Gluten Free Teacups

When traveling with the twins, visiting Costa Vida and ordering from New Grains GF Bakery are great!

2011-07-20T15:09:00.000-07:00

When traveling, I have found that New Grains Gluten Free Bakery is simply wonderful to order from and have delivered to my in-laws house when I arrive. Their product is simply amazing. The sourdough, multi-grain and italian dipping bread are all fantastic according to Kim. Also the lemon squares are wonderful when they are in season.

When going out with my in-laws, I found that Costa Vida fresh Mexican Grill has recently created "oceans of GF options". This restaurant is located in the following states:

The twins loved the nachos and the mango salsa and dressing.

San Francisco Gluten Free restaurants

2011-05-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

Eating out, gluten-free is a wonderful article for gluten free dining in the City.

Here are the highlights...

"The following restaurants are among the many in San Francisco offering choices suitable for gluten-sensitive diners. Many label the items on their menus. More ideas for gluten-free eating are available at celiac.org and celiac.com"....

Good Lunch Places
Gracias Madre, 2211 Mission St.; (415) 683-1346
There was a lot of seating here and family friendly staff. Less than five things on the menu are NOT gluten free. So I really appreciated all the options here for my kiddos.
Amici's East Coast Pizzeria, 2200 Lombard St.; (415) 885-4500
Extreme Pizza, various locations
Eagle Pizzeria, 1712 Taraval St.; (415) 566-3113
Pica Pica Maize Kitchen, 401 Valencia St.; (415) 400-5453
This is a small little restaurant with some great offerings
Power Source Juice Bar, 81 Fremont St.; (415) 896-1312
The Plant Cafe Organic, various locations
Cafe Gratitude, 2400 Harrison St.; (415) 824-4652
Ike's Place at Lime, 2247 Market St.; (415) 553-6888

Good Dinner Options
An alternative to bringing my celiac kiddos to these places, I bring home a GF dish after our date night.

American Grilled Cheese Kitchen, 1 South Park Ave.; (415) 243-0107

Tao Cafe, 1000 Guerrero St.; (415) 641-9955
Open Daily 5:30pm-10pm

Dosa, 1700 Fillmore St.; (415) 441-3672. Also 995 Valencia St.; (415) 642-3672
Minako Organic Japanese Restaurant, 2154 Mission St.; (415) 864-1888
Open Wed-Sun 5:30pm-9pm

Ristorante Bacco, 737 Diamond St.; (415) 282-4969
Mon-Sat 5:30pm-10pm; Sun 5pm-9:30pm

Moya, 1044 Folsom St.; (415) 431-5544
Ethiopian restaurant is closed

Saha, 1075 Sutter St.; (415) 345-9547
Mon-Sat 7am-11pm which is an Arabic Fusion

Zadin, 4039 18th St.; (415) 626-2260
Open Tuesday - Sunday: 6:00pm - 10:00pm and it's Vietnamese

Our Favorite Dessert Options:
Paulettes Macaroons
Mitchells Ice Cream
I spoke with the owner and she called her suppliers for gluten agents in the artificial colors and flavors
and now has a list of GF options

Read more:

New gluten free favorites to try

2011-05-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

My husband's co-worker gave us some wonderful gluten free baking products to try:

Bella Gluten Free... Simply Beautiful, Delicious Food. After he ate a pancake, Sam said, "This is the best thing I ever tasted!"

We were in Napa recently and stopped at Dean and Delucca and found this lovely package:

Gluten Free Blueberry Cookie Biscuits from Cookie it Up

We also stopped by Round Pond for an olive oil tour. We fell in love with their products you can use on waffles, ice cream, crepes, cheeses, etc. The blood orange syrup was our favorite..

Gluten Free Easter cookies

2011-04-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

The kids had fun using melted candymelts warmed in my crockpot to make these delicious white chocolate covered cookies. Happy Spring!!

Gluten free cupcake recipe and activity

2011-04-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

My husband just had his birthday between two trips out of town so I had to improvise. I had the twins decorate a little snow scene on cupcakes made from this amazing spongecake recipe. Our favorite gluten free items included: Glutino pretzels sticks, M and Ms, skittles, chocolate chips, coconut on pillsbury frosting ( I love the new Pillsbury Easy Frost that I can take to birthday parties the kids attend), Mike and Ikes for the carrot nose, and a ghirardelli square for the hat, and Kraft marshmellos for his body. One of my friends placed these cute little treats on a bag and gave them to her child's teacher, which was so sweet.

