Gluten Free Mom

Cooking with Jules All Purpose Gluten Free Flour

Last spring (that shows you how behind I am) I had the pleasure of attending a cooking class with Jules Shepard who makes a great All Purpose Gluten Free Flour.

Before we get to the flour and recipes, I have to tell you about Jules.  I really enjoyed meeting her and being in her class.  You leave her class feeling like you have a new gluten free friend.  She is a Mom of two, has been gluten free for over ten years, and is completely devoted to "the cause."  That is, making life better and easier for everyone on the GF diet.

She shared a lot of great tips, but two things that she said, actually that she lives by, stuck in my brain:

Regardless of whether or not we ever try the recipes, it is Jules' goal that everyone leave her GF baking class feeling inspired to try new things and with a general feeling that "we can have our gluten free cake and eat it too."  That living gluten free does not mean leaving without. That we can have good baklava and scones and bread.

Second, that eating gluten free does not mean you have to eat bad food.   Okay, how many of us have bought and consumed bad GF food?  I know we all have because, in all honesty, there is a lot of it on the market.  And sometimes it seems the only choice. 

Jules implored us to STOP eating bad food!!

Not eating bad food is a lot easier to do with her flour which makes baking gluten free extremely easy - yes I said easy.

Now to the flour - Jules has formulated a great gluten free all purpose flour.  If you are looking for that one bag of GF flour to put into your counter-top flour canister for everyday use, then you should give this flour a try.  For most recipes, you can substitute this flour one-for-one for wheat flour. 

During the class, Jules demonstrated the flour by making a chocolate cake, biscuits, scones and bread.  We spent the next week trying out the flour ourselves.  First we made the scones and they were delicious!  They have actually become a family favorite and our easy to play with to change to your taste.  We have added chocolate chips and blueberries (not together).  I also add a couple tablespoons of ground flax and rice bran just to up the health factor.  They are great warmed and drizzled with honey. 

JULES' SCONES / SHORTCAKES

This family favorite produces a light, semi-sweet scone that does not crumble, and is good on its own for breakfast or tea, or in milk or berries for a shortcake-type dessert. As with many of my baking recipes, yogurt is used for moistness, but it shouldn’t be overlooked for flavor. There is no reason to use plain yogurt in a baking recipe! Take advantage of the opportunity to liven up your creations by experimenting with yogurt flavors, and try some of the great new coconut or soy yogurt out there if you are avoiding dairy.

Ingredients:

2 cups Jules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

1/4 cup granulated cane sugar

2 tsp. gluten-free baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

4 Tbs. butter or non-dairy alternative (I like Earth Balance® Shortening or Buttery Sticks)

2 large eggs (or egg substitute)

3/4 cup vanilla yogurt (dairy, soy or coconut work best)

1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries; raisins; orange rind; chopped nuts; chocolate chips; etc. (optional for shortcakes)

cinnamon-sugar to sprinkle on the tops before baking

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Whisk together all dry ingredients in a large bottom bowl. Cut butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or two knives. Stir in the eggs and yogurt.

If making scones, add to final mixture any berries, nuts, raisins, etc. Scoop heaping tablespoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 -12 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned and there are no uncooked portions peeking through. Do not overcook, though.

If making shortcakes, roll out onto a surface dusted with Jules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour to a thickness of about ¾ inch. Cut into circles or other shapes with biscuits or cookie cutters. Place onto a greased cookie sheet and brush the tops with butter or non-dairy substitute and sprinkle with a pre-made cinnamon and sugar mixture. Bake for 8-10 minutes, just until the tops are lightly browned. Do not overcook!

　Copyright 2009 Jules E. Dowler Shepard

NOTE:  We make these with the coconut yogurt and they turn out great.

After trying several of her recipes, we had to put the claim that you can use it as a one-for-one exchange with wheat flour recipes to the test. 

The ultimate test was my Grandma's Sugar Cookie recipe.  These are the cookies that I baked with my Grandma, sitting in the nook of the cabinets on her counter, at her picturesque farm in Iowa.  These are the cookies that she lovingly baked for me and mailed to me when I went away to college, individually wrapped in saran wrap in a shoe box.  I mailed the same cookies back to my Grandpa after she died.

I have tried these before using my own flour combinations.  They turned out great, but are a very delicate, fragile cookies.

