Redbridge Good Gluten Free Beer!

Redbridge is the best gluten free beer that we have found.

There is a lot of competition for the few cases of Redbridge that the stores order.

In all of Cincinnati there are times that we can not find even a six pack of Redbridge Beer.

The stores say that they will get an order of Redbridge and save it for us. So now we plan ahead!

All of the gluten free beer drinkers need to blog Bush Beers until they produce more Redbridge!

Gluten Free Worry! Pity Party!

There are days when I tire of worrying about serving good gluten free food for my husband. The consequences of not serving gluten free keeps me on my toes. One mess up and he suffers.

I wish I took such good care of myself. I sneak non gluten free food when I can. He is out of town so for lunch I ate a whole box of Kraft Mac & Cheese. If I had eaten just a part of the box, I would have felt better.

I realize that this is such a minor problem. All I have to do is remind myself of the trials many folks face with day to day life. Then my pity party ends. Cooking gluten free is not hard. The food is fresh. The meals are easy to plan. And shopping becomes automatic.

Today my motto is live gluten free and quit complaining.

Good Gluten Free Food Shop Online

I found a good online source of gluten free food. I am sharing it now!


glutenfree.com - your online source of gluten-free food for your Celiac Disease diet!

Celiac Disease, Gluten Intolerance, Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Wheat Allergies & Multiple Food Allergies
It has been proven that strict adherence to a gluten-free diet improves the overall quality of life for people with Celiac Disease, Gluten Intolerance, Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
We cater to people with Celiac Disease, wheat & gluten intolerance, wheat allergies and multiple food allergies, and have helped thousands of families adapt to this challenging diet.
About Our Company Since 1993, we have been offering gluten-free products to people on this diet.
Our company was founded by professional chef and food writer, Beth Hillson who, along with her son, is gluten-free. We are always on the lookout for new products and ideas to help make it easier and tastier for our customers to thrive on a gluten-free diet.
Our customers are constantly thanking us for our great products, informative website and reliable and friendly customer service.
Our Products Our selection includes a wide array of delicious gluten-free and wheat-free gourmet baking mixes, breads, bagels and baguettes, crackers, cookies, pretzels, snacks, pastas, beverages, vitamins, convenience and prepared meals, baking ingredients, condiments, books, and so much more.
Choose from the biggest brand-names such as Glutino, Gluten-Free Pantry, Bi-Aglut, Bakery on Main, Bob's Red Mill, Cerrone, Cherrybrook Kitchen, Cream Hill Estates, Dr. Schar, Ener-G, Enjoy Life Foods, Food-Tek, Jo-Sef, Kinnikinnick, Larabar, Maxwell's Kitchen, Namaste, Nature's Path, Organ, Pamela's Products, Perky's, Premier Japan, PureFit, Really Great Food, San-J, Shelton's, Spectrum, Thai Kitchen, Tinkyada, Zojirushi, and more.
Now, great foods for special diets are more accessible than ever!

Give this online store a look!

Celiac Disease

In the Health and Women section of this USA Weekend, there is an article about the fact only 3% of the celiac cases are correctly diagnosed. Also about twice as many women than men have this condition.

The National Institutes of Health has begun a celiac disease awareness campaign. Now we know the issues that are painful: small intestine pain, chronic gas, diarrhea, stomach pain, fatigue and reduced absorption of nutrients. The doctors rarely test for the inherited autoimmune disorder.

If you suspect celiac disease you must ask your doctor for a blood test.

There is only one clear and that is total lifelong avoidance of gluten found in wheat, rye, barley and oats.

Good gluten free food blog keeps searching for information and help to post. This is such an easy fix once you decide to live gluten free. There are times that I get annoyed that my husband has the issue. It is harder to eat out. When visiting friends, I keep rice crackers, a potato and other items in my handbag so that Charlie has food to eat.

At other times, I am so thankful that we are aware of the celiac disease. Life with the pain and symptoms is hard.

Be sure to mention celiac disease to anyone with intestinal problems. My children and friends are aware of how I try to promote awareness of celiac disease and also spread the word.

Good Gluten Free Food Hint

Did you see on the Today Show, what Hershey is doing to their candy?

