Friday, July 31, 2009

Gluten Free Raleigh Betty Crocker Giveaway Winner

Three weeks ago I announced the first Gluten Free Raleigh Product Giveaway Contest which featured the brand new Gluten Free baking mixes from Betty Crocker. To win, you needed to sign up for my email listing and be a Raleigh area resident. A whopping 75 people have signed up for the email subscriptions during this time! This has been a pretty successful method to gather contestants so I'll probably do this in the future as well.

Our lucky winner is email subscriber jaynspencer! Congrats! Hope you enjoy the 4 baking mixes from Betty Crocker. We made cupcakes last night and they were yummy!

Stay tuned for more prize giveaways in the future and a huge thanks to the folks at MyBlogSpark.com for making this giveaway possible.

FYI - things have been extremely busy for me lately but I hope to pick back up with some more great Gluten Free Raleigh stuff next week. Hope you are enjoying your summer (and the nightly thunderstorms).

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

In Case You Missed It: Another Jules Shepard Gluten Free Cooking Class

FYI - In case you missed the Gluten Free cooking demo with Jules Shepard on July 12 at Earth Fare, here is your chance for another class. Jules will be back in Raleigh on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at Earth Fare in Brier Creek. The 2 1/2 hour cooking class will begin at 11am and will be followed by a guided tour of Earth Fare's 1,000+ GF items. See below for more details.

Stop by Saturday, August 1st from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for Gluten Free Day at Earth Fare.

The demonstration will feature baked good items utilizing her own GF flour mix – a product line called Jules Gluten Free All Purpose flour and baking mixes. This portion of the event will feature an interactive opportunity to learn Gluten Free cooking tips and tricks from an expert in the field.

The class will be $35 per person and will include the following:
*Class fee includes the following: 2 1/2 hour cooking demonstration, free CD-Rom of Jules' new ebook, “Jules' Top 10 Recipes” ($10 value) and a $5 donation to the University of Maryland Celiac Disease Research Center.

Registration is due Tues, July 28 . You can register by visiting Earth Fare to pick up your tickets or by visiting http://www.JulesGlutenFree.com.

Unfortunately, due to an extremely busy schedule, the Gluten Free Raleigh blog will not be able to participate or organize this event. Jules and Kristi from Earth Fare are getting this one done without me this time. A special thanks to them for making this class happen again for those who wanted to attend but could not during the July class. This is the third class with Jules at Earth Fare this year - we are so lucky to have Jules visit so often and provide this service.

Click here for more information. You must register at Earth Fare (not this blog) by July 28th!

Check out some comments below from participants of the July 12th class
Excellent!! Valid gluten free information from Jules and the best tasting GF food I've tasted since my diagnosis 10 years ago. Thank you.
I don't think anything else could have been better. I learned so much. If I did not attend I never would have known about Jules' cook book (I bought two) or her wonderful flour. Thank you.
This was my first time to attend anything gluten free, and luckily it was with Jules!
I felt it was very informative. Jules seemed so interested and helpful.
Jules is great. Our first event for anything GF - our son was just diagnosed. Jules was knowledgeable and approachable. Just great!
Extremely satisfied. Thrilled. I was just sorry they ran out of Jules GF flour to purchase.
I thought it was perfect as it was. I think my daughter would have loved if all of us could bake at the same time.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Dear Abby Says "Invite People With Food Allergies Over Less"

Check out this post from the BeFreeForMe Blog about Dear Abby's recent advice to a lady who has a friend with a food allergy. Her advice is to offer her friend a salad (yummy) or invite her over less often for dinner!

Dear Abby is the most widely syndicated newspaper columnist in the world, whose column is published in about 1,400 newspapers worldwide, and has a daily readership of more than 110 million people. Let me take a wild guess - Abby doesn't have a food allergy.

