Legal Seafoods is Legal for Celiacs!

Legal Seafood Restaurants, which have many locations on the East Coast, has a nifty gluten-free menu!

First, find a location near year on this page, then click on the menu icon on the right. The one near me has a whole gluten-free menu. They even have GF croutons for the salad, GF Cajun spice, and a junior menu with fish sticks coated in garbanzo bean flour!

Besides several locations in major malls, Legal also has restaurants in Logan (Boston) and Reagan (Washington, DC) airports.

Parchment Paper: Nifty and Non-Stick for Gluten-Free Baking

Gluten-free baking for celiacs is tough. The cookies are tough, the bread crusts are tough, and scraping the GF crud off your pans is tough, too. GF baked goods, especially low-fat ones, stick to the pans, and greasing them and dusting them with rice flour makes the outside of loaves gritty.

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Enter: parchment paper.

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Rip off a good-sized piece of parchment paper. Set your pan on it. Mark the corners with a pen. Cut from the dots to the corners of the paper with scissors or an X-acto blade. Fold the paper: first, from dot to dot, making a rectangle; then, the corners, kind of like inside-out wrapping paper. Put the parchment in the pan. Bake as usual.

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When the loaf or cake is finished, lift the loaf out with the edges of the paper. Peel the paper away from the loaf. Perfect, easy crust. No rice flour grit or cornmeal pebbles. The pan cleans up with a damp cloth for psychological reasons, even though the dough or batter never touched the pan.

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An added bonus: because you use no oil or butter on the pan, baked goods that rise (like bread) can "crawl" up the paper, like in gluten-ful angel food cake recipes, thus increasing rise and tenderness of bread.

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Why didn't I think of this sooner?

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Got easy GF baking tips? Tell me in the comments!

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TK

What to Eat Gluten-Free: Fast Food French Fries

When you have celiac disease, eating out can be an adventure, like adventuring into a jungle filled with glutenful tigers, ready to tear your guts out.

Even the simple French fry can be fraught with gluten dangers.

However, some fast food restaurants are better than others.

McDonald's French Fries are not only fried in contaminated oil, they sprinkle gluten-laden stuff on them made out of wheat. McCeliac McDeath. AVOID.

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Wendy's French Fries are fried in oil with other glutenful items, but at least they don't sprinkle wheat on them. AVOID. (However, the baked potatoes are a good choice.)





Burger King French Fries really are GF! They're sprinkled with salt, not weird concoctions, and fried in a seperate fryer dedicated to french fries. GF King of the Celiacs. Let the rejoicing commence!

What to Eat Gluten-Free at Burger King

TK Kenyon, the Celiac Maniac, is pleased to tell you that if you show up at Burger King with no GF bun in your bag, there is still something you can eat.

The TenderGrill Garden Salad with TenderGrill Chicken has no wheat nor, as far as I can discern from the ingredients, any gluten. It has "natural flavors," which can sometimes be contaminated with gluten, but at least it's a safe start. The allergens list (link below) also lists the TenderGrill as containing no "wheat."

For salad dressings and sauces, GF options include: Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce, Ranch Dipping Sauce, Zesty Onion Ring Dipping Sauce, Buffalo Dipping Sauce, and all Ken's salad dressings.

In addition, BK's French Fries are fried in a dedicated fryer that only fries French Fries. Onion Rings, French Toast, and other gluten-ful items are fried in a different fryer, in different oil. All their oil has trans-fats in it, so it'll eventually kill you, but at least you won't have a gluten reaction while you have a heart attack.

If you do show up with your own bun or a nice-sized lettuce leaf, your choices expand. The original beef patty (100% beef) and the Steakhouse Angus beef patty (beef, beef fat, "flavorings," dextrose) and the aforementioned Chicken TenderGrill are safe.

The Garden Veggie Patty is NOT safe. It lists wheat gluten as an ingredient. Neither are breaded items, of course.

Allergen List: http://www.bk.com/#menu=3,2,-1

Cheap GF Flours: Look in Ethnic Stores

Your local health food store sells millet flour for $8/lb and brown rice flour for $4/lb. Sorghum flour can run you $7/lb, too. What's the frugal celiac to do?

Shop in ethnic stores! Indian (like, relating to India, not Native American,) grocery stores in particular have a wide variety of gluten-free flours, including types that your local health food store will never carry, and their prices are great.

(Caveat: I live just north of New York City, and prices up here are higher than in many parts of the country. A gallon of milk, right now, runs $3.30-$4.80, depending on where you shop. Therefore, please don't say, "Oh, millet flour at my health food store is only $6/lb," because your Indian grocery store prices should be correspondingly lower, too.)

