What's your gluten-free space like?

I’m leaving New York on Wednesday to attend the Gluten Intolerance Group’s annual Education Conference, being held at the Gaylord Palms Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. It will be my first trip to Orlando, Disney World notwithstanding, and I’m looking forward to meeting old friends and learning new things about the gluten-free life. Some of what I learn will wind up in Gluten-Free Living, our national magazine, or on our various communication channels including Facebook, Twitter and our upcoming e zine, debuting shortly.

Cynthia Kupper, GIG Executive Director, and I go way back. We remember the way it was back then – but I’m sure we will both keep our reminiscences to a minimum. Hearing the “old folk” talk about the old days does little to help the “new folk” cope with the challenges of gluten-free living.

Except for this aspect: The various modern communication channels of today make it so much easier to spread the word quickly. But some of the questions we receive remain the same. Over our several modern channels, we still get asked about vinegar (was always safe…should never have been questioned). Just this morning, I received an inquiry about the safety of vanilla (also safe). And certain other common ingredients never go away. That’s why we recently posted a white paper, still available on our website, called “Top 10 ingredients you really don’t need to worry about.”

One of the first things I will do at the GIG meeting is give a “demo” at 9 am Friday morning in the demo area of the conference. I'll give a (very) brief history of Gluten-Free Living, go over a few of the “quandaries” that never seem to get resolved, and look toward the future and where I think we are headed in terms of food, testing, labeling and research. Suffice it to say that this “new” gluten-free world we live in is generations ahead of the “old” gluten-free world we old folk talk about. That’s probably all I’ll say about the old world – and all you need to know!

That said, I do realize that we all inhabit our own little gluten-free space. My contentment with gluten-free living was achieved after years (now pushing 20 years) of trial and error. So I’m thrilled that I can find gluten-free pizza, or eat out more easily, or pick up gluten-free items at my local supermarket. But not everyone just getting started is as sanguine as I am.

Just this weekend, I met with a relatively newly diagnosed celiac on an aspect of our magazine unrelated to following the diet. Let’s just say he is not the happiest GF camper on the planet. He is frustrated by the challenges involved in living gluten free. He would much prefer to go back to his old life and not have to worry about his digestive system or the items he drops in his shopping cart. Mostly he wants a slice of pizza that tastes just like the one he, a native New Yorker, remembers getting from his local pizzeria. I’m with him there. I miss gooey NY style pizza-by-the-slice. But I have learned to be as happy with what I can get now as I was with what I used to get in my gluten-eating days. It takes time to reach this level of gluten-free contentment – but by golly I got there and everyone can!

So I hope those of you attending the conference will come to the demo and to our booth and introduce yourselves. Much of the demo will be given over to a question-and-answer period where we can talk about whatever you’d like. At the booth, I’ll be able to also chat about whatever you’d like. I might even ask you a few questions about the gluten-free space you inhabit and how comfortable you are in it. The more I learn about you, the better I can make Gluten-Free Living.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible.

You ordered a what?

Last night my celiac sent me a text message while I attended a meeting to ask if he could go to lunch in town after his final. I texted back, “Sure, get $$ from Dad.”

My celiac did not get money from Dad, so I handed him some cash and asked him to check in and just let me know where they eventually landed after lunch.

I picked him up after a full day of basketball, Nerf dart-gun battles, wiffle ball and general hanging out with a group of boys that haven’t known my celiac since the pre-K days. That is the thing about moving up and moving on, all sorts of new people have to be introduced to exactly what gluten intolerance entails.

“Where did you go to lunch” I asked.

“Cosi” he replied. Now I cringed a little bit because they have great salads but the bulk of their menu is focused around their delicious looking flat bread.

“What did you eat,” I gingerly questioned.

“A Caesar salad with grilled chicken, no croutons,” said the celiac.

Say what? I mean this is a kid who has NEVER had a green, leafy ANYTHING come remotely close to his mouth.

“It was good, I couldn’t even finish it I was so full.”

I started looking out the car window for the alien spaceship and was wondering what they did to my son. I mean, these are shocking words from a vegetable hater. I thought he would choose skipping a meal over eating a salad any day of the week.

Really, this is big news for the mother of a celiac. Sometimes a salad is the only option. The important thing is sitting around a table, shooting the breeze and sharing a meal with a bunch of friends. These aren’t buddies who have known him since he was three and know all about what he can and can’t eat.