Petition To Bring Back GF Cake @ Starbucks

Check out this online petition (already signed by over 1,000 people) started by the Triumph Dining Blog for Starbucks to bring back their recently decommissioned Gluten Free Orange Valencia Cake.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Raleigh CSA Support Group 7-16-09 Meeting Recap

Special thanks to Gail for taking meeting minutes during the last North Raleigh Celiac Support Group meeting on 7-16-2009. Below is a recap for those of you that could not make the meeting.
North Raleigh Celiac Support Group
CSA Chapter 108
July 16, 2009 7:00-9:00 PM
Whole Foods Gluten-Free Bakehouse, Morrisville North Carolina

“We Take Gluten Free Seriously” says the Whole Foods Market Gluten Free Bakehouse brochure. Our support group was treated to something seriously special at the Bakehouse. The welcoming staff escorted small groups all around their facility while explaining how the product lines are produced. The bakers are dedicated to strict allergen control and testing in their on-site testing lab to produce dozens of delicious G-F baked goods that are fresh, wholesome, and safe to eat.

After touring the facility, Lee Tobin, the Bakehouse Team Leader, welcomed us to very generous tastings of their products. Lee related the story of how he was challenged with Celiac Disease himself in 1996 and began experimenting with gluten-free baking. He developed successful recipes that sold extremely well for the customers in the Chapel Hill Whole Foods store. In order to keep up with the ever increasing demand over many stores, in October 2004 Lee was able to begin baking at a totally new and separate dedicated GF facility. A complete list of all their products is available online at www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/gluten-free.php

Pat Berger provided a questionable ingredients handout for those who may not have gotten one at the last meeting.

Group member Mark LeSaint introduced his new project of Celiac Support Business Cards to share with the medical community in our area. It is hoped that this will be a resource to enable newly diagnosed celiacs learn about our support group in a more timely manner. Mark is looking for additional input from members and physician information. His email is mark.lesaint@gmail.com.

We will resume with celiac questions and group discussions when meetings begin after the summer break. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 17, 2009 in the private dining room at Rex Hospital.

Submitted by,
Gail Harris

Friday, July 17, 2009

Rosie's Plate Pizza Party Today

Stop by Rosie's Plate in Downtown Raleigh today (7/17) for a pizza party!

The event runs from 5pm - 7pm and will feature free pizza tastings and a great discount if you buy a pizza to take home!

Check out my previous review of Rosie's Plate pizza here.

ENJOY!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Starbucks Update: Bye Bye Gluten Free Orange Cake?

I've been hearing rumors about this but have now found 2 trusted sources writing about the fact that Starbucks has discontinued their only GF food option (Orange Cake). This has only been in stores since May 1st!

Check out Nancy Lapid's About.com Celiac blog here.
Check out Atlanta's Gluten Free Examiner blog here.

I'm not sure how to react, I've tried the cake a few times and thought it was pretty tasty. I was excited yesterday when I received an email from KIND that their KIND bars (gluten free and dairy free) were going to be carried in Starbucks nation-wide. I didn't realize at the time, it was a replacement for the Orange cakes. I was not able to find an official press release from Starbucks about either announcement - I guess it was announced via Twitter. I've had KIND bars before and liked them but they are not anything like a nice muffin/cake that I would prefer to have with my coffee.

Check out the message from KIND below.
Dear Friends of KIND,
When we launched KIND Snacks five years ago, our goal was to create a great tasting, all-natural, real food bar made from wholesome ingredients you could see and pronounce™. We didn't know KIND would quickly become the fastest-growing line of bars in the United States. Since founding KIND, we have always focused on our philosophy of rejecting false compromises. Instead of "or", we say "and": healthy and tasty, convenient and wholesome, socially responsible and economically successful.

Thanks to your support and that of all who have raved about KIND to friends and family, I'm very proud to announce that our award-winning KIND Bars are now available at over 7,000 Starbucks stores nationwide. We're honored and excited to work with Starbucks and all it stands for - unrelenting commitment to taste, quality, and community, and it's new initiative to introduce healthier, natural offerings under the banner: "Real Food. Simply Delicious."

We hope you will try one of our delicious bars the next time you are at Starbucks: Fruit & Nut Delight, Cranberry Almond + Antioxidants and Mango Macadamia + Calcium. All of the bars make a perfect pairing with a Starbucks coffee, and on that note, we're thrilled to add one more "and" to our list: Starbucks and KIND.

Warmest,
Daniel Lubetzky
CEO and Founder, KIND Snacks
What are your thoughts?

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Gluten Free Raleigh Fundraising Summary

Many of you have been very gracious and participated in one or more of Gluten Free Raleigh's past fund raising events. Just wanted to point you all to a new summary on the right side bar where I will keep track of the good we have done for the Celiac community. Hopefully this will continue to grow!

