Ingredients:
2 Boxes Glutino original crackers –crushed
3 stalks celery
1 diced onion
1 package fresh mushrooms sliced
2 eggs
11oz chicken broth
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 Tbsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Saute onions, celery, and mushrooms in 1/3 cup oil- any kind and then let cool. While cooling place crushed crackers in a bowl with chicken broth and eggs; mix well. Then add cooled mushrooms and onions and stir well. Lastly add the fresh cranberries, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Place mixture into a well greased baking pan and bake for 1 hour.
Although being gluten free is not easy I have come to realize there is usually a way to adapt. You need to get rid of your tunnel vision and think outside the box. For this Celiac it was substituting crackers for bread. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I plan to this Thanksgiving.

Sari Solondz was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in November of 2009. Sari resides in Tampa Bay Florida with her husband and two young daughters. With a Masters in social work, she has worked in health care and educational institutions. Now a stay at home mom, Sari has some free time to share her personal experiences with Celiac Disease to others.

Typically, we use a minimum of two knives for every sandwich. Once a knife touches a piece of non gluten free bread that same knife may not be put back in what you are spreading. If you do, you run the risk of cross-contamination for those with Celiac Disease. Making peanut butter and jelly in our home takes planning and precision. For example, if you scoop out the peanut butter and spread it on a piece of bread but then realize you didn’t scoop out enough, guess what? Time to grab another knife! Same goes for the jelly!

A big adjustment that has evolved over the last four years is being aware of the cross contamination issue. The good news is that over time my family is conscious of what they are eating and how they prepare items. My seven year old daughter will tell me if she accidentally grabs gluten-free chips out of a bag after touching her whole wheat bread. It makes me proud that she is so aware of my intolerance and other food allergies her friends experience. She has also witnessed what eating gluten does to me and she understands it places mommy on the disabled list for a few days.

The dietitian I met with upon my diagnoses, recommended having two toasters in my home so there is no worry about ingesting unwanted gluten. This has drastically reduced my chances of accidentally getting a crumb of wheat bread in my diet. Having two toasters is inexpensive, but also has been priceless in terms of my health. Another suggestion was making sure those who help you are honest. It’s okay to contaminate the butter or cream cheese. My only request is that you tell me you screwed up!

Most people think having Celiac is an inconvenience but for me the frustrating part is getting sick by not following a wheat and gluten free diet. Having friends and family on board and informed about what cross contamination is certainly helps. All I ask for is honesty, acceptance, and more knives!

Sari Solondz was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in November of 2009. Sari resides in Tampa Bay Florida with her husband and two young daughters. With a Masters in social work, she has worked in health care and educational institutions. Now a stay at home mom, Sari has some free time to share her personal experiences with Celiac Disease to others.

Favorite Snack:

Danielle Crunchy Pumpkin Crispy Veggie Crisps

There are times where you just crave chips of any kind. You are looking for that crispy consistency or for myself, it’s typically when we’re watching a sporting event. My fiancé, Danny, is able to pick up any sort of bag of chips from 7-11, however, I tend to be a little more cautious about my selections. Not only are these gluten free, but they are also dairy free. They say that many people are lactose intolerant and don’t really know it – which is funny because I always feel better when I’m forgoing gluten and dairy products. I definitely recommend these crisps.

Favorite New Meal:

Homemade Pizza with Udi’s Pizza Crust

One of my most somber moments of being told about Celiac was the fact that my most favorite cheat meal, pizza, may not be a reality anymore. I certainly do not trust fast take-out pizza restaurants to make a perfectly gluten free pizza because of all the cross contamination so when I located these pizza crusts, I was ecstatic. Danny and I then created a “gluten free pizza making party”. I get gluten free pizza, he gets to cook (which he loves) and we get a cute at-home inexpensive date out of it. Sounds like a win-win. This recipe is from Silvana’s Kitchen. She has amazing gluten free recipes.

Rebekah M. Reidy is a health coach, nutritional consultant and our expert gluten-free Blogger. She has been living Gluten-free since 2011 after being diagnosed with Celiac disease. Rebekah is also a certified personal trainer, and owns her own unique fitness studio in the Tampa Bay area, where she mixes fitness with fashion.

I had heard the word gluten but never paid any attention to what it was or how it affected my life. I have come to understand that gluten is a protein found in many food, more things than I could have imagined. The good news is that after four years of living with Celiac Disease and as a married mother of two girls I am no longer scared. In fact, I feel awesome and am able to educate those around me.

Many times when people find out I have Celiac Disease I get the head tilt and pity look. “No thanks people, I am okay!” I have overcome many obstacles on my Celiac journey, inclusive accidentally poisoning myself. “Poisoning,” for people who have Celiac Disease, is unknowingly ingesting gluten. I have learned a great deal about how to keep myself healthy which equates to keeping my family healthy and happy.

