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7 Things About Me (Tied to Food & Drink)

This post is linked to Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Months ago, Chaya (Chaya’s Comfy Cook) graciously gave me the Beautiful Blogger award. I was very touched with the award and by Chaya’s generous words. I love reading Chaya’s posts. She’s funny for one thing. I also love her post titles—always succinct and often humorous—and her very direct way of speaking to the reader. She cooks one of my very favorite foods—salmon—weekly (yes, weekly). So, if you are looking for a gluten-free salmon recipe, be sure to look on Chaya’s Comfy Cook blog.

Chaya’s a prolific food blogger. She posted 32 times in July on Comfy Cook. And, that’s not to mention how many times she posted at her other food blog, Sweet and Savory. Her Sweet and Savory blog is not exclusively gluten free. However, she has a Meatless Monday roundup, which often features recipes from gluten-free bloggers.

Read more about Chaya and check out her flourless brownies with ganache (you know how I love flourless!) in this post where she bestowed the Beautiful Blogger award to six other folks (I was in great company!) and told more about herself. Thanks, Chaya!

I thought it would be fun to do my “response” post in my birth-month (as in my birthday and the month afterwards versus the month I was born in), to tell you a little bit more about myself. Just for fun, I’ve decided to relate all to food or spirits. (Warning: There is some bathroom talk and also some words about liver.)

1. My first job out of high school was at the FBI National Academy. Before you get too intrigued, my job was in the kitchen for the academy’s cafeteria, run by the Marriott Corporation. One of my aunts (my mom has seven sisters) was a manager and I got a job as a prep cook/alternate weekend cook. I was 17 years old and had absolutely no cooking experience. My mom didn’t really teach us to cook when we were growing up. Other than making occasional cakes and cupcakes from a box, she didn’t want us in the kitchen making messes. She was (and is) still a great mom and I eventually learned to cook when out on my own. But, there were often calls to mom for advice, and sometimes I still make those calls today.

My aunt did teach me a lot in the giant commercial kitchen (stainless steel, tile, huge walk-in refrigerators and freezers, etc.) and I managed to hold my own. For almost everything I made there was a recipe and the ingredients I used were real ones, even though most were canned or frozen versus fresh. My favorite job was probably making spaghetti sauce in a huge vat. Well, for all my prep work, I pretty much made everything in a huge vat or an equally huge wheeled tub. I cracked eggs—in preparation for scrambled eggs—two at a time, one in each hand. Dozens of eggs, into one of those stainless steel wheeled tubs. Once one of the wheels caught on a crack in the tile  as I was wheeling the tub into the walk-in refrigerator and it almost tipped over. I can still see that tub full of yellow teetering. My least favorite task on the job was cleaning the grill after cooking beef liver. Cooking bacon, sausage, eggs, and such for huge quantities of folks on a schedule wasn’t that great either. I had to be at work at something like 4:30 in the morning when I was the breakfast/lunch cook on weekends. I left feeling like a big grease bomb in my gold uniform with the requisite white, ultra dorky shoes. All in all though, it was a good experience and I learned a lot.

2. Mr. GFE and I met while working in a chain restaurant. I was a waitress; he was a waiter. He had just graduated from college in December and jobs were scarce. I was still in college and always kept a job as well. (Sometimes my jobs were part time, sometimes they were full time, and usually I was a waitress, because one could make the most money for the fewest hours.) The restaurant we both worked at had never had waiters before, but Mr. GFE convinced the manager that having another male on hand for the 1 am closing was a good idea.

I can still visualize him as he looked back then. He was 22, but looked like a high school student and frankly, I found him more than a bit goofy. In short, I didn’t give him the time of day. He likes to say that I was the only waitress there who wouldn’t go out with him. Ha! He did have all the other waitresses doing a lot of his work (making salads, brewing coffee, etc.), but to be fair, he was very nice to them and helped them, too; e.g., often carrying their heavy trays. Still … I was not interested, but he persisted.

