GLUTEN-FREE INFORMATION
Compliments of LMNET
My personal favorite gluten-free products are:
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I’m sure someone has recommended Jules Nearly Normal flour if you bake. I use it cup for cup in replacement of all the other products where you have to add xanthum gum, or use a number of different flours.
Julesglutenfree.com is the web address, and her blog, yummygfrecipes.blogspot.com/2011/01/blog-post.html has gluten, soy, corn free recipes.
The magazine Gluten Free Living is also a God-send for those of us with Celiac, or corn, soy allergies. It’s expensive, but I read every volume cover-to-cover.
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My mom has a wheat allergy and has been avoiding it for 30 years now. She has settled on spelt flour as her favorite wheat substitute for baking; I believe it's a 1-for-1 measurement, but you could double-check that somewhere. She uses it for brownies,cookies, and amazing Christmas gingerbread, and the picky grandkids don't notice the difference. She doesn't use it for everything, as she's afraid of developing a reaction to it, and also uses potato flour for more savory cooking.
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I have recently switched over to this at the recommendation of my son's OT since he has Asperger's Syndrome. To my surprise, the change in diet also took care of the variety of GI symptoms I had dealt with for a decade! I found Nicole Hunn's blog and cookbooks and LOVE them! www.glutenfreeonashoestring.com She really made the switchover much easier for me! At her recommendation, I have bought BetterBatter flour online as well - its an all-purpose flour for baking and cooking.
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I have made some breads to not always great results, but I am getting better! :) As someone who never made their own bread, I am having to learn the techniques and such as I go. I also think I need a better mixer to get some better results since mine doesn't have a paddle attachment.
The concern over GM wheat after reading an article by the author of Wheat Belly is actually the thing that pushed me over the edge to jump in and give the GF lifestyle a try when I did. The ways that grains have been modified over the years were horrifying to me. Who knows what we are doing to ourselves?
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Wegmans does not carry it- we typically purchase it online: http://www.julesglutenfree.com/. It is one of the best ones out there. When you become more accustomed to it, some flours are better than others for items, but Jules seems to be the best all around one.
Also, in case you have not been on it: http://www.rochesterceliacs.org/ is a great resources!! Especially there local restaurants! Rochester is really a great place for Gluten Free Resources. My wife has been GF since either 2003 or 2004. For Chinese, there is an amazing one in Egypt (Golden Phoenix). For Italian, Agetina’s in Gates. For burgers, Red Robin as they have a bun….
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Hi there -- One idea would be to take a look at King Arthur Flour's website. They sell a large variety of gluten-free products, but best of all -- they have several gluten-free bread and roll recipes that are *almost* like the 'real' thing. Their recipes come from a test kitchen, so they've been tried and vetted. In addition, readers post reviews that are very helpful, plus King Arthur has a help line that you can call for advice or solutions. Gluten-free products: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/glutenfree/ Gluten-free recipes: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/gluten-free
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I good friend of mine has Celiac and opened a gluten free bakery three years ago in RI. Her breads are by far the best anywhere. She has granola, bread crumbs, stuffing, pancake mix, incredible muffins, biscotti, etc. She ships a lot of orders to CT and NY. Check out her site: evaruths.com I also went gluten free 6 weeks ago and never felt better.
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I have switched to this way of eating as well for my arthritis and it has been a life saver! I like to experiment with flaxseed and coconut flour as well. I don't have the recipe on me, but I have a great one for flaxseed pancakes. Get whole seeds because ground up, they can become rancid quickly. Then grind them in a coffee grinder. The ingredients are: egg, water, 1/2 apple shredded, vanilla, liquid stevia to taste, fresh nutmeg or cinnamon, and ground flaxseeds.
Keep searching for GF bread. I am lucky we have some good bakeries here in VT that make moist GF bread not the dry rice bread - yuck! Get some GF oats - it makes the best bread. Combine with chickpea/coconut flour if you can find it. There are good recipes online. Don't get down on yourself if you slip, the key is to get back on to GF as soon as possible. Good luck with it.
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My friend has a great GF cooking site called Lillian's Test Kitchen: http://www.lillianstestkitchen.com
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My husband has been eating gluten free for six years. We never did find a good bread/roll substitution (except for when we find the rare dedicated gf bakery/restaurants). Instead, we use a lot of corn tortillas (which you wouldn't be able to eat on your diet) and romaine lettuce to make wraps in. And we do use Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour to make homemade gf cookies/cakes. But we also purchase xantham gum to use with it. There is also a gf version of Bisquick that you can use for biscuits/rolls. There is a steep learning curve, but once you cross over it, it becomes second nature.
For him, we've found that it pays to stick to lots of produce, canned beans, rice and meat (and Tinkyada pasta!) for the most part. Good luck.