The problem with Indian grocery stores is that many of the GF flours are labeled with Indian names. These are generally labeled in the English alphabet, so figuring out which ones are our funny flours is a matter of learning a few new words.

Brush Up on Your Hindi

Garbanzo bean flour is called BESAN. A superfine grind is best. Maya, from Maya Overseas Foods, makes a nice product. A 2 kilogram bag (= 4.4 lbs.) was $5 in my local Indian store, which works out to $1.14/lb. I substitute besan for garfava flour because I think the flavor is milder and it works as well or better.

To contrast, Authentic Foods Garbanzo bean flour from the Gluten-Free Mall is $6.62 for a 1.25 lb bag, or $5.30/lb, plus shipping and handling.

Sorghum flour is called JOWER flour. Kanaiya brand is a a soft, well-ground, light beige flour. Avoid brands were the flour looks lavender. A 2 lb. bag from my local Indian store was $4, or $2/lb.

To contrast, Authentic Foods sorghum flour from the Gluten-Free Mall is $6.38 for a 1.25 lb bag, or $5.10/lb, plus shipping and handling.

Millet Flour is called BAJRI flour, and Jalpur brand makes a good grind. A 1 kilogram bag, (2.2 lbs.) from my local Indian store was $5, or $2.27/lb.

The Gluten-Free Mall doesn't list millet flour, but my local health food store charges $6.50 for a 2 lb bag, which works out to $3.25/lb.

Finding Little India in Your Neck of the Woods

Your best resource is still your local yellow pages book. If you live in a major city or a university town, you probably have an Indian grocery near you.

However, the internet has its tentacles in everything nowadays.

State-by-state listing
Searchable Listing
Online Indian Grocery Store -- Delivers to your front door

TK Kenyon
Author of CALLOUS: A Novel, a story about free will, neuroscience, fate, Schrodinger's Cat, and the End of Days.

Amazon Oops Again!

Amazon has jumped the gun and is offering my new novel, CALLOUS, for sale ahead of its May publication date ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601640226 ) . When RABID was released last year, Amazon sold out and even sucked dry its wholesaler, so they had to backorder the book from the distributer and it took a couple weeks to get the fresh meat.

If you want to read CALLOUS any time soon, muscle your way to the head of the line and snatch a copy from some milquetoast's virtual shopping cart now!

TK Kenyon
http://www.tkkenyon.com

Celiac Maniac's Muffin Flour Blend

This easy flour blend works great for muffins, cakes, sweet breads, or other moist baked goods. Recipes using it soon.

5 parts garbanzo bean flour (besan)
1 part rice flour
1 part sorghum flour (jowar)
1 part tapioca starch

Cookbook Review: The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert

"The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert" is one of the best of the GFG series for the extra information it includes.

While all of the books have the Bette Hagman's basic GF mixes (combinations of various GF flours that makes a more stable product,) this book has a great table of the protein, fat, carb, and fiber content of many of our "funny flours" (p26-7). It's fantastic for figuring out what flours to try substituting with if you're trying to increase the protein or fiber content of a recipe.

"Dessert" also has an example of how to take an ordinary cake recipe and make it GF, and suggestions for how much xanthum to use (p30-1). There's also a great troubleshooting chapter that starts on page 33.

One of the good things about the whole GFG series is that Bette put a lot of recipes in all her books. Unlike some recent books that have 20 to 30 recipes total, Bette packs 'em in.

The "cakes from mixes" chapter is less than exciting. It's where you take a GF cake mix and then add so much stuff to it that you could've started from scratch.

Steer clear of the brownie recipe on page 138. It was rock hard on the edges and underbaked in the middle, and was more like a blondie with flecks of chocolate than a proper brownie. I just use a regular recipe and, with the help of the guidelines on page 33, make good cocoa brownies. I'll publish that recipe soon.

The Black Forest Cupcakes on p113 turned out watery-tasting rather than moist and fell a little in the centers. Use some drier flour, perhaps substitute some rice flour for some of the Four Bean Flour.

Favorite recipes:

• Pumpkin cake p64
• Banana cake p61 (These are both like really good breads.)
• Toll House cookies p157
• Chocolate Mousse cake p282 (One of the better flourless choc cakes I've had)

How to Find Restaurants Anywhere in the US that are Gluten-Free Friendly

There's a great resource at Gluten-Free Restaurants from the Gluten Intolerance Group that allows you to search by zip code to find a restaurant near you that participates in their GF program.