My two roommates also worked at the same restaurant. One was a hostess and the other was a waitress as well. Unbeknownst to me, Mr. GFE had quizzed them about my favorite things and he surprised me with a bag of goodies as we started our shift one evening. He told me that he’d left something for me by my coat. I pretty much ignored him and the gift until he persisted and I saw the red carnation sticking out of the brown paper bag. I relented momentarily to see what else he had brought me. There was a bag of pistachios … and a box of Nestle Quik (okay, I am embarrassed to say that I was a serious chocolate milk nut then). His simple, sincere gifts got a smile out of me. Still, when he asked me to go out dancing the following weekend, I said, “maybe.” Of course, I did eventually say “yes” … we went dancing and had a fantastic time.

3. The first meal I ever prepared for Mr. GFE was one that makes some folks turn away in horror. Chicken livers. One evening as I was leaving the restaurant where we both worked, I said I was going home to make dinner. He asked what I was having. I told him chicken livers, expecting a horrified reaction. His response was, “I love chicken livers.” So I invited him to stop by after work. As that would be after 1 am, he just expected us to stand in the kitchen and chow down. However, I served the fried chicken livers, plus mixed vegetables in butter sauce over rice at our antique dining room table. On my grandmother’s china. With her good silver. By candlelight. Okay, I admit it … by then, I’d decided I really liked him. It was a good start to many meals together. We still love fried chicken livers. Then, and sometimes, still, I just feel like I need them, not just that I like the taste. (Iron deficiency, perhaps? I did suffer from anemia when pregnant; it’s related to gluten issues. See listing.)  These days, of course, the chicken livers we eat are gluten free and fried in just a little bit of healthy oil, like grapeseed or olive oil. And, they are more likely to be served with quinoa or just veggies as a side.

4. My love of chicken livers also made for another interesting story. Mr. GFE and a group of us had gone tubing down the river near the house he rented at the time. The house was called the Little Castle because it was a multi-level, stone house, with a flat roof and turrets, built into the side of the hill. The flat roof was great for viewing fireworks over the same river. There was a Big Castle, too—the main house, which was also stone, square, and with turrets. The Little Castle had been a garage with maid’s quarters above, that had later been converted into a complete—albeit small—house, with kitchen and living room. (We ended up living there after we were married.) There was also a bomb shelter and a graveyard on the property. The current owners of both castles are friends of ours. They host an annual Halloween party between the graveyard and the bomb shelter, which we attend every year. It’s a terrific party. But, I digress.

photo credit

So we had gone tubing down on the Rappahannock River. We’d put in at a calm, peaceful area, but then proceeded to the Class III rapids. I had popped out of my tube in one “washing machine” spot and got pulled under. Mr. GFE rescued me and on we went. I had returned to my apartment hours later, grateful to be alive, but still looking somewhat like a drowned rat with wet stringy hair and wearing a damp cotton summer dress over my bathing suit. There was a knock on the door. I answered it to find a handsome stranger in a three-piece suit. He was holding a brown paper grocery bag. He introduced himself as the area Holly Farms sales rep and presented me with 5 pounds of chicken livers. You see … I’d written a letter to Holly Farms complaining that my recent container of chicken livers had been mostly chicken hearts, with very few chicken livers. A few more letters had been exchanged because Holly Farms believed that the chicken livers I had purchased were not their brand, but the store brand. I corrected them showing them that the store had only placed its pricing label on the container. I guess Holly Farms wanted to keep a loyal customer happy, but that’s what I call customer service! I still lament the fact that I wasn’t more presentable. I mean that was back in my skinny days and Mr. GFE and I weren’t yet engaged or anything.

photo credit

5. In a recent post, I mentioned my ob/gyn issues related to gluten intolerance and shared that I had suffered from postpartum depression. Thankfully, it wasn’t severe in retrospect, but it certainly seemed severe to me at the time. Also, because my body had just been through natural childbirth, I was stressed with being a new mom, and I was unknowingly gluten intolerant, I was experiencing “The big D.” Now most folks with celiac and gluten issues know that refers to diarrhea. After childbirth, “The big D” was a huge problem for me. I went to one gastroenterologist (who still practices locally) who did nothing to help me, but sent me home with one of those little plastic containers to see if I had cancer. He was about as sympathetic as a rock. No, a rock would have been more sympathetic and helpful (especially a pet rock). I never went back. (That was a pattern with many doctors over the years.) Then one of my dearest friends mentioned that her mother-in-law, who was normally a teetotaler, would drink blackberry wine whenever she had diarrhea. The mother-in-law called it a sure cure. Ah, blackberry wine … now that was a solution I was willing to give a try. (I wasn’t nursing so that wasn’t an issue.)

