1. Wrap ball of gf dough in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30 minutes before attempting to roll it out.

2. Put a large piece of plastic wrap on your counter.

3. Sprinkle the plastic with gf flour.

4. Place gf dough ball on plastic wrap, and flatten it out with your hand.

5. Place another piece of plastic wrap on top of dough.

6. Roll evenly in all directions to desired thickness. Dough should roll with ease between the two pieces of plastic wrap. 

7. If dough is too fragile to maneuver into a pie dish, slide it onto a cookie sheet and stick in the freezer for another 15 minutes, or until it is firm enough to maneuver into the pie dish.

Turkey is fine.  If you are worried about the seasonings on the skin, don't eat the skin.  Mashed potatoes are generally fine too (Maybe ask or even request if the cook used a new stick of butter).

Vegetables can be tricky if they are in a casserole.  If they are just steamed, have a field day.

Okay, stuffing is a problem and so are the desserts.  Here's what I do to resolve that problem.  The day before Thanksgiving make cornbread or cornbread muffins.  Muffins are generally more palatable to children.  Then use some of the cornbread to make a quick and easy stuffing.

Yummy Cornbread/muffin recipe

Ingredients: 1 c cornmeal, 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/2 c tapioca flour, 1/4 c potato starch, 2 tbl sugar or honey, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp xanthan gum, 1 tsp salt, 2 eggs, 1 c milk or sour cream, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/3 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 8x4 inch or 3 inch round or square nonstick pan.

Combine dry ingredients. 

In another bowl, beat eggs, milk (or sour cream), oil.  Add mixture to dry ingredients. Mix till moist.  Batter will be like cake batter.

Bake 20 minutes for muffins, 25-30 minutes for loaf, until top is firm and edges are lightly browned.

Easy Cornbread Stuffing (Inspired by "Cornbread & Sausage Stuffing" recipe in Carol Fenster's Gluten-Free 101.

6 cups of corn bread, cubed; 1/2 onion, chopped; 1 stalk celery, chopped, 1/2 tsp celery seed; 1 tsp ground sage; 1/2 tsp dried oregano;1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper; 1 c gluten free chicken broth, 1 tbl olive oil.

Brown onion and celery in olive oil over medium.  Combine corn bread with remaining ingredients.  Stir well.  Pour into greased baking dish.  Bake 30 minutes at 350 until browned.

Now that I am the only employee of Febe's Foods, I have found out how difficult it is to manage so many different aspects of the business.  Everyday, I, alone, am in charge of baking, inventory, finance, marketing, sales, delivery, packaging, graphic design, social media, and so much more.

Each day, I learn from my mistakes.  According to some store owners who sell my product, having one flavor is not ideal.  So after I am done baking, packagaing and delivering this week, I am going to work on creating new flavors.  Perhaps cinnamon, apple spice, or chocolate chip...  I'll keep you informed as to my results.  Hopefully, it won't take too long, and I will be able to come up with 1 or 2 more flavors of Star Bites by Thanksgiving.

I am not complaining because within the first 5 months of her embarking on this diet, she gained 5 pounds and grew 5 inches.  This was after a year and half of no growth in height and a loss of a few ounces.  She has no more intestinal distress and is extremely well-adjusted.  To counteract any vitamin deficiences that the gluten free diet can cause, I give her a multi-vitamin and try to give her more food that is made from brown rice than white rice. 

But I know there is a contraversy out there about whether or not non-celiacs who may have a sensitivity to gluten should go on the diet.  If you truly have a sensitivity to gluten, and are not celiac, then try it out.  See if you feel better.  See if you can stand the constraints of being extremely limited in restaurants, on vacations, and at other people's homes.  See if you can afford it. See if all these difficulties are worth the improvment in physical well-being. If it works for you, then great.  Perhaps in the future, your stomach will calm down and you can try to add gluten back slowly. 

 

When getting started on a gluten free diet, it is difficult to figure out what has gluten in it.  Unlike other allergens like peanuts which are readily labeled, gluten is often used in the processing of other ingredients, like soy sauce and seasonings.   Sometimes people do not physically improve right away because they are inadvertently consuming a product with gluten.

 Check out an article in examiner.com to see a list of products and ingredients where gluten is sometimes hidden.  This is not a complete list by any means, however.

Remember, always call the manufacturer for clarification.

Every time I want to make anything gf and don't have the slightest idea as to how to do it, I always consult Carol Fenster's Gluten-Free 101 cookbook.  While I rarely follow a recipe exactly, I find her recipes give me a running start.  Pretty much every gf cookbook uses its own flour blend.  She uses sorghum flour, potato or corn starch, tapioca flour, and corn, almond, bean or cehstnut flour.

Personally, i usually use a combination of brown rice flour,  tapioca flour and potato starch.  This time, I also added some almond flour as well.  When you're baking gf, a combination of 3 or more flours usually turns out the best results.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:  2 1/3 c flour blend (1 c brown rice flour, 1/2 c tapioca flour, 1/2 c potato starch, 1/3 c almond flour); 2/3 c sugar; 1 tbl baking powder; 1 tsp gf vanilla; 1/2 tsp cinnamon; 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum; 1 tsp salt; 1 c milk; 1/4 c canola oil; 2 large eggs; 1 c diced apples, 1/4 c chopped walnuts (optional).

