2013 ccsg cookie exchange details!

It's time for the Cincinnati Celiac Support Group Annual Holiday Cookie Exchange!

Saturday December 21st 11 AM - 12:30 PM
Lane Library
1485 Corydale Drive
Fairfield Ohio 45014

Bring your GF cookies to share and also a container to take all types home to enjoy for the holidays!

celiac awareness day is coming!

Hello, friends!

It's been months.....  I got into nursing school, and summer courses started immediately.  Between classes & working (too much!), I've been running in circles chasing my tail!

But tomorrow (9/13) is Celiac Awareness Day, and exciting things are coming :)

In the meantime, here are some items from the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness:

• They're hosting a webinar on September 18 to discuss the new FDA's gluten-free labeling rule.  I held off making a post on this fantastic news to make sure I knew what it entails.  The NFCA is a great resource for information on the rule.
• If you Pinterest, there is helpful back to school board here.

Happy eating!!  

ccsg luncheon at sinfully gluten free

On Saturday, April 6 at 12:30, the Cincinnati Celiac Support Group will hold a luncheon at Sinfully Gluten-Free in Centerville, a suburb of Dayton. If you'd like to join, please contact CCSG President Barb Rothwell.

(Unfortunately I can't make it; we have tickets for the 1:10 Reds game.)

Happy eating!

easter candy and chocolates list

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) and MyGlutenFacts.com have released the 2013 gluten free Easter candy and chocolates list!!

As always, be sure to double-check the packaging, as ingredients can change.

MyGlutenFacts.com has a 10-page print out of candies & chocolates and a 4-page list of jellybeans specifically for the US.

If you only use one list as a reference, use the one linked here.  About.com also has one, but it is riddled with inaccuracies!

Happy eating -- and Happy Easter!

(And, without embarrassing him too much, happy birthday to my daddy!) 

2012 gluten free cookie exchange

I'm happy to announce that the Cincinnati Celiac Support Group's Annual Gluten Free Cookie Exchange is coming!

Saturday, December 15

1:30 pm 

Wyoming Branch, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

500 Springfield Pike

Cincinnati, Ohio 45215

If you're in the area, you're welcome to bring some gluten-free cookies, your recipe, and a container to take some goodies home!  We'll also have cookie decorating.  It was a hit last year.  Hope to see you there!

jungle jim's eastgate opening

Tomorrow - roughly 12 hours from now - is the grand opening of the Eastgate location of Jungle Jim's International Market.  Here are the FAQs.  The beer/wine/cheese entrance is around back, and I've heard that the gluten free selection is fantastic.  I just wonder: which location - Eastgate or Fairfield - will maintain bragging rights for the largest gluten free selection in the Midwest?? 

Looking forward to reporting back :)  Until then, happy eating!

celiac awareness tour at xavier 9/22

Hello, gluten free world!  This is an overdue public service announcement: this Saturday, September 22 from 9 am to 2 pm is the Celiac Awareness Tour at Xavier University Schiff Conference & Banquet Center in the Cintas Center.  With gluten free goodies from local & national vendors, live cooking demos, and a number of speakers, it's a great one-day event!

Speakers include:

• Veena Grandhi, MS, RD, LD, CPT, nutritionist and fitness trainer at Five Seasons Family Sports Club
• Amy Jones, MS, RD, LD
• Peter Klarman, author of Better Food for a Better You (expected in 2013)
• Karl Lenz, Executive Chef at Maggiano's

Personal plug: Mr. Lenz does a terrific job at the Cincinnati Celiac Support Group's annual luncheon at Maggiano's in Kenwood.  

Hope to see you there!!

Update 9/18 7:45 pm:
Use this link to buy 2 tickets to the Celiac Awareness Tour for the price of 1 from Living Social!  The deal expires soon!! 

weekend of deliciousness

This weekend is a gluten free delight: Cincinnati Celiac Support Group luncheon at Maggiano's Little Italy and Jungle's Jim's Weekend of Wellness. 