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I don't have much authoritative information to add, as it's been about four years since I went off the gluten free diet. But I wanted to share two things:
First, that there's a Canadian company called Kinnikinnick that was always my favorite for bread products - everything from cinnamon buns to graham crackers to pie crusts to white bread. (Gluten free bread is usually better toasted).
Second, if you merely have a gluten sensitivity and do feel better after eliminating it, that's great. But if your doctor suspects full-blown celiac, have an endoscopy done before going gluten-free long term. My doctor diagnosed me based on a blood test and was completely and totally wrong. The endo was an easy procedure, and I wish I had been referred to a specialist before spending four years stressing about gluten contamination!
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My son was allergic to just about everything and we had to go egg, wheat and corn free for a year. I found a wonderful author for gluten free cooking. It took some intense gathering of products but I made very tasty bread from her books. These days it is so much easier to do (in our little college town you can find gluten free meal in a few restaurants) I went to Amazon to see if I could find the book I liked and was AMAZED by all the books, there were three when he was two (he's 15 now). I bought all three! Anyway Bette Hagman's bread book was a huge help. I had to substitute eggs but the bread came out looking, tasting and feeling like real bread. Everything we could buy pre-made was rubbery and pretty nasty.
I did buy a bread maker to be able to put everything together faster. I think she gives ways to make the bread by hand and in a machine. Even those are much cheaper now. I would go to your local library and if they don't have it request it to give it a test run. We were fortunate to have a bulk shop near us that carried almost everything I needed. If I recall a lot of her stuff was made with Tapioca flour, Rice flour and potato starch. There are some with soy flour I think so you might want to check out first. Good luck
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Hi! I just saw your posting, and here is what I sent someone today because their grandson has a peanut allergy.
Ohh, as a gluten and lactose intolerant person, I know the feeling! I haven't seen anything that focuses directly on being peanut free. Most gluten free magazines have websites, and most gluten free products are often peanut free, as well.
Magazines that are useful:
Brands of food: (but read the labels for specific products!)
There are many allergy-friendly cookbooks, probably in the 636 section of your public library already. Usually titles include the phrases, "allergy-friendly", "kid-friendly allergy", "allergies for kids", and so on.
I haven't seen anything about curing these allergies or intolerances. There are pills for lactose, and pills for gluten, but a diagnosis in children usually means that carrying an Epi-pen is necessary. Be sure to read labels when purchasing products--even something you have purchased before can change recipes and cause him to be sick.
That being said, there are schools with peanut-free tables in the lunchroom. Lots of delicious snacks do not need peanuts--and usually replacing the nut butter with an almond butter, sunflower nut butter, soynut butter, or cashew nut butter is just fine, depending on your grandson's preference. Your family will probably find it easier in a lot of ways to make foods at first. And do not be shy anywhere about talking about the peanut allergy. My tip for you in preparing an Easter basket: put a bunch of fun, healthful snacks in there. Almonds, cashews, raisins, and so on. Or buy a few of those items and make a few baggies of travel snacks. And include some fun things to DO--stickers, activity books, coloring books, crayons, a few toys. Lots of chocolates and sweets are nut free, especially the gummy things like spice drops, gummy worms, sour patch kids, swedish fish, good n plenty, etc. Just take some extra time in the front end of thing to read the labels at the grocery store or mart for prepared foods. Those five to ten extra minutes you spend reading labels at the store mean that your grandson can have a happy, healthy celebration. And that goes when you eat out--be very specific about his peanut allergy. Make sure your servers know that.
There are millions of us out there--I am able to eat peanuts, but no wheat. So we're all in the same boat, in a lot of ways. I often make homemade cookies with my niece and nephew, and send the goodies to school. We make sure there is no peanut oil, butter, or peanuts anywhere when we make the cookies. And we make sure that the vegetable oil does not have peanut oil in the blend, either. Snickerdoodles and sugar cookies are the current favorites. It gets easier as time goes on. :)
Feel free to contact me off list with any more questions.
MY favorite gluten free sites are gluten free goddess blogspot, gluten free girl, and mary frances.
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Hello! I too am gluten-free and I think the best gluten-free bread, by far, is made by Udi's. I also have found my favorite pasta is made by Bionaturae. I found that the plain rice pasta just didn't taste right with certain sauces, such as one of my favorite pesto sauces. Their pasta is a blend and it's very close to "real" pasta. One last recommendation I have is the gluten-free chocolate chip cookies made by Tate's. I have tried SO many different brands and products, and I think those three are the greatest!
I have been experimenting with gluten free recipes for a month or so. After reading Wheat Belly, I just felt wheat products were too corrupted and it would be better to avoid them. I have used recipes from Gluten Free Cooking For Dummies by Danna Korn and Connie Sarros and Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts, and I liked everything. I have used Coconut and Brown Rice flours to make a coconut cake from "Baking Classics", and golden flax to make pancakes from the Wheat Belly book. As for commercial products I have only purchased is Hodgson Mill Brown Rice Pasta, which comes in penne, elbows, angel hair, linguine. I made the macaroni and cheese from the "Dummies" book and it was outrageously great!!! I miss bread, too, and even though I am not a kitchen gadget person, I may buy a breadmaker-they seem to have come down in price.