It's a great resource, especially when one is traveling within the US. While it does not list all restaurants, especially a shocking lack of P.F. Chang's, it is a great place to start your research.

All the Outback Steak Houses are listed, which are great places to eat at. I'll review them formally later, but YUM! Even a dessert! Even a chocolate dessert!

Thai Kitchen: many boxed meals are gluten free!

There are very few boxed meals that celiacs can eat, so when we find some, it's great.

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Thai Kitchen, makers of fine Thai food, make many gluten-free products, helpfully labeled as such on the package. TK's experimental tummy agrees that they are indeed GF. In addition, their Stir-Fry Rice Noodles, a fettuccine-like substitute for pasta, are the best GF rice pasta around.

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When I was first diagnosed, I bought probably 5 brands of GF pasta (rice, corn-rice, quinoa-rice, whatever,) and they were all simultaneously gritty and slimy. Thai Kitchen's noodles, on the other hand, are forgiving (meaning if you boil them a minute too long, they won't turn to mush) and have a nice texture. I often mix Thai Kitchen's rice noodles and the soybean noodles below to balance protein and carbs.

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Many of Thai Kitchen's products are gluten-free, and a number are other allergen-free, too. Their site includes an excellent allergen information page and also has excellent recipes.

Thai Kitchen labels their GF products "Gluten-Free" under the ingredients list and often on the front. Do look for this tag as a few of their products are not GF. Thai Kitchen products are available in most general grocery stores and many health food stores.

These products get a "Best" rating because they're excellent food that happens to be GF.

GF products include:

Thai Peanut Stir Fry Noodle Meal Kit

Original Pad Thai Stir Fry Noodle Meal Kit

Lemongrass and Chili Stir Fry Noodle Meal Kit

ALL Instant Rice Noodle Soups (They look like Ramen packages.)

(Bangkok Curry, Spring Onion, etc.)

Roasted Garlic Instant Rice Noodle Bowl

Mushroom Instant Rice Noodle Bowl

Spring Onion Instant Rice Noodle Bowl

Lemongrass and Chili Instant Rice Noodle Bowl

Thai Ginger Instant Rice Noodle Bowl

ALL "Noodle Carts" (Rectangular boxes.)

(Thai Peanut, Pad Thai, etc.)

Original Pad Thai "Take Out Box"

Thai Basil and Chili "Take Out Box"

Ginger and Sweet Chili "Take Out Box"

ALL Jasmine Rice Mixes

(Green Chili and Garlic, etc.)

ALL Rice Noodles, Coconut milks, Sauces, Curry Pastes, and Simmer Sauces are GF.

Chili's Baby-Back Ribs: Gluten-Free!

Chili's Baby Back Ribs at Chili's chain restaurants are gluten-free in these varieties: Honey BBQ, Original, Memphis Dry Rub, and Honey Chipotle.

Chili's has excellent allergen information here. Skip to Page 9 for gluten info.

Disclaimer: I have not personally tried all these flavors to ensure GF-ness with my own tummy, but the allergen info looks good.

Safest Ice Cream for Celiacs: Breyers

Breyers All Natural Ice Creams are tasty and generally gluten-free. Other brands may include odd ingredients like modified food starch (that old devil!) or other, obscure fillers, so Breyers really is the safest choice.

Of course, avoid any ice cream flavor with gluten ingredients, like cookies or brownies, and always read that label to make sure nothing has changed.

Maltodextrin is Generally Recognized As Safe

In the US, maltodextrin is derived from corn and should be gluten-free.

It's in pretty much everything, too.

Recent Celiac Diagnosis: Gluten-Free Kitchen -- What you need to buy new

Congratulations on your recent celiac disease diagnosis!


Yeah, it's a weird thing to be congratulated on, but if you had to choose an autoimmune disease, with celiac, you don't have to take drugs or injections or lance your fingertips every day, you aren't going to gain weight from any steroids, you aren't going to pass away, and you are going to feel better within a couple days of going on the gluten-free diet.


Considering how sick you have been feeling, and you probably have been feeling pretty sick or else you wouldn't have gone to enough doctors to finally find one that can accurately diagnose celiac, that's a pretty good disease to have.


So, what now?


For this article, I'm going to assume that you're going entirely GF. Just make your house GF. Especially at the beginning, that's the easiest way to do it. It's not like going cold turkey from cigarettes. It's more like cleaning up the spilled paint to avoid tracking it everywhere.


Things you will need to buy new:

• Toaster -- Absolutely necessary. There is no way to clean all the crumbs out of a toaster. Start with a new one.


