Ben & Jerry's: Our New Favorites

My birthday was Sunday, and I love ice cream cake, but I haven't been able to enjoy any for a while.  Ben & Jerry's is my new hero.  See, the Dairy Queen, Carvel, and Maggie Moo's cakes all have a cookie crumble or cake layer or both.  Ben & Jerry's allows you to have a gluten-free cake.

You have two options:  1. All ice cream or 2. Bring in your own filling, such as cookies or brownies.

Then you place a special order.  The Ben & Jerry's that I visited had a binder at the counter that listed all the gluten-free ice creams.  I chose Phish Food and Vanilla, chose my cake style from the catalog, and handed over my brownies.  The clerk wrote "GLUTEN-FREE - USE CUSTOMER BROWNIES" in the special instructions.  Even better:  we got a $3 discount for bringing in our own brownies.

I came back a day and a half later to pick it up, and it looked good!  It tasted good too.  As you can see in the picture below, there are two layers of brownie or cookie alternated with two layers of your choice of ice cream.  I chose the chocolate frosting, but there is vanilla as well.

Check out the Ben & Jerry's Website for a location near you!

Cookbooks Can be Fun

Generously posted to our blog by Mikki Black

(http://hereswhatletsdo.blogspot.com)

Recently, I was contacted in regards to a new cookbook: Gluten Free Every Day by Chef Robert Landolphi.  Would I like a free preview copy?  No strings attached.  Feel free to write about it on your blog, but you don't have to.  um... .... ... YES!

Shortly thereafter, the book arrived, and I began to read.  Turns out it's not just a cookbook.

The whole first chapter, "Gluten Free Basics", is informative.  Each successive chapter begins with a quick breakdown of what you need to know to cook the type of food in that chapter.  Some of these informational segments are just a few sentences, and others, such as chapter three: "Entrees", for example, you get a two page list of possible coatings to replace the traditional flour breading. (THANK YOU!)

I wish I had had this book last year when I was first diagnosed.  I didn't know which way to turn, and it seemed that almost all the books I came across were either way too organic or too gourmet for my tastes and style (or they just had awful foods! Bleah.)

This book is excellent for someone who is just starting out.  It's easy to read and it does not contain the words "for dummies" (for me, this is super-important).  It's also a fairly versatile book.  It has recipes that would appeal to a variety of people:  Here's a short list of some of the items it contains:

• Beer-Battered Onion Rings (super yummy, and a little spicy)
• Baked beans
• Cranberry-Hazelnut Rice Stuffing
• Shrimp and Vegetable Pad Thai
• White Chicken Chili
• Ricotta Cream Berry Trifle
• Parmesean-Pesto Chicken with Pecans

Whether you're just starting out on your gluten free life or you've been at it a while and are just looking for something new and interesting, this is a good book.  I hope you like it as much as I do.

Wanna Eat Out?

Foodie Bytes (currently a Beta site) is a restaurant menu search engine.  It is amazing and easy to use.  Once at their site, you have a choice of logging in, or using the site as a guest.

Basically, you choose your city, and then your type of search.  You can search by restaurant or by type of food.  If you don't already have a place in mind, you can simply choose your city, then "food search", and type in "gluten free".

The results are sortable by neighborhood, price range, distance, and type of food (e.g. steakhouse, Mexican, etc.). You can combine, or stack, the sorts too, by adding or removing the different criteria selected.  It's very simple to use.  There are also customer comment areas for each food item and for each restaurant, so you can see what others thought

My favorite feature, though, is one you have to login for.  You can create a login with Foodie Bytes or you can use your OpenID (if you have one).  Once you log in, you get your own home page (with the option to upload a photo - if you'd like).  On that home page, you can keep tabs on your item, restaurant reviews, and favorites.  You can also maintain a wish list for both items and restaurants.  This is my favorite part.  What if you have a birthday or special occasion coming up, and people want to know where they can take you?  Or what if you just want to be able to run out quickly without taking the time to go on a web search first?  Just grab your wish list and go!  So great.

I've now spent a few days wandering around this site, and I think it's fabulous.  Each item description also lists portion sizes, type of cuisine, and the item's categories.  In addition, there are links for the restaurant, the full menu, and a Google map.