I also have been reading websites, but I don't know which one is better. Since I am not a very good cook, I look for the least complicated recipes and advice!
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At the risk of sounding "alarmist," I thought I'd mention to you that the US rice supply chain is showing a strong presence of arsenic. You can google the situation to get a good idea of what's going on. I found out about it when we were adjusting my daughter's diet. Best wishes to you in your efforts to go gluten free.
Glutenfreegirl.com is a fabulous resource. Using her directions to make a flour blend, I have had excellent luck baking everything except "real" bread.
Also, Allergen Free Baking (I think that's the title) explains what different types of ingredients do so that you can substitute more intelligently.
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This is what my sister and mother eat; they've been GF for a long time: http://udisglutenfree.com/
Here's our guide on the topic, created by a diligent writer who had Celiac's Disease: http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Health/Celiac-Disease.xa_1.html
Here's an article that may give you some ideas.
http://www.ou.org/jewish_action/03/2013/a-non-gebrokts-gluten-free-passover/
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My daughter is in kind of the same boat, but she also cannot have eggs and dairy, so that makes most of the pre-packaged cookies and breads poor choices. Those breads we do find she needs to toast. Her favorite pasta is made from Quinoa - it comes in a green box. It seems to hold together better than the rice and corn pastas. I also think the Bisquick gluten-free baking mix is pretty good. It doesn't seem to be as grainy as some of the others. Cooking without the eggs has been the trickiest I think. Blended up chickpeas are kind of the right consistency, and sometimes I use applesauce. But I guess you don't need those suggestions.
Good luck - even over the past two years the amount of stuff available has grown enormously.
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Beanitos chips are made from black bean and are gluten and corn free. A bit pricey but great substitute for corn tortilla chips.
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Try Udi's gluten free bread, hamburger buns, etc., Glutino gluten free pretzels are good, there are Some gluten free granolas out there and if you like chips, Beanitos are great.
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Forgot to mention a great cookbookthat has gluten free recipes. Veganomicon: the ultimate vegan cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero
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Udi's frozen bread, bagels, muffins, buns
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Favorite cookbook: Artisan Gluten Free cooking(?) by Peter and Kelly Bronski. Saw them at a demo at ALA 2012 and I love their flour mixture and recipes, especially the blueberry pie.
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HI! Sorry that you are going gluten-free. Sorry to say but, if you are eliminating corn and soy from your diet as well, you may just need to give up those forms of carbs all together. Gluten-free pantry has some great mixes, but since my husband was diagnosed Celiac about 5 years ago, we pretty much gave up on breads. Nothing else comes close, and if you keep trying to find something that is going to try and satisfy that craving you will always be disappointed. You may just need to find other favorite foods! I do love the GF pantry pie rust mix though (use regular vinegar), and there are lots of really good pancake mixes out there. Mostly, you are giving up processed foods (which isn't a bad thing!) Coat chicken fingers in finely ground rice flour (I grind my own) or even potato flakes (crush them in a food processor to make them more fine.) Potatoes and squashes are now your best friends, so try different varieties. I don't bake from scratch because so many of the recipes call for all sorts of weird and grossly expensive ingredients, but I always keep zanthum gum on hand because you need so little of it when you cook. Oh, and thicken sauces and gravies with rice flour instead, and the consistency won't be as grainy as corn starch.
Traders Joe's (if you have it) has some great GF stuff that is actually cheaper than the regular grocery stores, or go to Whole Foods - but they are pricey!
But just remember - as everyone is munching on a Thanksgiving roll - that your body means more to you than food does! Be happy to be in control of your body, and you won't be so sad about the foods that you miss. Hope you find some wonderful things to enjoy - like ice cream! :)
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I used to fly bread in from Outside the Breadbox (delicious and totally worth the $$) in Colorado Springs until Udi's came to the east coast a few years ago. They have delicious breads and better than most bagels. Theyrecently released three flavors of pizzas (another thing that's really hard to replicate) that my g-free son likes. We found these great pizzas from a small baker that he loved, but unfortunately, they went out of business.
I am also a fan of Pamela's products, her pancake mix is great and I do most of my baking with that. The waffle recipe is delicious and I really like the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the bag as well. She has a chocolate cake mix that I add chocolate chips to and serve at all my dinner parties. Folks can't believe it's gluten free.