So far certain candy bars and pieces have changed from coco butter to vegetable oil. The candy no longer reads milk chocolate. It says instead chocolate candy.

I hated it when they started using vanilan instead of vanilla. Now this. I am not sure I will buy and of the candy bars again.

At what cost are they ruining the product. I would rather pay more for less than this junk.

This information needs to be passed on to all candy lovers!

Good Gluten Free Food Pizza Crust

I have made the best pizza crust from the Gluten Free Pantry mix for French Bread and Pizza Crust. I mix the dough and then split it in half. One half I bake as a small loaf of bread. The other half I use as pizza crust.

The fun was the first time I tried to make pizza crust, the dough stuck to my hands. I tried to wet my hands with water then oil. The way it works is to use gluten free flour ( I use white rice) and powder the dough each time you roll and arrange it.

The pizza crust baked beautifully even with all of the stuff on top. I bake pizza on fun days and my gluten free husband loves it!

Gluten Free Back Yard Peach Cobbler

Good Gluten Free Food Peach Cobbler

We picked back yard peaches Sunday. They had not been sprayed and were pure organic peaches. Once you pare off the skin and slice the peaches, they were firm and juicy.

Here is the recipe that I used for an easy gluten free peach cobbler.

8 peaches skinned and sliced (or as many peaches as you want)
1 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of gluten free flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup orange juice
1 stick of butter

Grease baking pan 9" X 9"
Layer peach pieces
Cover with orange juice

Mix sugar, gluten free baking flour, cinnamon and nutmeg together then cut in the butter to form crumbs

Cover peaches with mixture

Bake 375 for 45 minutes

Serve plain or over ice cream

This recipe can be used with almost any fruit! It's easy to make and gluten free!

A Gluten Free Bakery!

I just heard about a gluten free bakery. It is in Indiana but may ship. I have no details yet but promise an update as soon as I do.

Banana Bread

Baking good gluten free food banana bread is fun and yummy. I hate to waste brown bananas. In my family, once there is a brown spot on the yellow banana skin, no one touches it. I have to buy bananas that are almost green in order to get them eaten.

It takes at least 3 or 4 bananas to make one loaf of bread. I freeze a banana with the skin on when it turns brown. When I have enough bananas to make a loaf of banana bread, I thaw the frozen ones and bake the banana bread.

Any recipe can be adapted with the rice flour mix to make the banana bread. I just add an extra egg to the mix.

Once you bake any good gluten free food, you must use it or freeze it. There are no preservatives and the baked goods turn bad in 2 or 3 days.

Blogging about Good Gluten Free Food

Since I have been blogging about good gluten free food, I have found so many great tips and hints on how to keep wheat out of the foods we eat. Blogs have a way of keeping in touch with so many people.

I am now expanding from blogging only to include web site use. I am a computer illiterate. I am not inclined to try something risky. I am afraid that I will fail and the kids will make fun of me. Now with computers and training at home I was able to take it one step at a time.

Then, I found a great free web site easy to use. A personal web site is a great way to post pictures, letters and information for family and friends. With my personal website, I now issue invitations to parties, plan outings and keep everyone informed. I love it!

My new business website will let me plan and start a business. I am starting slowly but will increase my use of the business web site later.

I want to share this with any one who is shy and unsure how to start. I am on social security and know that most of us are not comfortable with computer use. The only way to start is just do it!
Once I started, I just want to learn more!

Try: http://www.gotogails.com/new372934.html for a free web site. The great part is that it is free and easy to use. I felt it was worth a try and now love it!!!!

Save Money with Gluten Free Food

I use a blog: http://www.coupons101.blogspot.com for helpful hints for saving money expecially using coupons. I have found that I can use coupons on products that are not for my husband. The totally gluten free foods do not seem to have coupons.

When I go to a store and good gluten free flours are on sale, I stockpile the product. One can not store too much of the gluten free flours. They are truly better fresh. I do keep some good gluten free flours, cake mixes, pancake mixes etc. in the freezer for later use.

I think tonight that I will make gluten free corn bread with dinner. Tomorrow, I will blog about spoon bread fixed gluten free. The best of treats, spoon bread is fun!!!