With Jules flour, they were even better.  In fact, everyone that I feed them too absolutely praised and loved them. 

GRANDMA'S SUGAR COOKIES WITH JULES' GLUTEN FREE FLOUR

·     1 cup butter at room temperature  (Earth Balance for CF) ***the butter really needs to be at room temperature.  If it is too melted, your cookies will turn out flat.

·     1 ½ cup sugar (I use fine baking sugar but I am sure regular would work )

·     2 eggs

·     1 t GF baking soda in 1 T milk (Almond Milk for CF)

·     1 t lemon juice

·     1 t vanilla

·     1 t salt

·     3 cups Jules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Stir together the GF baking soda and milk and set aside.

Cream the butter.   Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, baking soda mixture, lemon juice and vanilla, and beat well.

Combine the salt and  GF flour.  Add to the creamed mixture and mix until just together.

Drop in walnut (you can tell this is an old recipe) shaped balls on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes. 

 

WHERE TO BUY JULES GLUTEN FREE FLOUR:

You can order it through Jules' website.  Join her weekly recipe email list while you are there. 

If you live in the Seattle-area, you can purchase Jules GF flour at Savory Moments in Redmond. 

WHERE TO FIND JULES:

If you live in the Seattle area, you can catch a class with Jules at Savory Moments in Redmond, October 23 - October 25th. 

Appetizer and Wine (21 and older) Friday October 23rd from 6:00-9:00 pm　　　　　　　　　　　

Kid's Baking Class (ages 6 and up) Saturday October 24th from 1:00-4:00

General Baking Session Sunday October 25th from 2:00-5:00

　　Call Savory Moment for more information and to reserve your space at (425) 867-1516

 

Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets by Applegate Farms and more new products

Every time I turn around these days there seems to be a new gluten free product or a new restaurant now offering gluten free food. 

This is a little hard to read, but it is a sign in the Microsoft cafeteria offering Gluten and Wheat Free Products.

What can be bad about that?

Not much at first glance but I had two bad experiences last week that I want to share as a warning. 

It was the Middle Child's tenth birthday - she does not need to eat gluten free.  She is tall, healthy and full of energy.  Nevertheless, she wanted a gluten free birthday cake so the entire family could join in her celebration.  I normally make my birthday cakes, but a new company was offering gluten free birthday cakes and I just had to try it.  I called ten days in advance to order the cake and went over the fact it had to be gluten free etc. 

On the morning of her birthday I go to pick it up, and thank goodness I asked, but they had not made it gluten free!  It was a beautiful cake but deadly to half of the family. 

That same week, I decided to try out a new restaurant.  Not only did this new restaurant offer gluten free menu items, they had a separate printed gluten free menu. 

I was worried from the beginning when my waiter had a hard time with english - I do not mean this to be derogatory in any way, but it is hard to communicate your special dietary issues when you cannot communicate at all.  I asked for the manager but she was not there yet.  So not feeling terribly confident, I went ahead and ordered. 

My lovely entree came out with a glutenous wheat spring roll plopped right in the middle! 

All of this is to say, that yes it is wonderful that so many gluten free options are newly available, but I honestly worry  that some places are just popping a gluten free label on things without taking the time to really learn about cross contamination and other issues such as hidden ingredients. 

We are our own advocates so wherever you see something offered that is "gluten free" it is up to you to confirm that they truly know what they are doing and that the offered item is safe.  If we all take the initiative to offer a little on the spot training, the gluten free world will be safer.

Now the buyer beware lecture is over and her are some new products that we found and have added to our list of favorites:

Applegate Farms Gluten Free Chicken Nuggets - 

Applegate Farms is now producing a gluten free chicken nugget.  The chicken is organic and antibiotic free and breaded with a blend of rice and corn.  I have to admit that my kids love chicken nuggets and I love the convenience of being able to pop a quick dinner in the oven every so often.  My favorite nuggets are by Bell and Evans but that is because they are more like breaded chicken breast than nuggets.  I have to say that the kids loved the Applegate Farms nuggets - we tried one box warmed in the microwave.  Two minutes until dinner was ready.  They were fine this way, but much better when we took the time to warm them in the oven. 

As to the warning above, thank you to Applegate Farms for taking the initiative to ensure the gluten free status of their nuggets.  According to their website:

What procedures are in place to ensure that Applegate Farms can validate its gluten-free claims?