Thanks for your participation now and in the future!

Fund raising Summary - As of July 15, 2009
1) Jules Shepard Gluten Free Cooking Class - 7/12/2009
$300 donated to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research

2) Gluten Free Raleigh Run/Walk Fundraiser - 6/13/2009
$915 donated to Gluten Free Week @ Camp Kanata (GIG sponsored camp in Wake Forest)

3) Jules Shepard Gluten Free Cooking Class - 2/28/2009
$100 donated to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research
$400 donated to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA)

Grand Total = $1,715

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Grocery Store Review: Earth Fare

I've previously written about the grocery store Earth Fare numerous times. I've teamed with Kristi Kanzig (Earth Fare's marketing genius - check out her events here) on two occasions to host Gluten Free cooking classes with Celiac expert and author; Jules Shepard. I've also written before about some other Gluten Free classes conducted in Earth Fare's community room. Below is my full Grocery review for this awesome Gluten Free resource.

About Earth Fare
Earth Fare is a healthy foods supermarket which began in Asheville, North Carolina in 1975. An expansion, which began in the late 1990's, has brought the grocery store to Greenville and Columbia, South Carolina, Greensboro, Boone, Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, Athens and Augusta, Georgia, and Knoxville and Johnson City, Tennessee. Earth Fare states on it's Web site the following about the products it chooses to carry -
We sell foods as close to the ground as it gets. Products with these ingredients/processes WILL NOT BE SOLD at Earth Fare :
  • NO hydrogenated or partially- hydrogenated oils added trans-fats
  • NO high fructose corn syrup
  • NO artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners & preservatives
  • NO antibiotics, synthetic growth hormones or animal by-products in the feed (fresh meats & milk)
  • NO bleached or bromated flour
  • NO irradiated single source spices, produce or meat
  • NO animal by-products in pet foods
  • NO inhumane treatment of the animals providing us with dairy, meat and eggs
Gluten Free Products
You can tell that Earth Fare takes a lot of pride in the products they carry by reading the above statement. In addition to that, Earth Fare also makes it easy for gluten intolerant customers to find foods they can stomach – pun intended. With thousands of gluten-free items to choose from and clearly marked “gluten-free sets” within the store, shoppers don’t have to guess about where to find gluten-free products anymore. These clearly marked "gluten free sets" are basically wood faced shelves. Earth Fare does mix in Gluten Free items with their Gluten full items throughout the store. If you are looking for GF cereal, head to the normal cereal isle and look for the wood shelves and well marked Gluten Free signage. They also have a very extensive frozen food section as well. Stop in to the customer service desk upon your arrival and ask for a "Living Gluten Free" brochure. It provides some more detail as to the brands they carry which are GF. Way too many to list here. I couldn't find this brochure on their Web site, so I scanned a copy I picked up the other day. Check with the store for the latest version.

To sum up - Pretty much any Gluten Free item you have seen or tried before (along with many you have not) is available at Earth Fare. Each time I visit, I'm pleasantly surprised to see new items. The folks at Earth Fare are great to work with and care about you as a Gluten Free consumer. Did I mention the thousands of Gluten Free items they carry?

Information
Earth Fare - Brierdale Shopping Center
10341 Moncreiffe Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27617

Phone: (919) 433-1390
Email
Web site

Store Hours:
Monday - Sunday 9am to 9pm


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Monday, July 13, 2009

Gluten Free Raleigh Dispatch: 7-13-2009

Gluten Free Raleigh Dispatch: 7-13-2009
  • More info on the latest Celiac Study from the Mayo Clinic which details a dramatic increase in the number of Celiac cases versus 50 years ago. Reuters | NY Times | About.com's Celiac Disease blog | Celiac.com | Savvy Celiac
  • The Super Allergy Girl has a new cookbook (405 pages) of recipes (gluten-free, casein-free, dairy-free, egg-free, peanut and tree-nut free and other allergen-free) and also has offered up a new travel tip video and tip sheet at her Web site. PRWeb
  • Nancy Lapid's About.com blog article on Celiac Disease See's Candy Company and their Gluten Free product list. See's doesn't have any NC locations but you can purchase their products online . Nancy also has a larger Gluten Free Candy list here.
  • Introducing Celiac-Disease.com version 3. Kyle does a great job covering Celiac Disease and the Gluten Free Diet. If you are not reading this Web site, you should be.
  • Celiac.com article linking Autism and Celiac Disease. A new study shows that if mom has an auto-immune disease (like Celiac), the child is 3 times more likely to be Autistic.
  • The Gluten Free Hub has an article about personal care products from Clinique that are Gluten Free.
  • Survey results from Savvy Celiac around the FDA's proposed 20 PPM Gluten Free food labeling law. Interesting stuff here - I'm a little confused about the folks who say it must be 0 PPM - there is no testing available for this (lowest I've seen is 5 PPM) so how is the FDA supposed to regulate?

