GlutenSoyDairy Free
Thanks to Whole Foods for their pumpkin chocolate cake recipe!
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=2635
This recipe translates beautifully into a gluten-free and egg-free version. The pumpkin ensures that you still get a tasty cake. We had great success making it gluten-free and egg-free by using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free all purpose flour with 1/2 teaspoon of Xanthan gum in place of the wheat flour, and the equivalent of 2 eggs using Ener-G Egg Replacer.
Next time we make this, we’ll definitely try the chocolate chip suggestion from some of the comments.
After an unfortunate reaction to Trader Joe’s supposedly non-gluten Organic Corn Dippers, I have sent the following email to Trader Joe’s. If you are gluten-free, or if you have gluten-free friends, please help me in encouraging Trader Joe’s to get it right.
Dear Trader Joe’s –
Nearly two years ago I was diagnosed as celiac. At the time, I was in love with Trader Joe’s, and shopped there almost exclusively. Upon receiving my diagnosis, and understanding that I could not have any exposure to wheat or gluten at all, I began to look carefully at ingredient lists. At the time, I discovered immediately that I could no longer enjoy Trader Joe’s as a viable place to shop, as nearly everything (corn chips, even!!!) was made on shared equipment. Trader Joe’s doors were suddenly closed to me.
A few months ago I began migrating back for the sparkly drinks and an excellent dark chocolate bar. Sadly, however, I also became excited and lured in, and ultimately decieved, by your extremely irresponsible marketing ploy of labeling products with a cute little “g” followed by “no gluten ingredients used.”
I know when I’ve had gluten or wheat: my stomach gives me severe pangs, my eyes swell up as if I had pink eye, my skin becomes raw and burns. All of this occurred after enjoying your supposedly safe Organic Corn Dippers.
Sure, you do say in the fine print that “no gluten ingredients used” does not necessarily mean that it’s safe for those who must be entirely gluten free. But, ultimately, I have to say that I find this to be an extremely irresponsible marketing ploy of which you should be ashamed.
Gluten free is not a fad, and should not be a marketing tool. It’s a serious health issue.
I hope you take this email seriously and do not dismiss it. I would love to know that my favorite grocery story is one I can trust, and I’m really sad say that right now, I cannot trust Trader Joe’s.
Sincerely,
Rain Breaw
Glendale, CA
Enough people have wanted to know what I can and cannot eat that I decided perhaps I should make this information available in a readily accessible place. :)
Following are the specifics of what make up “Rain-Unfriendly” foods. (Thanks to my friend Mollie for coining the term “Rain Friendly,” which is being co-opted here.)
Hopefully I’ll start having a little more time soon to spend on increasing the usefulness of my blog in finding good celiac-friendly recipes. Suffice it to say, fresh foods are wonderful! I feel like Jon (who does most of the cooking) and I are eating like royalty.
Rain’s Allergy List:
MUST BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS:
Gluten - which includes:
- wheat
- malt (often — if it says “corn” or “rice” based it is okay)
- maltodextrin (often — if it says “corn” or “rice” based it is okay)
- oats (unless explicitly labeled “gluten free” - Bob’s Red Mill has this)
- rye
- barely
- spelt
Eggs
HIGHLY ALLERGIC:
Dairy (aged hard cheeses can be tolerated in very small amounts)
Caisen
Whey
Pineapple
Soy (note that this is the base for a lot of “vegetable oil” so check carefully)
MODERATELY ALLERGIC, CAN TOLERATE:
Peas
Almonds
Chicken
ADDITIONAL THINGS TO NOTE:
The following wording on product ingredient lists usually means something really bad, specifically wheat based, might be in the product. It is best to avoid such products unless they are specifically labeled “gluten free”:
Natural Flavors
Vinegar (if it just says “vinegar” — “distilled white vinegar” (especially Heinz), “apple cider vinegar,” “balsamic vinegar” and other vinegars derived from known safe origins are safe)
Apple Cider Flavored Vinegar (apple cider vinegar is fine, flavored is not)
Food Starch
Modified Food Starch
Artificial Flavors
Artificial Colors
For a very helpful list of safe and not safe grains and things to watch out for, see this page: http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/theglutenfreediet/a/GrainTable.htm
There are also links on this page to many other useful resources.
