Charlottesvilli Celiac Support Group - Meeting Highlights |
|
Highlights from the July 26th Meeting With fresh perspective and enthusiasm, Jessica Hale opened our minds, eyes, and tastebuds to the reality of how good naturally gluten-free foods can be. Jessica is a co-founder of Glutenfreeda, an on-line gourmet gluten free cooking magazine. Following a gluten free diet can be a very positive change in your life by shifting the focus to minimally processed, naturally gluten free foods. Jessica showed us how tasty and exciting gluten free foods can be--gluten free does not have to mean tasteless! We started off with an appetizer of shrimp with mustard sauce on polenta rounds followed by a wonderful Gourmet Bunless Gouda Burger. You don’t even miss the bun when you layer a moist patty between layers of gourmet greens, fresh tomatoes, herbed mayonnaise, sautéed mushrooms and top it off with freshly shredded gouda cheese! Red, White and Blue Brownie Sundaes finished off our meeting. Gluten Free brownies were topped with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with a beautiful berry sauce. For more wonderful meal and recipe ideas, visit www.glutenfreeda.com. Many thanks to Jessica for expanding our culinary horizons! Some of Jessica’s helpful cooking tips: § Jessica avoids the hassle of buying 5 million different kinds of gluten free flours (ok I am exaggerating just a little) by buying Gluten Free Pantry’s French Bread or Bagel mix . She uses this for everything she might need flour for such as thickening gravies, dredging meats, brownies, etc. § Homemade Broth : This is easier than you might think, and you won’t have to worry about gluten. All you do is throw some bones (chicken, beef, etc) into a pot along with some carrots, onion, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf, and your choice of other fresh herbs. Fill the pot with water and simmer for about 6 hours. As a layer forms on top of the broth, simply skim it off. After it has simmered all day, strain out the vegetables and bones. You will be left with a tasty, full-bodied broth which will serve as the base for soups, stews, chowders, sauces, and gravies. Freeze it in storage containers in 1 cup amounts. When you need chicken broth, simply pull it out of the freezer, microwave it, and you’re done! § Polenta: Polenta is made from coarsely ground cornmeal. You can buy it premade in the refrigerator section of your grocery store, but making it at home gives you the freedom to test your creativity for different flavors. For example, you could add jalapenos, garlic, onions, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, and much, much more! News and Updates: FYI--There is a new coffee shop in town that recently opened. It's called Java Java and is on Ivy road next to Zazus and Arch's in the Townside shopping center. It's a great little place with a really warm feeling to it--beautiful wood furniture, etc. One of the most exciting things about it is they are serving gluten free pastries! I (Andrea) must admit I’ve tried one of each and they are all very good! Right now they are serving gluten free banana muffins, pumpkin raisin muffins, and chocolate biscotti. Be sure to stop in and check it out. Camp Holiday Trails : Who can resist the fun and excitement of summer camp? Not me, that’s for sure! Madelyn Smith and Anna Ashworth spent a morning at Camp Holiday Trails, a local camp for children with chronic illnesses. Madelyn and Anna helped to educate campers and staff alike about what it’s like to live with celiac disease through team building activities, skits, and much more. It was pure joy to see the one camper with celiac disease light up as he was able to share his knowledge and diagnosis with his peers. If you or someone you know has a child with celiac disease, I would encourage you to consider Camp Holiday Trails next summer. Hopefully the Charlottesvilli group can be involved even more next summer! They are at it again! Madelyn Smith and Anna Ashworth are hard at work setting up a new support group in Richmond!! The support group is named “The West End Gluten Intolerance Group” They are a branch office of the national nonprofit organization, Gluten Intolerance Group, in Seattle,Washington. Meetings will be held monthly on the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 PM in room 156 at the St. Mary's Hospital Education Center. Everyone is welcome! For more information or directions, please contact Madelyn Smith (Smith10900@aol.com, 804-968-4111) or Anna Ashworth (agashworth@aol.com, 804 364-3794). Rebecca’s Natural Food Store : Bill Calvani is the new grocery manager at Rebecca’s. He welcomes your feedback concerning the gluten free section and the products available. Let him know what you like and don’t like so he can tailor the section to meet your needs. Karen Robertson’s Gluten Free Cooking Class : Visit http://www.celiac.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=840 on the Celiac.com website for insightful and helpful hints on various culinary topics including bread baking. Science News recently published an article titled “Target: Celiac Disease” which discusses therapies scientists are working on aimed to complement or replace the gluten free diet. Visit the website below for the full text article. http://www.sciencenews.org/20030621/bob9.asp American Celiac Task Force : “The internet is a powerful tool, which has enabled us to share information about issues, and to help others. You have used the internet to help others with celiac disease. Your efforts have guided individuals to caring doctors, special food manufacturers, and most importantly, to new friends offering support. Now, the American Celiac Task Force (ACTF) is using this same tool to make the voice of the celiac community heard in Congress. We are advocating for changes to the nation's food labeling laws to help those with celiac disease. Through the joint efforts of research institutions, support organizations and industry representatives, we are presenting a strong unified voice for food labeling reform.” “Please join our members and TAKE ACTION . Go to our website (www.celiaccenter.org/taskforce.asp), follow the TAKE ACTION links. Sign-up to receive updates on food labeling legislation, and activities of the ACTF. Send an e-letter to your legislators to educate them about celiac disease, and the need for improved food labels. Add a Web-sticker to your website, to generate support from others! Add your voice, so that celiacs are heard!” Andrea S. Levario tufinit.com: Tufinit.com offers a line of products that are Gluten free and Lactose free. This well-established company manufactures its chocolaty like treats under the strictest kosher supervision, known as Kosher Mehadrin. It uses only natural ingredients hence it avoids genetically modified inputs. In addition, its products contain no cocoa, no cocoa butter, no arousing ingredients and no artificial flavoring. Many of its products are SUGAR FREE as well. Tufinit has recently established a presence in the US. Tufinit's products are currently available only via the Internet, on http://www.TUFINIT.com All orders are shipped in thermo-packages via express mail (overnight) or priority mail (1-2 days). Average shipping costs using priority mail are $7.50. Detailed information about each product can be obtained by clicking on their respective images. For more information point your browser to http://www.TUFINIT.com About Mayacamas One final piece of news. September will be my (Andrea Yoder’s) last meeting with the Charlottesvilli Celiac support group. October 3rd will be my final day at UVAHS. I will be taking a couple of months to spend with my family in Indiana before I move to New York to attend culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America. I am very excited about this opportunity, but sad to leave all of you. :( I have truly enjoyed working with the support group and getting to know so many of you. This has definitely been the highlight of my professional career thus far. I hope to take all the experiences I’ve had and the things I’ve learned from all of you and share it with the culinary world to increase their awareness of celiac disease. If you happen to be in New York, feel free to stop in and say hello! I will make sure you have a delectable meal! I’d love to stay in touch with all of you, so please feel free to drop me an email and let me know how you’re doing! The email address that I will continue to use after I leave here is yoderpc@hotmail.com. Please let us know if you change your e-mail address or home address so we can make sure we get the newsletters to you (that is unless you would prefer not to get them – please let us know that too…J). That’s it for the news. We wish everyone a safe, happy and healthy summer. See you in September! |