The gluten-free breading used on our chicken nuggets will be tested for gluten before entering our plant and will be accompanied by a Certificate of Analysis. The finished product will be tested for gluten again before leaving our plant, and will be held until an analysis determines that the product meets our gluten level specifications.

 A winner all of the way around.   

Sjaak's Organic Chocolate Bar -

We are in love with Sjaak's chocolate bars!  I guess you would describe them as gourmet organic chocolate bars.  I love them because they taste wonderful for starters, but they are also produced in a gluten free facility.  In some ways these bring back the romance of chocolate - eating one of these reminds me of "old days" when you could not find Hershey's on every corner in every convenience store.  When eating a chocolate bar was a special treat at Christmas or after church (okay maybe I have read too many Laura Ingalls Wilder books with my kids).  My kids love the gold wrapping.  The Middle Child liked it so much she did want to open hers.   We had them for dessert on Mother's Day and they brought back that feeling that chocolate is a special treat.  The Gluten Free Teen loves the Raspberry Truffle Bar.  I am crazy for the Dark Chocolate with Almonds which is also casein free. You can order them on the Sjaak website or check out  Organic Vegan Chocolate Bar Assortment on Amazon.com. 

Earth Balance Natural Peanut Butter -

Yes I know that most peanut butter is naturally gluten free, but I like this peanut butter for the other healthy attributes and the taste.  Earth Balance has blended peanuts with flax seed and agave syrup to produce an easy to spread and tasty natural peanut butter. 

GlutenFreeda Gluten Free Burritos -

I have not tried these yet, but the makers of the delicious Real Cookies GF frozen cookie dough is introducing a frozen single entree gluten free burrito.  In addition to being gluten free, they are made with natural ingredients and without any of nasty GMOs, trans fats etc.  Can't wait to try them.

What new favorites have you found lately?

The Best Bread Machines for Gluten Free Bread

I received three emails this week asking which was the best bread machine for gluten free breads, so this must be on your minds.  This is a photo of the Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich mix made with my old Breadman machine:

First I have to admit that I do not use my bread machine that often.  With my new bread recipe only taking 30 minutes to rise, I  find it just as quick and easy for me to make bread "the old fashioned way."  However, I am a stay-at-home Mom, so I realize it is easy for me to be around to watch to make sure it does not rise too high and turn the oven on.  What if you can't be at home?  Or better yet, you are not as nostalgic as I am about watching bread rise.  That is where the bread machine comes in. 

My first bread machine was the Breadman - it worked fine with standard mixes like the Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix, but because all of the cycles on it are automatically programmed (in other words, you cannot set the rise and knead cycles yourself), it did not work well with some standard mixes such as those by 'Cause Your Special and other recipes that I wanted to try.

If you do any sort of research, you will soon find that the favored bread machine in the gluten free community is the Zojirushi BBCCX20 Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine

 

The main benefit of this bread machine is that you can program the cycles so it will work with a vast array of gluten free mixes and recipes.  It also makes some fancy automatic adjustments to get the dough to rise and bake correctly that are based on things such as the humidity in your house and the ingredients in your bread.  

Buying the right bread machine from the beginning will save you time and agony and the expense of buying a second machine, but this is just the start.  For a detailed guide to making gluten free bread in a bread machine, I recommend Annalise G. Roberts book Gluten-Free Baking Classics for the Bread Machine.  It has everything from great recipes, specific directions on how to set your bread machine and tips for when things just don't go right (and they will not go right at times, it is almost guaranteed so use that bread for bread crumbs!). 

I'd love to share Annalise's recipe with you, but I think she might prefer it if you buy the book!  I'd share one of my own, but have not developed one yet, and in all honesty Annalise has spent much more time perfecting bread recipes than I have, so I am sticking with hers for now. 

We have slowly but surely moved away from mixes, but we still like the Toro White Bread Mix and the Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix (although this one is moving down on our list of favorites).  You can purchase both of these from  .

We also like the "Cause your Special Home style White Bread Mix.

What are your favorites?

This and That Gluten Free - More Gluten Free Options

Just a few more details to add this week:

** Starbucks:  You may have heard this already, but Starbucks is going to start selling a gluten free Valencia Orange Cake for $2.25 at it's US stores in May!! Love you Starbucks for catering to our special diet!

