Jason's Deli & Udi's Team Up to Offer Gluten-Free Goodness

Good Morning Everyone! It is a beautiful Sunday morning - the sun is out, the birds are chirping - what better way to spend it than writing a new post?!

So I want to begin by telling you a story. On Thursday I was doing my usual routine, got into work and checked-up on the news online, and came upon a news release. It mentioned that Jason's Deli was now serving gluten-free bread. I am not sure about all of you, but I was practically jumping out of seat in excitement - I haven't had a real sandwich OUT in forever! Well, I was at work, so I kept my composure (very hard to do) and went about my day. That night, another birdie in a tree mentioned Jason's Deli's new initiative once again. Two times in one day I was told about this, I knew I now had to check it out.

On Friday, a couple of co-workers and I went on over to Jason's Deli and it was true! While they are not making their own bread, they have partnered with Udi's. I had never had Udi's before then, but man was it good (see pics below). The bread was airy and light and tasted amazing toasted. Plus it didn't get all soggy from the sandwich ingredients. Amazing!






One thing to keep in mind when going though, they do not use separate toaster's for the gluten-free bread. Also, they are trained to switch knives and gloves and clean off the cutting boards, but of course since it is not a 100% gluten-free establishment, it is always important to keep an eye on things while your sandwich is being made. Regardless, disclaimer said, Jason's Deli is amazing, even more so now that they have added gluten-free bread onto their menu.

So take a drive, stop at Jason's Deli, order a sandwich and enjoy:-)

Gluten-Free Cooking Class - July 26th - Must Go!

Now I know it may seem like all I can talk about is The Thoughtful Baker, but I swear it is just ironic that I met the woman behind the company last week and I am now posting about another event involving her coming up soon. I swear!

Thanks to Zach and his amazing knack for unearthing events happening in North Carolina, I am happy to tell you about an upcoming cooking class that might be of interest. The information is below:

Gluten Free Cooking

Date:	July 26, 2010
Time:	6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Location:	Charlotte Ballantyne Earth Fare
Admission:	Free
Contact:	clt120community@earthfare.com
With 90 degree heat, make this fun no cooking needed entrée! Please join Barbara D’Ambrosio, of The Thoughtful Baker, at Earth Fare Ballantyne Monday July 26, 6:30 pm for her free cooking class and learn to make this easy family treat! Fragrant fresh basil and cilantro, shrimp or chicken and cool summer vegetables are nestled in rice wrapper pouches that you and your family will have fun making together. Dip these flavorful treats in sun butter sauce (instead of peanut sauce) and a citrus based traditional dipping sauce. Barbara will share additional treats from her gluten free bakery to top off the class. To signup please call 704.926.1201.

If anything, the class is totally worth attending just for the baked goods alone - no joke, they are that good!

I am planning to attend myself, if you plan on going, let me know. I am always psyched to share my experiences with others:-)

The Thoughtful Baker & Then Some...

Talk about an exciting week! Not only have I joined the first ever Charlotte, NC Gluten Free Expo events team, but I also met the Thoughtful Baker, Ms. Barbara D'Ambrosio herself. She is absolutely amazing and her cinnamon roll cakes are to die for. At a meeting last Thursday she brought them with her and I nearly died and went to heaven. They are fabulous morsels which were made without wheat, gluten and/or dairy. Awesome! And, of course, she is just as wonderful. Very friendly, witty and easy going - even that is not doing her justice. All I can say is, if you are attending the expo, she will be there and you must go by to say hello. She is really "all that and a bag of chips"!

Now, what was I doing that I met her you ask? Well, I had dropped a line to the originator of the Gluten Free Expo in Charlotte, Ms. Nikki Everett, and received a call back. Seems their planning is moving right along, but they could use an extra hand. So on Thursday night, I hauled myself from work in Uptown to the Dillworth area and met the ladies for my first of a handful of meetings to come. It was there I met Barbara. We chatted, we shared information, we laughed. It was great.

The event is going to be a success you should not miss. Whether you are coming to the event or not, though, I will be photographing as much as I can and giving you all the updates. Who was there? What were they sampling? What is new? What was the best and just okay? You name it, I will tell you all about it. Leave a comment if you want to know anything in particular. If you are going to be there, I would love to catch up as well - just let me know. I will be the perky blonde in staff clothing:)

Can't Wait!