Preheat oven to 375.  Put paper or foil liners in muffin tins.

Whisk together dry ingredients in large bowl.  In separate bowl, whisk wet ingredients until smooth.

Make well in dry ingredients and add wet ingredients.  Combine until evenly mixed.

Fill baking tins with batter 2/3 high.  If using, sprinkle walnuts on top of each muffin.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until muffin tops are lightly browned. 

Trick or Treating?

1. Keep trick or treating to a minimum. 

2. Check the nfca website to get a list of gluten free Halloween candy.

3. Buy gluten free candy or small Halloween theme toys (i.e. pencils, erasers, etc.) so that you can trade with your child. (I also do this with birthday party goody bags).

4. Throw out the gluten candy as quickly as possible, and also when your child is not around.

Other Halloween Ideas

1. Host a party for your child's friends or even get the neighbors together to help.  Do a craft, set up a scavenger hunt mystery (hide clues for solving the mystery/crime).

3. Set up a neighborhood parade.

4. Look in local papers for other fun Halloween events that do not focus on candy.

I had taken my daughter to the dentist for a checkup, at which time, she received a fluoride treatment.  Two days later she is on the floor moaning, running to the bathroom with diarrhea.  This lasted for 6 days. 

I could not think of any food she had eaten, so I thought she might have a virus.  I took her to the pediatrician who did not think she had a virus at all.  He thought it was a gluten reaction.  Her other gluten reactions did not last more than 3 days.  So this was odd. 

Later on that day, I remembered that we had been to the dentist.  So I called the dentist, got the names and numbers of the brands of toothpaste and fluoride that he had used.  The toothpaste company was confident that there was no gluten in their product.  But the fluoride company said that while they did not use any gluten ingredients, the equipment and process they utilized may have contaminated the product.

I'm guessing that I was not the only one who called with this problem, because a year later, they guaranteed that their product was gluten free.  My daughter hasn't had a problem since.  But I always ask the dentist before he does anything to confirm that he hasn't changed brands, etc. 

The other mom showed me what she was making for dinner – chicken and rice.  Seems simple enough, until…she showed me the spices she was putting on the chicken – Not McCormick, which is the only brand I feel comfortable with.  And the plain white rice was left over from the day before, but she had cooked it with a buillion cube, always an iffy ingredient.

So what to do?  I went home and heated up Bell & Evans chicken nuggets and some French fries.  Unlike other brands of chicken nuggets, these are made from raw chicken, so take about 20 minutes to cook, plus preheating time. For breakfast, I brought a cream cheese sandwich – no toasting required. 

It all worked out fine.

Tip: I find it is best to leave a bag of gluten free pasta at good friends’ and families’ houses for those spontaneous visits.

But it is not always so simple.  A few weeks ago, I had to pick up my kids from gymnastics, then pick up the pizza, go home and make the gluten free pizza, all while my celiac child whined about being hungry.  And there is always the decision – do I let my non-celiac child eat the pizza before the gluten free pizza is ready?  If I don’t I’ll have 2 kids whining.  Either way, I’m screwed.

Tip: Pizza night works best if you’re home to make a gluten free version while waiting for the gluten one to be delivered.

So, we’re doing what we always do.  We’re getting a hotel room with a full kitchen at Caribe Royale in Orlando.  It’s a mile away from Disney and provides shuttle buses all day.  So, it should work out fine.  We’ll be close enough, but will have the convenience of being able to prepare food to take with us to Disney.  Then, we’ll be able to just get a quick lunch for the rest of us, while my celiac daughter eats her bag lunch.

Tip: always take a cooler bag and ice pack with you on vacations or really everywhere.

I have found the best thing to do is to make her simple food like pasta, hotdogs, and grilled cheese in the hotel room to take with us to restaurants.  We get her a drink, and if we feel there is something on the menu that would be safe, and that she would eat, we order it as well. For instance, shrimp cocktail, without the sauce, is always safe, but not always what she wants.  Often, she would rather have a hot dog.  That’s why most restaurants have kids’ menus.  Kids don’t want pasta primavera.  They want pasta with butter.

Many times I have talked to customer service reps who were so vague or just didn’t exude confidence in their statement that a particular product is gluten free.  When that happens, I follow my first line of advice – “when in doubt, leave it out.” 

Over the last 5 years, however, more and more companies are coming on board with the gluten free thing—whether they have made their product gluten free or just are more self-assured in their statements, one way or the other.  In general, I have found bigger companies to have policies that make sense, whereas smaller companies, change so much that they have a harder time committing to gluten free.

Before my daughter was diagnosed, I had been trying to eat more organic food, but afterwards, I found companies like Kraft to be my friend.  I have called Kraft many times, and they always assure me that they never hide gluten in their ingredients lists.  So if a Kraft product lists natural flavor in its ingredient list, I feel confident that it doesn’t contain gluten.

So keep calling, but beware.