Gluten Free Choice

I've added a link to Gluten Free Choice in my Celiac links.  You should check it out, especially if you live in the Portland area!

Wines I've Tried That Work for Me

Wine seems to be a hot topic on the celiac.com forum, so I've decided to post wines I've tried that seem ok to me to drink in hopes it will help others when they just can't decide what to try.  I don't want to go posting to the forum when I don't have clear evidence these wines are gluten free, so I'll put it in it's own section on the right column of my blog this evening sometime.  Then it's clearly just IMHO.  :)

Update:  Ok it's up.  I'll keep it updated as I try new ones.

Picazzo's Pizza

I had gourmet pizza last night and it was fantastic!  If you are gluten intolerant and want a fun (though slighly pricey) night out, check out Picazzo's Pizza.  Almost everything on their menu is, or can be, made gluten free.  There are only a couple of things off limits.  It's the first time in a long time that I've been able to sit down and consider eating anything on the menu!  

I ordered a gluten-free pizza with chicken and artichoke hearts.  It was a little skimpy on the sauce, but otherwise delicious.  What a luxury to eat the leftovers for breakfast!  I recommend this restaurant to anyone living in AZ or OR.  They go to great lengths to ensure your pizza is safe from cross-contamination (even though nothing is ever guaranteed 100% at any restaurant) and the staff seemed very well educated on Celiac, which made for a very relaxed evening.  I enjoyed a great meal, free from illness or sleepiness.  Ah, heaven!  :)

Cataplexy Questionnaire

Hey I just found this neat study Stanford did on using a Cataplexy quesionnaire as a predictive model for Narcolepsy diagnosis.  Guess what?  I test pretty 'classic' on this thing.  Take that, mean sleep docs who don't believe me!  You can go stuff it for all I care.  :P

The HLA Test is Ordered

It's done!  What I've been waiting to do so long is finally under way.  My Celiac HLA test!  I'm so excited.  I genotype mice for a living, now I get to genotype myself (for a nominal fee of course.)  I'm really hoping it confirms my suspicions about a lot of stuff regarding things that run in my family and the gluten/narcolepsy link.  Wouldn't it be awesome to finally have something on paper that verifies I'm not insane?  

UPDATE:  It came on Wednesday, which means I have to wait until Monday morning to do the swab and send it in.  Monday??  Argh I can't wait that long!  lol

I want for to eat pizza!

The other day my doctor told me that Garlic Jim's serves gluten free pizza with a corn-based crust.  And I was all excited that I could finally eat pizza!  Yummy pizza, even!  But alas, no.  It was a lie.  I called and the crust is rice-based.  However, this allergic girl just may order one anyway, and let the narocolepsy take her down in a fit of pizza-induced ecstacy.  One nap won't hurt.

UPDATE:  I broke down right after I wrote this and ordered one (with the encouragement of the family...they're such enablers...lol.)  I have to say it was AMAZING.  Total ecstacy.  It was greasy like a Pizza Hut pizza, and I didn't even mind the thin crust.  I'm a thick crust kind of girl, but at this point, any real pizza is heaven.  I'm happy to report that despite it's rice-based crust, I had no adverse reactions to it after I ate it.  No nap, no weird feelings.  Yay!  I did wake up with some burning gut this morning, but I suspect it could just be cross-contamination.  Rice never does that to me.  I'm almost inspired to buy plain rice and see if it really is an option for me.  Cross your fingers!  :D

gluten list resource

http://www.healthnowmedical.com/info/gluten_foods.html

Here's another great list of things to avoid when going gluten free.  Sometimes the memorization drives me mad.  IMHO, labels should be absolutely explicit where gluten-containing foods are concerned.  Nothing should be hidden.

Outback Steakhouse

When I first started this gluten-free diet, I thought I'd never have anything good again.  I lamented about it endlessly.  But tonight was a triumph!  Chocolate Thunder from Down Under is gluten free!!  I used to crave this dessert when I was pregnant and who knew it was one of the only things I ate back then that was ok?  I cried when I found out this was ok to eat, and tonight's meal was absolute bliss (they have an entire gluten free menu and the salmon was absolutely delicious!)  I look forward to eating more very soon!  :)

You're With Stupid Now

http://www.bitesizelife.com/stupid.mp3

I did this song with a band I used to play with a few years ago.  We put it on our demo for gettin gigs around town.  I wish I still wrote songs as much as I used to in my younger days.  This is actually just an Aimee Mann cover from the album of the same name.  I'm singing and playing the guitar that sounds like it's on the right.

Gluten Free ala Dustinland

I found this hillarious cartoon last night about going gluten free.  Check it out!

Celiac Prevalence Studies

I found this essay today and it’s a fascinating read. It takes a good look at actual disease prevalence vs. formal diagnoses. Doctors have been diagnosing Celiac disease since the ancient Greeks. I’m sure Celiac is as old as agriculture itself, but modern medicine seems to have forgotten all that common wisdom gathered over the ages. It seems really backwards at times. Especially since 42% of the American population has genes that predispose them to gluten intolerance. Wow!

Chocolate Cake!

I have had a baking phobia for awhile…not sure where it started, but I was supposed to bake a gluten-free cake for my son’s birthday last month and I just couldn’t do it.  I spent a lot of money buying all the ingredients…took me 2 hours in the store to figure it all out.  I was originally going to make a potato and corn starch cake from scratch, but when I saw the price of xanthum gum (a whopping $12 for a small package!) I opted for Bob’s Red Mill chocolate cake mix.   I finally made this cake last Sunday oh my goodness it was the best cake ever I’ve made! I wasn’t sure it would taste good since raw gluten-free batter always tastes terrible, but once baked it was indistinguishable from a wheat cake, and it was so rich and chocolaty! I made my own frosting from the directions on the back of the Ghiradelli cocoa powder can, but with less sugar. It was amazingly good. My whole family ate this cake pretty quickly! I can’t wait to make it again. Now…if only I could figure out chocolate chip cookies. Yeah I know of some really good recipes but it’s this fear of baking I have to get over…one chocolate cake at a time. Oh what a problem to have! lol