I hate to admit this, but before going GFCF I rarely, if ever, looked at ingredients. I mean, sure, I’d casually glance at them and perhaps tisk-tisk when I saw the well-known offenders (like… MSG or… high fructose corn syrup). But I had NO idea what I was ingesting. No idea that wheat and dairy were so prevalent. But I guess that’s what got me into this food allergy/sensitivity problem in the first place. But since going GFCF more than 7 months ago I’ve read more labels, done more online searches and read more non-fiction books (cookbooks, alternative health books, allergy & intolerance books) than I’ve done in my entire life. Times two. And now I’m shocked at what I was ingesting. Shocked! By not only the chemicals but the strange combinations of “natural” ingredients that go into creating mass-produced, seemingly simple foods. Like French Fries. If you had asked me 7 months ago what could POSSIBLY go into creating french fries, there’s no way milk would’ve ever made it on my list. But there are SOOO many brands, both restaurant and grocery store, that contain dairy. And I love french fries. I mean, LOVE them! I remember in high school I discovered that one of the diners on main street four blocks from the school would give me a HUGE plate of fries and a Coke for the same price as my school lunch wouldda cost. I ate there every day Sophmore year. Through rain or snow I would trudge those four blocks for my fix (what I wouldn’t give for THAT metabolism now!!). So when I found...
Ahhh…. Austin’s. I love this place. Located on Fairbanks Ave in lovely Winter Park, Austin’s Coffee and Film is a tiny little coffee shop that is owned by a wonderful couple who are very, VERY sensitive to food allergies/sensitivities. This is the ONLY place in town that I’ve found I can get a hot latte (Chai Tea Latte with Soy milk). Every time I’ve tried to get a Chai elsewhere, even after explaining about my milk allergy, I’ve gotten contaminated. But here at Austin’s Jackie is SO helpful: she triple washes the steam wand on the machine & uses a dedicated soy milk pot to heat it. In all the many times I’ve been here (yes, I’m sitting on one of the super comfy, eclectic sofas right now) I’ve only had a dairy reaction once. Not easy to do! They also carry vegan, gluten free baked goodies and can prepare lots of menu items to be GFCF as well. You can get salads modified to be GFCF and I believe you can now get their sandwiches on GF bread (although I’ve never had one). Let me go ask Jackie. Okay, here’s the scoop. She said that she had been getting the GFCF bread from a local bakery (which I won’t name, since it’s second hand info) but they were delivering substandard product, so she’s currently put all GF sandwiches on hold. But she’s been talking with the bakery and trying to work with them to get what she needs, but they haven’t followed through. So as of this post, there is not any way to get a GFCF sandwich. But that...
Today my husband and I had our weekly lunch out together. (A weekday lunch is our way of having a weekly “date” without having to spring for a sitter. ) So he’s been doing some GFCF research online (he’s the best!!) and today he suggested a new place for lunch: Ethos Vegan Kitchen. I was a little hesitant at first… I’ve never been much of a fan of the earthy-crunchy food that I think of when I think “vegan.” (I must say that while I’m not normally a huge carnavore, I’ve been eating more than my share of meat since going GFCF, what with so many other things taken out of my daily food rotation.) But since Vegan means no animal products of any kind, that takes out half of the GFCF equation: the casein can’t be present because there can be no dairy of any kind in anything they prepare. And since they make much of their Vegan fare available Gluten Free, there are many GFCF options on the menu. Score! So we went for lunch today and were pleasantly surprised with the wide variety of Gluten Free Menu options. We ordered two GF meals to share: the Healthy Trio and the Hippie Wrap. The Healthy Trio is a three dip “Light Bite” meal. It has black and green olive tapenade (which was a little too… “olivey” for me…. But I’m not a big fan of the super salty, strong taste of olives in general), a homemade hummus (which was thick and creamy and delicious!) and a tomato mango salsa (chunky, sweet and spicy – very tasty). It usually...