Vacation Gluten Free Food and Beer

Found a great vacation or any time gluten free treat. Cream cheese spread on a baking dish, covered with Hormel's no bean chilly, topped with cheddar cheese and heated for 4 or 5 minutes in a microwave and served with no flour gluten free chips or crackers, is a fun treat!

I am looking for more gluten free treats to serve for the football parties!

Took 9 six packs of gluten free beer- Redbridge Beer on vacation. Came home with only 3 bottles. Good gluten free planning!!

Gluten Free Cooking EXPO

Wow! A whole EXPO for Gluten Free Cooking will be held September 12-13, 2008 in Oakbrook, Illinois!

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Two full-days of gluten-free cooking demonstrations by notable chefs, cookbook authors and nutritionists
2. Printed recipe so you can follow along, take notes and ask questions about successful replacement ingredients for common allergens such as soy, sugar, egg, dairy and corn
3. Learning how to prepare each dish, and getting the chance to taste them as well

Go To: http://www.glutenfreeclasses.com/ for more information.

Good Gluten Free Food at an Expo, I will follow up the recipes and information from the web site.

Choose Peace

Sounds good "Choose Peace". This grass root group is not talking world peace (nice), but peace in the inner neighborhoods of our cities here in America and around the world.

In Indianapolis, Indiana, the horrible homicide rate has become unbearable. Children and families are suffering and injured while sitting in their homes or front porch. Drive by shoot outs and gun battles are hurting and killing way too many people. By spreading "Choose Peace", we can make a change.

The group is new and hopes to spread to help take back neighborhoods and cities. It is one person at a time, talking to another person and spreading the word. Choose Peace and hope will return.

Go To: http://www.decidetochoose.com for more information.

Gluten Free Redbridge Beer

Looking for the good gluten free beer in Indianapolis? The Whole Food Store on West 86th Street is out of stock. I bought 8 cases of Redbridge for the next few months. We go on vacation to the Jersey Shore and did not want to run out of Redbridge.

The store manager told me in the future to call him and he will order the Redbridge that we need. So now my advice to all who love the gluten free Redbridge Beer is to find a friendly store manager and place orders from them.

Eight cases of beer takes up a lot of room in a car!

Good Gluten Free Beer Redbridge

Redbridge is the best gluten free beer that we have found. There is a lot of competition for the few cases of Redbridge that the stores order. In all of Cincinnati, we can not find even a six pack.

The stores say that it will be the end of July before they get an order of Redbridge.

All of the gluten free beer drinkers need to blog Bush Beers until they produce more Redbridge!

Flatbreads, Good Gluten Free Food

Good Gluten Free Food finds flatbread!

While reading an article about flatbread and it's roll in the world's diet, I noted that around the world wheat is not always a main crop. In tropical climantes flatbread is more likely rice, corn and bean based. Great flatbreads made from every grain on the planet and gluten free!

I need to add flatbread to our diet! I never thought of tortillas as flatbread. But now a corn tortilla will enter dinner menus.

Good gluten free foods will add a flatbread recipe regularly.

Good Gluten Free Pizza

Super Bowl Sunday always presents a problem for our meal. What is the Super Bowl without pizza and beer?

So I have made several attempts at gluten free pizza crust. Using a gluten free bread mix, I've tried several different mixes. What failures they were. Too much dough for one pizza pan, the crust was so thick and icky. One pizza burned on the bottom and the top was raw.

This year I had a mix from the Gluten-Free Pantry. It was the french bread and pizza mix. I split the dough in two. I baked one half as bread and used the other half for the pizza crust. It was the best!

Good Gluten Free Food Husband

My husband Charles is the person who must be gluten free. I spend a lot of time planning how to make his food gluten free.

When we started to be gluten free, I made it a rule to only cook one meal. I choose not to cook two meals. I eat what he eats. There are several reasons for this. Two separate meals are expensive. I will not eat a dinner roll when he can not have one. I find that the gluten free food is good.

Fruits & Vegetables Good Gluten Free Food

The farmers' markets and stands this time of the year, have the best good gluten free food in all fruits and vegetables.

