A Closer Look At Gluten Free Food Labeling

Eating pre-packaged gluten free foods and all the sudden you feel ill? HHMMM.........might be because gluten free does not always mean free of gluten! Most foods labeled gluten free have 20 PPM (parts per million) of gluten in them and that is legal in the USA. Canada and Europe test down to 5 PPM (parts per million). So those with Celiac Disease or those that are highly sensitive can react to many gluten free foods even though the package says gluten free. To read more I have included an article at the end of this blog post from Living Without magazine.

Check out this article from my favorite gluten free magazine Living Without.
http://www.livingwithout.com/issues/4_7/closer_look_at_labeling-1945-1.html

Stop by my blog

http://adoptivemomhomeschoolinganonlychild.blogspot.com/

RECALL!! Gluten Free product RECALL!!

Applegate allergen alert recall
Applegate Naturals Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets Recall
Please check for any products in your freezer that may be affected. I've included a link with more information.

Moe

Two New Recipes

The first recipe is just something that I threw together today. I found some boneless, skinless chicken thighs on sale (use leftover turkey later this week for this recipe, you could add more broth for soup or add gluten free dumplings on top for chicken/turkey pot pie), so I dumped them in the crockpot and covered with water. Cooked them on high for about 5 hours. Drained the meat and poured the broth into a large pot, I brought that to a boil and added 24 oz of gluten free & corn free chicken broth, I ran a head of celery through the food chopper along with 5 carrots, tossed those in.

I then added 1 tsp Poultry Seasoning, 1/2 tsp Thyme, 1 tsp onion powered (I would have chopped a full onion but we have a funeral visitation to attend this evening and I did not want my hands and hair to smell like onions  :O(  I then added my secret weapon Superior Kosher Chicken Base it is gluten free and corn free and REALLY REALLY adds some great flavor!! I put about 1 1/2 TBLS in. I let this boil for about 20 minutes to mix the flavors up.

Then I added in gluten free & corn free egg noodles. I order them from PastaAlley, we love their gf egg noodles and gf soup noodles, they soak up the broth and taste like Grandma's homemade noodles. After adding the noodles I let them boil for about15 minutes and then shredded up the chicken and added that. YUMMO!! I am eating a bowl full as I type. I did add a touch of sea salt at the end.

I also was in the mood for something sweet and holiday like. I bought some SILK Egg Nog, called the company and they assured me that it was gluten free & corn free. So I decided to make some Egg Nog ice cream.  I love my Cuisinart Frozen Yogurt Ice Sorbet maker it makes goodies in less than 25 minutes, actually it took me about 15 minutes start to finish to make this. And it tastes wonderful!
You can whisk this up in a bowl, but the full fat coconut milk is hard to whisk I think. So I use my mixer. I added
1 1/4 c Soy Nog
1/2 c sugar (use more or less to your taste)
1 can full fat coconut milk (liquid and the thick white stuff in the can (lol.....I freaked the first time I opened a can of this, I was like "what on earth is this?" lol)
And mix or whisk until smooth.
Pour into ice cream maker and run as directed from manufacturer.

I know this looks like a dough ball.......LOL. But it's really ice cream in the ice cream maker and it's YUMMY!!

So these are some starts to my Holiday cooking this week. My in-laws will have the traditional Thanksgiving meal and I will be bringing my own eats  :O)     I don't mind since I like the people better than the food. We will spend the afternoon playing board games and visiting. Of course I am sure that there will be some sort of football game blaring in the background...lol.  Though one person will be missing from the family meal table, our son's Birthmom. She was killed 6 years ago by a drunk driver the week of Thanksgiving. She was on her way home from Grad School to her Mother's home for  Thanksgiving break. I am thankful that our son had several years to get to know his Birthmom before her death.

Hugs and Happy Thanksgiving!
Moe

Gluten free, dairy free, corn free Pineapple Ice Cream

This was such an easy recipe!! Until I left the room and the timer went off and I did not hear it.......LOL!  It made a huge mess, but it tasted so good! Here is the quick and easy recipe.