** Bi-Aglut Pasta:  Our favorite Bi-Aglut pasta is back for sale in the US.  We love this pasta for its taste first - it just taste like wheat pasta.  And for its texture second, it is not starchy at all, holds up great in pasta dishes like macaroni and cheese.  It may seem pricey, but we can get two meals out of a bag of bi-aglut spaghetti while a bag of de boles spaghetti was not enough to give my family one meal.  You can order it from .

Another fun source is Quattrobimbi which imports gluten free products from Italy.  Italians have been gluten free much longer than us, and they seem to have an upper hand on the gluten free products.  If you order from Quattrobimbi get the ZeroGrano crackers.  They are so much like wheat crackers you will not believe it.  Perfect with tomato soup. 

** More Gluten Free Cereals from General Mills:

Thank you for contacting General Mills with your inquiry.  Along with Rice Chex, General Mills is  reformulating the following Big G Cereals to gluten free status:

o   Corn Chex

o   Honey Nut Chex

o   Strawberry Chex

o   Chocolate Chex

o   Cinnamon Chex

 

Production for this cereal has begun and you should begin seeing these cereals available on store shelves soon. All products listed should be available by June 1st, 2009.

As with any reformulated product, both products may be on the store shelves at the same time so consumers are encouraged to read labels/packaging carefully. Consumers should carefully examine the product packaging to ensure that the cereal inside the box is in fact the new, gluten free product.   Look for "NOW GLUTEN FREE" or "GLUTEN FREE" on the front/side/back panels.  We hope you find this information helpful.  Please let us know if we can help you again.

** Smoothies R My Life blog:Lastly, looking for something different for a snack or for breakfast.  Then you should try a smoothie..  Actually, I am not sure how you could be gluten free and not have an occasional smoothie as they are a great breakfast item and a perfect snack.  Check out Smoothies R My Life blogthat list a new smoothie every day.  As far as I can tell, they are all gluten free.  Dairy free?  No problem, most are dairy free as well.  Try # 39 - it taste just like a pina colada.  (Ok, I am still day dreaming about Kauai). 

Campbell's Gluten Free Food List - February 2009

I recently received the following and thought you might find it helpful.  If you have a hard time reading the list, you can click on the page and a larger version should appear or you can email me for the original document. 

 

The Best Gluten Free Pizza Shells, Pie Crust, Hamburger Buns and more ~ Bavaria Mills Gluten Free Bakery

Generally I try to write a new post once a week, but every once in a while I run across something so good that I cannot wait to share it.

Before I go on, please know that for every recipe, product and book that gets written about on this site, many, many,oh so many more are rejected!  Because I truly appreciate anyone who tries to make our gluten free world a little better, I try to stay away from negative reviews.  But believe me, we are a very picky group here and we have tried many products that go straight into the trash without any mention.  That being said, here is the story of Bavaria Mills.

It all started with Garlic Jim's gluten free pizza - as you know we loved it!  It was not only the convenience of it, but the taste of the pizza shells.  Anyone who has tried them knows how wonderful they are.

Then all of a sudden, the pizza crusts changed.  And they were not as good - as a matter of fact, my kids did not like the pizza.  The crusts had reverted back to that gritty rice texture that we all know so well (so much for no negative reviews).

You have probably figured this out by now, but I am not one to just let things drop - we had found the pizza of our gluten free dreams (okay I am being a little dramatic here) and we were not willing to just let it slip away.

After a little research, I found the answer to the pizza crust mystery and what is now our favorite gluten free pizza shells.

Bavaria Mills is a Gluten Free Wholesale Bakery located in Vancouver, Wa.  It is run by a lovely couple and, you guessed it, the makers of the gluten free pizza crusts that we love. 

Marie was studying to be a Holistic Nutritionist and her husband, Mike, was an Industrial Process consult when they both discovered they had celiac disease.  After eight years of perfecting gluten free cooking, Marie and Mike opened Bavaria Mills.  The bakery distributes gluten free goods in Washington and Oregon, and supplies restaurants with gluten free fare.  As you guessed it, they suppy Garlic Jim's with those wonderful pizza crusts. 

After a short conversation with Mike on the phone, we soon received a huge box loaded to the top with gluten free baked goods. 

These are absolutely the best pizza gluten free crusts!! 

