Sure Foods Living - gluten-free and allergen-free living

I hope that many of you got a chance to watch Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. I found the T.V. series so inspiring, and like Jamie (otherwise known as the Naked Chef for his use of honest, real food) said: “Yes, this is a T.V. show, but it’s real life.”

He succeeded in making change in the school lunch program in a town chosen for its high rate of obesity. His mission — OUR mission — is so important: feed our kids well so that they can live healthy lives. Of course, there needs to be change not only in our lunch programs, but throughout our society. This change won’t come about easily, as we need education, dedication, motivation and of course, money. But it CAN be done and we need to try.

Many bloggers (including me!) are hoping to make a small difference by sharing tips and recipes for cooking real food in 30 Days to a Food Revolution, an online event dreamed up and organized by Diane of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang.

For 30 days, there will be 30 different food bloggers sharing 30 different ways to eat real food.

Less processed food, more real food is the goal! Most of us are living gluten-free or with other special diets, so hopefully you will find a wealth of good stuff to use in your own kitchens, and discover new blogs too.

I will be contributing my tip and recipe on May 4. In the meantime, you can follow these  participating blogs:

• gluten free easily – Day 1
• The Spunky Coconut – Day 2
• I Am Gluten Free – Day 3
  
• The Gluten Free Homemaker – Day 4
• Delectably Free – Day 5
  
• Jenn Cuisine – Day 6
  
• Sure Foods Living – Day 7
  
• dinners & dreams — Day 8
• The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen — Day 9
• The Messy Chef – Day 10
• One Frugal Foodie — Day 11
• Celiac Teen - Day 12
  
• Gluten Free For Good - Day 13
  
• Gluten Free Vegan Family - Day 14
  
• Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried - Day 15
  
• Simply Gluten-Free - Day 16
  
• Lexie’s Kitchen - Day 17
  
• Food Blogga - Day 18
  
• What’s Cooking Blog - Day 19
  
• Cook 4 Seasons - Day 20
  
• Gluten Free Gidget - Day 21
  
• A Year of Slow Cooking
• Tasty Eats at Home
• Gluten Free Doctor Recipes
• Ginger Lemon Girl
• Simply Sugar and Gluten Free
• The Daily Dietribe
• Celiac Family
• Andrea’s Recipes
• London Foodie in NY

There are also prizes to win! Go to the 30 Days to a Food Revolution page to see the details about how to enter.

First, I would like to say thank you for the nice comments about my website and about the beverage bottles! My husband and I had a lot of fun doing this giveaway together.

And now… congratulations to the randomly chosen winners of a Lifefactory Glass Beverage Bottle in the color of their choice! The winners are:

Shelley Silva - Spring Green!

Betty Lyle - Spring Green! Happy birthday!

Robin - Midnight Blue!

Don’t forget that you can still get a 15% discount by entering go glass when you purchase any of the bottles from the Lifefactory website. Go Glass!

I am so excited to tell everyone about the new glass beverage bottles from Lifefactory, and do a giveaway to THREE lucky readers! I have been using one of the bottles (the orange one) for the past few months now and I LOVE it. I was privileged to get one before they were available to the public because (disclosure alert!) my husband works for Lifefactory, and I demanded that I have one!

So, let me tell you about these and why you’re going to want one…

In case you missed it, they are GLASS. Yes, glass. You are most likely currently drinking out of a plastic (need I say it?) or a metal (that tastes like metal) water bottle. Besides the great environmental and health reasons why this new bottle is a necessity, the #1 reason I like this bottle is TASTE. My water tastes like water! I would never choose to drink from plastic or metal at home, and now I get to drink from glass when I am in my car, taking a water break from a volleyball game, hanging out at the park with my kids, or attending an all-day conference. I also love that the bottle has a wide mouth so I can easily drop ice cubes in. (I hurt my hand trying to whack ice cubes into my old metal drinking container.)

You might still be wondering how a glass bottle is going to make it to all of these things without breaking. The bottle has a non-toxic tight-fitting silicone sleeve that protects it from breaking, and also gives you a good grip on the bottle. The sleeves are brightly colored with a cool, modern design. My bottle attracts attention wherever I go! You don’t need to take the sleeves off of the bottles — just put the whole thing in the dishwasher. My daughters have been using the Lifefactory baby bottles as water bottles (with caps instead of nipples) every day in their lunches to school for about two years now, and they still look brand new (and they haven’t broken them).

To win a 22 ounce glass beverage bottle from Lifefactory, please leave a comment choosing which color you would want. The colors are: Midnight Blue, Orange, Pearl White, Red, Sky Blue, and Spring Green. I will choose THREE winners at random. You have until Friday, March 26 at 5pm PST to comment (only one comment per person please). I will notify the winners on Saturday.

For those of you who don’t win, or would like to purchase more bottles, you can get 15% off the Lifefactory online store by using the discount code: go glass (with a space).

GOOD LUCK!

I have the winners of the Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook! By the way, I went to our holiday meeting/potluck of GIG of Marin, and someone there had made the crackers from Elana’s cookbook — and they were sooooo good! I wish I could have nuts around my house because I would love to try many more of her recipes.