Gluten free, dairy free, corn free Pineapple Ice Cream
Pineapple Ice Cream (or sorbet, whatever you want to call it.)
I used 1 fresh pineapple (you can use canned but it does contain corn in the citric acid) add pineapple and juice to blender, blend until smooth.
Then add in 1 cup sugar or more (use whatever sweetener you desire)
Then add about 1/4 cup of OJ of your choice (I had orange pineapple on hand).
Blend it all together and taste. You want this pretty sweet, because once ice creams or sorbets freeze they don't taste as sweet because your tongue gets numb from the cold. I think I ended up adding about 1 1/2 cups of sugar.
You can also add a bit of gluten free vanilla if you like.
Then pour into your ice cream maker and process as directed. I did mine for 20 mins, but forgot about it and it went for about 32 minutes.....LOL. As you can see my results. But it tasted really good!

Enjoy!
Moe

"Is this drug corn free?"

It's one of those weeks already. I've been to the allergist again due to a corn reaction, I was told to get some allergy meds. But of course the allergist could not tell me which ones to take because she had no idea if it was corn free or not.

Fast forward to the pharmacist and guess what? He could not help me either. So both told me to start calling the manufactures of these drugs. Well here is just one response for you, it's pretty much a repeat of all the other companies responses I got.  Lets just say I am trying to "Be angry and sin not."

"While we perform comprehensive testing on the more common ingredients that may provide an allergic reaction such as gluten, nuts etc., unfortunately, it is impossible to test for every ingredient and we cannot guarantee that our products are corn-free, since the source of an ingredient may change from time to time. Some of the ingredients in the product may have been purchased by us from outside distributors and we cannot say with absolute certainty that cross contamination with this ingredient did not occur at their facilities. We understand how difficult this can be for you and hope we can suggest an alternative product should you remain concerned about the possibility of an allergic reaction.

We suggest speaking to your health care provider as he/she is more familiar with your allergy related reactions/symptoms. Your your physician is really best suited to respond to any concerns that you might have about any of the product's listed ingredients and the potential for an allergic reaction, based upon your individual sensitivities. If you decide to try the product and you are dissatisfied for any reason, please contact us and we would be happy to refund you the purchase price.

Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies fully comply with all regulations on ingredients in the countries in which our products are sold. Wherever regulatory authorities have set limits on certain ingredients, our product formulations either meet those limits or contain a lesser amount of the regulated ingredient. We are committed to maintaining the high standards of quality and safety that have been our hallmark for generations of consumers.Consumer Care Center"

Thank you for NOTHING!
So here is the response that I sent to them.

"Just to let you know I contacted you because my allergist and my pharmacist could not help with the ingredients list, so they both told me to contact the manufactures directly to find out what products would be safe for me. Since you make the product, you should know what is in it.

Thank you,"

Some days I feel like I'm at the end of my rope and I just can't go on. I had a nurse argue with me yesterday about whether or not one of my RX drugs contained corn. She flat out told me that there is NO WAY that X drug contains corn. Well she is wrong and I plan on photo copying the ingredient list that I have from my pharmacist and giving it to her. Cornstarch is one of the main ingredients in the prescription! I think that cornstarch is CORN! lol  Am I wrong? Please, please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes, it has been an evil corn week here, maybe even month   :O)

Have a great gluten free, corn free, dairy free, homeschooling, only childing week!!

Moe

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!!

School is fast approaching and I wanted to give you one of my all time favorite websites for cooking during the school year  the Crockpot 365 blog.

The entire site is gluten free, but the recipes are for everyone!  Look under the Slow Cooking tab and click on Index for a listing of the recipes. She also gives a review along with reader comments after each recipe.
We love the  Baked Oatmeal, Chicken Teriyaki , Rotisserie-Style Chicken (this is WONDERFUL! and tastes like the expensive store bought). After I make this one I add about a cup or so of water to the chicken broth in the bottom of the crockpot and then I freeze it for later use YUM!
Check it out for easy meals during the school year.
Moe

Gluten FREE & Corn FREE recipe

Carla's Gluten Free Recipe Box had a wonderful recipe this week that you just have to try! gluten free vegetable soup. This can be corn free if you make your own broth or use a corn free broth and check the beans for corn in the ingredients. This sounds so good for those rainy days we have been having here.  Easy lunches for those last few days of school too.

