Free Learning Opportunity at The Rice Diet Program July 27, 2010

The Rice Diet Program in Durham is hosting an interesting panel discussion: "Food Allergies From Fact to Fiction: Exploring the Many Misconceptions" for the nutrition professionals and opening this learning opportunity up to the community. The events objectives include:

Review contributing factors for developing and acquiring food allergies, from
genetic propensity to dietary consumption and environmental exposure.

Summarize the incidence of food allergies and percentage of those
“outgrowing” them.

Define and describe the diagnosis of celiac disease (CD) versus gluten
sensitivity or intolerance.

Describe other diseases’ incidences and correlations with CD, such as autism
and the autistic spectrum, diabetes, Downs Syndrome, etc.

Discuss whether we are over or under diagnosing CD and other food allergies.

Describe the dietitian’s role, as part of a team and in individual patient counseling,
in addressing food allergies and CD.

Respected Panelists include: Brian Vickery, MD, Lesley Stanford,MS,RD,LDN, Colm O’Loughlin, MB, BCh, BAO and moderator: Daniel Wild, MD

While the seminar is free, space is limited so preregistration is required by contacting:
Anna LaBarre at:
anna@ricediet.com or
(919) 383-7276 ext 237

Event Details:
Place: The Rice Diet Program
1644 Cole Mill Road in Durham
Date: Tuesday, July 27
Time: 7pm – 8:30pm

News From Twin Cakes, Durham Farmers Market

The Following is an Update from the Twins:NEWS: Twin Cake Bakery and Pure2Raw are back! Thanks for everyone’s patience while we were out of town. We will be at the two Saturday Farmer’s Markets this coming weekend July 17.

Here is what we will have to sell this week at the Saturday- Durham Farmers Market (8am- noon) and the Carrboro Farmers Market (7am- noon).


Saturday Morning Markets menu:
Cardamom Brownies
Double chocolate brownies
Carrot cakes
Lemon blueberry scone
Orange Fig scone
Lemon apricot scone
Ginger peach muffin
Cocoa banana nutmeg muffin
And more




Here are some raw items that you might see at the markets:
Cheez cracker
Rosemary cracker
Herb cracker
Pumpkin Kale Cracker
Collard green onion cracker (contains onions)
*new item pizza cracker
Onion free spinach chia flatbread
Sunflower chia kale flatbread
Swiss chard hemp seed flatbread (contains onions)
Collard onion sesame flatbread (contains onions)
Purple kale chia flatbread (contains onions)
Kale hempseed flatbread (contains onions)
Peppermint brownie bites
Mint Chip Kremes
Pistachio orange coconut bars
Banana chocolate chip kreme bars

July Classes at Rosie's Plate

Rosie's Plate in Raleigh has some interesting classes planned for the month of July. If you need some new gluten free menu ideas check your calendar and consider enrolling in one of the following classes:

Gluten Free Meals For A Week

**Thursday, July 15**

Rosie's Studio: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM


Cooking Just Got Easier!

Gather in our studio for the inside scoop on preparing a week's worth of gluten free meals in one day! You'll learn how to plan, shop, cook and store meals that everyone can enjoy. You'll walk away with tons of information including delicious gluten free recipes.

Cost: $50



Cooking Demo: Easy Meals For Gluten Free Diets

**Saturday, July 17**

Rosie's Kitchen: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM


Turn Up The Heat In Your Kitchen!


Come watch and learn as Seth and Emily teach the ins and outs of cooking gluten free. Lots of sampling and recipes to take home. Come turn your dietary challenges into culinary adventures.


Featured Recipes: Parmesan Crusted Pork Tenderloin w/ Pan Tomato Sauce & Balsamic Glazed Veggies, Honey Lime Chicken w/ Quinoa, Portebello Pizzas, Watermelon Cucumber Salad, and Blondies

Cost: $50



Gluten Free Baking

**Saturday, July 31**

Rosie's Kitchen: 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM


Come Discover The Baker In You!

Join Emily in the kitchen for a fun-filled gluten free baking exploration. You'll learn how to substitute flours and feel like a pro at baking gluten free. Everyone gets a front row seat. Only six seats in a class. Lots of tastings!!