So Mr. GFE dutifully picked up some blackberry wine on his way home the next day, and every other evening after that for a while, to be honest. After he’d arrive, I would sip a glass or two while we chatted and Son relaxed in the baby swing for a few minutes. (Son loved the baby swing and we loved that he loved it!) In the end, the blackberry wine did nothing for my diarrhea, but it greatly improved my disposition. It made me care a lot less about the diarrhea, and even helped me stop crying for a short while. And, it was a call to the surgeon who had removed my gall bladder 3 years earlier (another sign of my gluten issues; reference gluten-related issues once more here) that got me a medication that finally helped enough with “The Big D” to start me on my way to recovery. Well, temporarily anyway. Only going gluten free really solved “the big D” issues for good. Ironically, during my periods of diarrhea and nausea, which I now know were caused by gluten, I would eat only crackers or toast.

6. Before I went gluten free, I craved gluten. (This craving is not unusual for someone with gluten issues; read more from Dr. Ron Hoggan here.) One of my favorite breakfasts was syrup and toast. I have no idea if anyone else’s family ate this meal, but you mixed up King syrup and butter to make a dipping sauce, so to speak, and then you just dipped the toast in the syrup and ate until the sauce was gone. Of course, one always made too much sauce and had to keep toasting more bread. Incidentally, King Syrup is still around, but now contains high fructose corn syrup. However, I’m fairly certain it was always pretty much total sugar anyway.

Again, I craved all bread products before going gluten free, especially cereal. I could live on cereal, one bowl after another. Now I rarely eat real bread products and don’t really miss them. I’ll enjoy them from time to time in the form of my homemade muffins, popovers, or even pre-made bread when a gluten-free friend makes bruschetta or brings Udi’s bread to our meeting for folks to enjoy. But, I still don’t go crazy about it. And, I’ve tried gluten-free cereal, but it does nothing for me and some brands labeled gluten free actually make me sick … but that’s a story for another day.

7. I’m still learning to like new foods and dishes. I really wasn’t exposed to a huge wide variety of foods growing up. That was more about my parents’ food preferences than anything like availability of foods/eating local. So it’s a delight to have found new loves over the last two decades: bacon-wrapped figs, asparagus in any form, broccoli (no sauce needed), avocados, mushrooms, and more. So, I’m looking forward to experiencing even more new foods and dishes in the future.

Technically, I’m supposed to now bestow this award on seven other bloggers but I link to the folks and posts I feel are worthy of award just about every day, so I’ll consider that requirement satisfied. You are all beautiful to me! So, grab this idea (and badge) and come up with your list of seven things about yourself if you’d like. No strict rules or anything, but I do like learning more about my blogging buddies.

Last, there’s a truly gfe-unique giveaway up on my Out and About page. Take a look and enter if it’s of interest.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

GFE-Unique Giveaway: Consultation With Me on Living Gluten Free Easily

my birthday gift from my friend, “Fred”

Update: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Jenny of Creative Cooking Gluten Free! I’ll be in touch, Jenny. Thanks to all who entered! There may be other similar giveaways in the future, so stay tuned. And hopefully, my readers can still glean much on living gluten free easily from my posts here at gfe. Don’t forget I’m only an email away if you have specific questions.

It’s almost the final week of my birth-month, as in the full month from my birthday on, not the actual calendar month that my birthday falls in. My girlfriends and I haven’t been able to have our birthday get together yet, but serendipitously I ended up visiting one of my dear girlfriends and her husband on Friday afternoon. I was headed home from a doctor’s appointment and visiting Son when traffic slowed to a crawl on the interstate. I got off at the very next exit, but that took quite some time. However, many other folks  had the same idea to detour to the parallel non-interstate, but still four-lane road to continue on. So, in just a few minutes, traffic on it was also backed up and creeping along. Did I mention my air conditioning is not working in my car? Soon, I decided I needed a break. I happened to be about a half mile from my girlfriend’s house, so I popped in to visit “Fred” and her husband, Jack.