Enjoy!
Moe

Weigh in day

Today was weigh in day for our chickens, two of them were 1 lbs 3 oz, and the rest were all around
3 lbs, 8oz. So they are looking pretty tasty......eeerrr, ummmm, lol. I mean looking good  ;o)
They will be fully grown and ready to go the week of May 24.

As for names so far we have

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken & Dumplings

Chicken Noodle Soup

BBQ Chicken

Fried Chicken

Chicken Salad Sandwich

They are enjoying their time in the sunshine and fresh air. Though it's been a bit frosty in the mornings, they are doing well. The hens DO NOT LIKE THEM! lol. We had them in the yard next to the girls nesting boxes and they were screeching at them.

We even weighed some of  our hens and they all tipped the scales at OVER 5#.

Off to bake some gluten free/corn free bread.

Moe

Neat recipe site

By now you know that I am a sucker for any recipe website.....lol. I can't pass one up, I've got tons of cookbooks, I just need to use what I have. hahaha. But then along comes a website like this Angelas Kitchen from my friend Megan. I clicked on it and looked around, saw some a gluten free, special diet, whole foods, and traditional menus with recipes. Off to the side I found some others including CORN FREE!!  (they have soy free, pork free and many others too!) What a wealth of info!

So check her out and see if you can find something new to eat, she even has once a month cooking plans.

Moe

Hello Monday & a busy week

This week my mother is coming to visit for about a month and a half....longer if we can talk her into it! Once she gets around her grandson she does not want to leave  :O)

We are working on getting the butchering chickens moved outside this week, they are getting so big! And thinking about getting in another bunch, but not sure.

Spending part of the week dealing with medical billing stuff. Fighting insurance on a few things like a $1,000+ ambulance bill that they don't want to pay for when I was transferred from a small hospital to a larger one, allergy testing that they don't think was medically necessary......lol, even thought that solved like 95% of my problems.

So sounds like a fun and busy week combined.
Have a great week!

Moe

Freebie from a friends blog

Lynns Kitchen Adventures blog is offering a really cool menu planning print out for FREE! Can't beat that. She also has lots of neat things over there. Check her out she has regular recipes and a section with allergy recipes. Very tasty ideas.

I notice that I feel much better about having to follow a restricted allergy free diet when I plan ahead. If I don't plan and then meal time comes around, it's very hard to just grab something and eat it. I had a rough patch today. I made up a big batch of chicken, potatoes, celery and carrots in the crockpot. It was wonderful, but we were running low on the veggies, so I thought I would add my favorite Asian rice noodles. Cooked them up and had a small bowl of them with some butter on top, I felt not so great for awhile, fuzzy brain, racing heart, aching joints all the sudden, flushed face. Our son grabs the noodle bag out of the trash and says

"MOM!!! These have cornstarch in them!"

I was shocked, I don't know what I was thinking when I bought them!  It's plain as day, WATER, RICE, CORNSTARCH. Nothing hidden, but I sure did goof and now I am paying for it.  And I ruined a yummy batch of food that I made for myself. Oh, well my guys will enjoy it.

Live and learn.

Moe

Changing things up a bit.

Had some time to mess around on here tonight. Changed some pictures while my dear sister-in-law took our son for the evening after we went out for all you can eat fish fry.......lol. I ate my allergy free chicken pot pie and crustless pumpkin pie, but had fun socializing with the all you can eat fish fry eaters. Ran in to our neighbor who has cancer and shared with us that he will be going to The Cancer Treatment Centers of America this month for a 2nd opinion, prayers for him and his journey would be appreciated.

I've taken Kiara's idea and started thinking more about what I CAN eat instead of what I CAN'T eat. Grocery shopping is still hard since corn (one of my main allergies) does not have to be listed on the label. I actually called Kroger foods today to find out if their cream cheese and brown sugar were corn free, the lady acted as though I was an alien....lol. She told me that cream cheese in itself does not have corn in it, but Kroger cannot control what the cows that provide the milk for the cheese eat in the field, they might eat corn.........LOL.  I shall be calling again on Monday to speak with yet another helpful agent.

