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?