Anyway, the lucky winners of the cookbook, chosen at random are:

• Lisa (comment #10)
• Britney (comment #3)
• JennVM (comment #36)

Congratulations and happy holidays to you!

If you would like another chance to win this cookbook, go to the W.H.O.L.E. gang - Diane is giving away 2 copies there!

In other contests, you could win:

A Breadmaker Bread Machine

Gluten-Free Granola

Marshmallows

Lots of cookbooks

Just in time for the holidays, you can win a copy of The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam! I met Elana at a blogger conference a few months ago and she has donated signed copies of her book to my readers.

The recipes in this cookbook are diverse — muffins, scones, crackers, chicken fingers, entrees, pie, cake and more. All use almond flour, are gluten-free and grain-free. Almond flour has a low glycemic index and is high in protein and fiber, making it ideal for people with celiac disease or gluten intolerance, diabetes, and anyone looking to vary their diet.

Here’s how you can win:
Just make a comment on this post telling what your favorite holiday treat is (or was!). I will choose three winners at random. You have until Friday, December 4 at 5pm PST to comment (only one comment per person please).

Thank you Elana for this wonderful cookbook!

Thank you to Namaste Foods for providing three winners with a bag of Perfect Flour Blend! Comments were chosen at random. If you didn’t win, you can purchase this product online from Namaste Foods or from Amazon.

The winners are…

1. Gluten-Free FileMaker Dude
2. Katrina (gluten free gidget)
3. Ann Maurren

Congratulations!

My daughter is in her second week of Kindergarten and already there have been four birthdays in her class, which means four days of treats that she can’t eat! I’m realizing that elementary school is a whole different world than preschool when it comes to food. It seems to be everywhere. Part of me feels nervous. Can I trust everyone to remember not to give her the birthday treat? Can I trust her to always say no? Part of me feels sad for her that she feels left out.

“I wish I didn’t have food allergies,” she told me last night.
“I wish I didn’t have any either,” I said.

I can’t grant her wish, but I can offer her alternatives that are delicious and safe for her. I have supplied a “snack box” in her classroom — a plastic storage container with her name written on it filled with packaged allergy-free cookies and fruit bars — in case of a treat emergency. But we also have a deal: if other kids got something special in class that day that she couldn’t have, then she gets to have something special when she gets home. Homemade cookies always do the trick! And a good old chocolate chip cookie can also turn into an ice cream sandwich or a frosted delight!

Making gluten-free cookies from scratch doesn’t have to be difficult, even if you have other food allergies too, like we do. Using a pre-made GF flour blend makes it especially easy. There are many on the market, but I recently tried Namaste Foods’ Perfect Flour Blend to make gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and they were perfect! Now you can make them too, using the recipes below.

Namaste Foods is going to give away a package of Perfect Flour Blend to three lucky winners! All you have to do to enter is make a comment on this post saying what you would like to make using the Perfect Flour Blend. Three winners will be chosen at random (one comment per person please). Contest will end on Monday, September 14 at noon PST.

According to the package, “Namaste’s Perfect Flour Blend has been designed with ease, efficiency and all your favorite recipes in mind. Simply replace the wheat flour in your everyday recipe with the same amount of our flour blend then follow the directions in the recipe. Namaste’s Perfect Flour Blend will work with almost any recipe in your everyday cookbook. (Obviously, results may vary with more sophisticated recipes.)”

Ingredients: Sweet brown rice flour, tapioca flour, arrowroot flour, sorghum flour and xanthan gum. (Namaste Foods uses xanthan gum that is not derived from corn or corn sources.)

Here is the recipe for the cookies I made using the recipe from the Perfect Flour Blend bag with some substitutions and additions:

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Egg-Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Earth Balance Dairy-Free Soy-Free Natural Buttery Spread, softened (you can also use oil, butter or margarine)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup sugar
Ener-G Egg Replacer for 1 egg (or use 1 egg if you have no egg allergies)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups gluten-free oats (I use Cream Hill Estates Lara’s Rolled Oats)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips, or 1/2 cup of each

Directions:
1. Cream together “butter” and sugars until smooth. Add egg replacer (or egg) and vanilla and mix until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
2. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto lightly greased cookie sheet. If the batter seems a little crumbly, just press it together to hold its shape. It will hold together when it cooks.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes, then move to wire rack and continue cooling. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

The recipe below was sent to me by Michele, the creator of Namaste Foods.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or non-dairy butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups Namaste Perfect Flour Blend
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto greased pans.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely
browned.

I was never much of a cake-lover, so when I got married I decided to do something different. The wedding location was my family’s vacation spot where I grew up sitting around the bonfire at night, and of course, making S’mores. So that was it — we had S’mores at our wedding! My husband and I even ceremoniously roasted the marshmallows and fed each other the S’mores as if it were cake. Kind of corny (pretty sure husband was thoroughly embarrassed), but memorable (and so was the smoke!)

When I was diagnosed with celiac disease 3 months later, I said goodbye to gluten and to S’mores. I have continued to roast marshmallows over the years (they are gluten-free) and have even tried to make a sandwich using gluten-free cookies, but none really reminded me of the real thing. I even tried making mock graham crackers from scratch, but that is a lot of work and requires planning ahead.