Today I took a little victory lap that my celiac was resilient and worked with the menu selections that were available, prior to that moment he would never have ordered a salad.

Now I just have to hope that some of these middle schoolers like sushi….

Kendall Egan

Gluten-free Mini Cream Cheese Pastry Cups

When we mentioned the story about pies and tarts in our new issue of the magazine on our Facebook page, Tammy Burnham asked if we could post a recipe.

So here is one of the many recipes Food Editor Jacqueline Mallorca includes in her article "Roll Out a Tasty Summer Treat." In the magazine, you'll also find recipes for four basic pie crusts that Jackie says are easier to make than a traditional wheat-flour crust. Who knew!

Jackie does not limit herself to fruit pies in the story. She also includes chicken pie, sweet and savory tarts, and a plum galette. You can subscribe to Gluten-Free Living on our website or look for a copy in stores nationwide shortly.

Mini Cream Cheese Pastry Cups
Makes 24


3/4 cup (3 1/2 ounces) brown rice flour
1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) cornstarch, plus extra for forming
1 tablespoon sugar (omit for savory cups)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
3/4 stick (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for pan
3 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes
1 large egg yolk


• Grease two 12-cup mini-muffin pans with butter. Combine the brown rice flour, cornstarch, sugar if using, salt, and xanthan gum and set aside. Place the butter in a food processor and pulse until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the cream cheese, and process until well blended. Add the egg yolk and mix well. Add the flour mixture and pulse to form a soft dough. Divide the dough in half and refrigerate one portion, wrapped in plastic, while working with the other.
• Using a 1-inch spring-release ice-cream? scoop, drop 12 little half-spheres of dough into one of the prepared pans. Tamp down with the bottom of a glass spice jar (or something similar) dipped in cornstarch. Spread the dough evenly up the sides of each cup with your thumb and refrigerate the pan for 20 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Bake the shells for about 20 minutes, until golden. (Check half way through, and if any of the interiors have puffed up, quickly deflate with the tip of a long knife.) Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. To unmold, lay a wire rack over one of the pans, feet facing upwards,reverse both together, and the pastry cups will drop out onto the rack. Repeat with the second pan. Let cool before filling. (The cups freeze well in rigid containers, stacked 2 or 3 deep.)

Recipe copyright 2011 Jacqueline Mallorca. For more recipes visit Jackie's website.

A Gluten-Free Aha moment

You've probably seen the television commercial in which people describe "Aha" moments in their lives. Usually they reveal a turning point discovery.

I had an "aha" moment of my own recently, though it was not exactly of the life-changing variety.

Instead, it was just one of those pleasant, exciting instances when you find something gluten-free that you never expected to find. In this case, it was completely accidental, which only added to the thrill.

My daughter and I were shopping to restock the pantry at home with gluten-free items now that she is back from a semester studying abroad in London. She is the only one in our house who is gluten free and had finished off everything before she left.

We were just about to check out of the grocery with a basket full of items we regularly buy -- gluten-free cereal, baking mixes, bagels, and bread -- when we turned a corner and ran smack into gluten-free Tastykake cookies prominently displayed on an end-of-the-aisle shelf. That's a spot usually reserved for items a supermarket is really pushing and not one where you would expect to find a gluten-free product.

Even though I regularly get press releases about new products and follow a number of blogs that are very good at getting the word out when something new hits the market, I had no idea Tastykake had any interest in gluten free. The thought that we were one of the first to find the new cookies only added to the rush we felt as we plopped a carton of Chocolate Chip and another of Chocolate Chocolate Chip into our cart. The $5.99 price tag for eight cookies was a little deflating, but not enough to dampen our enthusiasm or slow down my intentions to blog about the find as soon as I got home.

But when I sat down to write I did a little research first and found that Gluten-Free Philly, a blog that details gluten-free developments in the Philadelphia area had beaten me to the punch. Turns out the cookies were mentioned there in March on the same day I left for a nearly two-week trip to visit my daughter in London and I had simply missed it. Tastykake is based in Philly and so it makes sense the cookies were first available there. Not to mention that Michael Savett, the lawyer and father of a child with celiac disease who writes the blog, is always up-to-the minute on gluten-free products and restaurants.

Still, I bring you news of this new item, just in case you missed it like me. And because it falls into the category of "I never thought I'd see that" gluten-free products, which hold a particular fascination for me. It's one thing for a specialty company to work out a cookie recipe using gluten-free flours. It's another for a company that made its fortune with wheat flour to take the initiative to do so.

