Easy Gluten Free Living

I have been diligently working on a Gluten Free Cookbook that I am hoping  to have  finished and ready for sale in the next week or so.  The recipes are coming along well and I think you will like them.

However today my post has nothing to do with any gluten free products.  I lost my cat, Rocky, today.  Well actually he probably died last night, but I didn’t find him until this morning on my way to work.  You see, I found Rocky dead on the road right in front of my house, this morning.

Let me give you a little background on my Rocky boy.  I live in the country on 10 acres.  Rocky came to us as an almost half dead stray.  He was  malnourished, and could hardly walk.  I nursed him back to health and planned on keeping him as an indoor cat.  Rocky had other ideas. 

Rocky never liked being in the house, except for the short times he came in to be loved, eat, or to sleep off a 3 day disappearence.  I get the feeling that when he disappeared he had another family to visit.

I buried Rocky in the front yard under the American Flag that has been flying there for 6 years, right beside his best bud (another cat) Cry Baby.

Anyway Rocky and Cry Baby are dearly missed and will always hold a spot in my heart.  Tomarrow I’ll be back with more gluten free info for you all.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free

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If you’re having a gluten free halloween party you’re definately going to be needing some drinks to go with all that yummy food and candy.  I came across a really good punch that just happens to gluten free and really tasty.  And for the kids it’s a fun and spooky addition to the party.

 Icy Spiders in My Punch

What you need:

• 12 gummy spiders
• 1 surgical glove (non powdered)
• 1 gallon green fruit punch (Walmart’s Great Value Kiwi Strawberry brand) is a gluten free brand
• 1 (2 liter bottle) ginger ale
• 1 quart Raspberry Sherbet (Edy’s Brand) is gluten free

Fill an ice cube tray 2/3 full of water*.  Add a gummy spider to each section of the ice cube tray.  Place in the freezer for at least 4 hours or until solid.  Fill the surgical glove with water and tie the end closed.  Place the glove in the freezer and freeze at least 4 hours until frozen or overnight.  Pour the fruit punch into a 7 quart punch bowl.  Stir in the ginger ale until well combined then add the raspberry sherbet.  Place the frozen spider ice cubes into the punch.  Remove the glove from the frozen ice hand and lay that in the middle of the punch.

Kids love the scary aspect of this punch along with its great taste.  You can use any flavor or color of gluten free fruit punch you like and lemon lime soda can be used in place of the ginger ale, if you prefer.

* If you don’t want the ice to water down your punch, use ginger ale in the ice cube tray and surgical glove instead of water.

Makes approximately 32 servings. 

Mary Blackburn

Living Guten Free

You would think that after having Celiac Disease for 22 years I would know how to be prepared for being away from home.  Yesterday was not the case.

I spent a large portion of my day yesterday,  hanging out at Armstrong County Memorial Hospital.  My mother-in-law had to have surgery to remove a lesion on her face.  The surgery was done as an outpatient, and as it turns out the lesion was cancerous, but the surgeon feels he got it all, and things should be fine.

Since we had to be up and out the door pretty early, I was really hungry by lunch time.  Usually I would take a couple gluten free snacks to eat just in case there’s no gluten free food available.  I don’t know where my head was yesterday, but I walked out the door with nothing but my notebook so that I could work while we sat waiting, but no food.

At lunch time my husband and I took a stroll down to the hospital cafeteria for lunch.  With all the strides made towards accommodating  gluten free diets, you would think that at a hospital, I would be able to find something gluten free to eat .  Not the case.

All the food looked really good and smelled even better.  There was chicken parmesan served over, what else, spaghetti.  There were wraps, but, made of course, with flour tortillas.  What I finally chose as the lesser of all the evils was the Lean Cuisine chicken & rice, just the rice, steamed broccoli, and french fries.  I’m not sure if there had been any cross contamination, but I’m not feeling any adverse effects today.

Moral of the story, never take for granted that there will be food for you to eat where ever you are going.  Think ahead and be prepared.

Tomarrow I will return to Halloween Treats.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free

Today I have another recipe to make your gluten-free Halloween delicious.  I also have some more candy that I’ve found to be gluten-free.