GFCF dining on the run is a challenge if you don’t know where to look. And with recipes and preparation practices constantly changing, it’s tough to keep track of it all. Luckily some places seem to stay pretty consistent and are open with their ingredients and prep – Chick-fil-a being one of them. The Chick-fil-a website is wonderfully laid out, with easy to read allergen lists for all possible allergens, including Gluten and Dairy. Go to this page and click the “Quick Reference Guide” button to see a whole, easy-to-read list of all allergens at Chick-fil-a. And here’s Chick-fil-a’s Gluten Allergy PDF which outlines what to eat and how to order of all their possible gluten-free items (which is only half of our battle…. but it’s a well written, easy to use document, so I figured I’d link to it…). And for my future reference, I’ve made my own short list of all the things with which I’ve had consistent success at being reaction free. (I’m very sensitive to Gluten and Dairy and my reactions starts within an hour of being exposed. So as of May 2010, I’m confident I’m being GFCF when I order any of the below items.) My GFCF Go-To Order: • Waffle Cut French Fries – one of the few places where you won’t get cross contaminated through the frying process – they have separate friers for the fries. • Chargrilled Chicken Garden Salad – I fastidiously pick off the cheese, which the only dairy item in it. (I’m usually just starting by the time my co-diners are just about done! 😛 ) You can ask...
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!!!! For Mother’s Day yesterday my fabulous son and husband surprised me with a GFCF cake from a local GFCF bakery, Liberty Bakery. Not only was it a wonderful surprise, it was an absolutely wonderful cake!! The special Mother’s Day cake (I don’t think this particular mini-cake is available on a regular basis… but I could be wrong) had a rather crispy outer chocolate cake “crust” with a very moist, lovely inner chocolate cake. The texture was the most like a “real” (read “gluten”) cake I’ve found: moist and not at all gritty or grainy. My husband ordered mine without the usual cherry topping, knowing how much I love the pure decadence of unadulterated chocolate. So it came simply drizzled with a chocolate lattice decoration on top and a super sweet, sugary pink icing around the bottom. It was the best GFCF cake I’ve tried yet! Based on this cake, I’m going to have to go back to Liberty Bakery and try the other cakes they have available. I’ve had their cookies and breads before (those reviews will be for another post… but I’ll just say that last night when the cat woke me up at 5 am and my stomach was growling, it was really, really nice to have a naughty little midnight snack of a good old yummy chocolate chip cookie!!!!). I believe Liberty has an online store… Yes, they do: Liberty Bakery Online. Unfortunately for those not in Central Florida, you must order cakes for pickup only. (But maybe the next time you’re in Orlando for a Disney...
Tonight we went to one of the only places at which we still eat: Pei Wei. It was a busy night (Thursday) at a busy time (6:30). The young, deer-in-the-headlights man-child who took our order seemed more than a little underwhelmed by his job. (We later learned that he was a trainee and has been on the register for exactly 2 days.) He didn’t seem to understand me when I said “make it Gluten Free,” didn’t make the usual Pei Wei allergy-consious nod and repeat of “Gluten Free Vietnamese Rolls” (didn’t repeat our orders at all, as a matter of fact)…. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when our order started to come out and it was all wrong. My husband’s bowl of soup came out as a cup. My Vietnamese Salad Rolls came out and had peanut sauce – a sure fire sign of “NOT gluten free” (Never eat the seemingly innocuous peanut sauce at Pei Wei – it’s decidedly not GFCF). When I told the server that it was to be a Gluten Free meal, he just looked at it and said “Was it supposed to be?” Yes. That’s what I ordered. And so he simply took the peanut sauce off the dish and tried to place it in front of me. I told him about my allergy to gluten and he said that the rolls are made the same way and it’s just the peanut sauce that has gluten. I told him “But I don’t know how it was prepared – they must take some kind of gluten precautions in the kitchen…” So he sighed...