I did get an interesting allergy sheet in the mail from my doctors office regarding corn allergies. Yet another laugh out loud fest. The first item that is listed is milk and it's only to be bought in glass containers, ah, yes, where am I to find that? Then there is the listing of "not to be consumed from waxed cardboard containers." Yes corn is really in everything. I'm thinking that is what a large part of the health issues in America are all about gluten and corn.

Today I went for blood work and I don't know how many vials of blood that they took, but it was a lot! They are doing more allergy testing through blood this time. I go back at the end of the month, so we shall see what the doctor says then. I'm not really noticing any difference besides not having a flushed face during or after I eat. I also think potatoes factor in somewhere as my joints ache the day after I have eaten them.

Big grin here, I can hear little baby peep cheeps coming from the basement chick nursery, so sweet.

I've found some great allergy-free cookbooks that I will share next time. I'm reading through them to see which ones are worth heading on over to my favorite hang out Amazon.

Have a great weekend!
Moe

How to save money when eating Gluten Free (or on any special diet)

I got this listing from a gluten free group that I frequent. Some great ideas here! Sometimes I know we feel like a prisoner to our required diets, so I thought this cartoon was cute!
Moe

Here are some tips from Teri Gruss on cutting costs while eating
gluten-free.

How To Cook Gluten-Free on a Budget - Cut Gluten-Free Food Costs Now!
By Teri Gruss, MS

Here are 6 practical tips and resources to help you save money on the
extraordinarily high costs of gluten-free foods. Plan ahead and you
really can save on your monthly gluten-free food costs- and at the
same time eat delicious, healthy gluten-free foods.

1. Focus on cooking with foods that are naturally gluten-free

Fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, dairy products, nuts and seeds, meats,
poultry and fish are all healthy, delicious, gluten-free foods. Focus
on planning a gluten-free menu based on these naturally gluten-free
foods. Pound for pound these foods offer a lot of nutritional value
for the buck, compared to refined, processed gluten-free products.

2. Make your own gluten-free foods rather than buying expensive,
processed products

Savings can be substantial when you make your own gluten-free foods,
especially breads and snack foods. Another advantage in making
homemade gluten-free foods is better flavor and healthier ingredients.

3. It is convenient to keep a few packages of commercial gluten-free
mixes on hand. But you can save a lot of money by making your own
mixes. Measure, mix, package and refrigerator or freeze and you have
created your own fresh convenience mixes. Along with saving money,
when you make your own gluten-free flour mixes, you can customize them
to your own tastes and nutritional needs.


4. Join forces with other gluten-free families and friends to lower
costs. Websites like amazon.com and Shop Gluten Free Grocers sell
gluten-free foods in multi-pack cartons, including pastas and flours.
Amazon's Shop Gluten-Free Groceries website offers free shipping on
orders over $25. Bob's Red Mill sells 25 pound bags of several of
their gluten-free products, including tapioca flour and all purpose
gluten-free baking mix. They also sell 4 bag cartons at discounted
prices.

5. Join a local support organization. You'll meet other people, who
like you, are battling the high costs of gluten-free foods- join
forces, buy in bulk and save money.

6. Use coupons

Nancy Lapid, About.com Guide to Celiac Disease recently blogged about
a website that offers printable coupons for gluten-free products.


Tips:

Once a month prepare your favorite gluten free convenience mixes. I
like to make 3 pound bags of all purpose baking mixes. This amount
generally lasts for several weeks. Use it to make homemade breads,
pancakes, waffles, cookies and pizza crust. Making mixes ahead of time
is SO much more convenient than making mixes every time you need a
gluten-free flour blend for a recipe.

Once a week bake your favorite gluten-free breads, wrap them up and
freeze. Remember, making homemade gluten-free bread is like mixing a
cake batter. Combine ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat. Pour in a
bread pan, let rise and bake. Homemade gluten-free bread is faster and
easier than making traditional wheat-based yeast breads. So don't
shudder at the thought of making gluten-free bread every week. It
requires less time than you think! The savings, not to mention
superior taste and texture make it worth the minimal effort!