We're really lucky now to have such products at our fingertips. Many regular food stores are stocking g-free stuff. I frequent a local health food store mostly. I also subscribe to a blog called No gluten, no problem. They are foodies and share their recipes freely, as well as publish books with g-free recipes. The nutritionist that we met with when my son was diagnosed with celiac disease at sixteen (he's twenty-one now) said not to waste any money on g-free cookbooks, but I have bought theirs. You don't really need them, but I collect recipe books and there were some nice recipes in them.
My son also likes the Glutino cereals and Lucy's cookies. They come in tiny packages and are pricey, but they offer a variety of flavors. I recently found some crackers from Crunchmaster that are out of this world. Stick with Tinkyada pasta. Believe me, the rest is crap.
Living Without is a magazine that I subscribe to and has articles about a variety of food allergies.
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I have been gluten free since 2007; I have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Let me begin with not all rice cakes are wheat free so be sure to check the label. Wheat sneaks into the funniest places as it is a great binding agent.
Chebe makes some great mixes for bread, breadsticks, pizza dough (which I've also used to make stromboli.) Snyder's has started making gluten free pretzels that taste very similar.
Betty Crocker has a website that is called Live Gluten Freely... cannot remember the exact www. address but it can be found via google. They (Betty Crocker) makes a good Gluten Free Cake, cookie and brownie mix.
Look for a local gluten free bakery; it will be expensive but almost always taste much better than pre-packaged.
It can be a rough journey to start but not that bad once you get the hang of it.
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My son is gluten free. This is his favorite bread recipe. If you make it I recommend waiting until it has cooled, slicing it and freezing it. It doesn't taste very good when it is more than a day old unless it has been frozen for freshness. http://freeeatsfood.com/2011/12/20/my-favorite-sandwich-bread-recipe/
I also use a lot of Pamela's brand mixes. The pancake mix is great, in fact I often eat that instead of real pancakes and I am not on a gluten free diet. I am not sure if they use corn or soy flour. I think that is where you are going to have issues. A lot of recipes call for a corn or soy flour combo to substitute for wheat flour.
It is a bit difficult at times, but has made the world of difference in my son's life.
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My son is gluten free. This is his favorite bread recipe. If you make it I recommend waiting until it has cooled, slicing it and freezing it. It doesn't taste very good when it is more than a day old unless it has been frozen for freshness. http://freeeatsfood.com/2011/12/20/my-favorite-sandwich-bread-recipe/
I also use a lot of Pamela's brand mixes. The pancake mix is great, in fact I often eat that instead of real pancakes and I am not on a gluten free diet. I am not sure if they use corn or soy flour. I think that is where you are going to have issues. A lot of recipes call for a corn or soy flour combo to substitute for wheat flour.
It is a bit difficult at times, but has made the world of difference in my son's life.
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I'm doing the same thing! NutThins crackers by Blue Diamond are really good and are gluten free. I've also discovered that my favorite marinara and/or meat sauce tastes pretty good over brown rice instead of pasta. When I order a burger (turkey - dont eat beef) I ask for extra lettuce and use the leaves to eat the burger sans bun.
The downside is that I found corn (high fructose corn syrup) in almost EVERYTHING which was a real bummer. Ketchup, barbecue sauce, marinades, even sausages. I have to read the label of everything I buy to see if the corn syrup is hidden in there somewhere. The upside is that now I make a lot of that stuff at home so after the initial hassle I feel like I'm eating a LOT healthier and I've lost about 14 pounds since taking the wheat and corn out of my diet. Good luck! susan
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Try some of the Paleo diet recipes. My niece has celiac disease, and she is doing very well on the Paleo diet. She just posted on her Facebook page a cookbook of Paleo snacks, and they seem to include some sweets. For pasta, try tofu pasta. Supposedly very good. Also spaghetti squash.
I have been gluten free for a number of years, but I do eat corn and soy, so I am not sure if these recommendations are free of those ingredients.
For gravies and general thickening I use corn starch. I'm guessing you can't use that, so I would recommend Bob's Red Mill flours. They have a mixed all purpose baking flour that is okay as a thickener and for baking. Rice flour tends to be gritty and some of the other flours have a bit of an aftertaste, but they work okay.
Crushed rice chex work well to replace bread crumbs and if the generic brand is gluten free it is proabably a lot cheaper than the prepackaged gluten free breadcrumbs.
Both Rudi's and Udi's breads are good and Rudi's tortillas are a new item that I was so happy about. My favorite spaghetti is Bionaturae, but I can never find it around here so I order it on Amazon. They have a lot of the products that are hard to find.
Gluten free Bisquick makes delicious pancakes and Betty Crocker's gluten free cake mix tastes just like I remember real cake tasting. Gluten Free Pantry Pie Crust mix is good too.
- Gluten-Free Pantry Sandwich Bread
- Tinkyada rice pasta (tastes just like regular pasta - but cook it about 5 mintes less than the package says)
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I’m sure someone has recommended Jules Nearly Normal flour if you bake. I use it cup for cup in replacement of all the other products where you have to add xanthum gum, or use a number of different flours.
