Gluten Free in Bonaire December 26, 2007

I’ve been able to find some gluten free products and gluten free friendly restaurants while we’re in Bonaire so I thought I’d share some for other people who might need the information.

I always bring some gluten free pasta with me.  We can always enjoy a home cooked pasta dish.  I also pack some spices so that I don’t have to buy big spice containers for a few weeks.  I brought some “Mighty Tasty GF Hot Cereal” this time, too.  I add apples, raisins and walnuts for a hearty breakfast.  I have found rice cakes at a few grocery stores.  I have a rice cake with some almond butter I brought with me, which is quite filling.  Sometimes I find rice noodles at the More For Less store which also has organic vegetables.  I also make an open-faced sandwich with a rice cake, some Dutch cheese and some cucumbers and tomatoes.  The cheese is the secret to a tasty sandwich like this.

We went to BobbeJan’s barbeque and I ordered sateh.  Somehow I miscommunicated and also got a barbequed chicken breast with barbeque sauce.  The peanut sauce on the sateh seemed to have soy sauce and I only ate one small piece.  I ate more of the chicken breast.  I also ate all of the rice.  I felt sick in the morning.  Jim loves BobbeJan’s so I told him he can get take-out and I’ll make myself something but I won’t eat there again.

The next night we tried The Old Inn.  I had the local Bonaire beef stew.  The chef assured me there was no wheat.  It would have tasted good if it hadn’t been so salty.  The beef was nice and tender and cooked in a spicy broth.  I had rice with it.  White rice of course, which is all I ever see on the island.  I don’t know why they don’t ever use brown rice.  I was fine after this meal.

Last night we went to a new Peruvian restaurant called Plazita Limena.  I had grilled catch of the day, wahoo.  It was covered with some tasty spices which were a new combination for me (I’ve never eaten Peruvian food before) and the fish was very fresh.  It came with rice and I asked for vegetables and I got onions and potatoes which were sauteed and fresh.  I feel the dish was gluten free.  I’d like to try this restaurant again, there were many items on the menu that looked good. 

AltiPlano Gold Instant Hot Quinoa Cereal December 16, 2007

Traveling when you have celiac disease can be hard because you may not find gluten free options in many places where you need to eat.  This product from Altiplano, Instant Hot Quinoa Cereal, is a great thing to have on hand for travel.  It comes in individual serving packs which you can easily carry with you.  When you are at a hotel and want breakfast you quickly notice there is not much choice of gluten free foods at the breakfast bar.  You can have fruit, of course, but if you want some cereal you can pull out your packet of instant cereal, pour it in a bowl, add hot water and you have a good gluten free meal.  Quinoa is high in fiber and protein.  You can add milk, banana and/or walnuts, which are all usually available.

 The cereal comes in a variety of flavors and you can buy a variety pack so that you can try all of them and see which one you like best.  I like the Spiced Apple Raisin and the Oaxacan Chocolate flavors.  You can purchase at the AltiPlano Gold website or at Amazon.

Fun appetizer to make ahead December 12, 2007

I needed to make an appetizer for my book club meeting and I wanted something special for our December meeting. I got out my “Crepes” cookbook, by Lou Seibert Pappas and started looking. Crepes are easy to make gluten free and always look and taste special. Many of the recipes are to be cooked at the last minute and served immediately which wouldn’t work as a dish to take to a party. I found this recipe, Party Crepe Stack with Pesto Fillings, which is perfect because it can be made ahead of time and is delicious.

Don’t let crepes intimidate you, they are easy to make. You will have extras so if the first ones don’t turn out nicely you can discard them or use them for another time. People wouldn’t know that the crepes are gluten free. I used a gluten free flour mix that I already had mixed in my refrigerator. You may have a prepackaged flour mix you can use.  This dish is delicious and looks spectacular.

Party Crepe Stack with Pesto Fillings

From the cookbook “Crepes” by Lou Seibert Pappas

Sun-dried tomato and pesto cheeses alternate as fillings for stacked crepes.  When cut into wedges, they make handsome appetizers.  For a shortcut version, purchase sun-dried tomato and basil pestos from a gourmet shop.  Serve the wedges on small appetizer plates for a neat presentation.