Featured Recipes: Buttermilk Biscuits, Sugar Cookies, Applesauce Spice Bread

Cost: $35


Call Rosie's at 919-833-0505 for more information and to enroll for a class

Until Next year: Camp Kanata 2010 Concludes

"Until Next Time Be Well and Do Good" those are the parting words that the campers hear and read on their way out of Camp Kanata. This Saturday concluded a week of great fun and great gluten free food at Gluten Free Week at Camp Kanata in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The weather even cooled and provided the perfect camp atmosphere for the over night YMCA camp. Volunteers served campers from North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland some delicious gluten free foods. I'd like to thank the numerous volunteers and donations that made this week possible for kids to experience a fun filled week at camp without any worry over what they would eat during meal and snack time. 30 campers who followed a gluten free diet played, slept, and ate along another 160+ campers this past week. The only thing that was different was where they picked up their food at meal time in the dining hall. The camps cycle menu was duplicated item by item so that those kids following a gluten free menu could eat and enjoy the fun that only Camp Kanata Dining Hall can provide. GIG secured many corporate food donations and our local support for this camp is wonderful. A special thanks to Zach for the fund raising efforts to support camp scholarships and expenses, and to the following local companies that donated products for the camp menu: Rosie's Plate, Mellow Mushroom, Bella Monica, Custom Choice Cereal, Happy Tummy Baking Co, Whole Foods Gluten Free Bake House, Harmony Farms, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Kroger, Harris Teeter, and Target. In addition to smiling faces and full bellies we heard: "these are the best hot dogs and buns and thank you so much for all the food you cooked for us, thank you for the bag of goodies-love you for it!"
Gluten free Week in 2011 will probably be mid July. Stay tuned to the GIG Gluten Intolerance Group's website and Camp Kanata's website for further details.

Gluten Free Week at Camp Kanata Begins!

What an exciting week ahead for 30 some campers as they begin their adventure at Camp Kanata during the "Olympic Week Theme", June 27- July 1st, 2010. The gluten free kitchen has been cleaned, donations procured, menus and volunteer schedules confirmed. This will be my fourth year volunteering as a camp dietitian and working with camp director extraordinaire: Alanna Conder. This year Cynthia Kuppper also a dietitian and the executive director of the Gluten Intolerance Group will be sweating along with a great group of volunteers to serve our GF campers. There have been numerous local donations to help make this camp possible which I will recap at the close of camp, so as not to forget anyone that may fill a need this week. If you are reading this blog in the comfort of an air conditioned building please send some cool thoughts our way!

Twin Cakes update Durham Farmers Market

Here is an update from Twins related to their products and availablilty at the Durham Farmers Market over the next several weeks:



Your Allergy friendly bakery - we focus on gluten/wheat free, dairy free, egg free, peanut free, and more.


NEWS: Twin Cake Bakery will be at the two markets this weekend but after that plan to take a few weekends off. We will not be at the Carrboro or Durham markets on July 3rd and possibly July 10th. We might be back in time for the July 10th market but unsure at the moment. Please plan ahead for your orders this weekend. Thanks the twins J

Here is what we will have to sell this week at the Durham Farmers Market and the Carrboro Farmers Market.

Durham Wednesday Market:
Mint Brownies
Fudgy Brownies
Cinnamon Raisin Scone
Raw double layered cherry coconut bar with chocolate drizzle



Saturday Morning Markets menu:
Mint Brownies
Cardamom Brownies
Carrot cakes
Lemon blueberry scone
Cinnamon raisin scone
Lemon cherry scone
Orange Fig scone
Banana chocolate chip curry muffin
Cinnamon roll muffin (contains yeast)
Lemon raspberry bundt cake
And more




Here are some raw items that you might see at the markets:
Cheez cracker
Rosemary cracker
Herb cracker
Collard green onion cracker (contains onions)
*new item Spriulina swiss chard sunflower seed flatbread
Swiss chard black sesame chia flatbread (contains onions)
Boy choy sesame flatbread (contains onions)
Kale hempseed flatbread (contains onions)
Spirulina pumpkin seed flatbread
Chocolate chip cookie dough kreme cake bar
* new item Cherry double layered coconut with chocolate drizzle
Cardamom almond biscotti


www.twincakesbakery.com

Happy Tummy Pizza Crust

Many people who follow a gluten free diet long for pizza crust that tastes like what they remember. Well if you have to limit other ingredients besides gluten it gets even more difficult to find a suitable product. I was recently contacted by Maria Hopper, owner of Happy Tummy Baking Company. This is a local baking company devoted to developing tasty products for people with multiple food sensitivities. Their first product is a 12 inch pizza crust that contain no gluten, yeast or any of the 8 major allergens. The pizza crust comes ready to top and bake as you like. The crust is now available at our local Durham Whole Foods in the freezer section. Zach, over at Gluten Free Raleigh, wrote a nice review of the product here. The Pizza crust is available at Whole Foods and Harmony Farms in Raleigh.