Fruit salad will make a delicious dessert on a hot day! Since all fruits are gluten free unless a sauce with gluten is added, enjoy several fresh fruits a day!

Fresh vegetables can be the best part of a good gluten free meal. I prefer to pressure cook vegetables. The high steam cooks most veggies in under a minute. I also use my wok to quick cook vegetables. I love to put corn on the cob on the grill in the husks. Tomatoes also are great grilled.

Salad made with fruits or vegetables bring the best gluten free flavors to the table.

Salad dressings for vegetables often contain gluten or hidden gluten. I often use oil and vinegar with added herbs for flavor.

Stop today at your farmers' market and enjoy the best gluten free dinner!

Camping Review

Pain in the neck eating and feeding family gluten free while camping.

Next time I cook only for my husband and myself. Some one always slips in gluten and my husband pays the price.

Gluten Free Camping

Camping Gluten Free means taking along two sets of foods-one with wheat and one gluten free.

When 40 family members gather and cook meals together, my job grows twice as hard. When we are home, there are no wheat products in the kitchen. When everyone chips in, I must cook a special meal gluten free.

When traveling, we have a RV with a kitchen. The food stored over the winter was bad and had to be fed to the wild animals. I even cooked up the dried out pasta so as not to waste it. The raccoons are smiling tonight.

We are off to Lake Michigan South Haven for a week. I have new stashes of good gluten free food for the summer.

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Shop Gluten Free

Every now and then I find information just too great not to share. When shopping for gluten free food driving around from store to store is not fun. The cost of gasoline makes it difficult to visit all of the stores around town. Of course if you live in a small town, there may be no good place to shop for gluten free food.

The Gluten-Free Mall is a wonderful web site. It contains may products that I had never before seen or used. It also is missing some products that I use. So it must take several on line shops to find all of the gluten free products you need.

The web site has additional gluten free information. Go to: http://www.glutenfreemall.com/catalog/glutenfree-books-c-48.html .

Coupons 101

With the gasoline costs rising faster then my income, I now seek out coupons for all products that I use. I have never seen a coupon for gluten free products. This means that I will look harder.

In doing this, I found a site www.coupons101.blogspot.com that is helping me learn how to get organized and find coupons.

I am going to follow the website faithfully. I hope to find glueton free coupons soon.

Anyone out there know about gluten free coupons?

BBQ

Gluten Free Barbecue Cooking presents a when buying a prepared BBQ sauce. I find that most of them contain wheat or wheat products. The sauces make cooking on the grill fun and tasty.

I made my own sauce this weekend. It was great. There is no exact measures just a little of this and a little of that.

I took a hunk of brown sugar about a cup or so, and added shakes of balsamic vinegar, mustard, ketchup, hot sauce and garlic. I mixed it up and brushed the thick paste on a pork roast.

It roasted for about 1/2 hour and then re-brushed the roast. The meat was tender and had great flavorand was gluten free. Most of all my husband loved it!

I will attempt to do this again. I do not feel that the BBQ sauce must be consistent just fun and tasty and gluten free.

Grocery Stores

When I first shopped for gluten free flours, there were none in the traditional grocery store. The groceries did not even have health food sections.

Some health food stores carried a few gluten free products. Health Food Stores were primarily concerned with organic foods.

I had to order most gluten free flours on line.

For convince and the cost of fuel, I am pleased that now the local grocery carries a representative amount of gluten free products along with organic food products. At one point the selections were on one small shelf section. Now there is a whole section and even new freezer sections.

I still go to Whole Foods for beer and pasta and soda with sugar instead of high fructose syrup.

As the traditional groceries loose market share, they adjust their products and will continue to add more gluten free food selections.

Noodle Soup and Rice Pasta

My husband loves soup all kinds especially chicken and turkey soups.

I use bags and bags of brown rice for the soup and he misses noodles in his soups

Rice pasta noodles do not fare well in the soups that I have made.

I am wondering if any other gluten free cooks have had success with rice noodles in soup.

Colts Commercial

My family have had Colts tickets since the middle of the night move to Indianapolis. We filmed the commercial for the ESPN game last year. The commercial time was sold out so it was not on the show.

That's my family and I was the one who made everyone do the deed.