Lunch was specially made by Chef Carl, whose mother-in-law has Celiac.  This was our menu:

The chopped salad - with avocado and green apple - is my undeniable favorite.  Currently, the lasagna is not on the menu.  For the pasta, Maggiano's imports Mariella Gluten Free Penne Rigate Corn Pasta from Italy.  All of their sauces are gluten-free, and it's recommended to speak with the chef directly to determine the best meal for your needs & tastebuds and to provide 24 hours notice.  Each of the 44 restaurants nationwide has the corn pasta.

We got word that Maggiano's is developing a gluten-free menu.  At the moment, this particular Maggiano's gets an average of 10 gluten-free customers per day - far more than any other food allergy sufferers.

Then later today, we went to Jungle Jim's Weekend of Wellness.  It's still happening tomorrow, so it's not too late to catch it yourself!  Admission is $8, and it's well worth it to me with so many samples and sometimes even free products from the 49 vendors.  They paid a lot to be part of the event, so I want to make sure they get the publicity they deserve for their dedication to the gluten-free community.

Shown here are all of our free gluten-free goodies that we didn't eat on the spot:

• Enjoy Life Plentils, a variety of Enjoy Life cookies, and thinkThin Bars 
• PopCorners 
• Sweet Perry Orchards Baja Blend fruit & nut mix from GoPicnic 
• pink lady apples, red delicious apple, kiwis, & a granny smith apple from Indianapolis Fruit 
• Simply 7 Hummus Chips 
• Harvest Bay Coconut Water
• Boomchickapop 
• a gluten-free vanilla creme submarine from Sonny Marie's 
• urban raccoons Gluten Free Granola Bars 
• amafruits Acai organic fruit puree
• two packets of Simpli Gluten Free Instant Oatmeal

There was a selection of sauces and salsas from Local Folks Foods; delicious bread from Eban Bakery out of Grove City, Ohio; i heart keenwah quinoa clusters; Schar products; a fantastic snack mix from el's gluten free snacks (and met El); Angie's Kettle Corn; Lifeway Frozen Kefir; Plainville Farms chicken; Edible Ohio Valley magazine; samples from Moondance Desserts; and New Planet Gluten Free Beer (the 3R Raspberry Ale is dangerously tasty), Woodchuck cider varieties, and Green's Gluten-Free Belgian Ale.

What a tasty Saturday!

Happy eating!!  :)

gluten free st. patrick's fun

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking three of my favorite people to their first kegs & eggs.  I was delighted to see that our first stop - Molly Malone's - had Magners Irish Cider on tap.  I hadn't tried it, but I'd heard great reviews.  By the end of the day, I had taste-tested a few new gluten free drink options!

Magners has less bite than most hard ciders and is made with 17 varieties of apples.  It's like apple juice mixed with champagne.  The alcohol content is 4.5% - higher than that of beer, which is generally 3.5-4.2% - and it's much sweeter & easier to drink.  If you try it, I suggest only having one :)

Fun fact from the Magners site: cider has the same number of antioxidants as wine.

In an effort to get one of the first 100 free t-shirts, we arrived at 6:45 yesterday morning for the 7 o'clock event at Molly Malone's.

We were among the last folks to get shirts.  Score!

Around 8:30, we headed to Holy Grail at The Banks for a 9:30 reservation.  Holy Grail is across from Great American Ball Park where the Cincinnati Reds play and near U.S. Bank Arena, home of the Cincinnati Cyclones.  Scott & I stop there on occasion before games.  (Sidenote: Reds Opening Day is just 18 days away!!)

Prior to yesterday's festivities, our group had already verified that Holy Grail didn't have a gluten free option (yet!).  We were given permission for me to bring my own, and they kept it cool for me.  In advance of St. Patrick's, Scott had picked up a Woodchuck Hard Cider Private Reserve Barrel Select and a 4-pack of new, gluten-free Dogfish Head Tweason'ale (brewed with strawberries, sorghum, and honey).   My choice yesterday: Barrel Select.