One of the most difficult parts about my diagnosis was trying to find my love for baking again. Baking is relaxing and makes me happy! My girls love baking with me and this activity came to a sudden halt. Flour, as a main ingredient in most baked goods, presented a very discouraging situation. I tried to concoct an all-purpose flour and was met with pricey grocery bills and failure on many occasions. So, I stopped baking temporarily but, started to get motivated again when my girls asked, “Mom, When are you going to bake something?”

There are many gluten free all-purpose flours in health food stores and supermarkets. My baked goods drastically improved when I stumbled upon Jules gluten free all-purpose flour. This flour brought the sunshine back to my kitchen and I started to re-gain my confidence. I use this flour as a substitute for most of my pre Celiac diagnosis recipes and most of the time I meet success. In fact, it is gratifying when someone enjoys my food and wonders if it gluten-free or not. Now that is success!-

Sari Solondz was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in November of 2009. Sari resides in Tampa Bay Florida with her husband and two young daughters. With a Masters in social work, she has worked in health care and educational institutions. Now a stay at home mom, Sari has some free time to share her personal experiences with Celiac Disease to others.

When I was diagnosed with Celiac disease and went completely gluten free, I did happen to drop around 10-15 lbs. However, I must preface that with the fact that I was then being super cognitive about what I was putting in my body. Journaling your food is a huge help for being aware of what you are eating on a daily basis. Also, I felt more energetic from going gluten-free , so I was more active. That’s why I try not to thank gluten free living directly to weight loss, however, I do thank gluten free living for something even more important… the way I feel.

As a weight loss program, simply grabbing an item labeled gluten free will not be the answer to shedding extra pounds. However, if you notice that you may have a slight sensitivity to products that contain gluten, then going gluten free will certainly get rid of fatigue, irritability, bloating and all of those lovely irritable bowel syndromes. I found it super important to touch on this subject because gluten free is a hot craze right now and even though I have certainly benefited from it through the way I feel and through weight loss – it should be not be primarily used as a weight loss program alone.

In general, whether you’re allergic to gluten, sensitive to it, or none of the above, having something like craft beer or a wheat filled dish usually does result in some type of water retention and bloat – so overall if you were to switch to a gluten free lifestyle, you would see a drop there, but it may not make the scale budge. If you’re wondering whether or not you should try it – I’d definitely say to go for it, but without expectations of weight loss. Instead, focus on how it makes you feel overall.

Rebekah M. Reidy is a health coach, nutritional consultant and our expert gluten-free Blogger. She has been living Gluten-free since 2011 after being diagnosed with Celiac disease. Rebekah is also a certified personal trainer, and owns her own unique fitness studio in the Tampa Bay area, where she mixes fitness with fashion.

I did my research ahead of time to make certain that I knew what the restaurant offered and what selections would fit in my new lifestyle. I was extremely confident and was ready to enjoy social time again like we used to years ago. We got a corner booth and I started off with a potato vodka (Tito’s) and tonic water for a beverage. Danny and I made sure the waitress knew and understood my gluten allergy and she helped to direct us to the appropriate choices. With appetizers, we had corn tortilla chips with salsa. I didn’t know if the salsa was gluten free, so I skipped it and just ate the chips plain. We then ordered salads with our dinner – my selection was a plain fillet of salmon grilled, with steamed vegetables and a baked potato.

When we got the salads – I realized that I had not appropriately asked the waitress to take off the croutons (which contain gluten). So I began picking them off one by one. I then ate my salad (which was delicious) and soon after, the dinner came. The dinner was exactly what I had been craving. However, as we were finishing up dinner, I noticed that I started to get really sharp pains in my abdomen and side. I shrugged it off and ordered water and then we left to go home.

The entire night, I was in awful pain. I became nauseous and eventually ended up vomiting. I felt so sick throughout the entire evening that I had to cancel my morning clients because I woke up still feeling ill. What did I do wrong? Why was this happening? Is this a gluten attack? Or a stomach bug? Danny and I began to retrace my steps… and sure enough, we realized that it must have been the croutons. I hadn’t eaten them but they were mixed in with the salad before I began picking them off. Could that little bit of gluten effect me this badly??

I started to do some research and went into gluten free forums where other people discuss their situations. As it turns out – going 110% gluten free all the time may not be the best thing in world for circumstances such as this. My body couldn’t even handle the tiniest amount of gluten, it went directly into an attack and while I do know that I’m allergic, this reaction was horrific comparable to the amount of gluten I may have taken in. Therefore, I realized that I needed to adjust my gluten free lifestyle slightly.

