakeries.  These muffins have the consistency and leavening of a regular muffin as well, which I’m still impressed with.

This muffin is good for someone who likes plain things. I was fine with it, but I thought there would be more of a lemony kick to it.  I thought that it was missing a little “zip”.  It reminded me of a plain muffin mix (if you didn’t add the add-ins like blueberries, etc).

Would I buy these? Yes, if Emma needed something like this  for a road trip or a weekend trip to a friend’s cabin. Emma didn’t like the blueberries in the blueberry muffins, so the Lemon muffins would be perfect for her. Emma did  try them and thought they were fine, but she hasn’t been asking to have another one.

If you bought this product online they are $6.00 on the Udi’s website. But the two-day shipping for a 4-pack of muffins is just over $10.00.  If you purchased six packages of the 4-packs (which already saves you over a buck)  shipping would be just $15.00.  Again, if you’re shopping online, you’ll get a bigger bang for your buck  if you buy in bulk.

Enjoy!

A really cool study came out this week that looks at how sending your celiac child to gluten-free camp may do more good than we ever knew!

Research by the University of California, San Francisco surveyed 104 children at the beginning of their gluten-free camp experience and then again at the end.  The study, published in WebMD, Monday said,

“‘All seemed to benefit from camp, no longer feeling different from other kids or feeling frustrated with a restricted diet,’ the researchers write. ‘Improvement was observed in each of the three categories of questions: well-being, self-perception and emotional outlook.’”

Most of the benefit happened for children who had been on the gluten-free diet less than 4 years.  In part because people who had been dealing with the diet longer already had a more positive perception of the gluten-free lifestyle.

“‘A gluten-free camp that provides an environment of unrestricted foods can at least temporarily alleviate stress and anxiety around food and social interactions,’ the researchers write… ‘Celiac camp enables children with [celiac disease] to enjoy the camp experience freely without concern for and preoccupation with the foods that they are eating or the stigma of their underlying disease,’ the researchers conclude.’”

I completely agree with this study. Here in Minnesota, I am so blessed that we have a great gluten-free camp so near by.  I love sending Emma to a camp that is so easy for me as a parent and now apparently is great for her self worth!  I guess I knew it was good for her, but it really is interesting that this research had to come out for me to recognize it.

I wrote about Gluten-Free Fun Camp and my daughter’s experience in a post last August. Not only did they have fabulous gluten-free food which included pizza, a chocolate fountain, and pancakes, but I believe it also helped with their esteem when they wrote a cool song about celiac disease.

Back then my daughter said she was definitely going back in 2010, “…for the food, activities and all my friends.” That she is, and she’s bringing her 8-year-old sister with her!

I have a hard time comprehending that anyone could make a safe wheat for celiacs. But that’s what the US government is backing – new research that, if accomplished, could be groundbreaking.

An $855,000 grant funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act went to Arcadia Biosciences an agricultural technology company.

Arcadia will partner with Washington State University to develop “wheat varieties with reduced celiac disease-causing proteins.” The news, announced in a news release Monday, would be huge if the discovery is made, but the word “reduced” makes me nervous – it doesn’t sound like enough.

Phase one in this research began in 2005. At that time they identified wheat plants with already low levels of “proteins that are most toxic” to celiacs (can’t they just say with low levels of gluten or gluten protein?).

“Development of wheat varieties with minimal amounts of celiac-triggering proteins can dramatically expand food choices and the quality of life for celiac-sufferers,” said Eric Rey, president and CEO of Arcadia. “The progress under our Phase I grant has made us increasingly optimistic about our ability to deliver wheat varieties that people with celiac disease can enjoy. If the approach we are exploring in the Phase II grant is successful, our new wheat varieties may also appeal to a much broader market.”

They hope to complete phase two in mid 2011. The company has not released a commercialization timeline for its new wheat varieties.

Wow. It took me 3 years to try gluten-free oats! I’ll be amazed if this is accomplished. Good luck!!

Betty Crocker GF Mixes up for Award

Hard work seems to be paying off for General Mills’ Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Dessert Mixes — if nothing else in the public relations department.  The company was so bold to create gluten-free mixes  that can be found in most major grocery stores..now they’re a finalist for a big marketing award.

General Mills released late Friday that the mixes are a finalist in the 2010 Edison Best New Product Awards — specifically in the Consumer Packaged Goods – Food Segment — category.  According to the release, peers in the marketing world vote on who wins the awards.