• Toaster oven -- if you use one. Same reason.


• Cast iron skillets, if you have cast iron. Because cast iron pans build up a layer of "seasoning" that is non-stick and keeps the pan from rusting, this layer has gluten trapped all the way through it. I like the "Emeril" brand at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. They're reasonably priced and have a "helper handle" on the far side. They're also perfectly flat for glass cooktops.


• If you have non-stick or steel skillets, inspect them carefully for a layer of burnt oil build-up. Stainless steel can probably be scoured with a steel wool pad until it is shiny and new-looking. Non-stick (Teflon) skillets, especially if they are the kind with recessed ridges, should be closely inspected and discarded if you see anything sticking in there.


• Baking sheets and pans that have become "dark." Again, layer of burnt-on oil that has trapped gluten.


• Wooden cutting boards, wooden spoons, or other wood items.

That's really all that you need to buy new. A good cleaning, perhaps a trip through the dishwasher, should suffice for pretty much anything else.

More on setting up your GF kitchen next time.

Did I miss anything? Send me comments!

TK

Del Monte Creamed Corn -- NOT Gluten-Free

Del Monte Sweet Corn Cream Style is not gluten-free. Don't use it. The label includes "modified food starch," which is usually derived from wheat and often a source of gluten, and I definitely had a reaction to it. It wasn't a huge reaction, but there was definitely a "celiac poke" in my tummy after using DM creamed corn as an ingredient in a large recipe.

Green Giant creamed corn specifies "modified corn starch" as has hitherto not caused any celiac reactions.

AVOID Del Monte Sweet Corn Cream Style.

Chi-Chi's Corn Cake Mix: Gluten-Free and Yummy!

Chi-Chi's Fiesta Sweet Corn Cake, a mix based on the sweet corn cakes from the now-defunct Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurants, is tasty, sweet, and has never given me tummy troubles.

I use this mix for a carb base for spicy chili or baked beans. With fresh, smashed strawberries and whipped cream, it's a great dessert.

This is a mix, and you add butter, water, and a can of creamed corn to the mix, scrape it into a bread pan, and bake for 45 minutes. I usually bake it at 400F instead of the 350F that the pouch recommends.

BEWARE: Green Giant creamed corn is gluten-free. Del Monte contains modified food starch and is thus suspect. I believe that I had a minor reaction to Del Monte creamed corn.

Kosher for Passover can mean gluten-free but read labels

It's nearing Passover, which for folks like myself who live near a large Jewish community, means that the Kosher for Passover items are hitting the shelves. Passover for 2008 begins at sunset on Saturday, April 19, and runs 7 days until April 26.

During Passover, observant Jews avoid chametz -- any food that's leavened and/or allowed to ferment or rise. That means no yeast, baking soda or powder, but also anything made from wheat, spelt, oats, rye and barley, such as pasta, cereal and beer (unless it is made with matzoh.) Matzoh, matzoh meal, and farfel are, of course, entirely off limits because they are made with wheat flour and are a major source of gluten.

However, some manufacturers make potato starch-based products that are matzo- and gluten-free. Many kosher manufacturers even label their potato starch-based mixes as GF. However, you still must read the ingrediants label and decide for yourself whether you want to chance it.

For example, I found a kosher-for-Passover frozen pizza at my local grocery store. It was clearly marked "Gluten-Free!" and I rejoiced.

However, I flipped over the box and read the ingrediants. After potato starch, sugar, blah, blah, blah, the label specified modified food starch.

Eek!

Modified food starch can be wheat-based and, in my experience, is often contaminated with enough gluten to cause a major reaction. I skipped the pizza. It's not worth the risk or the tummyache.

I did, however, find a KfP cake mix that I'm dying to try and will report on.

TK

GF Food Review: Green Soybean Pasta from Nutrition Kitchen

Fantastic!

All the rice- and corn- and even quinoa-based pastas that I tried when I first was diagnosed turned out gummy or dead-tasting.

Green Soybean Pasta from Nutrition Kitchen, however, is great! It's very forgiving in the pot, meaning that you can overcook it and it still turns out firm but noodly. It also means that you can boil it, then toss it in sauce and cook it some more without it turning to mush. I use it in Thai, Chinese, and Italian dishes.

Health wise: huge amounts of protein and fiber. It's better for you than whole wheat pasta.

While not indistinguishable from wheat, tastiness plus good texture plus forgiving nature plus healthiness earn this pasta a BEST rating! I'm going to try the black and gold versions, too.