• All Just Born Brand candies are gluten free.  That includes their Peep brand marshmellow candies, (all varieties), Mike & Ike, Teenie Beanie Jelly Beans and more.
• M & M’s, all brands except the krispy kind
• Skittles
• Tootsie Roll Industries, posts that all their candies are gluten free
• as does Ferrara Pan Candy Company
• Laffy Taffy
• Betty Crocker Halloween Fruit Flavored snacks
• Heath Milk Chocolate English Toffee small size bars
• Swedish Fish
• Snickers Bars fun size and minis
• Wonka Giant Pixy Stix
• Starburst Fruit Chews
• and Double Bubble Bubble Gum

As I come across more I’ll let you know here.

Here is another homemade treat for your tricksters.

                                            Wickedly Good Popcorn Balls

1. 4 quarts popcorn, popped
2. 2 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate
3. 2 cups granulated sugar
4. 1/2 cup light corn syrup
5. 1 cup of water

Preset the oven to 200 degrees.  Place popcorn into a large heat proof bowl and place it in the oven to keep it warm.  Put the chocolate into a heavy saucepan over low heat.  Stir constantly, and heat the chocolate for 5 minutes or until completely melted.  Stir in the sugar and corn syrup until well blended.  Add the water and stir to blend in.

Adjust the heat to medium and stir continuously until it comes to a steady boil.  Continue cooking until a candy thermometer reaches 250 degrees or hard ball stage.

Remove the popcorn from the oven and pour the chocolate mixture over the popcorn stirring to evenly coat popcorn.  When the mixture cools enough to be handled, form it into 3 inch balls.  Place popcorn balls on a wire rack to cool.

These popcorn balls are a good change from the regular popcorn balls we all grew up with.  When forming these balls, dip your hand into cold water to keep the popcorn from sticking to your hands.  Wrap the popcorn balls in plastic wrap or for a fancier look, pretty orange and black cellophane paper found at most craft stores, and tie the ends with a halloween ribbon.

We’ll be searching the aisles at the grocery store for more gluten free candy all this week, so check back often.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free

Having Celiac Disease or a gluten intollerance as an adult is inconvenient, but when you have a gluten free child, whatever the reason, it can be down right heart breaking.  Especially when the holidays roll around.  They just want to be able to be a kid, like their friends.

With Halloween fast approaching, I thought I’d give you some tips, recipes, and gluten-free candy options to help you with your little ones celebration.

When you are choosing your halloween candy to hand out to the little ghosts and goblins, be sure to buy only those that are gluten free.  That way you don’t have to worry if your little trick or treater comes home with only gluten laden candy, or candy that is questionable.  Besides, if your household is anything like mine, we all have a hard time keeping our hands out of the treat basket. 

Make sure your child knows and understands not to eat anything from his or her treat bag until they get home.  Not only is this a good policy to keep your child gluten free, it is also just good sense, in this day and age of “bad guys”.

Check out the treats.  When your child gets home from trick or treating, make a game out of going through the “booty”.  Make a pile for candy known to be gluten free, a pile for candy known NOT to be gluten free, and a pile for candy that you just aren’t sure of.  It may or may not be gluten free.  If you want to take the time you can contact the manufacturer, give it away, or just throw it out.

Remember the old adage:  “When in doubt, throw it out”, because nothing is more important that keeping your child healthy and safe.

Keep it positive.  I know from experience how easy it is to get angry and depressed about not being able to eat the foods that you know and love, but that don’t love you back.  If your child is on a gluten free diet chances are pretty good that he or she will remain on that diet the rest of their lives.  Now is the time to teach them that it’s not the end of the world.  Yes, there are some restrictions, and they will always have to be diligent, but new and better tasting gluten free foods are coming out everyday.  If you show a positive attitude your child will too.

Over the next week I will be telling you about popular candy that is gluten free and also giving you recipes that are gluten free that can be used for school parties or your own Halloween Ghoul Party.