The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook

Basic Gluten Free Flour Mix
4 cups super fine brown rice flour (Authentic Foods superfine brown rice flour)
1 1/3 cups potato starch (not potato flour)
2/3 c tapioca flour (same as tapioca starch)

Spongecake
1 T of Ener-G replacer with 1/4 c rice milk or (1-2 eggs)
1 1/2 tsp of Ener-G replacer with 2 Tablespoon of rice milk = 1 egg
1 1/2 c sugar
1 T pure vanilla extract
3 T canola oil
3 cups of Basic GF flour Mix
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 c warm rice milk

preheat oven to 350
1-wisk egg or egg replacer until foamy about 1 minute
2- Add sugar, vanilla, oil
3-mix flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt
4-Add dry ingredients to the wet, alternating with rice milk
5-Bake 40 minutes
1/2 tsp salt

FYI (If you purchase any products from Amazon through my site this does not increase your purchase price, however, I do receive credit for my referrals)

Will McDonalds attempt to clarify their gluten free options on their menu?

2011-03-25T22:28:00.000-07:00

McDonalds allowed me to express my opinion about gluten free options on their menu at a meeting today. Here is an email I sent to reiterate my point to their nutritionist that McDonald's consults with. Feel free to email her, sarah@mvnutrition.com. There was a lot of confusion in the meeting about whether or not the fries are gluten free.

Dear Sarah,

I spoke with you today about possible changes to the McDonald's menu. I would like to reiterate the notion that as a parent with children who have Celiac disease, as things currently sit, I would not take my kids there, and haven't, despite our obvious ties and support of the organization as a whole.

If you "Google" the words "McDonald's fries gluten free" - these are just some of the top ten results that come up:

MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11326937/ns/health-fitness/

GF blog: http://thesavvyceliac.com/2009/02/26/dining-out-finding-gluten-free-fries/

GF blog: http://glutenfreefun.blogspot.com/2008/06/mcdonalds-fries-are-not-gluten-free.html

GF blog: http://glutenfreehomemaker.com/2010/08/are-mcdonalds-fries-gluten-free/

Each of these, including a report from MSNBC state that the fries are not Gluten Free.

The only point here is that if they are actually gluten free, there is no way that we as parents could possibly decipher that, and given that gluten makes our child vomit within 20 minutes of consumption, there is no way we would take that risk. The stamp of approval from the Celiac Foundation is everything. If it is on food, I buy it. No matter how expensive it is. REALLY. I shop at whole foods now. WHOLE FOODS!!! My monthly food bill more than doubled when we made the change from Safeway to Whole Foods, but we pay it, and do so loyally and happily to keep our children healthy. We would do the same for McDonald's, and we are not alone on this.

I would be your "customer for life" if you could make some changes to provide more gluten free items on the menu.

Sincerely,

Gluten free muffins and eggs for breakfast

2011-03-25T21:58:00.000-07:00

The twins enjoy this breakfast immensely: Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cupcake with powdered sugar and French Scrambled Eggs. Its a lovely start for the day. By the way, I place only a few chocolate chips in each muffin.

French Scrambled Eggs
Adapted from Julia Child
food.com

8 eggs (or 7 eggs and 2 egg yolks)

salt

pepper

2 tablespoons softened butter

4 teaspoons water or 4 teaspoons milk

1 1/2-2 tablespoons whipping cream or 1 1/2-2 tablespoons softened butter

parsley sprig

1 Place eggs, salt and pepper, and liquid in a mixing bowl and beat for 20-30 seconds.

2 Smear bottom and sides of pan with butter. Pour in the eggs.

3 Cook over moderately low heat, stirring slowly and continuously, reaching all over bottom of pan. Nothing will seem to happen for the first 2-3 minutes. Suddenly the eggs will begin to thicken into a custard. Stir rapidly, moving pan on and off heat, until they have almost thickened to your desired consistency.

4 Remove from heat immediately ? the eggs will continue to cook slightly.

5 As soon as they have reached the desired consistency, add the enrichment (butter or cream), which will stop the cooking. Season to taste, arrange on plates and garnish with parsley.
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cupcake
from Gourmet on Epicurious.com
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large eggs at room temperature
2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (8 ounces)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter bundt pan well and dust with some flour, knocking out excess.

Sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to medium and add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down side of bowl occasionally, then beat until very smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes more.

