NEW YORK Here I Come!

Excited about the jaunt, to midtown NY for a day, but bemoaning the opportunity to visit BabyCakes. Not enough time, but wish it were possible.

GF Holiday Pies

I'm making pies--at least once a week now for any occasion or reason. Tis the season.

Today it's the youngest son's birthday. Doesn't want his usual icecream cake, or ice cream sandwiches (Bette Hagman's Comfort Foods recipes) he wants the rest of the pie that went too quickly on Thanksgiving with eleven of us eating leftovers.

So pumpkin it is. And I'm trying Bette's updated crust recipe. Wish me luck.

YIKES! It took a half cup of ice water to form a workable dough, not 1 tablespoon. This does not bode well!!!! It's cooling...

GF Leftovers?

GF Turkey soup from last year. We dragged out the recipe, dusted it off and fixed it again yesterday and it was delicious!!!!

Thanksgiving Gravy Oklahoma Style

GF Turkey gravy, mine is typically made with turkey drippings, thickened with corn starch and seasoned with salt. A friend of mine adds a little smoke flavoring to her gravy. But she also presents a smoked bird for Thanksgiving.

In Oklahoma gravy is a work of art and you have to hear about it to believe it!

I tried to find the recipe online to link to, but it's been a few years, just imagine pulling all the skin off the turkey (they must cook two, because the one is too fried to pull apart). Anyway, fry up the skin in a skillet and then cool it and break it apart and include the bits of that crumbled in your gravy. Don't bother to defat, 'cause that's where all the flavor is.

Good luck with gravy, it's the easiest part of a glutenless Thanksgiving.

Thankful Thanksgiving

Hey, if you don't think a GF Thanksgiving is daunting enough, this article reminds us of how it was once. Just so you know, Thanksgiving is easier than ever now.

If you were wondering while you are

baking pie crusts that crumble,

eating stuffing that's glue,

rolls that are crumbly and

thin gravy too.

Just remember, it could be worse. Somehow that will make you feel better.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120503651 (The author's recipe for pie crust is Bette Hagman's GF Flour recipe) (In absentia: Bless you, Bette Hagman)

I say make several batches of rolls early and when they go stale quickly, then you will have bread for stuffing! YUM!

Brazilian GF Wasabi Salad

Delicioso GF Barazilian Wasabi Salad

I went to a Brazillian girlfriend's baby shower and saw this fabulous salad. I love foods that stretch my cultural bounds, but now that I'm GF, buffets are a big no! So most buffets, I I wile away the time dissecting the offerings at the buffet, using other bodies as taste testers and imagining what the dishes might taste like if they were certified GF.

That is how I get some social filfillment now, with less gastro disturbance later.

At this party, I spied a salad that looked promising. From the other effusive compliments, I could tell that it was imperative that I try to replicate this one for GF. I couldn't speak the language well enough to understand how much of whatever the chef put in it, but she did understand enough English to agree with me when I made a guess at what was in the salad. THE RECIPE

Quinoa Bread YUM

Quinoa Bread. Once again, great bread made using Karen Robertson's Amaranth Bread recipe. I can't believe it can be so good with so few ingredients. I took her advice and swapped the amaranth for quinoa. It's delicious and it lasts and does not go stale overnight. It freezes great! All hail Karen. Thanks.

I divided the dough into three pans, one large and two smalls. If your batch fills your pan more than half-way, divide it into more pans. Let it raise to the top of the pans, then bake and it will rise more while baking.

Dough liquidity is essential. Not too thin or it will raise and flow over the edge, but too stiff and it won't raise or bake enough and still be too dense in the middle. It needs to be thick enough to dump out of the bowl, but not to pour out . See other bread dough tips here. (today's recipe ended up needing 3/4 cup more water)

She's a Vampire

Fabulous article on Dermatitis Herpetaphormis and Iodine reactions

http://www.aocd.org/skin/dermatologic_diseases/dermatitis_herpeti.html

My daughter loves to give blood. It's one of her favorite pastimes, for lots of reasons. The first time she gave, the nurse told her she was allergic to iodine and showed her the erruptions on her arm.

This is the same daughter who at age 7 had a strange skin disorder. Dr. Zone (premier pediatric CD doc) at the University of Utah took the lesion itself and spent an hour with the microscope "and couldn't say yes, but couldn't say no," that it was or was not DH.

(Of course we know 13 years later that the biopsy must be taken next to the lesion as the open sore releases all of the anti-gliadens.) NOWADAYS the true and easy test is a skin reaction to iodine. They slap it on and see if you respond. TRA la la You either do or you don't.

The next test for the daughter back then was the intestinal biopsy - negative, and it was miserable as she woke up half way through. Oops.

Her blood work was also negative, so she suffered with this dreadful skin rash for years. She was gorgeous and beautiful in every way, if you didn't look at the skin on her extremities. She suffered all the disgrace that skin problems bring on. Kids can be cruel.

As most of my readers know, she was diagnosed with CD as a college freshman, not from bowel or blood tests, but through genetic and stool tests.

She's on the gluten-free diet. Never cheats, her skin problem is totally under control and she is one happy blood donator.

____________________

For those with DH - we so sympathize! To answer your questions here is a blogger forum on DH. Avoid Iodized Salt and shellfish? The article above says do it? This other article says NO! Don't do it. So be sure to ask your doctor how iodine will affect you?

I know that Dapsone (antibacterial also used to treat leprosy and malaria) is used to mask the symptoms of DH, but the only true way to alleviate symptoms entirely is to stick to the GF diet. SORRY!

Embrel is a common drug administered, and while I understand why an autoimmune medicine is prescribed, I can't but think that once again it only masks symptoms, it does not resolve the issues.

CD Genetic Test Article

Celiac Disease Genetic Testing: I know that I've been a boring blogger lately, but here is one more helpful article about CD genetic testing. I'll bake something today! I promise.

CLIFFED NOTED: If you have been gene tested negative for CD, you may still be positive because there are alpha and beta sides to each gene and major labs aren't testing for both.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Celiac-Genetic-Tests-Are-Not-All-Equal-and-Some-DQ2-Negatives-May-Not-Be-Completely-Negative&id=965347

FDA GF labeling

Great article on food labeling. http://tinyurl. com/yc7rch8

Drugs aren't the answer to CD, but worms might be?

Drugs might not be the answer we are looking for, at least not this drug... at this time.

http://celiacdisease.about.com/b/2009/10/31/setback-for-potential-celiac-disease-drug-at-1001.htm?r=et

But, this article says that worms are the answer to CD for some Australians. Freaky huh? I've been trying to convince my husband that I keep the house way too clean...

GF Orange Rolls II

Yuck! I didn't have much luck with the recipe of orange rolls. Sorry Mindy for not fulfilling your request! I'll modify it again and try once more. I'll make half a batch so I don't weigh down the trash bag to bulging if it all fails.

This was the recipe and I made it as stated... however, I may have used too heavy a flour and it sat in my fridge 24 hours... too long.

Hopefully you all have better luck than I did.