I was worried that the pizzas would not taste as good as the ones from Garlic Jim's - how much of the   novelty would be lost by making them at home?  Would they taste as good cooked in a normal oven?  No worries - my kids actually liked the home cooked pizzas better (and there are no concerns about cross contamination).   If you have the shell, you can whip together a homemade pizza in about two minutes - just add sauce, cheese and whatever other toppings you like and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  How easy is that?

We are lucky enough to live within a two hour drive of a great place to snow ski and we spend many of our weekends skiing at Steven's Pass.  The Weekend Chef recently made pizzas with these shells. After taking his first bite, my six year old son declared "I didn't know Garlic Jim's delivered to the mountains." 

Okay, can you tell how excited we are about these crusts.  And for the final icing on the cake, they are extremely reasonably priced. 

 

The pizza shells come in 8, 10, 12 and 14 inch and they are gluten free, corn free, soy free, dairy free, no trans-fat and, because of the healthy flours they use, high in fiber. 

As to Garlic Jim's, I believe they are once again using the Bavaria Mills pizza shells.  It is up to you to make the requests if they are not.

We were happy to discover that Bavaria Mills makes many great products. 

The gluten free hamburger buns moved to the top of our "best" list.  They are actually sturdy enough to hold together a hamburger.  How many times has your gluten free bun crumbled under the weight of a juicy burger?  Better yet, they were very moist

.

Then the muffins arrived - these are not wimpy little muffins.  These were Costco sized.  We sampled four different kinds - Lemon Poppy seed, German Chocolate (basically like a cake in the shape of a muffin), Blueberry and Apple Cinnamon.  They were all wonderful - ironically enough we could not agree on one favorite.  It seems that everyone had a favorite and we were all different.  The Gluten Free Kid loved the Blueberry muffin.  My six year old of course liked the German Chocolate one - who wouldn't like cake for breakfast?

  

Other things you will want to try include an absolutely beautiful 9 inch pie shell, dinner rolls and of course, their breads. 

Did I mention that their products are both gluten and soy free.    Most of the products are also corn free and dairy free and because of the products they use, they are high in fiber, antioxidants and essential oils.  And they are extremely reasonably priced.

How do you order these great products? 

Because they are a wholesale bakery, you need to call them at 1-360-571-7611.  Ask for Mike, and tell him I said "Hi."  You can also send them an email at bavariamills@earthlink.net

They request that orders be a minimum of $50.  The prices are so good, that you can get a lot of food for $50 so load up the freezer!! 

Bavaria Mills will hopefully be selling their products in the Seattle area soon. 

Gluten Free Food Lists

I think the most common question I get is "where can I find a good gluten free food list??" 

While learning to read food labels is a basic survival technique on the gluten free diet, gluten free food list can be handy at times. 

So here is a summary of some of the best.

You have to use these at your own risks!  Ingredients change frequently!!  

These are only meant to be starting points and you must verify ingredients yourself.

You are your best and most reliable source of information. 

Gluten Free Lists you can Purchase

• Gluten Free Grocery Shopping Guide 

This one is at the top of the list because it is my new favorite gluten free food list.   The night I received it, I stayed awake reading it in bed from cover to cover. 

It is small and handy enough that you can easily carry it with you. 

It has over 25,000 products listed alphabetically by category. 

So you are at the grocery store and want some taco seasoning – just turn to that heading and there is a list of GF brands. 

It also includes over-the-counter pharmacy products. 

Finally, it would be handy for travel when you are in a new area and not always familiar with the local brands.

This is a great resource for newly diagnosed.  What I would of done to have such a handy list the first couple of months we were gluten free!!

I think that even those who have been on the diet for a while will find this list handy.  At this point, we have our favorite gluten free foods that we eat pretty regularly.  But it was so nice to discover some new gluten free products.

Because of new products and changes, it will be update annually with a new list available in the spring.   You can also get product alerts on line.

• Clan Thompson Smart List 

Our life line when we first started the gluten free diet.  The Smart List is software you download which  contains gluten information on thousands of products.  I download the software to my computer at home and to my PDA that I take everywhere with me and to my daughter's PDA that she carries in her backpack.  You simply type in an item name like "ice cream" and it gives you a list of manufacturers and what they say about their products.  You can also search by individual manufacturers. 

