Tuesday, November 18, 2008

We Pause: For a Gluten Free Food Commercial.....


Since the holidays are upon us, many of us Celiacs need some sweet treats and other good stuff to eat. If you want some of Lulu and Phoebe's specific yummy recipes that have taken us literally years to get right, they will be available on Tuesdays on our blog at Open Salon. For today's Chocolate Chunk Cookies (gluten free of course) go here:

http://open.salon.com/cover.php You can't miss the cookie photo. Click on the title and there you go. Enjoy.

Look for more foodie recipes from us on Tuesdays through the holidays. For future foodie blogs, the best bet is to click directly to our Open Salon blog which is here:
http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=45595



Gluten Free Recommendations and Resources


These are some of our favorite shopping places/brands/information for GF foods

MEDICATIONS
http://www.glutenfreedrugs.com/
This is a great site to check and see if your meds are gf. For example, prilosec is not gf. Good to know!

BREADS, PIZZA CRUST, WAFFLES
http://kinnikinnick.com/
These guys make great sandwich bread, the white rice tapioca bread, or Italian white are our favorites. The breads work best if toasted first, or use a Panini grill with olive oil on the bread. They make great pizza crust, and again, bake the crust with olive oil first and then add the toppings. They also make great frozen waffles.

You can often find these items in Whole Foods in the freezer or refrigerator near the breads. Draegers on the Peninsula, and Piazzi’s Fine Foods in Palo Alto carry these as well.

IN A HURRY COOKIES
http://www.glutenfreeda.com/index.asp
They make frozen cookie dough and the peanut butter cookies are pretty good. Again, Whole Foods carries them, but you can find them sometimes in other stores.

FLOURS AND XANTHAN GUM
http://www.glutenfree-supermarket.com/
This is a good site to buy flour and xanthan gum. Whenever you bake with gf rice flour or gf flour blends for any baked goods you will want to add a ½ to 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum to the recipe to get it to act like gluten in the baking process. It keeps everything from falling apart. GF + a bit of xanthan gum = good baked stuff!

http://www.glutenfree-supermarket.com/flourblend.aspx#GF_Classical_Blend
Authentic Foods is home to this Classic Blend (the last item on the page) that we use for baking most of the time. It is the smoothest mix we have used yet. Others are a bit gritty. We also use their Sweet Rice Flour as well and that is very smooth too.


PASTA, PRETZELS, AND MORE
http://www.glutenfree.com/
http://www.glutenfree.com/Tinkyada-Shells/Item954015
http://www.glutenfree.com/Glutino-Pretzels-Twist-Family-Bag/Item101002


Here you will find the Tinkyada pastas – all of them are excellent and one would be hard pressed to tell the difference in a freshly made pasta meal. Just don’t shoot for leftovers. Rice pasta falls apart. You have to absolutely rinse the stuff in cool water after cooking before tossing with your sauce or other ingredients. Just make sure to heat it all up again gently and it will taste great. Rinsing in cool water keeps it from falling apart. Honest!

The pretzels are really really good and a great snack.

Pamela’s packaged cookies are supposed to be tasty and lots of people like them. We sometimes do, and most times don’t. Gluten Freeda cookies are better.


http://www.glutino.com/
These guys sell their stuff on link above this one. They were a Canadian company and merged a few years ago with a place called the Gluten Free Pantry in CT. GFP made some great items, mostly mixes. You can still find them in the product line-up. The pie crust mix is pretty good. However, some Whole Foods now sell GF pie crusts in the freezer near the bakery. They are really very good and worth the money.

GRANOLA!
http://www.bakeryonmain.com/
Granola. Really good GF granola.

LARGE AND THIN PIZZA CRUSTS
http://www.stillridingpizza.com/default.aspx
Thin, pretty tasty pizza crusts.

BLOGS
My favorite GF blogs. Gluten Free Girl has a book out titled the same. A good read. Lots of good links, recipes and information. GF Bay is new to me, and has some interesting recipes and information for the SF Bay area. GF Goddess is a blog I’ve been reading for years, it seems. She has reinvented it several times, and it also, has good recipes and links.

http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/

http://glutenfreebay.blogspot.com/

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/



BREAD ROLLS, BREAD, BREAD CRUMBS
http://www.gilliansfoods.com/
These started showing up in some Whole Foods Markets in the freezer near the bakery. I’ve been mail ordering from them for several years. The rolls and breadcrumbs are pretty good.


BOB'S RED MILL: COCONUT FLOUR AND GF OATS
http://www.bobsredmill.com/home.php?cat=109
Bob’s has some interesting things. They have one of the only GF oats in the US. They also have coconut flour which when added to cookie recipes is fantastic. They have bunches of other GF items too. Lots of stores carry Bob’s.