Julesglutenfree.com is the web address, and her blog, yummygfrecipes.blogspot.com/2011/01/blog-post.html has gluten, soy, corn free recipes.
The magazine Gluten Free Living is also a God-send for those of us with Celiac, or corn, soy allergies. It’s expensive, but I read every volume cover-to-cover.
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My mom has a wheat allergy and has been avoiding it for 30 years now. She has settled on spelt flour as her favorite wheat substitute for baking; I believe it's a 1-for-1 measurement, but you could double-check that somewhere. She uses it for brownies,cookies, and amazing Christmas gingerbread, and the picky grandkids don't notice the difference. She doesn't use it for everything, as she's afraid of developing a reaction to it, and also uses potato flour for more savory cooking.
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I have recently switched over to this at the recommendation of my son's OT since he has Asperger's Syndrome. To my surprise, the change in diet also took care of the variety of GI symptoms I had dealt with for a decade! I found Nicole Hunn's blog and cookbooks and LOVE them! www.glutenfreeonashoestring.com She really made the switchover much easier for me! At her recommendation, I have bought BetterBatter flour online as well - its an all-purpose flour for baking and cooking.
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I have made some breads to not always great results, but I am getting better! :) As someone who never made their own bread, I am having to learn the techniques and such as I go. I also think I need a better mixer to get some better results since mine doesn't have a paddle attachment.
The concern over GM wheat after reading an article by the author of Wheat Belly is actually the thing that pushed me over the edge to jump in and give the GF lifestyle a try when I did. The ways that grains have been modified over the years were horrifying to me. Who knows what we are doing to ourselves?
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Wegmans does not carry it- we typically purchase it online: http://www.julesglutenfree.com/. It is one of the best ones out there. When you become more accustomed to it, some flours are better than others for items, but Jules seems to be the best all around one.
Also, in case you have not been on it: http://www.rochesterceliacs.org/ is a great resources!! Especially there local restaurants! Rochester is really a great place for Gluten Free Resources. My wife has been GF since either 2003 or 2004. For Chinese, there is an amazing one in Egypt (Golden Phoenix). For Italian, Agetina’s in Gates. For burgers, Red Robin as they have a bun….
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Hi there -- One idea would be to take a look at King Arthur Flour's website. They sell a large variety of gluten-free products, but best of all -- they have several gluten-free bread and roll recipes that are *almost* like the 'real' thing. Their recipes come from a test kitchen, so they've been tried and vetted. In addition, readers post reviews that are very helpful, plus King Arthur has a help line that you can call for advice or solutions. Gluten-free products: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/glutenfree/ Gluten-free recipes: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/gluten-free
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I good friend of mine has Celiac and opened a gluten free bakery three years ago in RI. Her breads are by far the best anywhere. She has granola, bread crumbs, stuffing, pancake mix, incredible muffins, biscotti, etc. She ships a lot of orders to CT and NY. Check out her site: evaruths.com I also went gluten free 6 weeks ago and never felt better.
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I have switched to this way of eating as well for my arthritis and it has been a life saver! I like to experiment with flaxseed and coconut flour as well. I don't have the recipe on me, but I have a great one for flaxseed pancakes. Get whole seeds because ground up, they can become rancid quickly. Then grind them in a coffee grinder. The ingredients are: egg, water, 1/2 apple shredded, vanilla, liquid stevia to taste, fresh nutmeg or cinnamon, and ground flaxseeds.
Keep searching for GF bread. I am lucky we have some good bakeries here in VT that make moist GF bread not the dry rice bread - yuck! Get some GF oats - it makes the best bread. Combine with chickpea/coconut flour if you can find it. There are good recipes online. Don't get down on yourself if you slip, the key is to get back on to GF as soon as possible. Good luck with it.
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My friend has a great GF cooking site called Lillian's Test Kitchen: http://www.lillianstestkitchen.com
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My husband has been eating gluten free for six years. We never did find a good bread/roll substitution (except for when we find the rare dedicated gf bakery/restaurants). Instead, we use a lot of corn tortillas (which you wouldn't be able to eat on your diet) and romaine lettuce to make wraps in. And we do use Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour to make homemade gf cookies/cakes. But we also purchase xantham gum to use with it. There is also a gf version of Bisquick that you can use for biscuits/rolls. There is a steep learning curve, but once you cross over it, it becomes second nature.
For him, we've found that it pays to stick to lots of produce, canned beans, rice and meat (and Tinkyada pasta!) for the most part. Good luck.
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I don't have much authoritative information to add, as it's been about four years since I went off the gluten free diet. But I wanted to share two things:
First, that there's a Canadian company called Kinnikinnick that was always my favorite for bread products - everything from cinnamon buns to graham crackers to pie crusts to white bread. (Gluten free bread is usually better toasted).