Six 6- or 7-inch savory crepes

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/3 cup water

1 cup gluten-free flour mix without zanthan gum

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted, plus 2 or 3 teaspoons butter for coating the pan

In a blender or food processor, blend the eggs, milk, water, flour, salt, and the 2 tablespoons melted butter for 5 seconds, or until smooth.  Stir down and repeat if necessary.  OR, to mix by hand, sift the flour into a medium bowl and add the salt.  Whisk the eggs until blended, mix in the milk and water, and whisk this mixture into the flour and salt; stir in the 2 tablespoons melted butter.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (though 2 hours is preferable) or up to 24 hours.

Gently stir the batter if it has separated.  Heat a seasoned 6- or 7-inch nonstick crepe pan over medium-high heat until hot.  (Use a 9- or 10-inch pan for larger crepes.)  Coat the pan lightly with butter, lift the pan from the heat, and pour in 2 or 3 tablespoons of batter for a 6- or 7-inch pan, or about ¼ cup for a 9- or 10-inch pan, tilting and rotating the pan to coat the surface.  Cook until almost dry on top and lightly browned on the edges, about 1 minute.  Loosen the edges with a spatula and flip the crepe over using your fingers or the spatula, then cook the other side for about 15 seconds, or until lightly browned.  Turn the crepe out onto a clean tea towel to cool.  Repeat with the remaining batter, wiping the pan with butter as needed and stacking the crepes as they are cooked.

For serving immediately, cover the crepes with aluminum foil and keep them warm in a preheated 200-degree-F oven.  For serving later, wrap them in plastic wrap in quantities intended for each use and slip them in a self-sealing plastic bag.  Refrigerate crepes for up to 3 days, or freeze them for up to 2 months.

Sun-dried Tomato Filling:

¾ cup (6 ounces fresh white goat, ricotta, or Mascarpone cheese at room temperature

2 Tablespoons milk

½ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

¼ cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons minced fresh basil

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

Basil Pesto Filling

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves

3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted

2 garlic cloves, crushed

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1/3 cup (3 ounces) ricotta cheese

1/3 cup (3 ounces light cream cheese at room temperature

6 oil-packed sun-dried tomato halves, diced, for garnish

Prepare the crepes. 

To make the sun-dried tomato filling:  In a bowl, mix the cheese and milk together until blended.  Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, basil, garlic, and pine nuts.

To make the basil pesto filling:  In a blender or food processor, whirl the basil, pine nuts, and garlic until minced.  Blend in the oil, add the Parmesan, ricotta, and cream cheeses, and process until blended.

Lay out 1 crepe and spread with one-third of the sun-dried tomato filling; cover with another crepe and spread with one-third of the basil pesto filling.  Repeat, alternating the fillings and layering the crepes.  Decorate the top with the diced tomatoes.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  Cut into wedges and serve on small plates. 

Makes 12 appetizer wedges.

Banana-Nut Energy Bars December 11, 2007

I had wonderful success converting this recipe to gluten free.  I had been making the original recipe since I found it in a Cooking Light magazine in October, 1998.  It is nice to make your own bars and this recipe is a good way to use your ripe bananas that no one wants to eat.  The original recipe called for 1-1/4 cups of multigrain hot cereal or quick-cooking oats. 

My vision was to make the bars with flours with higher fiber and some hearty cereals.  The first time I used quinoa flakes in place of the multi-grain cereal but the taste and texture wasn’t good.  I have many different gluten free flours in my refrigerator that I have bought but never used.  I tried mixing them in this recipe and I used ready-to-eat gluten free cereals in place of the multi-grain cereal. 

The first attempt was delicious.  My husband said it was the best gluten free dessert I’d made.  My son loved them, too.  I thought they were a little sweet – probably because I used the original amounts of sugar and honey with the sweetened cereal.  In this version I reduced the amount of sugar and honey slightly and they are great.  Don’t be afraid to play around with different flours.  It only calls for 1/2 cup so you can be creative.