Reduce speed to low and add all but 1/2 cup flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

Toss zucchini, chocolate chips, and walnuts with remaining 1/2 cup flour mixture and add to batter, then mix batter with a rubber spatula (batter will be thick).

Spoon batter into bundt pan, smoothing top. Bake in middle of oven, rotating pan halfway through baking, until side begins to pull away from pan and a tester comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes total.

Cool cake in pan on a rack 30 minutes, then run a thin knife around outer and inner edges. Invert rack over pan, then invert cake onto rack. Cool completely.

Taking a gluten free cupcake to a birthday party

2011-02-20T23:53:00.000-08:00

The twins have been invited to a bunch of birthday parties and I wanted to share my favorite item we use for such occassions. It is a special carrier for an individual cupcake that enables them to have their own GF cake available when their friend blows out his birthday candles. Here are a few options:

Celiac Disease and the Brain

2011-02-08T23:53:00.000-08:00

I went to a talk today hosted by GIG of Marin (the gluten intolerance group of Marin) entitled:

How Gluten can affect the brain: from seizures and headaches to anxiety and inattention. Julie A Griffith, MD, MS, CMT (Neurologist – San Rafael)

Caveat: This was not written by Angela. It was written by me, her husband. I am by no means a Celiac disease expert, but I am a neurologist. I am still trying to learn about celiac disease as my children have been formally diagnosed. That was the impetus for coming to the talk tonight.

My take home: Raising awareness of the neurologic complications of celiac disease is always a good thing, and Dr. Griffith surely accomplished that goal.

Cautions:

1) Try not to over interpret data – always consider the quality of the data. Just because it is published in a “medical journal” isn’t enough. The quality of the study is key.

A few pointers – case reports are by definition a single case. They are usually very bizarre and unusual, which is why the story is worth writing about.

Big name medical journals have a much higher level of quality than lesser known journals as the process of peer review is much more stringent (i.e. Brain, Neurology, Annals of Neurology, Archives of Neurology are much more reputable that the Psychiatra Polska).

Side note - This is a Polish journal that was used tonight to back up a claim that Celiac Disease is linked to temporal lobe epilepsy. First off, this article is written in Polish. Second, it is an old article and not available online (even to doctors). This makes determining the quality of the study very difficult. From my search, there is one good recent article on this topic, which is a small group of patients (only 7) from a respectable neurological journal. Here is the reference:

Peltola M, et al. Hippocampal sclerosis in refractory temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with gluten sensitivity. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2009 Jun;80(6):626-30. Epub 2009 Feb 24.

Lastly, the usual seizures associated with celiac disease (which are very rare) are visual in nature manifesting as geometric shapes or lights in the visual field, and are thought to be caused by calcifications in the occipital lobe (which is the vision center). In truth, this could feel very similar to a visual aura for a migraine. They are not the grand mal seizures that you are probably thinking of and are terrified of witnessing or suffering.

Larger numbers are better – again, a case report is not good evidence and you should be very careful drawing any conclusions from such evidence. A study with hundreds or thousands of patients that were randomized to a treatment and then rated by an expert evaluator that was blinded to their treatment… that is a good study.

Positive take home point – consider the source, this is no slight on Dr. Griffith. I am referring to the data itself. Consider the quality of the data before drawing any conclusions. As it turns out, all that hoopla about Autism and vaccines was proven to be falsified research. The one who wrote the original article will never be able to publish research in a medical journal again. Just take a step back and consider the source.

2) Take a step back and take a deep breath - As a Neurologist and a father of twins with Celiac disease, I was troubled by the fear that I saw in the faces of some around me. The information about the risks of neurological illness presented in this talk were at times very misleading. Let me illustrate:

One of the slides included a long list of neurological symptoms that have been associated with celiac disease including Attention deficit, Encephalopathy, Epilepsy (especially temporal lobe) – see above for this poor level of evidence, Neuropathy (conflicting evidence), Sleep disorders, Myopathy, Autonomic neuropathy, Multiple systems atrophy (a rare a fatal neurodegenerative disease), Dystonia, Childhood stroke and White matter lesions on the brain.

As a lay person, I would have left this talk thinking that my child is doomed or at least wondering when one of these awful things was going to happen to my child. This same kind of list was also applied to adults within the talk.

What are the actual risks? Are these one in a million or is this a very common problem? How worried should I actually be?

This was presented a couple of times in different ways, and the crowd in attendance at times reacted with the appropriate exclamations of fear and dismay at hearing this terrifying list.

My advice, take a step back and look at the evidence. Then take a deep breath and realize that your child is most likely going to be OK.

