Bob’s Red Mill is great for gluten free grains, and mixes for baking.  How do you find it?  Online is one way to find Gluten Free Resources.  Go straight to the company website - Bob’s Red Mill .  Another way is to figure out what stores carry gluten free products and figure out where they’re stashed.  Usually the customer service can look it up for you, or even the store’s website can tell you what products they have and where they are kept.  Kroger’s keeps their gluten free products in the Nature’s Market area, close to the organic foods section.  I searched for gluten free mixes the other day and found them right where the website said they would be.  I couldn’t find gluten free at Walmart or on their website.  It’s probably there somewhere, but just wasn’t an easy find - and I didn’t try customer service because I was in a rush.

Another resource is the Gluten Free Mall.  It’s an online order place, and even has gluten free pastas. Glutenfreeda.com has a whole website devoted to gluten free living, including great recipes.  Glutenfreeda has a weekly newsletter and cooking lessons.  It has a small section devoted to celiac news and even product reviews.  They will soon have frozen gluten free cookie dough coming to stores.  Celiac.com also has a good website for online ordering of gluten free foods.

Right now is probably an easier time to go gluten free since you can use fresh vegetables and meat without opening a jar or can.  In the winter it’s more difficult and you have to rely on reading those labels.  Good luck in your gluten free quest.

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There are many ways of buying local.  Fruits and vegetables from the Saturday street farm market is one way.  Buying products made at local companies is another.  When Dei Fratelli Pasta Sauce and Salsas were offered up for review, I was thrilled to find out that they were a local company.  Well, semi local, it’s in Ohio. Hirzel Canning grows its own tomatoes in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.  Also they supply the 30 family run farms that they’ve  contracted to grow tomatoes for them with seedlings, and are certified GMO free. 

Dei Fratelli pasta sauces were delicious. We eat pasta sauces and salsas all year long, some I make, some I buy.  It’s nice to know this sauce isn’t flying in from another continent when the main ingredients can be easily grown in the area.  It’s the tree hugger in me that is concerned with those things.  The only issue is that distribution currently is limited to primarily the Midwest, Central and Southeastern states.

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1lb Sweet Italian Turkey sausage (Kroger’s has Honeysuckle Farms )

2 tbs olive oil.

1 Onion diced

5-6 cups chicken broth warmed (Organic Pacific brand is gluten free)

1 yellow squash, peeled and chopped.

2 cups risotto.

chopped parsley.

Saute the onion and turkey sausage together in a medium sauce pan.  Remove the cooked onion and sausage from the pan.  Pour in risotto and just cover with broth.  When the broth is absorbed, put in a ladle full at a time slowly letting it absorb in by the rice. When the rice is almost ready, add the squash.  Pour in the last ladle, add the sausage and onion back in and finish heating through until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

*To make sure this is gluten free, check your sausage and broth labels. 

This week at Cookerati, we’re trying to talk about Gluten Free products.  We were asked to sample some gluten free products and help our readers learn about some gluten free options.  Since we want to help our readers, and we’re game to try new things, learn about new options, address readers concerns, this week is Gluten Free week.  We’ll try our best to get it all correct, but if we don’t, feel free to help us out.

Why Gluten Free?

Gluten Free is not a health fad. Most people don’t decide to go gluten free just to be healthier, although some do.  Usually, they are diagnosed with a gluten intolerance or Celiac Disease.  Celiac Disease is a serious condition, that sometimes mimics other stomach ailments and can be mild, or as major as feeling ground up glass in your stomach if you digest something with gluten in it.  To be diagnosed with Celiac disease, you actually need to not be on a gluten free diet in order for the testing to be accurate.  Once you are diagnosed, there isn’t a cure, but then you need to live a gluten free life forever.  My mother in law hasn’t been tested or diagnosed with celiac disease, however, her doctor told her she has an intolerance to gluten and should have as gluten free a diet as she can.  Others, who have been diagnosed with ADHD, Autism, and food allergies sometimes find that a gluten free diet has helped their symptoms. Still other people are going gluten free because they just feel healthier on a gluten free diet.  If you choose a gluten free diet, make sure to get the B vitamins and folic acid, by taking supplements, or foods that have been enriched with them.

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