Second, if you merely have a gluten sensitivity and do feel better after eliminating it, that's great. But if your doctor suspects full-blown celiac, have an endoscopy done before going gluten-free long term. My doctor diagnosed me based on a blood test and was completely and totally wrong. The endo was an easy procedure, and I wish I had been referred to a specialist before spending four years stressing about gluten contamination!
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My son was allergic to just about everything and we had to go egg, wheat and corn free for a year. I found a wonderful author for gluten free cooking. It took some intense gathering of products but I made very tasty bread from her books. These days it is so much easier to do (in our little college town you can find gluten free meal in a few restaurants) I went to Amazon to see if I could find the book I liked and was AMAZED by all the books, there were three when he was two (he's 15 now). I bought all three! Anyway Bette Hagman's bread book was a huge help. I had to substitute eggs but the bread came out looking, tasting and feeling like real bread. Everything we could buy pre-made was rubbery and pretty nasty.
I did buy a bread maker to be able to put everything together faster. I think she gives ways to make the bread by hand and in a machine. Even those are much cheaper now. I would go to your local library and if they don't have it request it to give it a test run. We were fortunate to have a bulk shop near us that carried almost everything I needed. If I recall a lot of her stuff was made with Tapioca flour, Rice flour and potato starch. There are some with soy flour I think so you might want to check out first. Good luck
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Hi! I just saw your posting, and here is what I sent someone today because their grandson has a peanut allergy.
Ohh, as a gluten and lactose intolerant person, I know the feeling! I haven't seen anything that focuses directly on being peanut free. Most gluten free magazines have websites, and most gluten free products are often peanut free, as well.
Magazines that are useful:
- Living Without--has great substitutions in a one-page format.
- Gluten Free Delight
- Simply Gluten Free Magazine
Brands of food: (but read the labels for specific products!)
- Enjoy Life
- Pamela's Products
- Glutino
- Annie's
- Bob's Red Mill--be careful if GF, because they have two mills. one is dedicated to no gluten, the other is cross-contaminated
- The Ener-G brand foods taste like plywood
- Kinnickinick foods are good--all their breads are good
- Udi's--I buy these breads all the time.
- Rudi's (some are gluten free--check the label on front!) I buy their bread all the time.
There are many allergy-friendly cookbooks, probably in the 636 section of your public library already. Usually titles include the phrases, "allergy-friendly", "kid-friendly allergy", "allergies for kids", and so on.
I haven't seen anything about curing these allergies or intolerances. There are pills for lactose, and pills for gluten, but a diagnosis in children usually means that carrying an Epi-pen is necessary. Be sure to read labels when purchasing products--even something you have purchased before can change recipes and cause him to be sick.
That being said, there are schools with peanut-free tables in the lunchroom. Lots of delicious snacks do not need peanuts--and usually replacing the nut butter with an almond butter, sunflower nut butter, soynut butter, or cashew nut butter is just fine, depending on your grandson's preference. Your family will probably find it easier in a lot of ways to make foods at first. And do not be shy anywhere about talking about the peanut allergy. My tip for you in preparing an Easter basket: put a bunch of fun, healthful snacks in there. Almonds, cashews, raisins, and so on. Or buy a few of those items and make a few baggies of travel snacks. And include some fun things to DO--stickers, activity books, coloring books, crayons, a few toys. Lots of chocolates and sweets are nut free, especially the gummy things like spice drops, gummy worms, sour patch kids, swedish fish, good n plenty, etc. Just take some extra time in the front end of thing to read the labels at the grocery store or mart for prepared foods. Those five to ten extra minutes you spend reading labels at the store mean that your grandson can have a happy, healthy celebration. And that goes when you eat out--be very specific about his peanut allergy. Make sure your servers know that.
There are millions of us out there--I am able to eat peanuts, but no wheat. So we're all in the same boat, in a lot of ways. I often make homemade cookies with my niece and nephew, and send the goodies to school. We make sure there is no peanut oil, butter, or peanuts anywhere when we make the cookies. And we make sure that the vegetable oil does not have peanut oil in the blend, either. Snickerdoodles and sugar cookies are the current favorites. It gets easier as time goes on. :)
Feel free to contact me off list with any more questions.
MY favorite gluten free sites are gluten free goddess blogspot, gluten free girl, and mary frances.
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Hello! I too am gluten-free and I think the best gluten-free bread, by far, is made by Udi's. I also have found my favorite pasta is made by Bionaturae. I found that the plain rice pasta just didn't taste right with certain sauces, such as one of my favorite pesto sauces. Their pasta is a blend and it's very close to "real" pasta. One last recommendation I have is the gluten-free chocolate chip cookies made by Tate's. I have tried SO many different brands and products, and I think those three are the greatest!