Woodchuck Hard Cider Private Reserve Barrel Select is a hard apple cider that is handcrafted in very small batches, using bourbon barrels.  The first and most noticeable taste is apples, followed by vanilla and bourbon.  But do make note that it is 6.9% alcohol by volume - nearly twice that of some beer. 

Tweason'ale has a nice flavor, with a hint of strawberries and honey.  It's sweet without being overpowering, and it's still beerlike.  I enjoy it more than Redbridge but less than Bard's.  It's fun & different, like Shakparo Ale (a West African style) from the Sprecher Brewing Company.

The eggs option was a breakfast burrito, and I was able to get it without the tortilla.  Because of my inability to eat onion, I couldn't have the potatoes, so they gave me pretty orange slices.

The owner of Holy Grail happens to be the cousin of one of the members of our party, and he's now looking at gluten-free options :)

Not knowing what the breakfast might include, I had stuffed my purse full of Fruit Roll Ups and Snyder's of Hanover Gluten-Free Pretzel Sticks just in case.

We enjoyed the Cincinnati St. Patrick's Day Parade through downtown and headed home until that evening.  I tried Hoosier Momma Bloody Mary Maker, which is gluten free.  Unfortunately most bloody Mary mixes are NOT gluten free - a real shame since there isn't really a need to add gluten.  This is a pretty spicy mix, so I cannot imagine how the Hoosier Momma Spicy Bloody Mary Maker is!  Much to my surprise (because it didn't give me the usual symptoms), it has ginger puree. 

This is the selection Scott picked up for me.  These items are all available at Party Source or from the companies' individual websites.

It was a fun and memorable day, and I'm happy to report that on the same day, my parents' Old Homestead Farm Market had a wonderful third week of business.  My mom has a variety of gluten free goodies to help those in the underserved community and increase awareness.  I'm looking forward to working at it next Saturday!

Happy eating :)

gluten-free in college series

Are you gluten-free and in college?  Or a recent graduate?  Check out the Gluten-Free in College Blog Series, presented by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness and sponsored by Kettle Cuisine.  (And yours truly is a contributor.)

Check it out.  There's good stuff for those with a gluten intolerance as well as for parents.

Happy eating :)

a life in service & a meeting announcement

Hello, Gluten Free World!

My apologies for the little hiatus.  I had so many ideas in mind for posts for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, but I was glutened on Friday at lunch.  Ugh.  It threw everything off - sick that night, Saturday, and still recovering on Sunday, meaning today was my day to cram in the weekend's intended endeavors. Most of the weekend, I sat on the futon and delved into family history on Ancestry.com.  Food was the last thing I wanted to focus on - a rarity for me.

Many folks posted quotes on Facebook & Twitter from Dr. King in his honor today.  I admire the succinctness and simple eloquence of this, one of my favorites:

Life's most persistent and urgent question is: "What are you doing for others?"

Like this quote, my family's (and my ancestors') long record of service to others - through being teachers, first responders, nurses, farmers, and servicemembers - continually refuels my inspiration in times of hardship and self-doubt.  My aim is for this blog to be of service to others. 

This post was supposed  to simply be an announcement of the next meeting of the Cincinnati Celiac Support Group.  Without further ado:

7 pm on Tuesday, January 17

Symmes Township Public Library

11850 Enyart Road

Loveland, Ohio 45140

Click on the address for a Google map.  The topic will be gluten free summer camps for kids.  There will be free fun, food, and fellowship :)

I'm coming up with a list of crave-foods I plan to cook by the month's end:

• Crab cakes - I lost the recipe I used in September!
• Breadsticks (like Pizza Hut makes)
• Mozzarella cheese sticks
• Fried chicken (not unlike KFC)

I still can't make or find pizza quite like the greasy but oh-so-yummy stuff.  There's one I love in Waverly, but 2 hours (4 roundtrip) is a haul for a pizza.  If you have any you're missing (or you would miss for my non-gluten sensitive readers), let me know!  I love to play around in my kitchen laboratory.

Happy eating to all of you!