TORTILLAS
http://www.food4celiacs.com/ShopOnline/LTF/index.html
Teff tortillas. These are pretty good. They make great quesadillas!

BOOKS
And for reading: At Amazon, here are some of my favorites.
http://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Free-Baking-Classics-Annalise-Roberts/dp/1572840994/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218843450&sr=8-2
This is a great baking book. Her recipes mostly always work.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006076693X/ref=s9ktag_t1_at0-rfc_g1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=top-1&pf_rd_r=0BEG9TBKH2S57SV4Q9XG&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=420958601&pf_rd_i=gluten%20free
And this is a newer book and has tons of useful health info.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Oh Come on. Really? You Thought We Were Done with Palin?




Ok. So we thought so too. Who else could grab 15 minutes of fame and turn it into an hour and a half? While Palin couldn't talk to the talking heads while she was under armed guard at the McCracker-fest, she is now free to roam the planet.

That's most obvious if you watched television, or read anything this past week. The ink isn't even dry on the new paint job on the retired Jet Blue campaign jet, and Palin is pot-holing up the airways with her Palin-speak charm. First Greta Van Susteren gave her an opportunity to film a fine Fox infomercial. It almost seems as though by the end of it they were BFF. I guess Hasselbeck will not be getting that Christmas mouse, oops, moose pudding this year?

Next up was Matt Lauer doing his "where in the world" series ending up in Palin's kitchen in Wasilla. Did anyone else notice anything a bit odd about that kitchen episode where she fed Lauer (moose chili?) or moose hot dogs? The kitchen comes into view at about 4:18.



It looks like they (Palin and First Dude Todd) saw the kitchen in a photo in some slick magazine and copied it frame for frame into a real kitchen. Only thing is, no one told them that slick lay-out kitchens in magazines are typically not useful in real life. You know the one. The kitchen where the sink is in another room altogether and the stove is five yards from the refrigerator and nary a useful kitchen like tool adorns the counter tops. It would not surprise me to see a shotgun in a drawer in that house. After all, you never know when an unsuspecting moose might wander into the yard.

And while we are on the subject of reality v. fantasy, who cooks in a power suit? Come on. Seriously. Barracud-ass did photo ops on the campaign trail in those Pro America places with bluejeans. One more bit of proof that her kitchen is not really a kitchen. Seriously. Just a blue screen.

And then Palin takes off to the GOP Governor's conference. Again, she agrees to another press conference. The Palin-on-the-road show. But this time, some of the Governors accompany her on the stage. And the hair guy from Texas, Governor Rick, led her by the elbow and announced that the press conference was done after something under 8 minutes. Is he running the Palin show now? What happened? Did the press just start to leave? The Perry arm action is about 6:27.



And a side note. Little Piper, when asked by Lauer how she enjoyed the campaign show and tell (she being the object of show and tell along with Trig) told him that she was really behind on homework and that she missed her friends. Great mothering Palin. Like the Obama girls, why couldn't your first dude stay home to take care of the children? Even your parents would have been a better choice than constantly taking them on the road for your six week Alaskan Idol Tour.

Nope. Not the last we've heard from her yet. Does anyone know if they are recruiting on Planet of the Apes for a new vice presidential candidate?

Friday, November 7, 2008

Yes We Did, Mr. President!




It was a mighty big day November 4, 2008. We went to the polls and came back with a newly minted President who has the ability to inspire us all to feel an unending measure of hope. The tangibles are not that important. It is the transformation from hopelessness and despair to peace in our hearts and a large measure of hope – the world over.

President Elect Obama inspires us all to look into ourselves and find the core of what makes us good people, good citizens, good leaders. His intellect, his substance, his belief in us as a nation, as a global world, is infectious. And while the road is long, the hardship still here, the crumbling and eroding of our planet both literally and figuratively still present, his leadership makes us feel like we have the strength and the resolve to mend it all.

As we have come to know so well – Yes we can!

And we begin with yes we did!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts Mr. President
!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Goodbye McCracker, Goodbye Barracud-ass


The day before. It feels like getting ready for a Bar Mitzvah. Or Thanksgiving dinner for the entire family. Or a big time Holiday party. It is full of anticipation, agonizing over what to wear, and the details of it all are making most of us a little bit on edge. Shall I serve the cranberries with orange zest or ginger? Cheese and crackers or Martha Stewart? Do I bring a wrap to the Synagogue in case it is cold, or should I just wear a sweater? How many shoes do I own that I can actually stand in for 3o minutes? None? Ohoh. How come the turkey smells funny? And who forgot to buy the butter? And why are all my stockings torn? And who was supposed to fill the car with gas? And why is gas still $4.50 a gallon?

