Gluten Free Fayetteville: December 2011

Friday, December 30, 2011

Make your own gluten-free pizza ... sort of

I will admit to everyone I am not a great cook. I can microwave and open cans very well so I have been able to survive so far.

A friend of my mother's gave me a gluten-free pizza kit made by Gallo Lea. The package touted "make a pizza in 30 minutes." Obviously they didn't mean me.

The directions were simple enough, however my technique with dough was abysmal.

After trying to spread quicksand-consistency dough on oily parchment paper for thirty minutes, I finally made a very lopsided pie on the parchment. The dough stuck more to my fingers than onto the parchment. A spoon will help make the edges thicker.

I baked it for 5 minutes, took it out of the oven and precariously peeled it off the parchment. Spatulas are very good for this type of technique.

My pizza now needed sauce and toppings. I thought I'd make it pretty simple and add some mozzarella cheese. (It comes with a pretty good sauce.)

After more baking (5-8 minutes), it sure didn't look pretty but it was rather tasty. My partner Chris thought the dough tasted a bit like refried beans but agreed it wasn't half bad.

I don't think you can get this in Fayetteville but they have a website: http://www.gallolea.com/

May you have better luck than I.

Until then, Bon Appetit!

Friday, December 16, 2011

taste of home, healthy cooking

Do you ever have the experience where you never noticed something ever in your life. Then a friend mentions it, and it is practically jumping out at you? Before I was told I had celibacy, the word gluten was rarely in my word, now all the sudden I find people all around me me being diagnosed. The good news was all the research I had done was being put to use, the bad news was people were being diagnosed with celiac. I knew the challenges they would face, it could be worse, but, it is complicated. Anyway, I was looking through my last issue of Taste of Home and found two recipes gluten free. One is sugarplums, how awesome is that? The other is for almond cookies. Yum. Neither had a million ingredients or complicated directions. If you are interested, it is the December January issue. I plan on trying these out for my holiday baking. Its so hard trying to do gluten free and also be in other kitchens, our church women are getting together to bake together for fun, and I don't know how this will work. We shall see.

Celiac Disease by the Numbers

1 out of every 133 Americans (about 3 million people) has CD.
97% of Americans estimated to have CD are not diagnosed.
CD has over 300 known symptoms although some people experience none.
Age of diagnosis is key: If you are diagnosed between age 2-4, your chance of getting an additional autoimmune disorder is 10.5%. Over the age of 20, that rockets up to 34%.
30% of the US population is estimated to have the genes necessary for CD.
2.5 babies are born every minute in the USA with the genetic makeup to have CD.
There are 15 states in the US with populations less than the total number of Celiacs in the US.
CD affects more people in the US than Crohn’s Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease combined.
500,000 new Celiac diagnoses are expected to occur in the US by 2012 -- thanks to efforts to raise public awareness of the disease.
People with CD dine out 80% less than they used to before diagnosis and believe less than 10% of eating establishments have a 'very good' or 'good' understanding of GF diets.
It takes an average of 11 years for patients to be properly diagnosed with CD even though a simple blood test exists.
The average cost of misdiagnosis is $5,000 - $12,000 per person per year. Improving the time to diagnosis could save the health care system millions of dollars annually in unnecessary medical care.
A recent study by Packaged Facts projects that the sales of GF food will reach $2.63 Billion by 2012.
GF foods are, on average, 242% more expensive then their non-GF counterparts.
The smallest amount of gluten which has been shown by a biopsy to cause damage to a Celiac is 0.1 gram per day - or 1/48th of a slice of bread.
The Food Allergen Labeling & Consumer Protection Act became law in 2006 allowing for easier reading of food labels for those with CD. What took so long?
12% of people in the US who have Down Syndrome also have CD.
6% of people in the US who have Type 1 Diabetes also have CD.
Among people who have a first-degree relative diagnosed with celiac, as many as 1 in 22 people may have the disease.
There are currently 0 drugs available to treat CD.