On the subject of wheat flour and possible cross-contamination of the gluten-free Tastykake cookies, I contacted the company to see what steps they take to prevent it. No one ever got back to me despite several tries and the passage of several weeks (I wasn't in as much of a rush to write the blog once I realized the word was out). But Gluten-Free Philly reports that a company representative said they are made in a dedicated gluten-free facility.

So if you live in an area where Tastykake is sold, keep an eye out for this new entry in the gluten-free market to show up on your grocery shelf. It might give you  a little "aha" moment.

Amy Ratner

GFree? Who cares, it tastes good!

Yesterday was one of those days where one son had a baseball game at 6, one son had an away lacrosse game at 6:30, one daughter and her coach (my husband) had basketball practice at 7:30, one daughter was working and then staying on to work out and I had a dinner where I was giving a little speech across town at 6:30. So when my youngest walked out of the kitchen with a stack of chocolate chip cookies in his hand at 5:30, I didn’t bat an eyelid because that was the sort of dinner we were facing.

“Those are my cookies,” said the celiac. “Those are gluten-free.”

“Who cares,” said the gluten eating kid, “they taste good and I’m hungry.”

And what happened next was fairly typical of two boys ages 10 and 12, the 12 year old took off and started chasing the 10 year old for the cookies. The 10 year old took off laughing, squeezing the cookies so tightly that the chocolate chips immediately start melting all over his hands.

I was annoyed and hollered over the din of thundering footsteps, laughter and the dog barking, “just let him eat the cookies, there are plenty more in the cupboard, get your own, blah, blah blah.”

The point being, the gluten-free cookies taste good enough that the “gluten-free” part of them is not even a big deal anymore.

The New York Times featured an article on the front page of their Wednesday Dining section entitled, “Gluten-Free: Flavor Free No More” and isn’t that the truth! Food options these days are delicious and, even more wonderful, they are nutritious. I am spotting the whole grain seal on more and more gluten-free products every time I shop!

Interesting grains are replacing the nutritionally void and flavorless rice flours and starches of my gluten-free diet ten years ago. I have made everything from Molten Lava cakes to Lemon Cake with a Berry Compote for guests who have no dietary restrictions and have wowed them with my gluten-free desserts.

While chocolate chip cookies are not the pre-game meal most nutritionists would recommend, I was amused that the kid who could eat any cookie in the cupboard chose the gluten-free variety because they taste good.

Kendall Egan

Gluten Free Give and Take

Mainstream food companies both giveth and taketh away gluten-free products.

General Mills has announced that it will no longer be making a gluten-free claim on three varieties of its Hamburger Helper type meals.

Ironically for a company that has made a big splash with it's attention to gluten- free products, the announcement comes in the middle of Celiac Disease Awareness month.

Frito Lay, on the other hand, saw celiac awareness month as the perfect time to announce that the company will begin labeling its some of its chips "gluten free." The snacks have long been made with gluten-free ingredients, but the addition of the label will make it easier for gluten-free consumers to identify them. 

Even more important the gluten-free claim will be backed up with testing to  20 parts per million, the standard the Food and Drug Administration has proposed for gluten-free labeling. Lay’s Classic potato chips, Fritos Original corn chips, Tostitos Scoops! tortilla chips and Baked! Lay’s Original potato crisps will soon roll out with a gluten-free label.  A full list of products that the company is already testing to 20 ppm is on the Frito Lay website.

Meanwhile, General Mills said it's Cheesy Hashbrown, Asian Chicken Fried Rice and Asian  Beef Fried Rice Helper meals will no longer be made in a dedicated gluten-free facility. Although the ingredients will not change, the company says the meal mixes could be cross-contaminated with gluten.

To add insult to injury, the helper meals will now have a warning statement that they "May contain wheat."

Gluten-free versions of the meals may still be on store shelves - so stock up while you can. But be careful. Newer product not considered gluten-free could soon be on the shelf right next to the older boxes.

General Mills, which touts it's gluten-free commitment through a website devoted to gluten-free recipes and products, says this move is not a sign of reduced interest in gluten-free consumers. The company still has 300 products labeled gluten free.

But to me commitment means making choices that preserve the gluten-free nature of a product. How difficult  would it have been to keep making the helper meals in  dedicated plant? I suspect it's often easier to make a product in a way that does not put gluten free as a first priority. But doesn't commitment mean you do it even when it's harder?