In the talk she stated that Celiac disease is found in about 1% of people. That is roughly 3 million Americans (1% of 300 million). The vast majority of people with celiac disease will never get any of these symptoms. In one of the first slides it estimated that 10-22% get a neurological symptom. Sure, that is 300,000-600,000 people, but the other 2.4-2.7 million Americans with diagnosed celiac disease are going to be just fine.

Positive take home point – don’t freak out. Just be aware of the possibility, and if something pops up, think about Celiac disease as a cause and talk about it with your Doc.

3) Be cautious about extensive and expensive testing. The first rule of medicine in the Hippocratic oath is “Primum non nocere” or “First, do no harm.” Spending a lot of time, money and energy getting tested can be harmful to your pocketbook, your relationships and your sanity.

The work-up that was suggested for celiac disease in this talk would run you into the thousands and possibly tens of thousands in cost. I am pretty sure that she was not actually suggesting that all of this be done, but it was a bit unclear.

The list of labs that was presented as “to do” is not necessarily mainstream, as was alluded to by one of the organizers in the back of the room.

One of the labs was touted as being 100% sensitive, which was reiterated twice in the talk. Specificity was not mentioned. What am I talking about? Let me explain. From good ol’ Wikipedia:

Sensitivity measures the proportion of actual positives, which are correctly identified as such (e.g. the percentage of sick people who are correctly identified as having the condition).

Specificity measures the proportion of negatives, which are correctly identified (e.g. the percentage of healthy people who are correctly identified as not having the condition).

Put another way, a sensitivity of 100% means that the test recognizes all actual positives and a specificity of 100% means that the test recognizes all actual negatives.

Let me illustrate this principle: It would be correct to say that testing to see if someone has intestines is 100% sensitive for detecting patients with celiac disease. This is true because everyone who has celiac disease, also has intestines. There will be no false negatives (or in other words, you will not miss a single person with celiac disease when you check to see if they have intestines by this measurement). However, the specificity of this test is hideously bad. Everyone has intestines, so the false positive rate is going to be sky high making it a useless test for the diagnosis of celiac disease.

Take home point – It is easier said than done, but try not to spend to much time, money or energy getting tested only to find out later that the test is essentially uninterpretable. Find out how good the test is (Sensitivity and Specificity) before going ahead with it. In other words, before getting tested, know how to interpret your result.

Again, per the conversation in the room, this point is going to be addressed in a talk within the group this coming April, so tune in for more.

My NOTES from the Talk:

Introduction:

- Celiac Disease is 1% of the population

- 10-23% have neurological symptom

- 70% had abnormalities on EEG in an Israel cohort

- Those with neuro symptoms usually don’t have GI symptoms.

- Hadjivassilou et al 2010 – many other gluten sensitivity syndromes can affect the brain?

Neuro overlap:

- Gut and Neuro disease 10-22.5% (Holmes et al, 1997 Brain)

- Ataxia is the most common neuro symptom of celiac

- Commonly in autism, there is elevated urine gluteomorphin which binds to opioid receptors in the brain.

Neuro symptoms in Celiac – Grossman 2008, Zingone 2010

- Anxiety

- Ataxia

- Attention deficit

- Encephalopathy

- Headache – check Mg++, give magnesium glycinate (helps to make GABA)

- Hypotonia

- Epilepsy (especially temporal lobe)

- Neuropathy (conflicting evidence) – periph sensory/motor

- Sleep disorders

- Myopathy ???

- Autonomic neuropathy

- MSA

- Dystonia

- Childhood stroke

- White matter lesions on the brain

Gluten and Anxiety –

- Prevalence of 17% in Celiac - Hauser et al (germany 2010), 14% in IBS, 6% in general population

- GF diet has been associated with decreased anxiety in celiac disease – Collins 2008 (Sca J Gastroentereology)

- She proposes that this is due to poor perfusion due to leaky blood vessels (dubious!), she also proposes vitamin deficiency and anemia as etiology (possible)

- B12 and folate lowered anxiety in Celiac (Hallert et al, 2009)

- Omega 3, 6, 9 which increases prostaglandin 3 (anti-inflammatory)

Gluten and Ataxia –

- 500 patients in UK with progressive ataxia, ~100 were positive for anti-TTG Iga and IgG

- Those who also had gut disease had elevated anti-TTG and gliadin abs

- If no GI symptoms the titers were positive but lower

Gluten and ADD –

- J Atten Disorder 2006 Nov, Niederhofer

- 1 study – unclear number of patients

Gluten and Encephalopathy –

- A case report with wide spread white matter changes.