My dad is in the golf cart on the last shot. He was 86 and died Dec. 11. I find that I smile when I look at the scene. He loved doing it.

The thing about the new stadium that hurts is that he did not get to go to a game there. He was against building that new building when so many people have no place to live and no food.

He worked for the poor and needy through the Saint Vincent de Paul Society of Indianapolis.

We miss Dad.

Opera Singer

This is off the topic. My cousin Ryland Pope is an opera student. I set him up on a blog yesterday. He is off to Austria to study voice.

He will be a senior at Georgetown College, Kentucky in the fall. He applies to Julliard College in August.

I hope to help him raise money for his studies. Follow his career go to: http://www.rylandpopeoperastudent.blogspot.com He will be a star.

Fried Chicken

At the Indy 500, KFC is the main food group. For years, we followed the crowd. Not now of course Charlie would be ill.

Now I buy skinless chicken breast and slice it into fingers. I dip them in battered eggs and then in rice flour with garlic, onion, salt, pepper and all. Fried till done, the chicken fingers are healthier and as good as the KFC greasy chicken.

I actually serve the chicken fingers with mashed potatoes and gravy. Southern good cooking.

Salad Dressings

Salad dressings pose a problem because most of them have so may ingredients that are hard to know. The one I hate is natural flavorings. MSG is a natural ingredient so I put that dressing down.

When dining out, oil and vinegar makes a good choice unless you do not care for it. Simple mayonnaise works good if you like it. The best choice is plain salad no croutons and a dressing from home.

By planing ahead, you can enjoy eating out.

Beer

One of the saddest days for my husband was when he realizied that beer was off limits due to gluten. He always claimed that as long as it started with a B__ and ended with a ___r, the brand did not matter.

He switched to wine.

Then fnally the BEER companies discovered that sales were down. Without Charlies contribution profits were way down.

In their wisdom and effort to raise profits they began to brew wheat free beers.

As before, Charlie did not care what brand as long as, well you know, it has a b and ends in r.

Anheuser-Busch has managed to add one of the finest gluten free beers. Redbridge tastes great. It can be found at Whole Foods, where we buy it by the cases.

Profits must be up. I just wish that it would be carried by the local stores also.

Gluten and Autism

My daughter's friend has a child with autism. They are investigating the relationship of gluten to the problem. Since we know that the intestine is the problem in gluten related distress, checking if the child has GI problems may help the autism.

The autism causes so much stress in family relationships. If there is an impact on the child caused by gluten, it would be a relief to the family.

I found a site offering insight to this issue. Go to: www.NutritionandAutism.com

I hope this helps my daughter's family.

Pasta

There are rice pastas which allow Italian dishes to be eaten. Of all the brands that I have used, one simply stands out as the best for spaghetti.

Tinkyada Pasta Joy makes the best spaghetti. It cooks for a long time but will not over cook. It must be rinsed in cold water. I find it at Whole Foods.

For lasagna, I use DeBoles rice lasagna. I was hesitant to follow directions-do not precook. But it is the way to use the noodles. And I was plesantly suprised when the meal turned out wonderful.

I use organic pasta sauce. I have no favorite.

Celiac Sprue

Celiac Sprue is a genetic disorder. An autoimmune response to gluten causes intestine damage. Absorbtion of nutrients is hindered.

My husband is a typical case of how hard it is to diagnose the problem. It took years to determine what caused his acute distress.

Many sufferers are undiagnosed. The number is estimated to be over 2.1 million.

Now there is a site with excellent information on celiac sprue and gluten complications.

Go to: http://www.csaceliacs.org/celiac_defined.php for additional information.

Cancer Awareness Day

Tomorrow is Lance Armstrong Cancer Awareness day. I am hosting an event so I must go and blow up yellow and black ballons.

Food additives do they cause cancer? You are what you eat. Have you heard that before? Me too, but is there any cancer relationship?

I found a good site with so clues: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_3_2X_Common_Questions_About_Diet_and_Cancer.asp

Read it and gain some insites.

Mothers Day

When the family gets together, I supply gluten free food for the family. My assignment is for this week is scalloped potatoes. The rue made with rice flour is so good that no one knows it's rice flour based.
I also make a pound cake with fresh fruit and ice cream.