I don't want to be overly harsh with General Mills. It was quick to get the word out about the change in production. And even without the helper meals General Mills remains a leader among mainstream companies making gluten-free foods. Their Chex brand cereals set an industry standard for how to easily and affordably convert an existing product to gluten free. The cereals are a staple in our house and I would be much more upset if Chex was the product getting its gluten-free label yanked.

It could be that the meals just weren't selling well, although the company did not make any mention of decreased sales in the announcement.
Instead, the company emphasized that its dedication to gluten-free goes all the way to the top, meaning the chief operating officer's wife, who has celiac disease.

If you have been following the gluten-free diet long enough, you know its not uncommon for a product that was gluten free to suddenly change or disappear entirely. Sometimes it's a change in how the product is made, others in the ingredients used to make it.

In the early 1990's Kellogg's  made a cereal called Kenmei Rice Bran that was labeled gluten free and snapped up by gluten-free cereal lovers. Then it was gone.

The fear that gluten-free items won't last hovers in the back of the gluten-free consciousness. It's why we all get nervous when stories appear that say gluten free is just a fad. We worry that when the fad passes, companies will pack up their gluten-free labels and go home. While that wouldn't matter to people who've tried the gluten-free diet and moved on, it would make things much harder for those who have celiac disease and gluten intolerance and will be gluten free for life.

Perhaps these fears are unfounded. Yes, Hamburger Helper meals are off our gluten-free list, but Frito Lay products are more assuredly on it.

It's just the give and take of the gluten-free world.

Amy Ratner

Cake Mishaps

We’ve seen the tallest gluten-free cake, we have the Cake Boss, Last Cake Standing and my Facebook page has all sorts of gorgeous gluten–free cake creations, but in my house it is all about cake mishaps. This is the time of year where my husband feels particularly “slammed.” My birthday, Mother’s Day and our anniversary fall within three weeks of each other. Luckily, the kids have been inspired by Food TV and help out in the dessert category for these events, but it is not without a pitfall or two.

The first cake mishap was an egg explosion. Cracking the eggs is a big treat because if all four kids are participating, there aren’t any cakes that call for four eggs! My youngest won the honor of cracking the egg and to this day no one can figure out how he did it, but he managed to get egg all over the kitchen. He says he was trying to crack it. The others swear he somehow squeezed it and egg went flying on the floor, the cupboards and the counter. Cleaning up raw egg is gross, so he is banned from egg cracking now.

The second cake mishap was flying chocolate cake. Typically on my birthday, I will suggest ice cream or something easy that doesn’t require baking. This year, I got specific. I wanted a double layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

I shook the dust out of my very professional cake pans and laid them out with the specific gluten-free mix I was requesting. My husband was in the kitchen prepping the fish for the BBQ, a couple of kids were helping out and I left for a few hours.

When I returned, there was one beautifully frosted chocolate layer. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful or diminish the finished product, but I know that the mix I picked specifically makes two layers. I must have been looking at it funny because I got the full story without asking.

My husband explained that he had flipped the two layers out onto plates to cool. He was frosting one and my daughter was frosting the other. He said he had never seen anything like this before, but somehow she managed to flip the plate with the frosted cake off the table and up in the air. It came splatting to the ground, frosting side down while shattering the plate. Ok then, down one cake platter and down one layer of cake.

The last cake mishap was Mother’s Day. The kids were in baking mode and all the ingredients for a gluten-free vanilla cake were in process…except for the vegetable oil. Apparently, I was out of canola or vegetable oil. I was really hoping they did not use olive oil; it’s great for some things, but not cake. I then noticed the open laptops on the kitchen table so I asked if they googled to find a substitute. My oldest daughter said that three of four recipe websites said to use applesauce. The fourth had said to use butter or applesauce, but since I was such a “freak” these days about nutrition they chose applesauce.

When we sat down for dessert, I started eating the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and I mentioned out loud that I tasted a little cinnamon too. Gales of laughter ensued because we didn’t have plain applesauce and they had to choose between cinnamon or berry applesauce. Berry would have turned the cake an unpleasing shade of “tanish purple” they chose cinnamon. It was a little funky with the chocolate frosting, but it was a lovely way to finish up a Mother’s Day BBQ.

While all of these pros create towering gorgeous creations, my kids create some good memories. Each time we sit down for cake, each mishap is rehashed and exaggerated. My youngest will never live down the egg explosion.

Kendall Egan