Friday, July 10, 2009

Gluten Free Raleigh Product Giveaway Contest - July

Announcing the first Gluten Free Raleigh Product Giveaway Contest!
Hopefully this will become a regular thing here on Gluten Free Raleigh. You've probably seen this on other blogs - but basically, one lucky reader of this blog will win a huge prize pack from Betty Crocker/General Mills. The prize pack was provided to me by a company called MyBlogSpark.com - which is basically a group of bloggers who have signed up to be among the first to review new products.

Prize Pack Details
-Betty Crocker Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie mix
-Betty Crocker Gluten Free Brownie mix
-Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake mix
-Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devils Food Cake mix
-Betty Crocker re-usable shopping bag
-Betty Crocker pen & shopping list magnetic pad set
-Coupons for 2 additional free Betty Crocker mixes

Betty Crocker Gluten Free products
I've written plenty before about the good stuff going on over at Betty Crocker and General Mills. MyBlogSpark.com also provided me with the above prize pack so I could try out all the new GF mixes. We've made the cookies and brownies so far and have been extremely pleased with the results, texture and taste. The only downside so far was that the cookies were a little crumbly but who cares when that taste that good, right? We've yet to try the cake mixes but will do so very soon and provide a review here. FYI - in case you have not heard, all flavors of Betty Crocker Ready-to-Spread Frosting will be labeled Gluten Free this Fall!

How do you win?

It's pretty simple... in order to be eligible, you need to be an email subscriber of Gluten Free Raleigh. There are about 90 of you already registered to win at this point. If you are not sure if that includes you or would like to sign up for email subscriptions to Gluten Free Raleigh, please use the form below to sign up. If you are already an email subscriber, the form below will notify you (you cannot sign up twice with the same email address). This will automatically register you for the prize pack from Betty Crocker.

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Deadline to sign-up and other rules
Please sign-up for email subscriptions by July 30, 2009. All subscribers at that point (only Raleigh area residents) will be eligible. The randomly chosen winner will be announced right here on Gluten Free Raleigh on Friday July 31, 2009. GOOD LUCK!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Jules Shepard Gluten Free Event Update

EVENT SOLD OUT!!!

Just wanted to let you all know of some updates for the upcoming Jules Shepard Gluten Free Cooking Class at Earth Fare. The event is still being held this Sunday, July 12, 2009. Some timings have been updated for the event as noted below. I have attempted to contact everyone who has registered and most are okay with the changes.

The event will still begin at 10am on Sunday 7/12 but will feature a Gluten Free Vendor Fair at the Earth Fare store. The GF Vendor Fair will feature several GF food vendors with samples available for your tasting pleasure. Some of the vendors will include local gluten-free products, including Escazu Chocolates, Pepper Dog salsa and Bella Monica's frozen gluten-free pizza. Other vendors like Nature's Path, Namaste and Blue Diamond will also be included. Some of the details are still being worked out, but the idea is for you to have the opportunity to taste some of these GF products before you buy. We all know how expensive they are!

The Gluten Free Cooking Class with Jules Shepard will begin around 1pm instead of the original time of 10am. Jules will be teaching, cooking and providing samples of delicious Gluten Free foods like pizza, graham crackers, strawberry shortcake and Pop Tarts! She will also have copies available of both her cookbook Nearly Normal Cooking for Gluten Free Eating and her latest book The First Year: Celiac Disease and Living Gluten Free. You may also purchase her cup-for-cup replacement Gluten Free Flour at the event and save on shipping costs.

Also, check out today's News & Observer article by columnist Andrea Weigl.