Go and check them out!  Their popularity is growing, and their restaurant base is excellent.  It's the site I've been wishing for for months.  The only drawback, for me, is that it only focuses on major cities at this point, and I don't live right in a major city.  I'm hopeful, though, that they will continue to expand as their client base grows.

-Mikki

UNO Chicago Grill Now Carries Gluten Free Pizza Nationwide

UNO Chicago Grill 

201 East Pratt Street

Harborplace

Baltimore, MD 21202

410-625-5900

(Click Here to find the Location Closest to You)

The Gluten Free Information You're Longing For

I ate pizza.  At a real restaurant.  Honest to goodness thin crust pepperoni pizza.  I am so happy.  It has been 9 months since I've had restaurant pizza, and when I found out that Uno Chicago Grill was now carrying gluten free pizza in all their restaurants, I shuffled off to the nearest one, in Woodbridge, VA.  

Uno's has a gluten free menu, but you won't see the pizza on it.  The pizza (for now, anyway) is listed on the regular menu.  You have your choice of Cheese or Pepperoni, and the pizza is 6-slice, 10", thin crust.  It was delicious.  The crust is flaky and crisp, but soft.  It's not like a cracker crust would be.

I did ask the server about adding other ingredients to the pizza.  Her response was that if I had celiac disease, I should not add any other ingredients because of the risk of cross-contamination from the shared ingredients.  If you can be happy with a simple pepperoni or cheese pizza, however, this is the pie for you.  

In addition to the pizza, their gluten-free menu offers steak, chicken, burgers, a variety of different sides, and both a house salad and a cobb salad.  There is also a selection of smoothies and such from the bar.

Overall, my visit to Uno Chicago Grill was excellent, and I recommend it whole-heartedly.

-Mikki

Note from the Editor's Desk:  We are looking into the gluten-free pizza offerings at our local UNO Chicago Grill on Pratt Street.

A warm welcome to our newest associate contributor:

Mikki Black joins us from the outskirts of Washington D.C.  Having been recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease, Mikki began the overwhelming research that accompanies such a diagnosis so as to be able to continue living and cooking as she always has.  Along with the research and lifestyle changes, Mikki has found herself becoming a mentor and consultant for several people online and in her church who are also celiacs or are gluten-free because of other issues, such as diabetes or autism.  Mikki has been working to build her readership online in hopes of perhaps pursuing publication in the future.

Mikki's interests include:  cooking & eating, reading, Christianity, Facebook, music, poetry, and blogging (Check out Mikki's home blog!)

And, of course, anyone contributing to our blog must have some favorite foods, and Mikki has a great list:  pasta, slow-roasted anything, thick steaks with cabernet sauvignon, brownies, pie, Pacific salmon, cheese, chicken, potatoes... (We're hungry already!)

From the Desk of Mikki Black

Greetings! 

Almost a year ago now, I was diagnosed with celiac disease.  Since then, I have fought through a vast mountain of information (some good and some bad) in order to learn more about Celiac Disease and how to live well with it.

I was excited to stumble across Gluten Free in Baltimore while planning a day trip over the 2008 holidays.  It has become one of many that I read and research from regularly.  Things are moving fast in the world of Celiac Disease research and nutritional labeling, and I like to stay current.  Why limit your options?  Why force yourself to freeze in time?

Celiac Disease, or any of the other issues which cause the need to restrict gluten intake, need not be a punishment!  There are so many good foods and products!  My passionate interest has led to an interesting side effect:  I have become a bit of a touch point for people at work and at church who are also dealing with Celiac Disease in their lives.

At the same time, I started up a blog in order to flex my writing muscles and build contacts online with people who, like me, love food, but have had to learn to enjoy it in a whole new manner:  sans gluten.  Over at my home blog: Here's What Let's Do, I chronicle short stories and recipes and reflections on life with Celiac Disease, among other things.  It's sort of a random catch-all type of blog, so I am looking forward to writing here, on a focused blog.

Celiac Disease has changed me.  I've had to deal with major lifestyle changes, diet adjustments, periods of intense frustration, even depression.  Having the support not only of sympathetic family members, but empathetic new friends who truly understand what I was experiencing made all the difference for me.  Life is not perfect now, of course, but it is so much better than it was!

To your search for knowledge, to your pursuit of good food, to your health!

- Mikki