Epilepsy and Gluten –

- Psyciatria Polska 1991 Kozlowska

- Study of 41 patients associting celiac disease with temporal lobe epilepsy.

Gluten and Hypoperfusion ????? -

- Am J Med, 2004, Addolorato (need to look this one up)

Gluten induced sensory neuropathy (vs. B12)

- Hadjivassilou, Neurology, 2010 Sep

- N=409

- This is a large study, in a very good journal

Gluten and sleep disorders

- Poor quality paper?!? Hmmm.

Labs to test

- IgE and IgG type 4 to gluten, barley, rye

- Urine for gluteomorphin level

- HLA-DQ testing

- Anti TTG2 IgA and IgG

- Anti-TTG6 bind to the brain (purkinje cells in the cerebellum, pons) – leads to loss in purkinje cells

- Some lab that apparently has 100% sensitivity for Celiac… what is the specificity?

- Duodenal gut biopsy (gold standard) – buccal swab for genetic predisposition

- IgA level

- IgE level

- GI bacterial search

Pathophysiology of gluten-induced neuro disease

- Hadjivassilou Neurology Sep 2010 (need to look this up, Neurology is a good journal)

Treatment –

GF diet

- Nutritional supplementation

- Supplement amino acids

- Vit A, D, E, K

- Cholesterol

- B vitamins

- Removing other food allergens

- Checking stool for other disease

- Consider supplementing mitochondira – i.e., ribose 5 phosphate, L-carnitine, co-enzyme Q10, NADH (data?????)

- Steroids can help???? – in neurologic condition

Verbal apraxia and autism –

- n=187

- Morris and Agin 2009

- Received vitamin E, polyunsaturated

- Had low carnitine, deficiencies in zinc

Neurological symptoms in Adults with Celiac

- Ataxia

- Cerebral calcifications

- Dementia

- Depression in the elderly

- NMO – need to look up

- MS – need to look up

- Migraines

- Neuropathy

She recommended taking Quercetin 500-3000mg PO daily – can help with joint arthritis (data?????)

Celiac disease with spastic paraparesis, diplopia and decreased visual acuity

- Haddou et al 2009 –

- Required steroids to treat

Warned that MNGIE can mimic the symptoms of celiac disease (devastating mitochondrial disease)

- abdominal pain, diarrhea, eye muscle weakness, peripheral neuropathy, weakness

- pathology had ragged red fibers in the muscle and a leukodystrophy of the brain

Fresh Fridays at Sans

2011-02-01T15:23:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time dropping by Sans in San Rafael for their fresh Friday sample day. We sampled some wonderful ravioli filled with butternut squash from Natural Food Works and took home some of their yummy GF french bread. I love this recipe for French toast casserole from Paula Deen.

Recipe for French Toast Casserole as follows:

dash salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon sugar
1 cup milk
8 large eggs
2 cup half-and-half
Butter, for pan
1 loaf French bread (13 to 16 ounces)
Praline Topping, recipe follows
Raspberry Syrup, recipe follows

Praline Topping:
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2-teaspoon ground nutmeg

Happy Birthday Sam and Audrey... Thanks for gluten free cupcakes from TeaCake Bake Shop

2011-02-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

We bought gluten free cupcakes at the TeaCake Bake Shop in Corte Madera for the twins to celebrate their fifth birthday at Giant's stadium. The cupcakes were a delicious gluten free almond cake. The wonderful thing about this store is drop-in cookie and cupcake decorating. They currently only have one kind of GF cupcake, but no GF cookies available. Audrey and Sam opted out of decorating their birthday cupcake in order to get to the stadium faster. The clerk was unsure if the fondant was gluten free so we added our own s prinkles. The shop gave us candles which was very kind. Then we were off to the Giant's stadium since the twins love the Coke slide. (The Giant's playground is open free to the public on weekends 10a-4p and everyday during the summer)

Gluten Free Tea Party

2011-02-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

Tea Party time.. Menu: GF grilled cheese sandwich on Udi bread, Annie's macaroni pasta, veggies and hummus, and homemade kale chips to share with our bunny visitors. Dessert: cookies and cupcake decorating. I have these fabulous fondant molds the girls used to make lovely flowers to decorate their cupcake during lunch.

First attempt making Kale chips and they were more fun for the bunnies.