Here’s one such recipe:

                                            Halloween Haystacks

What you’ll need:    

1. 1 (11 oz.) package butterscotch chips
2. 2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter
3. 1 (12 0z.) jar dry roasted peanuts (optional)
4. 1 (4 02.) package of (gluten free) potato sticks         

How to make the Haystacks

     Place the chips into a large heavy saucepan.  Add the peanut butter to the pan and place the pan over low heat.  Stir constantly and heat the mixture for 5 minutes or until very smooth.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the peanuts until well coated.  Add the potato sticks and carefully stir to coat them well with the mixture.  Line a pan with wax or parchment paper and drop the mixture by teaspoonfuls onto the paper.  Chill the haystacks until firm.

These sweet and salty stacks will have them begging for more.  For school treats wrap tightly in plastic and tie with a Halloween bow.  If you want a more peanut butter cup flavor, substitute semisweet chocolate chips in place of the butterscotch chips.   

Hope you and your little goblins enjoy them.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free

Are gluten intollerance symptoms different in children than they are in adults?  Well yes and no.

Children, like adults, can have any number of the symptoms in yesterdays post, and more.

Although celiac disease is a serious condition in adults, undiagnosed CD in children is a very real and serious health crisis.  With possibly as many as one in 80 children worldwide affected by celiac disease, it is being ranked as one of the most chronic childhood diseases affecting  children today.

Symptoms of a child with celiac disease can show up as early as three to five months after consuming gluten containing food for the first time, although for some children it can be as short as one month.  Some experts on feeding infants are recommending that solid foods not be introduced into the babys diet until almost five months old and should not be introduced to gluten containing food/cereal until after six month of age.

A celiac baby that is by all other standards ”normal”, will thrive until gluten is introduced into his diet, then he may refuse to eat and fail to gain weight.

Symptoms can and do vary from one child to another, just as they do in adults.  Some children become very sick with severe diarrhea and dehydration.  Stools may become abnormal, they may be pale in color, float because of all the air and fat in them and smell horribly.  Your celiac child may become listless, irritable, have difficulty concentrating, be cranky and if a puberty age girl, have a delayed puberty.

If you suspect your child may have celiac disease, see a gastroenterologist and have them tested.  A simple blood test, IgA antihuman tissue transglutaminase (IgA TTG) and IGA endomysial antibody immunofluoresence (IgA EMA), can give you the answers that you are looking for.  If the blood tests are inconclusive, you may need to have an endoscopy of the small intestine done.  This is a minor proceedure that can give you an absolute answer. 

However, DO NOT remove gluten from your childs diet before you have them tested.  Gluten must be present in the diet for the tests to be accurate.

Just know that celiac disease is a life long condition, but can be treated and controlled 100% by a gluten free diet.

With Halloween fast approaching, I will be talking about celebrating for the celiac child, with recipe substitutions and suggestions for trick or treating.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free

Celiac disease is a very common, yet very under diagnosed, incurable, hereditary, autoimmune disease.  Recent studies show that one  in 133 people , in the United States alone,  are affected by celiac disease.  The reason that it is so under diagnosed or misdiagnosed is because the symptoms can be so varied.

With most diseases there are a set of symptoms that are basically typical to that particular disease.  However, celiac disease has a broad spectrum of symptoms, none of which are “typical.”  Symptoms are triggered by the ingestion of gluten, the protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and sometimes oats. 

Symptoms of CD can be any one of or several of the following:  fatigue, anemia, unexplained weight loss or weight gain, skin blisters or other skin disorders, mood swings, depression, anxiety,  miscarriages, osteoporosis, irritable bowel, headaches, a bloated feeling, flatulence (gas), profuse diarrhea, severe stomach aches, joint pain, and possibly others that just haven’t been linked to CD yet.  As your body becomes more intollerant to the gluten in your diet, you may experience numbness or tingling in your face and hands.

With that wide of a variety of  symptoms, you can see why self diagnosing is so difficult.  If you experience or are experiencing any of these symptoms, check with your doctor to see if you may have CD.  You will want to ask for the following blood tests:  IgA antihuman tissue transglutaminase (IgA TTG) and IGA endomysial antibody immunofluoresence (IgA EMA).  That is a mouthful,  I know, however, these tests are currently recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as being the most accurate.

