Diagnosed with celiac (can't eat wheat)

[LBTC]

My recollection is that the cocoa molet (spelled wrong, but my favourite flavour - spicy chocolate! mmmmmmm) is that it was called gluten free, dairy free.....

I haven't had one in months, though, since I haven't been riding so haven't needed an energy bar....so my memory may be incorrect. I really wanted to try the ginger snap flavour *sigh* can't tolerate ginger though.

Enjoy what you can get offthegrid! How are you feeling health-wize now that you are gluten free??

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[Offthegrid]

i eat all of them. no wheat, oats, barley, or rye and i'm there! I know they are ok for me, but you might want to call them. Could be a processing plant that shares with wheat products, rather than an ingredient issue.

But why would they specifically label *only* two of them as gluten-free? Makes me think the others aren't, even though nothing suspicious is listed in the ingredients.

[KnottedYet]

Call or email them and ask. I think it's likely a processing plant issue: if any ingredients in the bars are processed at a plant that also processes wheat products, they have to comply with labelling as though there were a possibility of cross-contamination.

There is also just a lot of lag-time in packaging, if something never had gluten in the first place it might not be labelled "gluten free". The yogurt I'm eating right now for b'fast isn't labelled "gluten free", but I'm betting I'm safe. It does have "modified food starch" in it, but notes that it is from corn. (sometimes it's wheat or potato, so keep an eye out for m.f.s. that doesn't specify what it is)

Of course, one can buy an entire bunch of bananas for the price of a Lara Bar. I've been doing that, cuz SKnot *devours* my Lara Bars and it's just too expensive to feed his habit. When biking season picks up I'll have to hide my Lara Bars somewhere. I get bored with bananas though, and they seem to always get smooshed. (someone posted a pic of a banana holder, which was eerily reminiscent of the things you find in certain specialty adult-only shops... )

[Offthegrid]

I can't buy them regularly, so I'm not too worried about it. But under the FAQ section of the Larabar Web site, it says they are gluten free. But only two of the bars are specifically labeled as gluten-free under the nutrition info. *sigh* Which again just raises the point that many food manufacturers do not make gluten friendly labels.

On a good note, I went to Wegmans yesterday and they must have just gotten a shipment in because they had a ton of GF food they didn't have the other weeks -- including frozen brownies and muffins. I didn't buy those, but did buy some "English muffins" which actually worked pretty well as hamburger buns (which Wegmans didn't have).

[Offthegrid]

Enjoy what you can get offthegrid! How are you feeling health-wize now that you are gluten free??

That is coming slowly but surely. Some days I feel good, but other days I am still having problems. It apparently can take quite some time to get healed and feeling better. I also need to be tested for vitamin deficiencies, but am taking supplements in the meantime.

[KnottedYet]

Two wheat and gluten free recipes:

Peanut butter cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together. Drop by teaspoonfuls or make into small balls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 325* for 15 minutes.


Green Dip

15 oz canned white beans (canelli) drained
1/4 cup fresh parsely leaves
2 tblspns fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup olive oil

Blend it all up and pour into a bowl. Garnish with some parsely. Serve with rice crackers and sliced veges for dipping.


The cookies are great, magic! My mom made up a big batch of them. Yum! And the dip I just had at a party this evening. Good stuff!

[KnottedYet]

Hey, OTG, have you seen this chickie's blog yet? She's got some good stuff.

http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/

And she's here in Seattle.

Hot-diggity, no more sick days for a beer!
http://www.celiaccentral.org/Other/Anheuser_Busch/332/

Do you get bald spots on your tongue after a gluten encounter? I imagine that's what's also happening to all the little villi in my small intestine... poor lil' critters all sloughing away... sigh. Just for a beer, or a mousse-filled chocolate.

http://www.cafepress.com/chickcouture I like the "Seitan is Evil" shirt, cuz seitan is pure gluten, so it's... y'know, eeeeevil!

[AllezGirl]

Hey OTG,

Just caught this post. There's a Trader Joe's right near my house. I LOVE Trader Joe...I'm gonna marry him when I grow up ! He has plenty of Gluten Free products (but alas...no Two Buck Chuck...PA liquor laws suck...I'm a poet and didn't know it )

I guess you're due for a visit down my way again....