Free Rice

Rice of course is a good food for gluten free dining. There is a website which donates rice when you play the word game. Go to: www.freerice.com for fun and help donate rice to the needy.

Gluten Free Cookbooks

What horrible meals I cooked when first removing wheat from baking. I found rice flour and mixed with corn meal. The resulting cornbread was flat and hard. My husband claimed he loved it because he is so plesant. I used the left over cornbread as a flying saucer.

Bette Hagman has the same wheat issue. She spent years trying to cook good meals. She put her recipes in a book. I was lucky to find this book when it was published in 1991.

I recommend her cookbooks to you. The Gluten-Free Gourmet Living Well Without Wheat will be your new guide to easy cooking.

Vanillin

Anyone with food issues should check out vanillin. What is vanillian? It is used instead of vanilla. Now the chemical make up is confusing. Wikipedia explains it. Go to www.wikipedia.org/wiki/vanillin for an explaination.

What this explaination fails to mention is the health results from the use of vanillin. My husband love Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and other candy. His eyes crusted up and a huge pimple like blemish developed under his eyes. Then some came on his nose and chin.

I was puzzled since I take such care reading labels. The word vanillin appeared. What happened to vanilla? Looking up the information, it was easy to isolate the new word in the list of ingredients. Made from wood and other things while natural, it is not good for many people. There are lists of complaints about vanillin from some users. There is no data requiring the elimination of this product.

Some day there may be enough data. For now if you have food issues, watch your vanillin use.

Great Gravy

For the best gravy, I use several different thickeners. Corn starch has always been used by chefs. I am not sure how to make lumps with corn starch. I usually use white rice flour.

Put the flour in a bowl add water or milk and stir. Then add the mixture to the juices and stir using a whisk. The best gravy. For thick gravy add more flour, for thin gravy less flour. I do not get it exactly the same on any given day.

Saving Cakes and Cookies

When you use the speciality flours for baking, they have a short shelf life. I use what we need for today and tomorrow and freeze the rest. I put the cookies in plastic bags say 3 cookies each baggie. For cakes with icing, I use foil.

The cakes are best with ice cream as they tend to be dryer than other cakes.

Gluten Free Mixes

When baking without wheat, a mixture of flours gives the best outcomes. Of course you can mix it yourself but I found that Pamela's Products offer a great time saving option. They also taste great when cooked or baked.

I love the pancake mix, the chip cookie mix and the cake mix.

You can adapt the mixes with old time family recipes. Go to www.pamelasproducts.com for additional information

Rice Flour

Unable to use wheat flour, I turned to rice and other flours. At first they were not in supermarkets. Now most major markets carry non wheat flours. The best by far is Bob's Red Mill. I shopped on line for years before the markets carried rice flour. If you live out side of a major market go to: www.bobsredmill.com to order what you need. I usually ordered a three month supply inorder not to run out of the products.

Soy Sauce

Love Soy Sauce? Most are wheat based. One to use is La Choy Soy Sauce. Any others out there?

A gluten accident

When visiting, I bring along food that is gluten free. I check the kitchen and if a noodle dish is cooking, I slip in a baked potato.

At a dinner, I checked the spices. Lowery's is good; Kroger's seasoning bad (MSG). They were using Lowery's so I had no worry.

When the meal was served and eaten, my husband's face turned bright red. I was puzzled. My host then advised me of the fact that they used Kroger's not Lowery's and that they put Kroger's in the shaker because the shaker was easier to use.

Even when you are careful to avoid gluten, accidents happen.

Hidden Glutens and MSG



When a family member learns that they can no longer have wheat in their diets, the process of selecting wheat/gluten free food has begun.

It is simple to eleminate wheat-no bread, rolls, doughnuts, buns, cakes, etc.

It is not as simple to eleminate all glutens since there are many hidden names for glutens. When purchasing any prepared foods, one must search for the hidden gluten to avoid distress.

For me the sneakest one is natural flavoring. Since MSG is considered natural, it may be included under this heading. Any food with this listing as an ingredent, I put it back on the shelf.

An excellent web site for a list of hidden glutens is: http://www.celiac.com/