• CSA Gluten Free Product Listing

A 450 page list of commercially prepared gluten-free sold by the Celiac Sprue Association for $.  It also provides information on gluten-free friendly stores. I read this cover to cover when we first diagnosed and carried it with me to the grocery store.   Unless they have changed the format recently, the only downside to this is that it is in a huge blue  binder making it rather cumbersome to carry around.

• Gluten Free Grocery Guide

I have not personally viewed this list.  It is published by  Triumph Dining publishes and contains 20,000 brand name and store brand products that are GF.

Free  On-Line List

• Celiac Disease On-line Support Group - Gluten-Free Products List

This is a free list that is complied by members of Delphi Forums, an on-line support group.  The list is dated December 2007.  Follow this link for updates to the list.  Celiac Disease On-line Support Group – updates to list

• The Gluten-Free InfoWeb 

An on-line list of the gluten-free status of brand name food products 

• Gluten Free Drug List 

An on-line source for gluten free medications.

Direct Links to Food Manufacturers

Lastly,  both my website, Gluten Free Mom.com,  and my blog (on the side bar) have links to individual food manufacture's gluten free list and/or allergy statements.  I update these regularly, but they currently include:  

• Blue Bunny GF Statement
• Cadbury 
• Durkee/SpiceIslands/Tones 
• Eden Organic 
• Fannie May 
• Frito Lay 
• Goya Gluten Free List 
• Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream 
• Heinz 
• Hormel 
• Jolly Time Popcorn GF Statement 
• Lesser Evil Kettle Corn
• Lundberg Family Farms 
• Organic Valley 
• Spangler Candy Canes 
• Thai Kitchen Allergy Page 
• Wellshire Farms 
• Wrigley 

Surely you will be able to find something to eat now!!!!!!

General Mills Gluten Free Rice Chex

This may be old news to some of you, but our gluten free world just got a little bigger.

General Mills is now making a Gluten Free Rice Chex! 

Gluten-Free Rice Chex® Coming soon to a store near you!

This great tasting cereal has been reformulated and is now GLUTEN-FREE!  Look for the new Rice Chex® with the red gluten-free check mark on the front of the box.

Actually, it seems like every time you turn around a new gluten free product is on the shelf.

That being said, we are working on updating our new gluten free favorites and hope to have a new version of What Lines the Shelves of our Gluten Free Pantry posted by the end of April-

Gluten Free Easter Candy

I spent a few minutes in the candy isle of Target this morning searching out some gluten free Easter candy options.  I did not do this last year – I just went with the Jelly Belly Jelly Beans and called it a day. 

But mainstream gluten free candy is pretty easy to find, so if this is yet another way for my gluten free kid to feel just like everyone else, then I decided it was worth the effort to find a GF Chocolate Easter bunny.

The following is what I found out from checking web sites and phone calls where noted. I provided links so you can double check the information yourself and I encourage you to always do so. Always double check the ingredients yourself.  This list only addresses ingredients containing gluten – cross contamination is a separate issue that you have to decide on for yourself. 

·         Dove Smooth Milk Chocolate Eggs – I called Dove (1-800-551-0704) and a recorded message stated that all Dove Chocolates except for Dove organics, jewel rollups and milk and dark chocolate covered almonds are gluten free. 

·         Fannie Mae - ALL SOLID CHOCOLATE NOVELTIES

·         Hershey’s – I called Hershey’s this morning (1-800-468-1714) and confirmed that the Hershey Milk Chocolate Hollow Bunny UPC 34000 18399  and, my favorite before going dairy free, Reese’s made with Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs UPC  34000 47732 does not “contain any ingredients derived from gluten.” 

·         Jelly Belly Jelly Beans:

We do not use gluten in any of our current flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans; however, we do use corn starch in all of our jelly beans.

                         

Our Jelly Belly jelly beans and Jelly Belly Confections Pectin, Mellocreme and Gelatin candies are gluten-free and considered safe for the celiac-sprue patient to consume.

In addition, you requested information regarding two specific areas:   “The source of our ‘modified food starch’ and which ‘natural flavors and artificial flavorings’ are used in our products.”

In regard to the source of our “modified food starch,” we use corn.  Our “natural flavors” are identified on all packaging, and include fruit juice concentrates, fruit purees, coffee, peanut butter, chocolate, coconut and cocoa powder.  We also use oil of peppermint, lemon, lime and tangerine oils to flavor Jelly Belly beans featuring those particular flavors.

