Explore the Pasta-bilities

When I tell people I'm gluten intolerant, they often say that I must miss bread and pasta. I don't miss either. Thankfully, there's Udi's brand of whole grain bread. As for pasta, I haven't had to give that up either. Gluten free pasta is a little trickier to work with, and there are some that I have not had success with. I typically use DeBoles brown rice pasta. It's got a good texture and taste, and I like that it's a whole grain product. I once tried their multi-grain pasta (rice, quinoa and amaranth) but it absolutely fell apart into tiny pieces in my hand when I took it out of the box. I was very disappointed with the product and wrote to DeBoles to tell them about the product. They were very gracious and sent me coupons for free pasta which I really appreciated. I also use Tinkyada brand of pasta which holds up to multiple heatings. I also sometimes make my own gluten free pasta, which I'll talk about in another post.

When I make the brown rice pasta, I find that it needs to be stirred constantly while it's cooking. I usually enlist Eddie's assistance with that, so I can concentrate on what's going to go over the pasta. After it's cooked and tested for an al dente consistency, we rinse it thoroughly in hot water. It's very starchy, much more than wheat pasta.

Here is my favorite pasta recipe that I created. I'm always happy that there's leftovers because having it once is never enough! I hope you make it and enjoy! Keep in mind I'm not a professional recipe writer, so all I can do is tell you how I make this recipe.

Shrimp and Vegetables in White Wine Sauce
Ingredients:
1-1/4 pound peeled & deveined raw shrimp
3 small zucchini, cut into julienne strips
3 small summer squash, cut into julienne strips
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 shallot, chopped
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespooons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
brown rice pasta
Parmesan cheese

Setting up the mis en plas:
Take the tails off the shrimp and set in fridge until ready to cook. Julienne the zucchini and summer squash. Zest a lemon, then cut in half and juice. Chop or crush garlic cloves, chop shallot and set aside with garlic. Turn oven to 200 degrees. Have a large serving bowl ready.

Pasta:
Get a big pan of water boiling for pasta. It takes about 15 minutes to cook the pasta, which is about the same amount of time to make the veggies and shrimp. It's really handy to have a second person in the kitchen to man the pasta while the other works on the veggies and shrimp.

Vegetables and Shrimp:
Place butter and olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Saute zucchini and summer squash until done. Place in serving bowl and put in warmed oven. Turn burner to medium heat, add more butter and olive oil if needed. Saute shrimp in single layers, careful not to overcrowd the pan. The shrimp does not take long to cook at all, maybe about a minute on each side. Turn shrimp and cook on the other side. As soon as the first batch is done, place in warm oven on top of veggies. Continue to cook the remainder of the shrimp and then add to veggies.

Finishing Touches:
Add the chopped shallot and garlic to the pan and saute briefly. Garlic can burn fast, so only cook this for a few seconds. Carefully add the cup of white wine. If you want, you can move the pan away from the heat to add the wine. Then, add the lemon juice and zest. The wine and lemon juice will deglaze the pan. Pour this mixture over the shrimp and veggies.

Let's eat!
After your pasta is done, rinse thoroughly with hot water. Plate the pasta and shrimp/veggies mixture, top with Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Hangover vs. Glutenization

I knew that as soon as I told someone that I was sick yesterday because of an accidental glutenization, they'd say, "So you have a hangover." No, it was not a hangover. It was a glutenization. I can tell the difference in how my body reacts to an injestion of gluten versus an over-indulgence in alcohol. So just to set the record straight, I was not hungover yesterday. I was accidentally glutenized. I kind of had to call in sick for the day until the nausea, sleepiness, and drugged feeling passed and I felt like a human being again.

Friends of ours were having people out to their house for a party Saturday evening. Eddie and I had dinner at home first, then we went to their house later in the evening and stayed for just a couple of hours. When we got there, our host offered us a small glass of brandy. I don't remember what kind he said it was, but it was a really tasty brandy. I knew that brandy, like wine, did not contain gluten so I thought I would be safe. It hit later like a ton of bricks. When I woke up Sunday, I felt like I had been drugged. I was nauseous, sick, and just felt awful.