Fred was actually en route from work, but Jack (who had just returned from being out in the heat all day himself) immediately served me some frosty limeade. It was just what I needed. I thanked him profusely and then we proceeded to chat about all things ice cream until Fred arrived. Jack is an ice cream afficionado who has received some local publicity of late. I’ve mentioned at least one of his incredible flavors before: lemon basil. I’ll be making that one and another amazing flavor of his soon (that one’s will be a secret for a bit).

In a short while, Fred arrived and offered me some adult libations. Just looking into their liquor closet is treat enough. Their house was built in the 1920s and the bar is a basically a large closet off the dining room. It’s no ordinary closet though. It has glass shelves and mirrored walls. With the multi-colored glass bottles and decanters in all shapes and sizes, that are full of liqueurs and other alcohol in even more colors, this closet and its contents are a very attractive sight to behold. I consented to one glass of something mild. First, I tasted the Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur that Fred offered … straight. Too strong for me in that form, but as Fred said it would make a great bourbon and ginger drink. Then I tasted Arancello orange liqueur. Think of Limoncello, but the orange version. Oh, yes, much better. Sort of like TruAde orange (a noncarbonated beverage of old) with a tiny kick. I added some to my limeade and enjoyed a very delightful, refreshing drink.

We visited for quite a while, catching up on news of Fred’s daughter’s wedding and a visit and travels with friends from Scotland after the wedding. Then Fred gave me my birthday present. A gfe reader, Selene, had recommended Boyajian pure citrus oils a few months back when Alta (Tasty Eats At Home) and I were discussing a lemon version of my Perfect Pound Cake. Selene said that the citrus oils could be used in place or zest or extract, and the lemon oil made an amazing lemon glaze. Intrigued, I quicklylooked on Amazon and added the mini citrus oil set to my wish list. (Do you have an Amazon wish list? You might want to consider it. It’s an easy way for friends and family to shop for you and you’ll get what your heart desires. Plus, it’s a way to remember things you want to get for yourself.) A pretty little package of three of the mini sets wound up in my gift bag from Fred. Selene’s comment and the reviews online show that these citrus oils are terrific to use for baking, and even non-baking uses like cocktails. From what I’ve read, a little goes a long way, too. Stay tuned for my experimentation with them. Also in my package was a red leather envelope (for photos, receipts, or such) and the book, The Four Agreements (also from my Amazon wish list). It was a delightful gift package. And, all in all, and not surprisingly, we had a very enjoyable visit. Another girlfriend had my birthday present, a personalized canvas tote bag, shipped to me. It’s one of the loveliest, yet practical, gifts that I’ve ever received. I am truly blessed with many amazing friends!

my birthday gift from my friend, Vivian

So to spread my ongoing birthday joy, let’s get to the giveaway part! To be honest, I may be going out on a limb on this one. I don’t know how many gfe readers will actually take me up on this giveaway. As a support group leader and just someone who has “been there/done that,” I often walk folks through the initial stages of being gluten free. It doesn’t matter if it’s due to a celiac/gluten intolerance diagnosis or just a desire to try living gluten free as a way to relieve symptoms of other related illnesses; all of us feel overwhelmed  initially. A little hand holding is needed. Some coping strategies. Some tips. How to get through those first several days. How to eat out. How to go to a friend’s house. How to make the holidays “doable.” And so on. Most folks don’t want to go 180 degrees from how they are eating now. Yes, they understand that they need to eat gluten free, but they want to keep some of their favorites and they want food that will make them happy and their family happy as well. Of course, they do. I mentioned my gfe reader and fellow blogger, Mir (Woulda Coulda Shoulda), the other day and shared her peach pie, an adaptation of my Crustless Apple Pie. What I didn’t share at the time was Mir’s other statement to me: “Your tagline should totally be “Getting people excited about eating again.” Seriously, your blog has broken me out of my “Oh no, don’t mind me, I’ll just sit in the corner sulking and eating spinach” rut.  ”