I have been experimenting with gluten free recipes for a month or so. After reading Wheat Belly, I just felt wheat products were too corrupted and it would be better to avoid them. I have used recipes from Gluten Free Cooking For Dummies by Danna Korn and Connie Sarros and Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts, and I liked everything. I have used Coconut and Brown Rice flours to make a coconut cake from "Baking Classics", and golden flax to make pancakes from the Wheat Belly book. As for commercial products I have only purchased is Hodgson Mill Brown Rice Pasta, which comes in penne, elbows, angel hair, linguine. I made the macaroni and cheese from the "Dummies" book and it was outrageously great!!! I miss bread, too, and even though I am not a kitchen gadget person, I may buy a breadmaker-they seem to have come down in price.
I also have been reading websites, but I don't know which one is better. Since I am not a very good cook, I look for the least complicated recipes and advice!
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At the risk of sounding "alarmist," I thought I'd mention to you that the US rice supply chain is showing a strong presence of arsenic. You can google the situation to get a good idea of what's going on. I found out about it when we were adjusting my daughter's diet. Best wishes to you in your efforts to go gluten free.
Glutenfreegirl.com is a fabulous resource. Using her directions to make a flour blend, I have had excellent luck baking everything except "real" bread.
Also, Allergen Free Baking (I think that's the title) explains what different types of ingredients do so that you can substitute more intelligently.
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This is what my sister and mother eat; they've been GF for a long time: http://udisglutenfree.com/
Here's our guide on the topic, created by a diligent writer who had Celiac's Disease: http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Health/Celiac-Disease.xa_1.html
Here's an article that may give you some ideas.
http://www.ou.org/jewish_action/03/2013/a-non-gebrokts-gluten-free-passover/
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My daughter is in kind of the same boat, but she also cannot have eggs and dairy, so that makes most of the pre-packaged cookies and breads poor choices. Those breads we do find she needs to toast. Her favorite pasta is made from Quinoa - it comes in a green box. It seems to hold together better than the rice and corn pastas. I also think the Bisquick gluten-free baking mix is pretty good. It doesn't seem to be as grainy as some of the others. Cooking without the eggs has been the trickiest I think. Blended up chickpeas are kind of the right consistency, and sometimes I use applesauce. But I guess you don't need those suggestions.
Good luck - even over the past two years the amount of stuff available has grown enormously.
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Beanitos chips are made from black bean and are gluten and corn free. A bit pricey but great substitute for corn tortilla chips.
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Try Udi's gluten free bread, hamburger buns, etc., Glutino gluten free pretzels are good, there are Some gluten free granolas out there and if you like chips, Beanitos are great.
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Forgot to mention a great cookbookthat has gluten free recipes. Veganomicon: the ultimate vegan cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero
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Udi's frozen bread, bagels, muffins, buns
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Favorite cookbook: Artisan Gluten Free cooking(?) by Peter and Kelly Bronski. Saw them at a demo at ALA 2012 and I love their flour mixture and recipes, especially the blueberry pie.
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HI! Sorry that you are going gluten-free. Sorry to say but, if you are eliminating corn and soy from your diet as well, you may just need to give up those forms of carbs all together. Gluten-free pantry has some great mixes, but since my husband was diagnosed Celiac about 5 years ago, we pretty much gave up on breads. Nothing else comes close, and if you keep trying to find something that is going to try and satisfy that craving you will always be disappointed. You may just need to find other favorite foods! I do love the GF pantry pie rust mix though (use regular vinegar), and there are lots of really good pancake mixes out there. Mostly, you are giving up processed foods (which isn't a bad thing!) Coat chicken fingers in finely ground rice flour (I grind my own) or even potato flakes (crush them in a food processor to make them more fine.) Potatoes and squashes are now your best friends, so try different varieties. I don't bake from scratch because so many of the recipes call for all sorts of weird and grossly expensive ingredients, but I always keep zanthum gum on hand because you need so little of it when you cook. Oh, and thicken sauces and gravies with rice flour instead, and the consistency won't be as grainy as corn starch.
Traders Joe's (if you have it) has some great GF stuff that is actually cheaper than the regular grocery stores, or go to Whole Foods - but they are pricey!
But just remember - as everyone is munching on a Thanksgiving roll - that your body means more to you than food does! Be happy to be in control of your body, and you won't be so sad about the foods that you miss. Hope you find some wonderful things to enjoy - like ice cream! :)
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I used to fly bread in from Outside the Breadbox (delicious and totally worth the $$) in Colorado Springs until Udi's came to the east coast a few years ago. They have delicious breads and better than most bagels. Theyrecently released three flavors of pizzas (another thing that's really hard to replicate) that my g-free son likes. We found these great pizzas from a small baker that he loved, but unfortunately, they went out of business.
I am also a fan of Pamela's products, her pancake mix is great and I do most of my baking with that. The waffle recipe is delicious and I really like the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the bag as well. She has a chocolate cake mix that I add chocolate chips to and serve at all my dinner parties. Folks can't believe it's gluten free.