I’d like to just state that this is a personal decision: I now introduce tiny amounts of gluten into my lifestyle. This has allowed me to be able to handle any gluten free moments gone badly. If I was to have that salad today with the croutons picked off, I would be just fine. Perhaps maybe a tiny bit of bloat, but nothing dramatic like last time. Unfortunately, there are no studies that I could find about doing this sort of experiment, but for me, it works. If you have had a horrible reaction to just a small amount of gluten, I’d recommend at least trying this. Just a pinch of something gluten-filled once or twice per week – for me, it’s typically a quarter size of bread, one bite of a pasta dish, or even something like a tiny bite of a chocolate chip cookie. My reactions to “oops” have changed drastically. This new routine has literally saved my stomach.

Rebekah M. Reidy is a health coach, nutritional consultant and our expert gluten-free Blogger. She has been living Gluten-free since 2011 after being diagnosed with Celiac disease. Rebekah is also a certified personal trainer, and owns her own unique fitness studio in the Tampa Bay area, where she mixes fitness with fashion.

• Don’t prepare gluten free foods on the same surface used to prepare foods with gluten unless the surface has been cleaned. (In restaurants, ask the chef to wipe down the grill before preparing your order.)

• Make sure utensils have been cleaned after preparing gluten-containing foods. Even better, have separate sets of utensils for gluten free food preparation. It sounds over the top – but it makes a difference.

• Don’t use the same sifter for gluten free and regular flours. Clearly label the gluten free sifter to avoid any mistakes.

• Don’t deep-fry gluten free foods in the same oil used to fry breaded items. This is a particular risk in restaurants. You’ll need to ask whether breaded and un-breaded items are fried in the same oil.

• If you’re not a complete gluten-free family, be mindful of the toaster. A gluten free bagel cooked after a piece of rye bread can create issues. Either get a toaster oven with separate racks, or two different toasters, labeled.

• Watch out for condiments. Ask for single serving packets instead of using the general bottles at restaurant locations – often times when the condiment bottle is a little dried up, people will shove their knife or fork into the dispenser to get it to flow. Unfortunately, their knife may have just touched their gluten filled food. It’s not worth the risk.

• Croutons. I always seem to forget about them when I order a salad, but once they are on the salad – you have now cross-contaminated everything. So make sure to hold them off the salad.

As you experiment with a gluten free lifestyle, the more that these tips will begin to make sense. At first, it seems so overkill and outlandish but it certainly makes a difference. Tomorrow I will share with you a story about a time that I experienced a pretty bad cross contamination. Sometimes it takes that one time to realize that being careless, especially when you have a significant allergy, can be a really scary incident

Rebekah M. Reidy is a health coach, nutritional consultant and our expert gluten-free Blogger. She has been living Gluten-free since 2011 after being diagnosed with Celiac disease. Rebekah is also a certified personal trainer, and owns her own unique fitness studio in the Tampa Bay area, where she mixes fitness with fashion.

#1 – Always bring snacks along with you

This tip has single-handedly made life easier. Items such as: rice cakes, almonds, gluten free crackers, gluten free granola bars and the list goes on… can SAVE you from any hunger disasters. You can snack on these items instead of stressing about what to eat if your friends decide to take a food court break at the mall. It’s an easy fix if you’re ever in a bind. The selections above are also fine without a fridge, cooler or microwave.

#2 – Eat before an event

If you’re going to a book club meeting, a wedding, any type of social event that will be serving food, eat before you go. At first I thought I’d be able to just wing it at social events, but it was extremely hard without eating beforehand, because one’s appetite gets even worse when surrounded by food. If you plan to eat ahead of time, you’ll be able to mingle near the food tables without feeling like you want eat everything in sight. Also, if you’re someone who is embarrassed of telling others of your lifestyle, this is a great way to gently say “I already ate, but thank you” and not feel obliged to explain how wheat affects you in bad ways.

#3 – Select your go-to choices

These go-to selections can be just about anything. These are items that will most likely be offered everywhere and you KNOW that they will always be gluten free as long as you order them correctly. First and foremost – protein selections will just about always be gluten-free. However, it must be grilled or broiled (not breaded, fried or blackened). I tend to always forgo the toppings as well, just in case a sauce is included that has a wheat base. Secondly, vegetables are always gluten free. So now you have a protein and a vegetable and you’re most likely searching for something with substance. Therefore, on your final selection, choose an item such as brown rice. My other go-to selections include: Lays potato chips, water, coffee, tea, and yogurts.

Don’t allow your dietary restrictions to harm your personal life. I did at first and it was just miserable. Plan ahead, be prepared and you’ll learn to enjoy your surroundings even on a gluten-free diet.

Rebekah M. Reidy is a health coach, nutritional consultant and our expert gluten-free Blogger. She has been living Gluten-free since 2011 after being diagnosed with Celiac disease. Rebekah is also a certified personal trainer, and owns her own unique fitness studio in the Tampa Bay area, where she mixes fitness with fashion.