Make gluten-free cookie batter and refrigerate or freeze to use as
needed. There is really no need to buy expensive, ready-made mixes.
Mixing and storing cookie dough, like making bread is faster and
easier than you may think.

Make and freeze gluten-free pizza and pie crusts, which become
economical convenience foods, ready when you need them. Use a food
processor and this task is very fast and again, much easier than you
imagined.

Develop a dependable gluten-free recipe file. This will save you not
only money, but time and disappointment. I have a constantly growing
"favorites" recipe file- my "go to" recipes that I know work and taste
great. This not only saves money, it's healthier.

What You Need

Dependable, favorite gluten-free recipes
Gluten-free raw ingredients- purchased in bulk if possible
Homemade gluten-free flour blend mixes
Motivation
Shop with a grocery list and don't shop when you're hungry!
Consult with an accountant to see if you can deduct a portion of your food costs

rice casserole with bacon and spinach

This recipe looks so yummy!  rice casserole with bacon and spinach I plan on making it this week. I think I can make it corn free if I make my own broth.

Hope you have a wonderful week! We have a busy week coming, we are having a homeschool gathering to watch the Michelle Duggar DVD "Tea with Michelle Duggar" and then doctor and dentist appointments galor, husbands birthday and final school work to be done. With lots of nice spring weather on hand I'm thinking we will have some outdoor time too.

Still working on cleaning out the pantry, baked a turkey from the freezer (did you know that Butterball Turkeys all contain a solution made with corn that is injected into the turkey?  GGRR), used up some canned artichoke (ds made those last night sauteed with garlic and olive oil) I of course did not eat them since the can of artichoke hearts contains 'corn'.

We just can't get away from corn in this country, wonder if that is another reason why we have so many health issues in this country.

Thanks Kiara for the post about allergies.

Moe

Permission to whine?

I finally went for allergy testing, nothing for wheat (they still think that I may be gluten intolerant) showed up but corn did and corn is also IN EVERYTHING and causes stomach issues when you are allergic to it. Corn allergies can actually mimic Celiac Disease (without the villi being effected). 

So I pretty much have solved my problem with going wheat free since by not eating processed foods I pretty much cut out corn too by accident. And the 2 times that I thought I had gotten gluten last summer, I think it was actually corn. The one time I got sick I was eating Puffed Corn snacks and the other time I had Fritos.

Both Gluten and corn allergies are very similar in the way that the effect you.

So no corn, corn syrup solids, cornstarch, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, dextrose, sucrose and all those other fancy junk sugars, ect. Corn does not have to be labeled in the USA since it's not considered one of the top 8 allergen :O(

They can sneak it in under names that we would never think of as CORN.

I am also allergic to

watermelon

red apples
grapes
pears
peaches
bananas
apricot
strawberry
raspberry
tomato
sweet potato
corn
almonds
Scallops (I don't like seafood anyway!) YIPPEE!  lol.
Thankfully I'm not allergic to chicken or eggs! We'd have to sell the farm.  lol

So any one want to refer me to a blog about corn allergies and cooking?

Here are some interesting places that corn hides, baking powder, powdered sugar, table salt,
hot dogs, candy, frosting, cold cereal and many more things.

I'm really thinking that the Lord is working with me (feels like hammering me!) on not making food a little god in my life. I love food and I love to cook. All the years that I was sick with stomach issues (we now know I was sick with food allergies) I spent my days thinking "What am I going to eat?" Where do I have to go today & what time should I eat so that I am not sick away from home?" So pretty much my thoughts revolved around food and what and when to eat so that I could function in my daily life. There are foods that I can eat, I just need to THINK before I eat (who wants to do that?). I have the "wilderness attitude" that the children of Israel had. "I'm tired of Manna and I'm tired of quail! I deserve better than this!"  Read the book of Numbers chapters 11 & 12 in the Bible and you will understand what I am talking about.

 I would covet your prayers in learning to deal with this. I go back to the doctor in one month to try some sort of rotation diet (not sure what that is).

Moe