The funny thing about facing food allergies with gusto: people come out of the woodwork to talk with me about my solutions and to share theirs. There are so many of us, truly, that I’m suprised awareness is still as limited as it is.
Last night I wrote an email to a friend of a friend who recently learned about gluten/dairy/egg/sugar sensitivities. Since my last useful post was so long ago, I thought I’d share some excerpts from that email here. Hopefully I’ll keep up with this blog more frequently, as we have been eating like royalty!
A COUPLE OF GENERAL TIPS
Useful Cookbook
There’s a great cookbook called “The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook.” A lot of the recipes in it are great. It’s also helpful because it gives you tips on things you might want to have around: nutritional yeast, plum vinegar, things that you wouldn’t think of on your own.
Eating Out
Eating out is really tough, both because the food always seems sub-par compared to the fresh food we make at home. (Not to mention the limitations in selecting good food because gluten/wheat is in everything. Mexican frequently has safe options, so when I have to eat out I try to recommend Mexican. I just have to be sure to ask them to hold the cheese, sour cream, spanish rice (flour is frequently used to make the color stick in restaurants) and to make sure that the tortilla is corn. And any time we eat out we have to make sure they aren’t using butter.
SOME FAVORITES THAT WE MAKE AT HOME
Sweet Potato Butternut Squash Soup
We tried this one this past weekend, and it is delicious. No substitution required!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/health/nutrition/20recipehealth.html
Buckwheat Pancakes
We also had these this last weekend. It doesn’t even taste like you are trying to “make do” or substitute!
http://theppk.com/blog/2007/09/22/gluten-free-buckwheat-pancakes/
Arepas
It’s a Venezuelan/Columbian corn-based “biscuit” type food that is truly delicious, and can make for fantastic sandwiches, a good “bread” to go with soups, and staple to keep around. Arepas don’t keep well at all, so it is best to make what you can eat when you want them. The first few times we made them by hand in a frying pan. A bit of a pain in the butt. Jon (my boyfriend who is not gluten sensitive but has chosen to follow my diet because we eat so well) then bought us an Arepa maker, and it’s gold. The ingredients: treated corn flour (extra thin), salt, water. Perfectly safe. The trick for you will be getting the flour. While it is common in central America, it’s a little tougher to find in the US. The best flour you can find will be made by a company called P.A.N. You can order the flour online if there are no markets that carry it near you.
Jon wrote up the recipe:
2 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups pre-cooked cornmeal
3 tablespoons oil
Preheat oven to 400°F. In a medium mixing bowl add water, salt and pre-cooked cornmeal. Mix thoroughly by hand or with a wooden spoon. Let the dough sit for 5 minutes. Form the dough into cakes about the size of your palm, approximately 3 inches round and 1 inch thick. This will make 6 to 8 arepas. Fry the arepas in a pan with oil over medium-high heat, 5 minutes per side. Transfer the arepas to a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately. The outside should be crispy and lightly browned. The inside will be doughy. Use as you would bread. Cut open and add your favorite fillings including meat, beans, cheese, etc. It’s important to use pre-cooked cornmeal for these to work right. It goes by the name masarepa or masa precocida. P.A.N. is the most popular brand name. You might find it by asking for Harina Pan. There are other brands such as Goya. Check your local latin market. You can make a less fatty version by using an arepa maker. Oster and Imusa make these kitchen appliances.
I’ve been remiss in my commitment to use this blog to help others with insane food allergies like me.
More than two months later, I’m still finding my health and happiness levels increasing progressively with my new dietary “restrictions.” I’m still enjoying great food. In fact, my meals have improved so dramatically that I’m not sure I would want to go back to what I ate before!
My favorite meal thus far, and perhaps my favorite meal ever: Quinoa Shrimp Scampi. Jon’s mom, Chris, found this recipe for us on the Boston Globe website:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2008/05/18/runaway_grain/
We had to alter the recipe slightly, but in spite of alterations this is an unbelievable culinary treat!