We're really lucky now to have such products at our fingertips. Many regular food stores are stocking g-free stuff. I frequent a local health food store mostly. I also subscribe to a blog called No gluten, no problem. They are foodies and share their recipes freely, as well as publish books with g-free recipes. The nutritionist that we met with when my son was diagnosed with celiac disease at sixteen (he's twenty-one now) said not to waste any money on g-free cookbooks, but I have bought theirs. You don't really need them, but I collect recipe books and there were some nice recipes in them.
My son also likes the Glutino cereals and Lucy's cookies. They come in tiny packages and are pricey, but they offer a variety of flavors. I recently found some crackers from Crunchmaster that are out of this world. Stick with Tinkyada pasta. Believe me, the rest is crap.
Living Without is a magazine that I subscribe to and has articles about a variety of food allergies.
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I have been gluten free since 2007; I have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Let me begin with not all rice cakes are wheat free so be sure to check the label. Wheat sneaks into the funniest places as it is a great binding agent.
Chebe makes some great mixes for bread, breadsticks, pizza dough (which I've also used to make stromboli.) Snyder's has started making gluten free pretzels that taste very similar.
Betty Crocker has a website that is called Live Gluten Freely... cannot remember the exact www. address but it can be found via google. They (Betty Crocker) makes a good Gluten Free Cake, cookie and brownie mix.
Look for a local gluten free bakery; it will be expensive but almost always taste much better than pre-packaged.
It can be a rough journey to start but not that bad once you get the hang of it.
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My son is gluten free. This is his favorite bread recipe. If you make it I recommend waiting until it has cooled, slicing it and freezing it. It doesn't taste very good when it is more than a day old unless it has been frozen for freshness. http://freeeatsfood.com/2011/12/20/my-favorite-sandwich-bread-recipe/
I also use a lot of Pamela's brand mixes. The pancake mix is great, in fact I often eat that instead of real pancakes and I am not on a gluten free diet. I am not sure if they use corn or soy flour. I think that is where you are going to have issues. A lot of recipes call for a corn or soy flour combo to substitute for wheat flour.
It is a bit difficult at times, but has made the world of difference in my son's life.
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My son is gluten free. This is his favorite bread recipe. If you make it I recommend waiting until it has cooled, slicing it and freezing it. It doesn't taste very good when it is more than a day old unless it has been frozen for freshness. http://freeeatsfood.com/2011/12/20/my-favorite-sandwich-bread-recipe/
I also use a lot of Pamela's brand mixes. The pancake mix is great, in fact I often eat that instead of real pancakes and I am not on a gluten free diet. I am not sure if they use corn or soy flour. I think that is where you are going to have issues. A lot of recipes call for a corn or soy flour combo to substitute for wheat flour.
It is a bit difficult at times, but has made the world of difference in my son's life.
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I'm doing the same thing! NutThins crackers by Blue Diamond are really good and are gluten free. I've also discovered that my favorite marinara and/or meat sauce tastes pretty good over brown rice instead of pasta. When I order a burger (turkey - dont eat beef) I ask for extra lettuce and use the leaves to eat the burger sans bun.
The downside is that I found corn (high fructose corn syrup) in almost EVERYTHING which was a real bummer. Ketchup, barbecue sauce, marinades, even sausages. I have to read the label of everything I buy to see if the corn syrup is hidden in there somewhere. The upside is that now I make a lot of that stuff at home so after the initial hassle I feel like I'm eating a LOT healthier and I've lost about 14 pounds since taking the wheat and corn out of my diet. Good luck! susan
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Try some of the Paleo diet recipes. My niece has celiac disease, and she is doing very well on the Paleo diet. She just posted on her Facebook page a cookbook of Paleo snacks, and they seem to include some sweets. For pasta, try tofu pasta. Supposedly very good. Also spaghetti squash.
I have been gluten free for a number of years, but I do eat corn and soy, so I am not sure if these recommendations are free of those ingredients.
For gravies and general thickening I use corn starch. I'm guessing you can't use that, so I would recommend Bob's Red Mill flours. They have a mixed all purpose baking flour that is okay as a thickener and for baking. Rice flour tends to be gritty and some of the other flours have a bit of an aftertaste, but they work okay.
Crushed rice chex work well to replace bread crumbs and if the generic brand is gluten free it is proabably a lot cheaper than the prepackaged gluten free breadcrumbs.
Both Rudi's and Udi's breads are good and Rudi's tortillas are a new item that I was so happy about. My favorite spaghetti is Bionaturae, but I can never find it around here so I order it on Amazon. They have a lot of the products that are hard to find.
Gluten free Bisquick makes delicious pancakes and Betty Crocker's gluten free cake mix tastes just like I remember real cake tasting. Gluten Free Pantry Pie Crust mix is good too.