Gluten Free Banana-Nut Energy Bars

• ½ cup mashed ripe banana
• ¼ cup packed brown sugar (original was 1/3 cup)
• 2 tablespoons honey (original was 1/4 cup honey)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg

• Gluten free flours to equal ½ cup (8 tablespoons) for example: 3 tablespoons gluten free flour mix, 2 tablespoons Montina flour, 2 tablespoon teff flour and 1 tablespoon mesquite meal.

• 1 ¼ cup gluten free cereal; for example ½ cup quinoa flakes (raw), ½ cup Barabara’s Brown Rice Crisps, ¼ cup Bakery on Main Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon granola

• ¼ cup chopped pecans

• ½ teaspoon salt

• Cooking spray

• 1. Preheat oven to 350^o.
• 2. Beat first 6 ingredients at medium speed of a mixer until blended. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Gradually add flour, cereal, pecans, and salt to banana mixture; stir until well-blended. Spoon into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350^o for 25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Yield: 12 servings (servings size: 1 bar).

Ancient Grains December 7, 2007

I found this information about a product made by ConAgra Mills called ConAgra Mills Ancient Grain Flours (100% whole grain) which contains: 

• Amaranth Flour
• Millet Flour
• Quinoa Flour
• Sorghum Flour
• Teff Flour

It will be interesting to see if this industrial food giant labels this product as gluten free.  The ingredients are naturally gluten free but I don’t know if they can process them to be certified gluten free.  I see that they have other mixes which use Ultragrain and Sustragrain, I assume products that they make. It will be interesting to see if gluten free food producers use these flour mixes. The fact that ConAgra is making this flour mixture seems to me to be a sign that celiac disease and gluten intolerance is becoming more well-known.

If you’re interested in reading more about our food supply I recommend Michael Pollan’s book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”.  You can learn about these industrial food giants and how they operate.

Got Guts 5K December 4, 2007

I received a comment from Christine:

Hi Kathy — I like your site and topics. We share a common interest in being active with Celiac Disease. I was also diagnosed with CD because anemia was disrupting my training for a marathon back in 2005. And a few years before that I was diagnosed with Osteoporosis (now improved to Osteopenia, thank goodness).

In the 2.5 years since I’ve been diagnosed, I’ve noticed an increase in awareness of Celiac Disease, particularly among athletes/runners. I don’t have data to support this, but it would be great to collect that. I’m also starting to hear from athletes who are following a GF diet because they feel and perform better when they avoid gluten. Some are diagnosed as gluten sensitive and some have just figured it out through the process of elimination.

I would like to see more research conducted on training and competing with Celiac Disease.

Sorry for such a long post — this is a hot topic with me!

Good luck with your cycling,

Christine

I thought I’d share this inspiring letter with you.  Christine is involved in the Got Guts 5K in Austin, Texas.  This race brings awareness of celiac disease.  What a great idea!  Many people discover they have CD because their performance suffers due to malnutrition that gluten intolerance causes.  So it is a good idea to have a run to get knowledge of celiac disease out to the athletes and public in general.  It would be great to see more of these runs around the country.   Thanks, Christine!

Gluten free triathlete December 2, 2007

I found some information about a triathlete who is gluten free on the celiac.com forum under the sports section. There was an article about Desiree Ficker in the October 2007 issue of Runners World magazine.

The magazine gives a sample of her diet.
Pre-workout breakfast: 2 pieces rice bread with butter or honey, banana, coffee
Post-workout breakfast: berry smoothie with soy milk
Lunch: chicken breast on spinach, tortilla chips
Snack: banana or grapefruit
Dinner: brown rice, fish or chicken, broccoli, carrots, zucchini
Dessert: vanilla soy ice cream

You can read more about Desiree at her website. She gives tips about gluten free nutrition during races and other information. It’s always good to see someone excelling physically on a gluten free diet.  She even offers to answer questions about nutrition.  Here is a blog from IronBri who discovered Desiree through his girlfriend who was having problems with gluten free nutrition with her training. 

Check it out!