Check out The Thoughtful Baker, LLC. website at www.TheThoughtfulBaker.com - its tasty.

Gluten Free Expo Coming to Charlotte!!

This just in, a Gluten Free Expo is coming to Charlotte on August 7th. It will be hosted at the Johnson & Wales University/Charlotte Campus from 10AM - 4PM. In order to attend you must pre-register, attendance is limited to 350 people. So hurry and sign up!

There will be over 40 different vendors, including: Farmo Pasta, The Thoughtful Baker, Attune Probiotic Wellness Bars and so many more.

Also, Chef Peter Reinhart from Johnson & Wales will be demoing throughout the day. Plus, Dr. Ivor Hill, Chief Pediatric Gastroenterologist at Wake Forest Medical University will be speaking on "Celiac Disease:What's New".

Don't miss out on this. The link to learn more about the expo and pre-register is below.

http://charlottegfexpo.blogspot.com/

I will be in attendance so let me know via email if you decide to go too. Hope to see you all there!

Shopping Gluten Free: A Guide to the Good, the Bad and How to Know the Difference

Has anyone walked through the grocery store and thought, "If only there were labels on every piece of gluten free goodness in this place?!" Well, I have.

Sundays are the day for food shopping. It is the beginning of the new week and it's one of the couple of days I definitely have off on a regular basis. Every time, in the grocery store, I would have the same issues I always do. I would find foods that I would have loved to try, but after having read the ingredient list, could not decide if it was really gluten free or not. It always gets down to the last two ingredients - grrrr!

So as the days went by, I decided it was time to take back the grocery store shopping experience, so to say, and find a way to make it easier to shop. I researched heavily and finally came up with the perfect list. The list was created by the genius' over at the Celiac Disease Foundation (CDF). They have amazing, all encompassing lists on stores, brands and so much more. Below is a link that has saved my life (no joke!) -->

To help with choosing the grocery store to shop at, this page has a list of all gluten free items each one sells: http://www.celiac.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=19


Another site I am truly fond of, which makes life just that much easier is, Celiac.com. Here I have found -->

To help know which ingredients are gluten free friendly: http://www.celiac.com/articles/181/1/Safe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Safe-Ingredients/Page1.html

To help know which ingredients are NOT gluten free friendly: http://www.celiac.com/articles/182/1/Unsafe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Unsafe-Ingredients/Page1.html

I can only assume that some people have heard of all of these lists or have variations of their own. Regardless, there are a lot of people out there who don't, these links are for you. Hopefully they help you through your trials and tribulations of shopping at the grocery store, or anywhere for that matter. I know they have helped me:-)

A New Contributor for Gluten Free Charlotte

It all began when I was 10 years old. For some reason or another I was obsessed with hot dogs; random, but yes, hot dogs. Weirdly enough I was content with eating the same foods all the time, that should have been the first clue. Regardless, I ate them with little care in the world. The last I ever had was in Yankee Stadium during the 2nd inning. Who would have thought that hours later, during the 7th inning stretch with the National Anthem being sang in the background, I would have an acute allergy attack and be rushed out of the stadium on a gurney and oxygen mask attached to my face?! By mid-morning the next day I was released. The only remnants of my horrific day before being a case of hives that looked ugly and itched constantly.

Weeks later I started having chest pains, just like in the stadium, which got me a diagnosis of Acid Reflux. Pills were administered and I went about my business. However, the chest pains just kept getting worse, the pills weren't doing the trick. The next diagnosis was Acute Acid Reflux. From there it felt like the years just all mesh into snippets of time, not really periods of it. I was called a Hypochondriac by two doctors, was diagnosed with random diseases that never panned out and even received the good old, suffers from IBS label. It wasn't until I met Dr. Green in New York City who finally gave me what I was searching for; a true diagnosis. While I do not suffer from Celiacs Disease, I do suffer from its sister illness, Wheat and Gluten Intolerance with a side of IBS (that part was accurate at least). The minute I gave up those precious morsels of grain it was like a whole new me. I am sure each and every one of you can relate to that.

One would think being Wheat and Gluten Intolerant is far easier than being a Celiac, but it is not. I had given up so many foods already, I didn't even know where to start. It took months to even work up the confidence to eat in restaurants or have a drink out with friends. However, like all of you, I made it through.