See what I mean? Did you brain break reading all of that? Welcome to the anticipation. Lulu and Phoebe are sleeping it off again. I certainly wish they would tell me their secret for dropping into slumber at the drop of a paw. Of course, they are nervous and barking at a the crinkle of a chocolate bar opening, even after the 6th one (oops, did I say that aloud?).

In our heart of hearts this is what we know. President-Elect Obama will win by a landslide. Some of the returns will make our hearts flutter in anticipation, but in the end, he will win by a landslide. Some of the pundits will make our brains explode with their doom and gloom delivery, but Obama will still win by a landslide. And the almost autistic like repetition of the numbers over and over will make us all get migraines, but he will still win by a landslide.

In California, Prop 8 will be defeated, but it will be close. Too close for comfort. Too close to think that it will go quietly into the night. And disturbingly close for us to not look at some of our neighbors suspiciously. Yes, you Los Altos. What's up with those Yes on 8 lawn signs?!

And sadly, Sarah Palin will go home to Alaska not knowing that she is not as well liked there anymore. She will be oblivious and will still wage her national fear-mongering religious battle to an audience of no one. But also sadly, she will think many someones are listening.

McCain has no worries. He can retire now to one or more of his 35 homes and use one or more of his 43 automobiles and spend quality time with his friends. He is washed up in the Senate having pissed off more than a few of his brethren. And Lieberman will hopefully be new ranking member of the Joint Committee on Printing in the Senate, when the leadership finishes with him.

And perhaps the banks that are hoarding the lending dollars will begin to "redistribute the wealth" once they understand that President-Elect Obama will not reward them for their part in the meltdown. And perhaps lots of us will appreciate the homecoming of our troops and look forward to a holiday season filled with some hope and promise.

A forward looking pre congratulations to President-Elect Obama.

And Lulu and Phoebe would very much appreciate an invitation to the inauguration. They promise to wear their best couture.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Beauty Queens Unite on other Planet Earth!


If you had been paying attention to Lulu all these months you would know that the election will come down to this one fundamental ideal. More like one fundamental question.

Can beauty queens rule the earth?

And the answer is, of course, yes! But according to Lulu, not this particular earth. It would be the "earth" that we all know exists in the space- time continuum that is visible and accessible only to Sarah Barracud-ass and her brethren. Brethren you ask? Why. Yes. And you can find them here in Rebecca Traister's article in Salon along with my favorite clip:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/11/01/palin/

"We might end up with a socialist government in office and if that happens, it might be hard to get it out," said Candice Ward, a 23-year-old Miss Kent County from Delaware. "We have a democracy right now and it's no time to lose it." Ward was wearing her tiara, and had come to support Palin, a fellow beauty pageant contestant. "She placed second runner-up in Miss Alaska, and I was third runner-up in Miss Delaware."

Surely you must have wondered who that 3.75% were who support McPalin sans McCracker? They apparently live in central Pennsylvania and they are god fearing folk who think a former quasi-teleprompter-reading-beauty-queen-runner up is just what this country needs. Or as we also heard from another corner of that alternative other earth, an All American Woman.

This is it. Three days and a few more hours to gander at the population that emerges out from under the floor boards this time of year. Halloween? Noooo. These are election maverick lovers who finally emerge from the fringe and cast their ballot for their favorite candidate who reminds them of someone they know and love. George Bush in a skirt and stilettos.

Alas, though he may never achieve becoming the President, John McCracker will still live in infamy. If you do a Yahoo search (not google) and ask for "worst republican politician" right at the top of the page will be JohnMcCain.com/contribute, and if it isn't there reload the page. It pops up as erratically as McCracker's campaign seems to be working. How's that for an endorsement? But then again, the guy was never a runner-up in any beauty contests, or was he?

Three days!


UPDATE:

ohoh. They aren't all in PA. Apparently they escaped are living in Grosse Pointe too. Lulu says that for sure this woman has a tiara from an ancient beauty contest somewhere in her home. Here you go:

http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/2008/11/01/D946BQD01_odd_halloween_politics/index.html

"Nov 1st, 2008 | GROSSE POINTE FARMS, Mich. -- A suburban Detroit woman has decided to scare up the vote among neighborhood children by just offering treats to John McCain supporters.

Shirley Nagel of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., handed out candy Friday only to those who shared her support for the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate Sarah Palin. Others were turned away empty-handed.

TV station WJBK says a sign outside Nagel's house warned: "No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters or kids of supporters."

Nagel calls Democrat Barack Obama "scary." When asked about children who were turned away empty-handed and crying, she said: "Oh well. Everybody has a choice."

Fax and phone messages left at numbers for Nagel were not returned."