These products contain gluten and must be avoided:

All of our Jelly Belly Confections Chocolate Malt Balls, Licorice Pastels, Licorice Bridge Mix, Dimples, Christmas Dimples, Deluxe Christmas Mix, and Speckled Chocolate Malted Eggs.

Check it out yourself at Jelly Belly

·         Marshmallow Peeps – Package says they are gluten free.

·         M & M’s – All are gluten free except crispy M&M’s (1-800-551-0704)

·         Necco Candy Eggs: 

We make the following products which do not contain gluten from wheat, rye, oats or barley: Necco Wafers, Mary Janes, Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses, Sweethearts Conversation Hearts (Valentines only), Canada Mint & Wintergreen Lozenges, Haviland Thin Mints and Candy Stix

In addition, Clark Bars, Skybars, Haviland Peppermint & Wintergreen Patties, Necco Candy Eggs (Easter), Talking Pumpkins (Halloween), Squirrel Nut Caramels and Squirrel Nut Zippers, Banana Split and Mint Julep Chews, ULTRAMINTS are also gluten free

·         Palmer Holiday Candy – Follow link to a gluten free list which includes the bunny pack.

·         Pez Candy  Website states that “Pez Candy is gluten free. Mono- & di- glycerides sources are vegetable.”

·         From the Natural Candy Store, 

Natural Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, Assorted Flavors, 2-pack
by Jelly Belly, USA

The great taste and texture you expect from Jelly Belly, made with natural flavors and colors! These beans use real flavors from juices, purees and contain no artificial flavors. Free of preservatives and made with only colors derived from natural sources. The 10 Assorted Flavor bag contains the following flavors: Banana, Cherry, Coconut, Grape, Lemon, Orange, Peach, Pineapple, Plum and Strawberry. Approved for the Feingold Program. Gluten free. 

Gluten and Dairy Free Chocolate Bunnies – A comprehensive list of gluten and casein free chocolate bunnies.  Btw – this is one of my favorite sites for finding GFCF items.

This should be enough to give your gluten free kid a good sugar high on Sunday!!

Okay  - I had to insert one picture of my kids - this is from Easter 2006.

Looking for list of gluten free candy in general go to:

NFCA updated October 2007

Dallas Rock Group Snack and Candy List

Now I have to plan the menu - at last count we are having  6 or 7 adults and 6 kids, but the list keeps growing. 

Bi-Aglut Pasta

We are just returning from our vacation and trying to dig ourselves out of the mail, laundry etc. 

We had a fabulous time and will share more later, but wanted to let you know about the following. 

Bi-Aglut is our favorite gluten free pasta.  After receiving an email from Laura wondering where we ordered it from, it was disappointing to discover that it has become hard to fine. 

According to the Food4Celiacs website, Bi-Aglut Pasta products are currently not available for sale in the US.  I sent Bi-Aglut an email, and will let you know when I hear more.

In the meantime,glutenfree.com - Living gluten-free. Visit our SUPERSTORE today! ,appears to have some of the spaghetti.  Click on the link and search for bi-aglut. 

I also found some at Allergy Grocery but it was $3.00 more per package.

Since we may be looking for a new type of pasta, any other favorite kinds out there??

Gluten Free Valentine's Day Treats

Looking for some sweat treats for the sweeties in your life?

• Good news, Necco Conversation Hearts are gluten free:

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Which Necco products are Gluten Free?

		We make the following products which do not contain gluten from wheat, rye, oats or barley: Necco Wafers, Mary Janes, Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses, Sweethearts Conversation Hearts (Valentines only).

Check it out yourself at Necco.com. 

• Dee, this one is for you and for the rest of us that are dairy challenged as well, Chocolate Emporium has fancy heart boxes with gluten and dairy free chocolate candy!  Got to love that!
• Lastly, I just hung up the phone with Hersheys.  The only candy items they will confirm as being gluten free are the Hershey's plain milk chocolate bar and the Hershey's plain milk chocolate bar with almonds.  Perfect for Valentine's day treat, they confirmed the Hershey's Kisses Milk Chocolate Flavor are gluten free.  Note this is milk chocolate flavor only.   I tried to get a clarification on their labels and they informed me they will list all ingredients on the labels but not whether or not those ingredients contain gluten.  So if you see a label and are not sure that the ingredient contains gluten, you should call them at 1-800-468-1714 Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.