“This innovative line of products satisfied gluten-free consumers’ previously unmet desire to find great tasting, affordable and easy-to-prepare desserts that they can enjoy with their families and friends. Since the gluten in wheat flour provides the structure for traditional brownies, cookies and cakes, creating dessert mixes without gluten is a significant and remarkable technical achievement. Once the company successfully created a winning product, an insightful marketing campaign centered on social media drove both awareness and support for the launch.” — General Mills/Betty Crocker News Release.

Winners are announced April 29th in New York!  Good luck!

I’ve been knocked down with a head cold this week, cough, sinus stuff, the whole messy package.  Needless to say, I’ve been washing my hands a lot.  Whether it’s soap and water or antibacterial hand sanitizer, I try to keep my hands germ free after every time I blow my nose.  My cold and some other recent discussions got me wondering about how well hand sanitizer and other cleaners would work to eliminate gluten?

If you have a kitchen, as we do,  that does double duty as gluten-free and gluten”ee” you likely find yourself constantly washing your hands, counter tops and scrubbing pots and pans.  What really works?  Soap and water, sanitizing wipes, bleach??  What will eliminate the gluten?

No surprise — I couldn’t find any research on it.  Hint hint…..If there’s a soap company out there who wants to sponsor a study — this is a good one!  But there have been studies on peanut protein and cleaning that off your hands and off the counters to avoid a reaction from someone with a peanut allergy.  So while they’re not exactly the same, I think it will give us a good idea of what’s working and what’s not — and why.

Getting the residue off hands

A study out of Johns Hopkins University reported back in 2004 that non-allergic people put peanut residue on their hands “then washed their hands with various cleaning agents, plain water and an antibacterial hand sanitizer.”  The result — hand sanitizer doesn’t cut it. “Hand wipes, liquid soap and bar soap all removed the peanut allergen. Water left residual Ara h 1 [the most common peanut allergen] on 3 of 12 hands, and hand sanitizer left residual allergen on 6 of 12 hands.”  Wow..even plain water was better than hand sanitizer!

The findings, published in ScienceDaily.com goes on to explain why the hand sanitizer may actually create a false sense of security.

“[Pediatric allergist Robert A. Wood, M.D] says the bigger concern to emerge from the study was the failure of hand sanitizers, frequently seen by teachers as more convenient than sending children to the bathroom to wash up, to eliminate [peanut residue]. ‘Their use may not really remove the allergen, but just spread it around,’ he says.”

Getting residue off counters

So now to the kitchen.  What if you go to a guest’s house and they’ve got peanuts out and a quick scrub down is necessary — what  will work?  In this study researchers compared water, dish soap, Formula 409 cleaner and a Target brand cleaner with bleach when trying to remove peanut butter from the surface of a table.  “All cleaning techniques except dish washing soap removed the allergen; dish soap left [the peanut allergen] on 4 of 12 samples.”

How about washing dishes?

The Johns Hopkins study didn’t go into this…so now we’re on our own.  All this begs the question — what about washing dishes?  Have I been doing something wrong?  Emma’s never gotten sick from any hand washed dishes, but if what’s said above is true…maybe I need to rethink??  We have a dishwasher which I have to believe removes the gluten.  But when I’m hand-washing pots and pans — if dish soap isn’t working on counters will it work on pots and pans?   I went to the celiac.com forum to get their take.  One person posted, “I…have two different sponges to clean my dishes. One for gluten dishes, for gluten-free dishes. I change my gluten-free sponge frequently, and rinse it with soap and water everyday. I also rinse and scrub all my dishes before I put them in the dishwasher.”

Another person said the same thing, but she uses four dish brushes:

“1 for gluten-y dishes that are going in the dishwasher, 1 for gluten-y dishes that get handwashed (the idea of using a dirty brush to “handwash” something that isn’t going in the dishwasher irks me), 1 for gluten-free dishes that are going in the dishwasher and 1 for gluten-free dishes that are being handwashed. This is probably a little too much, but it seems to work for us.”

What can we learn from this?

Yes, I know, gluten is not the peanut protein, I know the study on which this post is based isn’t exactly apples to apples study.  However, since it appears no one has conducted this same study with gluten– this may be the best we’ve got.   I think it gives us pretty firm evidence that hand sanitizer likely won’t remove gluten if it doesn’t remove peanut residue.  But hand washing with soapy water does!  Likewise, cleaning the counters with hot soapy water doesn’t do as good of a job on the counters  as other household cleaning agents.  And Imight need to rethink how the dish washing is going in her house….

Thanks to all who answered my poll — you guys are so savvy!!  As of this posting, 90% use soap and water, 10% have a gluten-free house and 0 of you use hand sanitizer to “kill” gluten.  Great job!