[KnottedYet]

GLUTEN FREE BEER!!!

I bought the first sixpack of Redbridge in north Seattle! So new it wasn't even on the shelf yet!

Mmmmm, not bad! A nicely hoppy amber, sweetish aftertaste, more like a microbrew amber than a Budweiser. $8 for a sixpack. And best of all it didn't make me feel yucky!

Hot diggity! GF beer!

[Offthegrid]

I never did care much for beer, but I will probably get it for the Super Bowl. (I prefer rum and coke. Yum.)

But wanted to share my latest discovery: buckwheat. I've been searching for an alternative to my morning oatmeal that I can make at work, and quinoa just made me want to vomit. But buckwheat (actually a fruit, not wheat at all) is pretty darn good! Not *quite* oatmeal, but definitely very edible.

[KnottedYet]

Ewwwwww...

Just watched a yummy ad for T.G.I. Friday, and EVERY SINGLE FOOD they showed had wheat in it.

bummer.

[LBTC]

I hear you.

At my office every day or so, somebody orders in lunch for a meeting and there are always leftovers. Today it was pizza. Wasn't too bad until I could smell it....so let's see: wheat, yeast, tomatoes, pork, dairy....there ya go. half of the things I can't eat right there. yahoo!

Good thing the curry stir fry thing I made for dinner was so yummy!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[KnottedYet]

this is a duplicate of a recipe I posted elsewhere, but man this is so good!

Today's Culinary Adventure: Gluten Free Matzoh Ball Soup

Oh, MAN, this turned out soooooo yummy! But it looks soooo ugly! I was going to post a picture, but decided I shouldn't (my first attempt at matzoh balls aren't at all photogenic) Oh, but they ARE TASTY!!!

They fell apart a bit when I cooked them. Next time I'll mash up the rice crackers finer, and shape the balls more firmly.

The Quasi-Recipe

Make a crock-pot of chicken soup.

While that's pretty much done and simmering happily, mash up a cup or two of rice crackers. (I used Trader Joe's Original Savory Mini-Thin crackers) Mash them up VERY fine! I don't have a food processor, so I put the crackers in a ziplock bag and crunched them over and over with the back of a wooden spoon.

Now you're ready to make Gluten Free Matzoh Ball Dough

1 egg
1 tblpspn olive oil
cracker meal

Stir the egg and olive oil until it is well mixed. Add cracker meal until you get a firm dough. Chill in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour.

Pull off a few cups of stock from your crock-pot of chicken soup. Enough to half-fill a saucepan. Get it simmering. Bring out your dough. Roll a tablespoon of dough into a ball. (like a ping-pong ball) Make it a firm ball, because every little air pocket is going to be a weak point when these critters cook! Do this until you are out of dough. Makes 6-8. Add all the balls to the simmering stock, cover, and simmer for 1/2 hour.

Add all the contents of your saucepan back to your crockpot.

Serve a couple matzoh balls to each bowl of soup.

(and you might want to double the recipe for matzoh balls, because this made barely enough for 3 or 4 bowls. and they're sooooo good! MMMMMmmmmMMM!)

[KnottedYet]

Gluten-Free beer review.

Well, today I bought a six pack of Bard's Tale Beer "Dragon's Gold". It was on sale, and Budweiser's "RedBridge" wasn't.

I know I'm supposed to love it because it's a hand-crafted micro-brew small company gourmet GF beer.

But I don't.

It's wimpy. Wimpier than RedBridge. I never thought I'd say a Budweiser was hearty, but dangit, the RedBridge has more b@lls than Dragon's Gold. RedBridge has a good bit more hops to it and isn't quite as sweet. If you like a mellow smooth beer with very little bite; Dragon's Gold will make you happy.

I like hoppy vibrant bite-you-back reds and ambers, so I'll stick to RedBridge until something better comes along.

(besides, RedBridge is cheaper.... )

[Wahine]

Gluten-Free beer review.

I like hoppy vibrant bite-you-back reds and ambers, so I'll stick to RedBridge until something better comes along.

Me too. I'll be keeping a close eye on your GF beer posts. I'm still drinking the gluten kind. Doesn't seem to bother me much but it would be a good experiment to go to a GF beer.