University of Virginia Health System

March Newsletter

You’re Invited to the Charlottesvilli Celiac Support Group Meeting!

All meetings are supported by the

University of Virginia ’s Digestive Health Center

  and are open to the public at no charge

Join us for our spring meeting!  Dr. Sheila Crowe will give us an update from the Digestive Disease Week - 2005.  We will also highlight the gluten free grain quinoa and discuss its history, nutrient content, products and how to cook it.  In addition, this will be a potluck meeting so feel free to bring a dish to share. Date: Saturday, May 21, 2005

Mark your calendars now for all 2005 meetings:

May 21, 2005

July 30, 2005

September: TBA

December: TBA

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE March 19th meeting

• The group had some great discussions this time around!  We talked a lot about how important it is to increase awareness of celiac disease in the public and the medical community. Some thoughts and ideas were:

1. A spot on Charlottesville Channel 29 news “House-call” program
2. A celiac ‘walk’ for awareness
3. Airing the Gut Reaction documentary on our local public radio stations (http://www.prx.org/piece/2545)
4. Wearing celiac awareness bracelets
5. Participating in Regina Erskine’s Coast to Coast for Celiac Tour.  Regina will be riding her bicycle from California to Maine to promote celiac awareness and will be traveling through Virginia .  We may try to bring Regina in for a meeting or possibly cycle with her through town and get the media involved.  She welcomes any ideas or support, including donations of food, money (to Center for Celiac Research at University of Maryland ), bike tune-ups...  Read more about her at: http://www.c2c4celiac.info/

• Please let us know if you would like to start up or get involved in any of the above projects or if you have other ideas!

• Members Carol and Mike Donahue generously brought in several delicious and gluten-free goodies to share.  Carol made the Mini-Sub/Hamburger Buns recipe from Donna Washburn and Heather Butt’s book “125 Best Gluten-Free Recipes.”  She also made Irish soda bread (see the recipe section at the end of the newsletter!) and chocolate chip cookies.  Carol adapted the recipe on the back of the Nestleâ Toll Houseâ chocolate morsels by using gluten free flour mix in place of regular flour and adding 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum.  Everything was delicious- thanks Carol!!

CELIAC EVENTS

• Annual Cherry Blossom Celiac Sprue Conference
  • Sunday, April 3^rd 12:00pm – 8:30pm
  • Tyson’s Corner in Vienna , Virginia
  • FREE lectures, cooking demos and children’s workshops (except one cooking workshop with Jessica Hale of www.glutenfreeda.com (fee = $25)
  • See http://www.csaceliacs.org/RegConfChp100.php for more details
• Moving Feet Without Wheat Walk and Bake Sale
  • Saturday, May 21^st   10:00 am
  • Deep Run Park , Richmond
  • Hosted by The West End Gluten Intolerance Group
  • http://www.gigofrichmond.org/MeetingsEvents.php
• Glutenfreeda weekend at the Greenbrier
  • May 27^th-29^th
  • White Sulphur Springs , West Virginia
  • Enjoy 2 gluten free cooking classes while staying at a world-class resort! Room rates are expensive, but reduced for this package deal so you might consider this an excellent opportunity to experience the Greenbrier!
  • For more info: http://glutenfreeda.com/gf-on-the-road-GBrier.asp
• Annual Gluten Intolerance Group Conference and Leadership Training
  • June 16^th – 19^th
  • Chicago , Illinois
  • For more info: http://www.gluten.net/events.html#GIG%20Annual%20Conferences
  • In 2007, this huge annual event will be held in Richmond !!  A few years away, but something to look forward to!
• Gluten Intolerance Group Kids Camp East
  • June 12-18^th
  • Camp Kanata , North Carolina
  • A camp for kids in grades 2-12 with gluten-free meals provided!
  • http://www.gluten.net/events.html#Kids%20Camps

MEMBER NEWS

• Kristin Breen contacted the Bonefish Grill and was told that they WILL be opening a restaurant in Charlottesville in the second half of 2005.  The Bonefish Grill, in cooperation with the Gluten Intolerance Group, has a gluten-free menu available!  You can check it out ahead of time on their website: http://www.bonefishgrill.com/home.asp

CELIAC UPDATES

• Gluten Free Pantry has an updated 2005 catalog with new additions.  To request a free catalog go to: http://www.glutenfree.com/
• New research and review articles on celiac disease
  • Increased Prevalence of Celiac Disease and Need for Routine Screening Among Patients with Osteoporosis.   Archives of Internal Medicine 2005; 165:393-399.
  • Narrative Review: Celiac Disease: Understanding a Complex Autoimmune Disorder.  Annals of Internal Medicine 2005; 142:289-298.
• Go to www.bestbreadrecipes.com for some free recipes and information about great cookbooks from baking experts Donna Washburn and Heather Butt.  They graciously provided the following information on what to look for in a bread machine.  To make gluten free bread, one needs a bread machine with a 2-hour rapid cycle. Some newer models have a rapid cycle that is only 70 minutes- this is not long enough for gluten-free breads. Programmable machines allow you to program the machine to eliminate the cycles you don’t want adjust the baking and rising times.  You can also use machines that have both dough and bake cycle.

      **Please note: we are working on a great workshop in the fall with Donna and Heather     on “Baking with Nutritious Flours”.  Please let us know if you are interested.

• Check out the Gluten Free Restaurant Awareness Program at http://www.glutenfreerestaurants.org/.   The restaurants that are currently listed are located in the Northeast and the Northwest, but maybe we can change that soon!  They are hoping to reach restaurants (with the help of local support groups) throughout the country.

RECIPES

Carol Donahue’s Irish Soda Bread

3 cups gluten-free flour mix (*see below*)

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup raisins

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

2 eggs beaten

1 ¾ cup buttermilk

2 Tablespoons melted butter

Mix all dry ingredients except raisins and sift twice. Add raisins. In a separate bowl, beat eggs by hand. Add buttermilk and melted butter.  Stir together until blended. Add dry ingredients and mix well by hand. Put in a greased loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until cake tester is dry. Take cake out of pan immediately.

*Gluten-free flour mix

      Rice flour (2 parts)                  example: 6 cups

      Potato starch (2/3 part)                         2 cups

      Tapioca flour (1/3 part)                         1 cup

                                                      Total of  9 cups ready for use in any recipe

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SEND US A FAVORITE RECIPE TO SHARE WITH THE GROUP . 

Please let us know if your contact information changes so we can make sure we get the newsletters to you.