Oh, how Mir’s statement totally made my day, my week, my month! I’m sharing it because it got me thinking about how many folks are still sulking in corner or thinking being gluten free is possibly the worst thing that has ever happened to them. Do you want to get excited? Let me show you how. I think this task can actually be fairly easy, but it takes a different approach—the gfe approach– and one’s strategies and meal planning needs to be talked out. What are you eating that’s already gluten free? What dishes do you make that can be converted easily to gluten free? Which gluten-free specialty foods do you really need to buy from day one? And, so forth and so on. So this giveaway is a consultation with me via telephone (I will call you “on my dime” at a mutually agreed upon time) or via Skype, face to face for a more personal session. I’m envisioning about an hour to 90 minutes for this consultation and maybe an email or two as follow up. I expect that folks who are new to gluten free or folks who are still struggling with being gluten free or transitioning to living gluten free easily will be the ones who will be most interested in this giveaway. Many of my gfe readers have already figured out this approach (congrats to all of you!) and will not need this consultation; I understand that. In addition, if you are one who wants to purchase a lot of gluten-free specialty products and are looking for input on those, I honestly can’t help you much there. My gfe approach is about eating real food that’s naturally gluten free, some mainstream processed foods that are gluten free, and few (very few) gluten-free specialty products. The gfe approach is the easiest, healthiest, and most economical way to eat gluten free, in my opinion. That said, based on reader comments, Facebook comments, and tweets, there are many folks who may be interested in this gfe-unique giveaway. I am excited about it! I can’t wait to talk to the lucky winner and making living gluten free easier using the gfe approach tailored to his/her needs.

The giveaway will end Sunday, August 15, at midnight my time (Eastern). Here are the ways you can enter below. A separate comment is required for each to get a separate entry. I’m not trying to be annoying; that’s simply the only way I can tally all the comments to enter them into the Random Number Generator. Note that if you already follow me on Twitter, like gfe on Facebook, etc., just say so for another entry. You don’t have to be new to any of those for your entry to count.

1. Leave a comment; e.g., Please enter me in this giveaway.

2. Follow me on Twitter; e.g., I follow you on Twitter.

3. Like gfe on Facebook; e.g., I like gfe on Facebook.

4. Friend me on Facebook; e.g., I am your friend on Facebook.

5. Tweet about the giveaway; e.g., Shirley is giving away a consultation on living gfe!

6. Post on Facebook on the giveaway.

7. Post on your blog about the giveaway.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Honey Love and More

This post is linked to Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Real Food Wednesday, Food on Fridays, Foodie Friday, and Monday Mania.

Sheryl has the Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free! roundup of French-themed foods posted over at her blog, Breaking Bread. I submitted my Creme Brulee Ice Cream. All the other entries really are sensational. Check them out here. 

Speaking of honey, we spun the honey out from the frames from our beehive this past weekend. (We have one beehive here at our house. We can’t go too crazy as we’re in a subdivision with our beehive on an open part of our property, not far from the street.) Mr. GFE’s sister and her husband volunteered their equipment and workshop for our use. The process:  remove frame from super (the boxes where the bees store the honey in the frames), scrape off wax caps, place in spinner/centrifuge, spin, drain honey through fine mesh stainless steel screen into food-grade plastic bucket, and repeat … until all the frames are empty of honey. After a few hours, the results were four gallons of golden, amazing, raw honey. In our case, 48 pounds worth for our one hive. We are pleased as punch, or should I say mead? In basic terms, mead is honey wine. Did you know that honey mead is the basis for the word honeymoon? Per Wikipedia, “In many parts of Europe it was traditional to supply a newly married couple with enough mead for a month, ensuring happiness and fertility. From this practice we get honeymoon or, as the French say, lune de miel [lit. "moon of honey"].”

Honey is a non-refined sugar. It’s allowed on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. One of my most popular recipes that uses honey is my Flourless Chocolate Banana Honey Walnut Cake—a rich, grain-free, dairy-free, and again, refined sugar-free treat. Most of my ice cream and sherbet recipes use honey, like Honey Cinnamon Grand Marnier Ice Cream (Grand Marnier is optional) and Honey Dewed Sherbet. It sweetens nicely and keeps the ice cream/sherbet soft and scoopable. More trivia for you … honey is the only food that does not spoil. If your honey should crystallize over time, just set the jar in a pan of hot water until liquefied again. Now if you really want to be impressed by the 4 gallons of honey, consider this … a honeybee produces only 1/8-th of a teaspoon in its lifetime. Such driven, phenomenal little honeybees. My late father-in-law was a grand beekeeper who taught everyone in the family how to keep bees. One year he harvested over a ton of honey. Yes, over 2,000 lbs. If you did the math from our harvest details above, you  figured out that a gallon of honey weighs 12 pounds.