After I could focus, I went online and researched brandy barrels. I read that some wine and brandy barrels are sealed with a flour and water paste. Also, some of the barrels may have previously held something that contained a glutenous substance. My guess is that the latter was the case, that this brandy was cross-contaminated due to storage. It could have also come from the case he poured the brandy from. He had it in one of those leather pouches, and perhaps he had something glutenous in there previously.

So what do I do in the future? Do I need to take gluten testing kits with me everywhere I go and test everything I'm going to eat or drink for the presence of gluten? Only if I want to drive myself crazy! I'm just going to need to use common sense and caution. I wanted to share this experience with you because it's all part of the gluten free journey. Use your best judgement, and when in doubt, leave it out!

One Year Reflections

I was reading an article in one of my gluten free magazines the other day. The article said that it takes about a year to really get comfortable with the gluten free lifestyle. I found myself nodding my head in total agreement. It was a year ago that I began my own gf journey. I have learned so much about this new lifestyle, about myself, and have come to the conclusion that I am absolutely thrilled to be gluten intolerant.

Let me rephrase that a little. I'm happy that I'm gluten intolerant and KNOW that I am. I'm so glad that I've spent this last year reading, studying, and experimenting in the kitchen. I'm thankful that I can't run through the fast food drive-thru and order a burger on white bread and their French fries because the fries are cooked in the same oil as breaded items. Being gluten intolerant has forced me to think outside the box when it comes to food. My physical and mental health are greatly improved because of how I have to eat.

I'm always thinking of what I can substitute in place of bread. Instead of peanut butter on bread, I'll have it on celery. Instead of wrapping tuna salad between bread, I'll use Romaine lettuce for a crunchy wrap. I love fresh fruit for dessert, rather than any baked good.

The ironic thing is, I've spent this past year looking for a good gluten free bread, and finally found Udi's bread. It is fantastic! But I've gotten so used to going without bread, that I don't have to have it all the time anymore.

So yes, I'm very happy to be gluten intolerant. I don't have to take any pills, I don't have to have shots, or any other sort of therapy. I stay gluten free and that has led me to a healthier life and a renewed sense of well-being. I feel better than I ever realized a person could feel. I look forward to the next year to see what more I'll learn, and how much I can help others begin their own gluten free journey.

To Cheat or Not to Cheat? That Was the Question.

The last time I purposely cheated on my gluten free lifestyle was January 2, 2010. We were visiting our friends Jim and Tammy. Tammy was going to make brunch for us all. I threw all caution to the wind and said go ahead, make me a BLT sandwich on wheat bread! After all, I had been feeling terrific for so long! What's one sandwich going to hurt? Oh, and I think I'll have a cinnamon roll too. That was the last time I ever purposely glutenized myself. I paid dearly for that lack of judgment and physically suffered the consequences. I have been so diligent in not cheating at all since that date, but I almost threw that all away this past Saturday ........

Eddie and I were running errands Saturday afternoon. It was a really hot and humid day. We stopped at the grocery store for a few items. There was a girl giving out 25 cent samples of malt-based cocktails. (Malt is derived from barley, so it's not a gluten free ingredient.) She had bottles of a few different flavors sitting in a bowl of ice. Oh man, did they sound so cool and refreshing! She asked us if we'd like to taste a sample and at first I said no. Eddie said he'd like to try the lemon-blueberry flavor. I then said to him, "You know, those are just little tastes. It probably wouldn't hurt!" Thank goodness he reminded me of how hard headed I was when I first started this gf journey! That tiny little taste very well could have hurt, and it would have punished me for days! What was I thinking?

I promised Eddie I'd blog about this. I'm just as human as the next person, and temptation can rear its ugly head for any of us. I'm very thankful that I didn't give in to "just a little taste". I was taken by surprise that I was tempted, to be honest. I've watched people eat wheat pizza, cookies, and donuts without the slightest bit of envy. But now I know I can be tempted, and I know that reminding me I'm a hard head will help me to resist! Thank you, Eddie!

Pizza Party Time!

Tonight, Eddie & I are picking up our friend Teri, then we're going to visit some friends who had a baby a couple of weeks ago. Other friends of ours are in from North Carolina. Everyone wants to keep things easy, so they want to order in pizza. But as a gf-er, I can't have pizza, right? I can't have wheat pizza, but I'm so happy to report that there's some wonderful gluten free pizza options!