Another great find: hemp milk. People often make an odd face or snide remark when this is mentioned, but hemp milk has saved me. I love coffee with cream in it. Half and Half, heavy cream, doesn’t matter as long as it is chock full of fat and milk. Rice milk just wasn’t cutting it. Coffee was becoming a huge dissappointment. Hemp milk is filled with dense texture from the hemp nuts, and is almost a substitute for cream! (The only problem - it separates from the coffee like oil in water, so you must keep a spoon handy. Or, you can start drinking your coffee out of little red straws, which has been my tactic.)
I’ve also become especially attuned to radio reports on health standards based on region (read: culinary culture), and am developing theories based on those reports. Stay tuned for a future blog post specifically about my theories on global health!
More great receipes coming soon. For now: skip the soy dairy gluten free brownie mix from Trader Joe’s. At best… brown chocolate-like slop. 
For the past three years I have been getting progressively more tired, my eczema more frustrating and inconvenient and, well, ugly, and my mood more generally irritable. I was attributing all three rather debilitating problems to stress and exhaustion from film school and being over-worked. Forcing myself to sleep 7-8 hours a night for three months straight helped a little, but then I started a demanding job with Stand Up To Cancer (return at the end of May for more information on that), and I couldn’t stick to my sleep regimen to save my life.
Very quickly, within two weeks of starting the job, I regressed to where I was before I started my strict sleep plan. I thought biking to work (7.5 miles each way) would help, but while it is a wonderful way to start and end my days, it didn’t solve the problem. And the decline in my health was becoming noticeable not just to me, but to everyone around me as well.
I finally dug deep into my pockets and scheduled an appointment with a doctor who came highly recommended, and learned a life-altering fact: Gluten, which includes wheat, barley and malt, is poison for me. Every time I eat a cookie, grab a bagel, nibble on a pretzel, drink a fiber-enhanced beverage, I’m making myself sicker and sicker.
And the icing on my now poisonous cake? Because I’ve been so evil to my body for… my entire life! I have developed allergies to other basics as well - dairy, soy, almonds, eggs (and chicken inconclusive).
This is actually great news: I’m otherwise completely healthy! I’m fit as can be (hey, I frequently bike 7.5 miles each way to and from work, what do you expect?). For someone who spends her days surrounded by talk of cancer, this is a happy diagnosis for deeply troubling symptoms. I have complete control over this.
And so, last week I became gluten, wheat, soy, dairy, egg, chicken, almond free.
Open your cabinet and read the ingredients on the items you have in there. Chances are you won’t find a single thing I can eat! That’s what happened to me when I got home the night I received this news. Try looking at a menu anywhere - even a vegan or health-food restaurant. You’ll have to settle for the nice bowl of white rice. Yes, this diet is extremely difficult.
But - I had no idea how sick I was until I removed these things from my diet. I feel *amazing* - my energy levels have soared. I’m happy. I don’t feel nearly as stressed in spite of the fact that I’ve hit crunch time at work. I don’t fall asleep until I get into bed. I wake up with my alarm clock. My skin is normal again.
This reminds me of how I felt when I first got glasses. I had absolutely no idea how bad my vision was until the moment I stepped outside with new glasses (at the age of 14) and realized that trees had individual leaves. I had no idea how sick I was until just a few days ago, when I discovered what it feels like to be entirely healthy.
And the real irony? I’m now eating meals that are not only far more healthful, but tastier! Having to pay attention to what I eat means being creative and figuring out what I truly enjoy.
Even better: I have a wonderful supportive partner, Jon, who has really taken upon himself the task of learning as much as he can about my new food restrictions and how to eat normally in spite of them. This weekend, he made me chocolate chip cookies. Soy/dairy/gluten free chocolate chip cookies. And they were excellent. He’s actually made the process of transitioning to an entirely new lifestyle (because that’s what being soy/dairy/gluten free requires) fun.
The internet is amazing, and there are a lot of resources out there for this kind of restrictive diet. Usually, however, the people who write in are able to eat one of the three culprits above. So, consider this my first of many posts that will offer insight into living entirely free of all three. I’ll write about tasty safe products, adventures, the trials, and whatever else comes to mind. If you have advice, or your own stories to share, please comment!
More later… now I have to continue standing up to cancer (my current job). We have a deadline to make.