Rita's Italian Ice, Restaurant Review

Looking for a cool summer treat? You will be happy to know that there are several Gluten Free offerings at Rita's Italian Ice. On a recent hot night my GF daughter and I ventured out for the little shop in southwest Durham. We chose Gelatis which are mixtures of their homemade Italian ice and soft serve frozen custard. I highly recommend the chocolate/berry flavor (yum!) The workers were helpful answering my questions about ingredients and showing me the custard carton mix so I could review the ingredients myself. I also received a prompt reply from corporate Rita's stating:

Rita’s has nutritional information available for our Guests on our website, www.ritasice.com. Please click the "Cool Treats" link on the top navigation pane and select "Nutritional Info" from the drop down menu, where you will find a link to an "Allergen Information" document.

Allergen information provided on our allergen chart is for the 8 major food groups that account for most food allergens as per the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004. Gluten is not considered to be among them, which is why it is not listed. allergen chart

Though we understand this is not inherent with all foods, for our purposes, anything we list with wheat content also includes gluten. Likewise, anything listed as not having any wheat content does not contain any gluten.

Therefore please refer to the “Wheat” category on our allergen chart to address your gluten concerns.

I have learned there are 500 Rita's in 18 states. I am glad to have one in Durham that clearly discloses their allergen information and offers great customer service!

Location:
Rita's
1125 W Nc Highway 54
Durham, NC 27707-5715
(919) 489-0888

Saigon Grill, Vietnamese Restaurant Review

I had my first experience at Vietnamese dining and was surprised to learn that there were many naturally gluten free items to choose from. A friend invited me to join her for lunch at one of her favorite spots "one of the best kept secrets in Durham"; is how she actually described the Saigon Grill.
Traditional Vietnamese cooking is greatly admired for freshness of the ingredients and for the healthy eating style. This was evident with the abundant fresh herbs that accompanied my lunch.
The most common meats used in Vietnamese cuisine are pork, chicken, fish, and various kinds of seafood. Vietnamese also have a strong vegetarian tradition
and offer lots of rice and rice noodles.
Our server was very knowledgeable and understood my gluten free requests. One that she said they get often. While not everything on the menu is gluten free it is easy to find something tasty and gluten free from the nearly 100 items offered on their menu.

Saigon Grill
2929 N. Roxboro St.
Durham, NC 27704
919-220-5979

Tuesday-Sundays: 11AM-9PM
closed Mondays

Check out these other Gluten Free Blogs

The May 2010 issue of Today's Dietitan included a feature article: "Gluten-Free Blogs Are Hot". Author, Sharon Palmer, RD reviewed 13 gluten free blogs, some include mostly recipes, and cooking, while others offer reliable, science based information on Celiac Disease. Possible additional interesting summer reading for the followers of this Gluten Free Durham Blog!

Celiac Chicks: http://celiacchicks.typepad.com/
Celiac Teen: http://www.celiacteen.com/
The Crispy Cook: http://wheat-free-meat-free.blogspot.com
Delightfully Gluten Free: http://delightfullyglutenfree.com
Gluten-Free Diet: http://glutenfreediet.ca/blog
Gluten-Free Dietitian: http://glutenfreedietitian.com
Gluten-Free Girl: http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com
Gluten-Free Goddess: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com
Gluten Free Blog: http://gluten-free-blog.blogspot.com
Gluten Free Gobsmacked: http://glutenfree.wordpress.com
Gluten Free Steve: http://glutenfreesteve.wordpress.com
Hold the Gluten: http://holdthegluten.net
Straight into Bed Cake-Free and Dried: http://milkforthemorningcake.blogspot.com