I have attempted a couple of pizza crusts from scratch. I wasn't overly thrilled with the outcome. I think it all goes back to the art of baking, and I'm just not that good at it. I won't give up on trying to make a great tasting, great texture gf crust, but that's for another time and another post. Tonight I'm putting in a good word for one of the local pizza places.

We had the pleasure of meeting with my gf Twitter group last summer at ZPizza on High Street, in the Short North District. There was a group of about 20-some of us. I hadn't had the pleasure of enjoying a piping hot delicious pizza pie, with hot, melty cheese, fresh toppings, fantastic tasting crust in a long time ... until that night.

I never imagined that a gf pizza could be so GOOD! It was absolutely amazing! It was better than ANY other pizza I've ever eaten of the wheat variety, better than all the famous chains. After I took that first bite, I nearly cried tears of joy! It was mind-blowing good! Not only was the crust to die for, the toppings were so fresh and delicious. And what a menu ZPizza has! Eddie can't have any tomato product, so we were thrilled to see they had a variety of sauces, including a roasted garlic sauce and Chipotle pesto. They have many different meat and cheese options, and lots of vegetable options. Their pepperoni is MSG free. Their ingredients are organic. They even have a vegan cheese that they said melts really well. You just can't get better pizza ingredients from a restaurant!

ZPizza also provides wheat and whole wheat pizza crusts. So how do they keep the gf crusts from cross-contamination? They make their wheat crusts in another location so there's no wheat flour flying through the air. They also toss all their crusts in brown rice flour before baking, again ensuring no cross contamination. The gf pizzas have designated pans that they're baked on.

Eddie & I will be stopping by and picking up our gf pizzas to take to our friend's house for tonight's visit. I will always put in a good word for ZPizza. I so appreciate all they do to enable those of us that are gluten intolerant to enjoy a delicious pizza on a Saturday night with friends. If you're fortunate enough to have a ZPizza in your town, you really need to check them out. For my Columbus friends, here's the information:

945 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43201
614-299-3289
www.zpizza.com

Now, I'm off to put my order in. Tonight's pizza will have tomato sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, carmelized onions, and mozzarella cheese. Bon Appetit, pizza lovers!

Avoiding Cross Contamination, Part Two

Through the months of converting to a gluten free lifestyle, I've learned to steer clear of one thing. That is airborne wheat flour. I've learned that I don't need to touch it to be affected from it.



Earlier this year, the chef I take cooking classes from (Betty Ann) asked if a few people from the classes would be able to help her do the Monday preparations for her Tuesday and Thursday classes. An incredible amount of work goes into her classes and I jumped at the chance to assist. She is a wealth of knowledge, and I have learned so much from her. I wanted to take advantage of helping her set up the mis en plas for her classes. Both times, she was working with wheat flour. I did not eat anything that had flour in it. I brought my own food to eat at our break. When I handled meat that was dredged in flour, I made sure to thoroughly wash my hands. The second time I assisted with the class, I didn't even touch anything with the flour. I sat at the dining room table and chopped vegetables while Betty Ann worked on mixing a cake. That was all it took. Both times, I found myself wrapped up in a seven-day long brain fog, horrible sleep patterns, naseausness, the whole glutenous nine yards. I might as well have just helped myself to the food!



I have to avoid some restaurants if they make their own breads or desserts. I absolutely love the salads that come from Panera Bread. But they state that even though they can provide food made with all gf ingredients, it can't be guaranteed as 100% due to the airborne flour. I went to brunch with some friends at Panera Bread awhile back and didn't even eat anything, I just had a smoothie. After spending the next seven days in glutenization land, I decided I just can't go in there. (I miss you, Panera Bread!)



Even though I do have a few glutenous items in my otherwise gf kitchen, I will not ever have wheat flour in it. When I first converted to a gf lifestyle, I was the one who threw the flour into the trash from the Gladware container. I got really sick just from that little poof of flour.



I know this probably sounds so extreme. But this is why I say I live a gluten free lifestyle, and it's not just a gluten free diet. I value my health, and love how good I feel.