Favorite Snack:

Kay’s Natural Honey Almond Protein Cereal

A perfect snack to put on top of plain yogurt. Add a few mixed berries in – so delicious!

Favorite New Meal:

Heaven Mills Gluten Free Pita Bread

Literally in HEAVEN with my Greek Salad Pita Sandwich. I originally got this recipe from Bon Appetit! – from an article they published in November of 2007. However, it tastes just as delicious with these gluten free pitas. It is amazingly refreshing.

Greek Salad Pita Sandwich

Photo by: Tina Rupp

Yield: Makes 4

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

-          3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

-          1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

-          1 ¼ cups chopped seeded plum or cherry tomatoes

-          1 cup diced seeded peeled cucumber

-          1 cup chopped green bell pepper

-          ½  cup chopped radishes

-          ½  cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

-          1 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 4 ½ ounces)

-          4 Heaven Mills Gluten Free pita breads, halved

Preparation

Whisk olive oil and red wine vinegar in large bowl. Season dressing with salt and pepper. Mix tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, radishes, and parsley into dressing. Stir in feta cheese.
DO AHEAD: Salad can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill.

Using slotted spoon, transfer salad mixture to pita bread halves. Serve sandwiches immediately.

Per serving: 397 calories, 20g fat (7g saturated fat), 33mg cholesterol, 775mg sodium, 45g carbohydrates, 7g fiber, 13g protein

Rebekah M. Reidy is a health coach, nutritional consultant and our expert gluten-free Blogger .  She has been living Gluten-free since 2011 after being diagnosed with Celiac disease.  Rebekah is also a certified personal trainer, and owns her own unique fitness studio in the Tampa Bay area, where she mixes fitness with fashion.

Many companies have come out and expressed their concern for those who have true gluten-free sensitivities and have attempted to create lists of beverages that should be gluten free. I stress the word “should” because many times, there is always a chance of “cross-contamination”. I will do a post later on that explains all about the cross-contamination that I’ve been exposed to, but for now, just err on the side of caution.

Throughout our wedding prep festivities this year, Danny and I have been surrounded by social drinking.  I created a list below that should help you out a little bit (coffee & alcohol):

Coffee:
Here’s a word of advice: Stick to plain coffee or espresso & milk drinks such as a latte.
The syrups used in flavored coffees and frappuccinos at places like Starbucks unfortunately have traces of gluten. In addition, even if the syrups do not have gluten, it’s extremely easy to cross-contaminate in this type of setting, and there have been many complaints due to it.

Dunkin Donuts company has indicated in many conversations back and forth with journalists, that they cannot guarantee 100% gluten-free coffee beans from their manufacturers due to the factories having the ability to cross-contaminate. I have had coffee beans that were fine, but others that made me feel ill – so it’s definitely a hit or miss.

These companies express 100% gluten free coffee beans, however, and would definitely recommend them if you are not wanting to leave your stomach up to chance: Godiva, Barnies, Keurig Cups.

Beer:
If you’re a craft beer lover AND have a gluten sensitivity, you will be a sad, sad person. Majority of beers contain barley, wheat or rye. There is simply no getting around it. However, many companies have come out with gluten-free beer and they are not as bad as one would think. I’d recommend going to a store like Total Wine, and creating your own 6-pack of beers using a bunch of different kinds of gluten-free selections and try them out. Also, many craft beer bars have begun to offer gluten-free beer to patrons who are living the GF lifestyle.

Ciders:
This is my drink of choice and I have yet to find a cider that is not gluten-free. I have heard from others that there may be barley in some ciders, so just make certain that you check the ingredients.

Hard Alcohol (Vodka, Gin, Rum, Tequila, Scotch & Whisky):
The rule on hard alcohol is that even though many of them are made from wheat, barley or rye, the distillation process actually removes all of the gluten. Therefore, they should all be gluten-free. However, be cautious about it. Many of those with Celiac actually do feel ill from these distilled grain alcohols. I usually will only purchase vodka that is made from potatoes to make 100% certain that its gluten free. On top of that, be very careful of your mixers!

Wine:
Majority of wine is gluten-free.
Champagne is 100% gluten-free!
Wine coolers, on the other hand, typically contain malt and therefore are not gluten-free.

Flavored Liqueurs:
This one is a hit or miss. I have decided that after feeling extremely ill from a night out where I consumed only two mixed liqueur shots, that it’s simply not worth it. So I stay away. If you’re really *needing* to do shots with your friends, stick to something basic like: tequila straight up! Cheers!

Rebekah M. Reidy is a health coach, nutritional consultant and our expert gluten-free Blogger .  She has been living Gluten-free since 2011 after being diagnosed with Celiac disease.  Rebekah is also a certified personal trainer, and owns her own unique fitness studio in the Tampa Bay area, where she mixes fitness with fashion.