You might be wondering what kind of honey ours is … maybe you have heard of or enjoy different flavors of honey—clover honey (like the sweet clover honey that is on my sidebar under Foodzie), tupelo honey, orange blossom honey, lavender honey, and the like. Most commercial beekeepers move their hives so that the bees work (i.e., gather nectar from) different types of flowers and then they extract the honey immediately, so they know that it is solely that particular varietal of honey. Our honey is actually blended honey, because we never move our hive and we extract the honey from all the frames at once, mixing it all together. Some years the resulting honey is light, some years it is dark … all dependent on the which flowers are in bloom and worked that year. In one frame, which is the individual, rectangular section in the hive where the bees store their honey (shown in photos below), you can often see both light and dark honey. A large portion of our honey is always made from the nectar of white clover and tulip poplar blooms (this tree is also known as yellow poplar or tulip tree). We also have another common tree here in Virginia  called the yellow locust. The yellow locust tree produces spectacular showy blooms (shown above) that are both beautiful and cloyingly sweet in fragrance. Bees love locust blossoms and turn the nectar into a light-colored delicious honey.

Honey even has antiseptic, antimicrobial properties and has been used in that manner throughout history, including wound care today. There are many nutritional health benefits of honey as well. Warning: Children under the age of one should not consume honey. You can read much more about honey here and here.

Interested in the magic of nature? Consider becoming  a beekeeper. Honeybees need all the help and love they can get. Besieged by two different kinds of mites for a few decades now and then affected by the still unexplained Colony Collapse Disorder, the more folks who raise bees the better. We need bees to pollinate all the vegetable plants and fruit trees to supply our real food.

Talking about honey and honeymoons reminds me of the big buzz of late in the gluten-free world … the fact that Chelsea Clinton’s wedding cake was gluten free (and vegan). Vanessa Maltin, author of Celiac Princess (plus Food and Lifestyle Editor of Delight magazine and more), reported that A Piece of Cake by Elana made Chelsea’s cake using Pamela’s Products. Read more here. UPDATE: Turns out the information shared by Vanessa Maltin was totally incorrect. A bakery by the name of La Tulipe Desserts in Westchester, NY, actually made Chelsea’s organic, gluten-free (but not vegan) wedding cake—vanilla with dark chocolate mousse. Read more here. I’m anxious to see photos, but what I’d really like is to know the nitty gritty details (oops, hopefully, the nitty, non-gritty details … none of us would want a gritty gluten-free cake). I would love to taste the cake. But, now Chelsea and Marc are on their honeymoon. I wonder if they saved a piece for me. I’m sure they froze that top layer per tradition. So maybe there’s still hope. I mean we gluten-free folks share and share alike, right?

Speaking of other frozen or chilled delights, this morning’s smoothie included some chilled coconut milk, water, raw cacao powder, cabbage, Romaine, pears, frozen banana, hemp seed, almond flour, and some of our freshly extracted raw honey. It tasted like a chocolate milkshake and was full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. But, you don’t have to have a shopping list of ingredients to make tasty, nutritious smoothies. Actually, I’ve found that folks can sometimes be intimidated by smoothies for that very reason. Well, that and the fact that they can’t wrap their head around drinking their veggies. I understand. It took a leap of faith for me the first time, too, and it still amazes me how much I love them, even the “greenest” ones. If you’re still not sold on smoothies (but would like to be), try starting out with a simple smoothie recipe. One that includes only bananas, water, and spinach, is very easy and delicious. It’s a great recipe for beginners. One of my support group members, Jennifer R., shared samples of this smoothie with our group and everyone liked it. This smoothie is a lovely pale green, and you don’t taste spinach … you just taste “good.” Or try this three-ingredient smoothie from Ali at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen. Don’t make it too complicated. You can even ease into green smoothies, by making a fruit smoothie that you love and adding in a little spinach or other greens, like kale. Yes, kale …it’s great in smoothies. You can add a little more of the green stuff each time you make a fruit smoothie and soon you’ll be completely smitten with green smoothies!