Ingredients

1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Directions

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes. by allrecipes.com

Pamela Products are gluten free beautiful

2011-01-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

The Gluten Intolerance Group of Marin provides an excellent opportunity for education and support. I attended my first meeting in early December where pioneering gluten free entrepreneur Pamela of Pamela's products was the key note speaker. Her message is to "Live More"

Founding her company in 1988, she has enabled her customers the opportunity to have beautifully packaged gluten free options. Her family had a health food store growing up and she helped package the cookies. She has a unique history and those with a gluten free diet are the beneficiaries of her genius. She is down to earth and indulged us with easy tips. For example, if you would like to enjoy a bagel simply measure 1 cup of bread dough to boiling water for a few minutes then bake to enjoy the chewy bagel texture. Her braided bread tip is to put her GF bread mix into a piping bag and pipe the desired braided look then bake. She talked about how she enjoys the process of baking. She has beautiful bright colored utensils to stir, scoop and use in the kitchen. She often brings her orange kitchen aide with her as she develops new products. She made us all laugh when she confessed that she only used the wisk attachment on her kitchen aide for years. Then only recently realized that there were other attachments she could utilize for her products. She reminded us that she has done all the work to make delicious gluten free products. We should feel free to embellish them by adding our own personal touch before taking them to a party. I loved her idea of dipping cookies in chocolate half-way then plating the cookies in rows by flipping the chocolate covered side on the left side then the right. I brought home a sampling of her amazing cookies for the kids to try. They both loved the Dark Chocolate Chip cookies and wanted more so off to the store I go. I am so excited for her new product "whenever bars" which are coming soon. Just in time for the twins lunch box before they start kindergarten.

Next Meeting for GIG of Marin will happen February 8 at 7p at the Corte Madera Town Center in the community room. You can invite your friends and RSVP to glutenfreemarin@yahoo.com The meeting is free, however we request a donation of $5 to cover the cost of the meeting room, handouts, etc.

Gluten Free Bread samples for free

2011-01-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

Katz products offers an array of gluten free samples for you to try. The customer just pays for shipping. This is my favorite new find and I am excited to see what the twins will like so we can make a winning purchase of gluten free products that won't go to waste.

LegoLand's gluten free options are spectacular

2011-01-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, we decided to take the kids on an adventure and fill them with holiday memories. Traveling with twins with celiac disease is not an easy task, I bring a suitcase full of clothes and another full of gluten free food. We decided that LegoLand would be the perfect place to take the twins because every restaurant seems to have gluten free options for our kiddos. The stress of deciding what to feed them or hearing them whine about the limited options I could bring in the park was no longer a burden.

My favorite option was the apple fries and cream which were so delightful! The kids lit the LegoLand Christmas tree and had a fabulous day thanks to this wonderful and magical place.

Gluten free breakfast at the Cracked Egg in Las Vegas

2011-01-03T10:49:00.000-08:00

We were in Las Vegas with the kiddos and found a wonderful place for breakfast, The Cracked Egg. The storefront doesn't look like much from the outside, but the inside is charming and has a lot of GF offerings. The kids loved the GF pancakes. Sam was elated that we made it inside before they closed at 2:00p that afternoon.

favorite gluten free pizza in St Louis

2011-01-03T10:35:00.000-08:00

We traveled with the kids to St Louis, MO and stopped at Pi Pizzeria for lunch. We were not disappointed with their options. Audrey demonstrated how inventive she could be by cooling her pizza with an ice cube. The waiter informed us of the array of options that catered to customers with special dietary needs. The surprising thing we learned was that they don't offer canadian bacon since the owner was not a fan. However, this could change.... Happy eating!

SANS - gluten free grocery store in San Rafael

2010-12-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

The twins were so excited when I told them we were going to Sans grocery store which was created just for them. They could pick anything out in the store and I would buy it for them to try. They relished in this thought and were anxious to see what this store had to offer. Sam was a little monkey and immediately climbed up the shelves to reach some candy he had his eye on. Perhaps they could have a small step for their shorter customers. Sam and Audrey were both were excited that I wasn't laying out a few cereal boxes on the floor and telling them to pick one option.

Marissa and her brother are so kind and genuine. They told me about their vision to open a GF cafe as well as a resource center in the back of their store for patrons to peruse and educate themselves. I was lucky enough to have help with my groceries to the car and I felt taken care of. They seemed to be a one stop shop with connection to Upper Crust Bakery where I ordered my Thanksgiving pie for next week. Sans is a one stop store for people with gluten intollerance.