TK

CORNBREAD: TK's Southern "Company" Gluten-Free Corn Bread

I adapted this recipe from a gluten-ful one, as none of the recipes in the GF cookbooks satisfied me. This one is light, with a solid crumb and moist texture, almost indistinguishable from Marie Callendar's cornbread. It is not low-fat. Rather than a GF flour mix, this cornbread comes out best with just cornmeal and besan.



"Company" cornbreads were light, fluffy concoctions that used flour, eggs, and sugar, all luxury ingredients.

9-inch cast iron skillet or heavy cake pan

1 1/2 C cornmeal
1/2 C garbanzo bean flour (besan)
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar


2 eggs
1 1/2 C buttermilk (or same amount of sweet milk soured with 1 1/2 T lemon juice)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 C sour cream

1. Spray skillet with GF cooking sprary and heat it over low heat until medium hot. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Sift dry ingredients together into a bowl or onto waxed paper.
3. Whisk eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and sour cream in a bowl. Add dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
4. Pour batter into hot skillet. It will sizzle but should not boil.
5. Bake at 425 F for 30 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Cornbread: Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread p151 -- Review

Contrary to the description at the beginning of the recipe, this cornbread from GFGBB is dry, heavy, and yet easily crumbles into dust. Soaked in honey and topped with significant amounts of melting butter, it is passable, but so is a week-old mud pie.

Skip this recipe.

Taste Rating System for GF Food

Because some GF food is compressed GF sawdust, and some is excellent, here's a 5-point rating system for quality and taste.

Don't bother. Not worth the calories or time it takes to eat.

OK in emergencies. Not similar to gluten-ful version.

Pretty good. Will not be confused with gluten-ful version. Average for GF products or passable food in restaurants.

Really tasty. Close to gluten-ful version or tasty in its own right. For restaurants, enjoyable and tasty.

Reserved for the best products, recipes, and places. Indistinguishable from gluten-ful version or extremely close. For restaurants, excellent GF food and friendly GF service.

Happy Tummy Legend for Restaurants and Foods

This legend is for informational purposes only.

Please remember that reactions vary by individual to minute concentrations of gluten, that products vary batch-to-batch, and that restaurant experiences vary by the chef or waitstaff’s knowledge and care.

5 Happy Tummies = No gluten reaction.






4 Happy Tummies = Possible, very minor reaction. May be due to cross-contamination in a restaurant or product assembly line or cross-reaction by my own tummy. Use caution. Monitor your response.



3 Happy Tummies = Probable, very minor reaction. May be due to cross-contamination or trace quantities of gluten-containing compounds like modified food starch or in “natural flavors.” Use great care if a restaurant or avoid.



2 Happy Tummies = Definite very minor reaction. May be due to cross-contamination or trace quantities of gluten-containing compounds like modified food starch or in “natural flavors.” Avoid.



1 Happy Tummy = Definite minor reaction. Probably due to trace quantities of gluten-containing compounds like modified food starch or “natural flavors.” Avoid.



0 Happy Tummies = Definite major reaction. Probably contains significant amounts of gluten. Avoid.

All TK Kenyon's Blogs

http://science4non-majors.blogspot.com/
http://fictionlessons.blogspot.com/
http://tkkenyon.blogspot.com/
http://celiac-maniac.blogspot.com/
http://rabidfictionreviews.blogspot.com/
http://rabidatheists.blogspot.com/

Celiac Maniac!

Because what the world needs is one more celiac blog.

All right. There's plenty of celiac and gluten-free advice out there. Some deal with the lifestyle, like Gluten-Free Girl, and some are recipe-based, like Gluten-Free Goddess. When I see good posts at these and more, I'll point you there.

This blog is good, concise advice. Mostly, I'll review recipes from cookbooks or other sites and list my additions or changes to them, review readily available GF products, and review restaurants, especially chain restaurants.

We all have differences in taste. Personally, I'm a whole-grain, grainy kind of person. Before my diagnosis, I liked multi-grain bread, like 12-grain, with nuts and seeds and twigs and leaves in it. One time, I found 18-grain bread and ate it with nothing but olive oil. Yummy!

Since my diagnosis, however, I've found that many of the bread recipes that I've found (and I've found lots, I looooove cookbooks,) are less whole-grainy. In one of Bette Hagman's books, she describes her "cornstarch" bread as "the closest thing we have to Wonder Bread," as if that was a good thing. That's when I started experimenting.

Well, Bette was the gluten-free pioneer, and we all owe her a great debt.

TK Kenyon
Author of the non-celiac novels: RABID: A Novel and CALLOUS: A Novel