Click here to register for the event.
The deadline to sign-up online is Friday July 10th.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Gluten Free Raleigh Dispatch: 7-6-2009

There is so much going on in the world of Celiac Disease and Gluten Free that I'd thought it would be a good idea to start a Gluten Free Raleigh Dispatch. Kinda like a mash up of recent Gluten Free/Celiac Disease news. I'll shoot for weekly editions and see how that goes.

Gluten Free Raleigh Dispatch: 7-6-2009
Lots of news to share with you over the last few days... Check it out below.
  • Wall Street Journal article about General Mill's decision to go Gluten Free.
  • HealthNews.com article about Celiac Disease & Gluten Intolerance in the top 5 Food Allergies.
  • Celiac Princess writes about a new Mayo Clinic study which shows Celiac Disease is four times more common today that 50 years ago. More from Nancy Lapid's About.com Celiac blog here and here.
  • Gluten Free Durham blogger and registered dietitian Debbie Jongkind will be the feature speaker at a GF lecture at UNC Wellness Center.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Reminder: Jules Shepard Gluten Free Cooking Class @ Earth Fare July 12

Just a quick reminder that the Jules Shepard Gluten Free cooking class is fast approaching. The class will be held Sunday July 12, 2009 at the Brier Creek Earth Fare grocery store.

There are currently 9 folks registered which means there are 31 slots still available. Please sign up now if you are interested. The deadline to register is Friday July 10th.

Click here for more information.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Useful Resources: At Home Celiac DNA Tests

Some cool news from Prometheus Labs which has just come out with a brand new at home DNA test for Celiac Disease. This new test uses a cheek swab collection method rather than a more invasion (and painful) blood sample. The new cheek swab test is called MyCeliacID - check out the Web site here for more information and ordering. The test can be ordered online, taken at home and mailed back to Prometheus. The test runs $329 and results are usually returned within 7 days. Click here for a video about how to perform the test. Prometheus also has a page which provides information on exactly who should be tested.

Here are a couple of articles about this new test.
celiacdisease.about.com
celiac-disease.com
celiac.com

Note - a positive gene test for Celiac Disease does not indicate a diagnosis of CD. This is not an antibody test for active CD and can only be used to rule out the possibility of CD. Bottom line, if the genes are not present, the individual cannot ever develop CD - and if the genes are present, the individual may or may not already have CD. A person with the genes should not immediately begin a Gluten Free diet and should be watched for symptoms and screened using the antibody test in the future. An antibody blood test, biopsy of the small intestine and recovery on a Gluten Free diet are the gold standard for accurate diagnosis of CD.

Just an FYI - Prometheus claims that this is the first test of it's kind but some of us out there may have already used another lab called Kimball Genetics which was already offering a cheek swab DNA test. The cost of this test is closer to $400.

Twin Cakes Bakery Farmer's Market Update

Beginning today, Twin Cakes Bakery will be selling their delicious Gluten Free baked goods at the North Raleigh Farmers Market. The market is held from 4pm - 7pm each Wednesday until October at the Falls River Town Center.

Check them out this afternoon and enjoy the following Gluten Free items...
  • Brownies
  • Sugar cookie
  • Lemon Blackberry muffin
  • Blueberry muffins
  • Chocolate chip banana muffin
  • Chocolate mint cupcakes
  • Vanilla cupcake with chocolate banana frosting
  • Chocolate chip cookie sandwiches
  • Breadsticks
  • Monkey Bread
Click here for the Twin Cakes Bakery Web site.

Click here for the market Web site.

Gluten Free Beer: RedBridge @ The Pour House

Lots of Gluten Free Beer news this week... Big thanks goes out to loyal reader John for getting The Pour House in Downtown Raleigh to carry Redbridge. Check out John's summary of The Pour House below if you've never been.
The Pour House is a friendly neighborhood type bar that hosts live music most nights of the week and has pool tables upstairs on it's second floor. And, many of you may already be aware, but the Pour House is always open when something is happening at Moore Square. At events like Artsplosure you can get beers in to-go cups and walk out into the afternoon sun onto the blocked off streets to enjoy the music and art and street performers. There are the other events such as SparkCon and the First Friday Art Walks, where many people are out and about but celiacs who wish to have a drink are limited to only wine (which is fine!) But, now with a bar right on Moore Square, we can stop in for a Red Bridge and continue on our way!
The Pour House
224 S. Blount St.
Raleigh, NC 27601
919.821.1120


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