Then if your blood tests positive for gluten antibodies, you will need to have a biopsy of your small intestine, to check your intestinal villi.  This is done as an outpatient procedure.

After that you go on a Gluten Free diet and feel better.

Just keep in mind, if you suspect you might have Celiac Disease, and you want an actual medical diagnosis, DO NOT start a gluten free diet before your blood test and intestinal biopsy.  You need to be eating gluten for the blood tests and biopsy to be accurate.

Tomarrow I’ll talk about different symptoms for children with celiac disease.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free

My road back to recovery was a little longer than the road to near starvation.  Not only did the villi in my small intestine need to heal, but my body did also.  I had lost not only weight, but also muscle during my illness.  So now I had to rebuild my strength and my body.

As my body started to heal, I started to feel good again.  The tingling in my face and hands went away.  The stomach aches decreased and then went away all together.  I was able to eat and not need a bathroom.  I was slowly getting my life back.

As my body got rid of the residual gluten, I started feeling stronger.  Mealtime was a little more hectic.  If we were having pasta for dinner, I had to make two different meals.  One for my family with regular pasta, and one for me, made with gluten free pasta.

Obviously, I survived and thrived, (otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog).  

Which brings me to why I wanted to start a gluten free blog.  Today there is about 1 in 100  people with celiac disease.  A study conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota Medical School found that young people today are more than four times more likely to have Celiac Disease than young people of the 1950′s.

If Celiac Disease goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed it can lead not only to serious medical complications, but also a higher risk of mortality if left untreated.  Yet, 97% of people with Celiac Disease go undiagnosed.

If I can help one person from going through what I went through, I will be happy.

Tomarrow I’ll go into the symptoms of Celiac Disease.  You may be surprised by some of them.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free

By now it is Thanksgiving 1987 and I am down to 100 pounds and beginning to feel so weak that I can hardly keep up with my family.  It takes all my strength to get my kids off to school and my husband off to work in the morning.  My house is a wreck, dishes are piling up in the sink.

I am feeling numbness in my face and tingling in my hands.  I am constantly hungry and extremely thirsty.  After I eat, I have extremely bad stomach aches and bloating.  I can’t venture too far from home due to the need of being near a bathroom at all times.

I need to go Christmas shopping for my children, but I am so weak by now that I spend most of my days in my pajamas and robe.  Nothing seems to help and my PCP really can’t tell me what is wrong.

Finally, the last straw for my husband is the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We were at my in-laws for the weekend and I just couldn’t wait to get home.  The diarrhea is almost non stop now.  If I eat, I need a bathroom, period. 

My husband tells me to call my gynecologist.  So first thing Monday morning I do.  Thankfully, he gives me the name of a gastroenterologist.  I call him, go see him, and schedule a biopsy of my small intestine.  This in itself is a miracle, because there weren’t a whole lot of Doctors with any knowledge of Celiac Disease back then.  Thank you Dr. Richard Raizman for saving my life.

The biopsy shows that the villi in my small intestine is pretty much gone.  Villi are microscopic hair like fingers in your small intestine that greatly increase the surface of your intestines so that your body can catch and absorb digested nutrients that your body needs, more efficiently.

The diagnosis, I have Celiac Disease or at that time they called it Celiac Sprue.  Basically, the food I am eating is poisoning me.  I am told I need to cut out all foods with gluten in my diet.  No bread, no pasta, no pizza, nothing with wheat, barley, rye, or oats.  At first, I really have no idea what this is going to mean for my family and I.

Then I go to the grocery store and begin reading labels.  Do you know that gluten or wheat is found in almost every processed food?   Soups, cereal, gravy, soy sauce.  It is hidden in just about everything that I have fed my family over the past 11 years that my husband and I have been married.  I am devastated.

Unlike now, store bought gluten free food is almost non-existant and what is out there is awful.  It tastes like saw dust.  When my husband and I got married I didn’t know how to cook.  His love and encouragement helped me to become a great cook.   Now I have to start all over again and re-learn how to make good food that won’t kill me.

My story continues tomarrow.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free