If you are looking for some allergy-free holiday recipes to make yourself or send to someone else who will do the cooking, here are some wonderful recipes and sites!

• Gluten-Free Stuffing from me
• A Gluten Free Chanukah from Gluten Free By the Bay (oops, a little late for this one - maybe next year)
• Potato Latkes from the Gluten-Free Goddess
• Apple Cider Braised Pork Shoulder from Gluten Free Girl
• Gravy from Gluten-Free Girl
• Holiday Recipes from Allergy Grocer
• 25 Allergy Friendly Recipes from Allergy Moms
• Dessert Recipes from Go Dairy Free
• Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Holiday Tips from the Gluten-Free Goddess
• Candy Cane ingredients from Allergy Moms

If you’ve got a recipe or website to share, please leave a comment below!

Filed under: Recipes and Cooking Tips, Holidays/Special Events | 1 Comment »

It’s going to happen. You could be the most upbeat, glass-half-full, thankful-for-what-you’ve-got person, but it’s going to happen. Probably around the holidays. Probably at a party or a family event. It might sneak up on you at the buffet table or maybe it will hit you when you see the festive dessert tray.

It’s the Food Allergy Blues.

For people with food allergies, intolerance or celiac disease, the holidays are hard. Appetizers at parties are full of wheat and dairy. Dinner hosts might feel put out to accomodate one person’s special diet. And let’s not forget all the treats — cookies, candies, pies — laden with the most common food allergens. I suspect that this is the time when people with food intolerance (vs. a serious allergy) are tempted to cheat, and if they do, feel miserable. Other people avoid going to parties in the first place because it can make them feel down about their situation.

But here I am to give you a pep talk and tell you that we all feel this way at some point (even me, and I’m one of those people I described at the beginning!) I know it is really Polly-Anna of me to say this, but if food allergy/intolerance/celiac is the only thing you’ve got, think about how lucky you are that you don’t have something more serious.

Dr. Alessio Fasano, director of the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, was asked in a recent interview, “What do you tell your patients who are diagnosed with celiac disease?”

He answered: “I tell them, ‘I do understand your feelings, but let’s say I have the power to trade your celiac disease for any other autoimmune disease, which you would rather have? Cancer, diabetes, Crohn’s, cystic fibrosis?’ They say, ‘Well, I will keep the celiac disease.’”

So be strong, fellow food-sensitive people! The holiday season will pass, and while others are making New Year’s Resolutions about what not to eat, you will already have that one covered!

Filed under: Holidays/Special Events, Emotions | No Comments »

There are many stories about how blue cheese came to be. They all involve cheese, bread and a cave. The basic tale is this: someone left a piece of bread in a cave where the cheese was being aged. The bread became moldy and the mold spread to the cheese. Someone came back to the cave days or weeks later, and yum yum yum - moldy blue cheese! An industry was born. They began to purposely inject cheese with bread mold during processing, leading to the creation of blue or green-veined cheeses such as Roquefort, Gorgonzola, Cambozola, and Stilton.

Do veined cheeses contain gluten? This question comes up a lot when people have to change their diet due to celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or a wheat allergy. After conducting my own blue cheese investigation, I have the answer: some blue cheeses do contain gluten, but most do not.

Some blue cheese is still made the old-fashioned way using bread mold. However, most cheeses produced in the U.S. today are not started with a bread mold because it’s not efficient or economical. Cheesemakers can now buy liquid blue mold that is made in a laboratory (as one blue cheese manufacturer explained to me). These do not contain gluten.

Yup, that’s right. You can eat blue cheese. Just make sure it is one of the gluten-free ones listed below. I will update this list as I get more information.

Gluten-free blue cheeses:

• BelGioso gorgonzola - verified via website that all their cheeses are gluten-free
• Marin French Cheese Factory blue cheese - verified via phone
• Maytag blue cheese - verified via phone (it used to contain gluten, but now does not)
• Montforte blue cheese and gorgonzola - verified via phone
• Pt. Reyes blue cheese - verified via phone and website
• Rosenborg blue cheese - verified via web
• Paladin MonSalvat blue cheese - verified via email

Gluten-free blue cheese stuffed olives:

• Armstrong Olives - verified via phone

Gluten-free blue cheese dressing:

• no info yet

NOT gluten-free:

• Saga blue cheese - verified via email that it contains wheat

Filed under: Products, Celiac Disease, Gluten Intolerance | 5 Comments »

Just a reminder that if you are doing any Amazon shopping this holiday season, consider clicking through to Amazon from the Sure Foods Living website. Amazon will pay a small commission that goes directly to this website — this helps pay for monthly fees to keep it going. There is no extra cost to you, and all you have to do is come here first, then click on the Amazon link in the right sidebar before you start your shopping — that’s it! Thanks for your support!

Also, if you are stumped for gift ideas for someone that has a dietary restriction, consider a gift certificate to an online grocery store, like the Gluten Free Mall, The Allergy Grocer or Gluten Solutions. Even Amazon now has a wide selection of gluten-free products to choose from.

Filed under: Sure Foods Living News, Restaurants/Bakeries/Stores | No Comments »