Natural Food Works had their cookies available at Sans and they were delightful. Crisp and delicious for all our palettes. Another close contender for absolutely great flavor and an incredible product is the brand King Arthur which is amazing.

Snacks and Treats

The kids indulged in these treats.. The hit was the buffalo cranberry Tanka Bar. Also you can never get enough of Annies and Froose fruit snacks. Some of the bag of chips were too spicy for the twins so beware of too much flavor for young appetites.

Dinner Options

When I travel with the twins, finding choices they will like on the road is a daunting task. I have found Annies Macaroni and Cheese to always be a safe bet. Sans has a Deluxe family version of this mac and cheese which was a great buy. I also liked trying the bean soup can of Gluten Free Cafe only offered at Sans (Sam dipped his chips in it) and Shelton's Turkey Chili which were perfect for the twins. I could pour and microwave this yummy dinner option easily. These links allow you to order in bulk from Amazon, however, I enjoyed shopping for a little bit of variety from Sans in San Rafael.

New for my kiddos

Sharing gluten free tips for eating in the Bay Area

2010-11-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

I recently found a discussion thread on Chowhound that had a lot of new insight for GF eateries and restaurants in the Bay area. In the next few weeks, I hope to highlight each of these places and see what the twins have to say. We will be taking some picnic trips to explore new tasty food options in our bay area backyard.

www.goodhealthpublishing.com for a list of 105+
national/regional restaurants and their lists of gluten/wheat free items
www.glutenfreeregistry.com

Gluten Free By The Bay
http://glutenfreebay.blogspot.com

Celiac Bay Area
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/celiacbayarea/

The twins love to share, but when it comes to food they each have their own gluten free food preferences. I hope to broaden their choices with help from these places:

Sans a grocery store located at 821 B Street • San Rafael, CA • 94901 has just opened.

www.bayareaceliacs.org/restaurants.htm, which is a blog on restaurants in the Bay Area. They don't have restaurants that have gluten free menus except for the usual Outbacks and PF Chang's....

Cafe Gratitude, located at 1336 9th Ave, which is near Golden Gate Park. It is also at 2400 Harrison St in SF and 1730 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley. They said that most of their menu is gluten free except for what contained soy sauce.

Zadin 4039 18th ST, SF, CA 94114

Pizza from Rustica 5422 College Avenue Oakland, CA 94618

Amici's has a bunch of locations that offer gluten-free menus (crusts from Still Riding Pizza) -- the Lombard St. location in SF is one of them. It is great gluten-free pizza, but the cost is twice as much as BJ's pizza in Terra Linda.

Teacake Bake Shop just added a new Gluten-free cupcake which is amazing! It's an almond vanilla cupcake with a swiss meringue buttercream. Locations in Corte Madera, Burlingame, Emeryville, and Layfette.

Mariposa Bakery in Oakland is a completely gluten free bakery. All types of bread including bagels and a wide selection of baked goods, cookies, cupcakes, etc..

http://cravebakery.com has many of their items in local grocery stores. I love Rainbow grocery and Whole Foods for their inventory of Crave.

Holiday Treats

2010-11-05T23:48:00.000-07:00

Kelloggs rice krispie treats are a classic snack for kids. To substitute the rice krispies, I use three cups Envirokidz Koala Crisp and three cups Erewhon Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice. The twins and our neighbors all tried this snack and loved it. This treat is definitely worth making again.

(Nutrition Information)

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
- OR -
4 cups miniature marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies®

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS:
In microwave-safe bowl heat butter and marshmallows on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Follow steps 2 and 3 above. Microwave cooking times may vary.

Note

For best results, use fresh marshmallows.
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow crème can be substituted for marshmallows.
Diet, reduced calorie or tub margarine is not recommended.
Store no more than two days at room temperature in airtight container. To freeze, place in layers separated by wax paper in airtight container. Freeze for up to 6 weeks. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

GF gadget for kids

2010-11-05T23:26:00.000-07:00

My kiddos love GF cones, however, when I run out of them I love using cool cones. My kids seem to eat less ice cream and they don't even notice. The twins love to trade handles and mix up the colors. Although, I often find the cool cones in the bath as the twins attempt to use them as squirt guns.

I would recommend these cool cones as a staple for kids with gluten intolerance.