Natural Foods and Label Reading

The most overwhelming part of going gluten free is trying to figure out what to do first. There's gluten in an awful lot of products, the obvious ones being pasta, bread, pizza crusts, and cereal. There's also gluten most soy sauces and other Asian sauces, condensed soups, boullion and off-the-shelf gravies just to name a few. It's staggering to think about going gluten free and realizing that most everything in your pantry can no longer be used in meal making.

When people ask me about what to do first when converting to the GF lifestyle, I tell them that the best advice I ever read was to first focus on foods that are naturally gluten free. This includes meat, eggs, cheese, nuts, fruits, potatoes, vegetables, rice and dairy. (Some people with Celiac disease also have trouble with dairy, but I'm concentrating on eliminating gluten.) I mainly shop the outsides of the grocery store. Sounds easy enough, but we all need seasonings and flavorings too, right? And won't we prefer some salad dressing on our salads? This is where you'll need to become your own detective and read food labels like you're searching for hidden treasure.

This label reading is tricky business sometimes. If the label lists wheat, then that's obvious. But if one of the ingredients is soy sauce, then isn't that safe? Well, probably not. Most soy sauces contain wheat. (There is a wheat-free soy sauce available at the grocery stores and it's easy to find.) Some manufacturers really help us out and will list any possible allergens, such as wheat. But often gluten may be cleverly disguised as "artificial flavors". That's where it's really tricky. I had a bag of frozen cauliflower with cheese sauce in my freezer. I typically don't buy stuff like that, but I had it in there for an emergency side dish. I checked the label and there was no mention of wheat or gluten, so we had it with dinner. I was not a happy camper the next day when the glutenization hit. (You'll find I will make up a lot of words that you won't find in dictionaries.)

If you see something on a label that seems suspicious and you're just not sure, I would suggest calling the manufacturer or checking online. Of course when you're at the grocery store, trying to get home to make dinner, you may not have time at that particular moment to whip out your cell phone and make some calls. That's where pre-planning comes in but that's a subject for another post.

So in summary, focus on naturally gluten free foods first, and check labels carefully. The label checking will get easier as you find tasty GF alternative products. And if you do get accidentally glutenized by a disguised incredient, you'll know to take that off the list of foods in your house. I guarantee, there will never be another bag of frozen cauliflower with cheese sauce in my freezer again!

Thanks for joining me on The Ali Way to GF Goodness!

Introductions

I have been on an incredible journey the past several months. My gluten free (GF) journey has led me to a healthier and happier life. It didn't happen overnight, and it took a very long time for me to get over a bad case of being a hard head, and accepting that I truly needed to live gluten free if I wanted to be healthy.

Gluten is a complex protein that's found in wheat, barley and rye, and some oats due to cross contamination. With this blog, I will not be diving into the medical and technical facts behind Celiac disease, gluten allergies, or gluten intolerance. It took me a long time to figure out that gluten was causing me a lot of physical trouble. I don't have an official medical diagnosis of gluten intolerance, mainly because it's really hard to test for. The best test was to go gluten free and see if I felt better and see if the physical ailments disappeared. I have never felt better in years, and I love the GF lifestyle. So I simply want to share my experiences in starting and living the GF lifestyle so I can help others who are embarking on this same journey.

I've done a lot of reading, learning, and testing and I know I'll be doing a lot more reading, learning, and testing. I've changed my personal chef service to be a complete GF service. My husband Eddie & I worked very closely with the GIG (Gluten Intolerance Group of North America), the group that inspects manufacturers and gives them the official GF accredidation. My personal chef business is the first personal chef service in the nation that has been GF certified.

I am asked constantly how to switch to a GF lifestyle. This blog is created to help answer that question. There's a lot of GF supermarket finds, pre-made frozen dinners, breads, packaged dinners, cookies, crackers, etc. But I'm not focusing on supermarket GF meals, rather I'll be concentrating on homemade GF meals and baked goods. I will be talking about how I cook GF meals, what replacement ingredients I use, and you'll learn with me as I attempt to become a good GF baker. I'll share my experiences and lessons learned. I'll share recipes. I'll be honest and tell you about the successes as well as the failures. Even a personal chef likes to eat out at a restaurant from time to time, so I'll share with you which local restaurants provides really good GF fare, and places I have to avoid. I'll do all I can to help anyone who wants or needs to convert to a gluten free lifestyle.

So come with me and take The Ali Way to GF Goodness!