So you can see why I would be excited about a new product called S’moreables Graham Style Crackers, made by Kinnikinnick! And let me tell you, my girls are excited too. S’mores can also be dairy-free if you use dark chocolate. (Although there are no egg or nut ingredients, the box of S’moreables states that they may contain traces of eggs and tree nuts.)

The taste of these cookies is like a graham cracker, the texture crispier. One thing I noticed is that after the box had been opened for a few days, the cookies got softer and became more like a traditional graham cracker. Another thing to note is that the cookies have a line to show you where to break them, but it is totally impossible to actually break them on that line — my recommendation is not to break them and  just make a double S’more instead!

Now for the giveaway. How to enter:

Leave a comment about S’mores — making them, eating them, favorite memory of. Anything! For example, I’ll let you in on my S’mores trick: stick the chocolate into the middle of the melty marshmallow instead of between the cracker and marshmallow. That way the chocolate melts too! Now your turn…

The randomly chosen winner will receive 4 different varieties of cookies from Kinnikinnick! You have until Sunday, July 19th at 5pm PST to comment (only one comment per person please). I will announce the winner on Monday so check back!

Before I tell you the winner of the gluten-free cereal giveaway, I want to thank Erewhon for their generosity, not just with this contest, but because they send me boxes of cereal to give out whenever I do a talk or have a GIRG meeting.

And now for the winner…

But wait! I want to share with you some of interesting (and not so interesting) ways that people eat cereal, as shared in the comments on the contest post. Here are some ideas, but read the comments for more recipes and details!

How to eat gluten-free cereal:

• with milk — cow, rice, almond, soy, coconut, hemp!
• in yogurt
• dry, out of a ziploc bag or straight out of the box (in a car, on a bus!)
• mixed with other cereal to make a new kind of cereal — get really daring and mix 3 or even 4!
• in homemade trail mix or granola or “snack balls”
• in crispy marshmallow treats — variations include: adding peanut butter, chocolate in or drizzled on top, died red & green for the holidays, cut into different shapes, with brown rice syrup instead of marshmallow, and more!
• used in a topping for a fruit crisp or crumble
• with stuff dipped into it — banana, spoonful of peanut butter or almond butter, anything sticky
• in cookie bars
• on top of an ice cream sundae
• made into a bar for the top and bottom of an ice cream sandwich treat
• used in a cookie pie crust
• as a coating when baking — chicken, chicken nuggets
• as a coating when frying — more chicken!
• share it with your cat!
• give it to your dog!

Okay, noooowww I can tell you that the randomly selected winner is…

Alison! Wow, does she have a great name! And with 3 kids, it sounds like she could really use 3 free boxes of cereal. Congratulations Alison and thanks to everyone who participated. Be sure to sign up (in upper right) to get updates on new articles and more giveaways!

One of the foods you have to watch out for when on a gluten-free diet is cereal. Most are made of a gluten-containing grain, like wheat, barley, or oats (oats themselves are gluten-free, but the oats used in most cereals are contaminated with wheat). Even if the cereal is made from a gluten-free grain like rice, corn or buckwheat, barley in the form of malt is often added for flavor — this is the case with Rice Krispies, for example.

Not to worry, for Erewhon (pronounced Air-whon) gluten-free cereals are here! Their Gluten-Free Crispy Brown Rice Cereal goes snap, crackle, pop and is perfect for making rice crispy treats. They are a staple cereal in my house, along with a few other Erewhon flavors.

Now they have 2 new flavors of gluten-free cereal to choose from: Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice and Strawberry Crisp. Both are sweet and delicious!! I have been snacking on the Strawberry Crisp for days and my daughters love it. I haven’t let them try the Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice yet because I know that I will never hear the end of their begging for more. I’m saving that one for a special treat… maybe even for chocolate rice crispy treats! Yum!

YOU CAN WIN!

What’s that you say? You would like to try them too? Well, here’s your chance to win, courtesy of Erewhon:

• 3 boxes of gluten-free cereal of your choice:
  - Gluten Free Crispy Brown Rice
  - Crispy Brown Rice with Mixed Berries
  - Cocoa Crispy Brown Rice
  - Rice Twice
  - Strawberry Crisp Flakes
  - Corn Flakes
  - Aztec Crunchy Corn & Amaranth
• a Patagonia T-Shirt (available in Adult L, XL & Kids L)
• an Erewhon Coupon Keeper with coupons for $1 off next purchases

HOW DO YOU WIN?

In  the comments section of this post, let me know the 3 flavors of gluten-free cereal you would like to win and your favorite way to eat cereal or use cereal (maybe it’s just in a bowl with milk, but I know some of you will share some creative ideas!)

Make a comment by this Thursday, June 4 at noon PST, and I will randomly pick a winner (please only comment once!) I will announce the winner on Friday.

More about Erewhon:

Erewhon cereals are available wherever natural foods are sold including the natural food section of many supermarkets, and on Amazon!  For more information visit www.ErewhonGlutenFree.com.