GF menu at BJ's

2010-11-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we went on a family date to a new restaurant in Terra Linda. They recently started offering gluten free pizza so we had to try it at BJ's restaurant. We ordered the following:

BALSAMIC GLAZED CHICKEN

Our marinated chicken breasts grilled and served over baby field greens, caramelized onions and white cheddar mashed potatoes. Topped with crispy fried onion strings and drizzled with sweet balsamic glaze. (no onion strings)

GLUTEN-FREE THIN CRUST PIZZA

A flavorful, herb-infused, 10-inch crust baked to a golden brown and

topped with your favorite gluten-free toppings. With the exception

of our meatballs, all of BJ’s Classic Ingredients are gluten-free.

Finally, the critics weigh in about their dinner:

Audrey liked the pizza with ham. Sam did not like it with pineapple. When I asked him why he told me it was too hot. However, he loved the potatoes. He said, "yum, yum, can I have some more?" He did not like the balsamic sauce on the chicken. Audrey loved the chicken a lot.

Final Tally

The atmosphere was loud from all the TVs, background music, and lots of talking. The kids were very distracted from the array of stimulation and they had a hard time eating. The food was delicious and definitely worth ordering again as take out.

Halloween and Chocolate Molds

2010-11-02T10:53:00.000-07:00

We love using Wiltons chocolate melts to make forms for our cupcakes. I use my crockpot to melt the chocolate and have the kids use spoons to fill a mold. Tap the mold so the chocolate sets then place in the freezer. After a few minutes they are ready to use and decorate. These chocolate bat molds for Halloween came from Michaels and it was a hit with the kids.

Here is a blog mystorminateacup.blogspot.com that gives more info on this fabulous idea. The best part is they are gluten free and the chocolate seems to last forever. I don't believe I saw an expiration date on the package. I may have to add a bag to my earthquake preparedness supplies.

Tips for Gluten Free Cooking for Kids

2010-10-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

To help my kids get into the kitchen, I make baby snowballs to snack on as we bake.

1 T of a nut butter, 1 T chocolate chips, and 1T GF oatmeal then roll in coconut.

One of my favorite places to find new and interesting facts that apply to me taking care of my gluten free kiddos is http://blog.kinnikinnick.com. They just came out with some great facts for my picky GF eaters.

The article is fantastic and can be read in full here: GF is child's play. The take home is this..
"Probably the best advice we can give to help with your GF kids, picky eater or not, is to get them involved. Kids will eat almost anything if they are involved in making it. Cook with them. Have them help choose and prepare meals. Have fun. It's more than food, it's family."

My kiddos have loved helping make cookies, but it's time to expand their abilities to meal planning. Here are a couple of books on the market that are available to get you started.

Greens fails to deliver, Kudos to Kara's Cupcakes

2010-10-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

We went out to lunch with the kiddos at the famed "Greens" restaurant in San Francisco. At the counter, I asked the attendant if the GF carrot cupcake had been touching the non-GF cupcake on the plate. Then she rudely said, "It's not like we are pounding the gluten onto them." Then she gestured with her hands as if to smash two imaginary cupcakes together repeatedly. After reeling from the incredible inappropriateness of her reaction, I collected myself and replied, "I noticed that you got defensive by my comment. You have to understand that my kids have Celiac disease and if the cupcakes touch they become sick." She then tried to justify her rudeness by saying that, "I just get so many questions by vegans about the safety of our food." It still surprises me how hostile people become when I ask about Gluten, when all I am trying to do is keep my kids from getting sick.

Finally, the critics weigh in about the cupcakes:
- Sam (4 years old) said, "No, I didn't like it." However, he ate most of his carrot cake.
- Audrey (4 years old) said, "I liked it a little." She ate only one bite.

So after this failed experiment, I took the kids to Kara's cupcakes on the way home after lunch for a treat. Kara's Cupcakes have recently started offering a vanilla and chocolate GF cupcakes. First off, they were nice to my kids. The staff member helping us was very understanding that I had a boy who didn't want the pink fondant flower on his cupcake. She then calmly replaced the flower with a blue airplane on top.

The verdict:
- Sam exclaims, "Yum! I love the cupcake tons!"
- Audrey excitedly rambles, "I like it from this store. From this house as big as the earth and back.. that's how much I like it."

Final Tally:
Greens: 1 thumb up, 1 thumb down on the cupcake and a Mommy big thumb down for the rudeness of the staff.
Kara's: 2 thumbs way up and the Mommy seal of approval for kindness and service.

For a more indepth description of Kara's GF cupcakes I perused Chow Hound to assess how the vanilla and chocolate flavors compare.