If you are still not sure about smoothies, but want a refreshing summer drink, try Amy’s Cucumber Basil Herbal Water. Alta got to try it first hand at the lovely gluten-free brunch that Amy hosted. She described it as “the most amazing refreshing drink” she’s had to date. Read more about their brunch in this post by Alta with a recipe for her Basil Chicken Pesto Salad Puffs and this one by Amy, Rustic Lemon Blueberry Scones.

Peaches are in season! One of my favorite gfe readers, Mir (Woulda Coulda Shoulda  and more), used my Crustless Apple Pie recipe to make peach pie. All you need to do is substitute peaches for the apples. Mir used Pamela’s Baking Mix as her gluten-free flour mix. Her review: “Totally delish. I am afraid to make it again, lest I just fall face-down into the pie plate.” We all want to feel that way about our pies, don’t we? Just look at Mir’s photo!

Trying to incorporate yet more fruit into your diet with summer’s bounty? How about this stunning fruit pizza that Heather (Celiac Family) made? Heather swears it’s easy to make. She took hers to a family birthday party. That would be so much better than birthday cake in my opinion. Or, how about this gorgeous fruit salad that also incorporates salad greens over at Jenn’s (Jenn Cuisine).

Jenn also has an ongoing series called Gluten-Free Substitutions that I think you will find very helpful, whether you are new to the gluten-free diet or have been eating gluten free for some time. Her latest post is installment four: Gluten-Free Substitutions: All-Purpose Flour. Previous posts were her inaugural post for the series, Gluten-Free Substitutions: An Introduction; Gluten-Free Substitutions: When No Subs Are Needed; and Gluten-Free Substitutions: Easy One-Ingredient Substitutions.

Jenn and Lauren (Celiac Teen) had what most bloggers would call a dream meet-up. In Paris. Yes! Read about their meeting and see some of Jenn’s incroyable Paris photos here. Incidentally, you can find all of Jenn’s photos from France here on Flickr. Many have an ethereal quality, which I think makes them look like paintings. I can so imagine them hanging in my home.

Still have an abundance of zucchini? I can personally attest to the deliciousness of Kim’s (Cook IT Allergy Free) Zucchini Fritters. I believe if you added some Old Bay seasoning to them, they’d almost taste like crab cakes. They are outstanding. Even Mr. GFE agreed. I topped one with a fried egg and had it for breakfast. Scrumptious.

In a post earlier this month, a family member of Kim’s shared her story on the connection regarding the Type 1 diabetes and gluten. You can read it here. I share a lot of studies and medical research with my support group, but usually don’t share that type of information too frequently here at gfe. I’m more apt to share personal stories as Kim did. So I’m grateful to all my blogging friends who do pass along that data online. In a recent email to my support group members, I shared the recent recommendation from The Endocrine Society 92nd Annual Meeting for all folks with Type 1 diabetes to be screened for celiac annually. Yes, annually. Not once, not every 5 years, but yearly. The most compelling quote from the article to me was: “Some patients develop celiac disease as long as 10 years after their diabetes diagnosis, so ongoing screening is essential, and we recommend screening once a year. Patients in whom a diagnosis of celiac disease is confirmed should be placed on a gluten-free diet and referred to a gastroenterologist.” This statement came from Phyllis Speiser, MD (chief of the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology at North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System in New Hyde Park, New York) in an interview with Medscape. That’s right. One doesn’t get tested for celiac one time and say, that’s it, “nope, don’t have it,” and go away thinking celiac is no longer a concern. Unless one eats gluten free, the risk is always there if one has celiac genes (see MyCeliacID post for more information on levels of risk for celiac). My friend, Alison (Sure Foods Living), did a great write-up on the recommendation here, also sharing her thoughts on this topic.

I’ll be back later tomorrow with my Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger post on my main page.  I’ve already been adopted by sweet Tia, of Glugle Gluten Free; I’m so excited! You can check out Tia’s post here to see which dish of mine that she made. Tia also shared her review of another wonderful recipe from another blogger who is a mutual favorite of ours. Finally, soon, there will be a gfe-unique giveaway on my Out and About page! The four winners of the e-book giveaway are already posted here.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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