Now, I cannot imagine sitting home on a Friday or Saturday night. I love going out. Eating at Gluten Free, established places and also going to one's that aren't and working with chefs to make it perfect just for me. It is amazing what chefs will do for you if you just ask, something I never would have been able to do prior to my diagnosis. It does still feel funny though going out for sushi and bringing my own soy sauce - that one never gets old! Still, despite everything, I love my life and want to tell you about what you might be missing out on. Between restaurants, lounges, cafes, destination places, etc. I plan on bringing you all of the options. It is my passion and pleasure to help others the way I wished I could have been helped when I was diagnosed - hopefully you'll let me.

If you have places that you want mentioned or knowledge that would be of use to others, let me know. I am open to any and all suggestions and really want this blog to be a place for everyone to enjoy.

So, now that you know my history and my goals, let the journey begin!

Gluten-free Pizza

I apologize it's taken me a lot longer to write a new post than I promised! But I've been working on a special post that also happens to be about one of my favorite comfort foods: pizza!


My family heritage is Italian (on my mother's side), and there was a time when every Thursday was pizza night. If Mom didn't make it herself, we ordered from our local house of pizza. Four years ago when a gluten-free lifestyle change was demanded by the medical needs of my mom, myself and my two sisters, ordering pizza out became impossible. So we spent a year learning how to make gluten-free pizza.

That was four years ago.

I'm pleased to say that more and more places are coming on-board with gluten-free options, and this includes restaurants right here in Charlotte! I've been taste-testing and evaluating a number of different gluten-free pizzas that I've all found in Charlotte.

The first place is in the freezer chest at Harris Teeter. Glutino has come out with some amazing tasting, gluten-free pizzas. At the moment, all I've tried are the Three Cheese and the Spinach and Feta. They're individual pizzas. I'll admit the box makes them look a bit bigger, and my first impression when I took it out of the box to put on my cookie sheet was annoyance. But the pizza more than made up for it in taste and texture! Glutino's pizzas have crispy, buttery tasting crusts, ample cheese, and amazing taste. And even though I thought the pizza was small, it was very filling. The only thing is that they are a bit expensive: $5.35 at my local Harris Teeter. But when it comes to wanting a pizza on the fly to take for lunch or pop in the oven after a long day at work, this pizza delivers!

For another option for gluten-free pizza, check out Donatos. Yes, Donatos, the pizza chain! They sell a gluten-free pizza that has the smell of a classic pizza, the taste of a classic pizza, and the convenience of picking it up at the pizza joint. There's only one little problem. This pizza has no crust. To avoid the gluten problem, Donatos builds the pizza in a dish on a bed of soy-based crumbs, and puts the sauce, cheese and toppings on top of that. I'm used to a crust on my pizza, so it's a little disappointing to eat this one out of a dish with a fork. But when it comes to taste, this is an excellent pizza. Due to the lack of crust, I would recommend ordering this pizza with something for a topping. Tomato sauce and cheese by itself isn't the greatest form of gluten-free pizza. Adding a topping builds extra flavor and body. This pizza is about the same price at the Glutino pizzas.

By far an away, the best gluten-free pizza in Charlotte is the gluten-free pizza offered by FUEL Pizza. The picture above is from FUEL. It has a crispy flat crust, plenty of cheese and sauce, and excellent taste. Even though Donatos is considerably cheaper in price, this is my preferred pizza. Though the crust can be a bit flat at times, the joy of being able to hold a hot piece of pizza in my hands, enjoy the flavors and juices running down my fingers, and crumple up the real cardboard pizza box when I'm done more than makes up for the things this pizza lacks. There's only one major drawback to this pizza: you've got to buy the whole 12" pie, and it's not cheap. I usually order mine with a couple of toppings, and it's about $13 or so. But, if I keep down my appetite, I can eat half at one meal and half later. But with the taste of this pizza, that's a little hard to do!

Four years ago, the only way to get gluten-free pizza was to bake it yourself. Now, there are gluten-free options outside your own kitchen!

WARNING: While the pizza from Glutino is most certainly gluten-free, pizza eaters at Donatos and FUEL should bare in mind: though the pizzas are prepared in a separate place (and in the case of FUEL, the crust is made elsewhere and frozen), they are baked in the SAME OVENS as the regular pizza. While I consider myself very sensitive, I'm able to get away with eating these pizzas. If you are very sensitive, consider the possible consequences and make the choice for yourself if this is a gluten-free pizza for you.