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Gluten Free

My Two Seconds Of Fame

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Yeah, that’s me there in the shades, because, you know, I’m, like, FAMOUS!  Patricia Biesen, who writes Chicago Eats Allergy Free for Chicago Now, mentioned FabGrandma in a blog post on November 27, called “Play with Food: One Fab Grandma, FAAN’s New Look and more”

Then, on December 12, she was a guest on a Bill Leff’s radio talk show on WGN in Chicago, and mentioned my blog by name on the air!!!  Yes, my hat still fits. Barely.

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Remember Whensday: The Christmas Food Box

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My post today has no photograph to jog my memory. Way back years ago when I was a divorced mother of three young children, trying very hard on a very tight budget to make ends meet, I was the recipient of a food box from a community organization at Christmas. I was happy to get it, but one of the things I have always remembered from that experience was how many cans of hominy were in it.

I did appreciate getting the food, but I remember thinking “I wonder how many people really eat that stuff?” and wondering why, if you don’t eat something yourself, would you put it in the donation box for others.  Do people think that just because we are unable to provide for ourselves for a minute that our taste buds or nutritional needs are going to change? Back then, it was just a matter of tastes. If I were the recipient of a food box now, though, it would be a matter of whether or not I would be able to eat the foods that I received.

I am not alone in this line of thinking. Dee Valdez, who was diagnosed with Celiac Disease 17 years ago, remembers talking to a mother with a sick 7 year old who had Celiac. The mother said she had to choose between feeding her whole family or just feeding her sick daughter the very expensive gluten free food she could find. That distraught mother said, referring to her Celiac daughter, “She’s just going to have to live with diarrhea.”

“There is a great need to develop a systematic approach to establishing Gluten Free Food Banks across the nation.” says Valdez.  She is making that happen in Loveland, Colorado, where there was a dedication and ribbon cutting for the new gluten free section of the existing House of Neighborly Service Food Bank (HNS) on Tuesday, December 15, 2009. This location will serve as the test site for the new program Valdez is designing to be implemented in communities across the country. What a wonderful thing for the 1 in 133 of us who can not eat gluten!

I was also happy to read that Pamela’s Products, a dedicated gluten-free company, is a supporter of this effort, and is donating their Baking & Pancake Mix and their cookies to HNS. I discovered Pamela’s Baking and Pancake Mix early on in my gluten free life–it is now one of the staples of life in the Fab household.

While the costs of gluten free products has come down, and there is a much wider selection of them, they are still more expensive than regular normal foods. For example, you can pick up a loaf of regular white wheat bread for under $2.00 at any grocery store. The last gluten free bread I bought cost me about $7.50 for a 12 ounce loaf. Fabgrandpa and I can afford it, but with so many people losing their jobs, many people who must eat a gluten free diet are finding their budgets stretched to the limits, and facing the choice of whether to eat foods that are toxic to them. Ever since I started eating gluten free, whenever I donate items to a food drive, I always donate gluten free–pasta, bread mix, baking mix, cookies, cereal.  Because, what is the point of giving something I wouldn’t eat myself?
For other Remember Whensday posts, click here.
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A Simple Pleasure!

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We left the trailer behind this weekend to go visit the family in our hometown. It was a 200 mile drive, mostly through the countryside in Alabama. Back in the days when I still ate a gluten filled diet, when we traveled I would make a picnic lunch so we could eat in the truck. Egg sandwiches, with potato chips, and maybe some fruit. But since we stopped eating gluten, we haven’t had that simple pleasure. But guess what? since I have all that Udi’s bread in the freezer, I surprised FabGrandpa with egg sandwiches:

Now that might not look like such a treat to anyone else, but to us, it was wonderful! It just seems like such an intimate thing, for me to make a sandwich for my sweetheart on a trip out of town.

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It’s Been A Mail-a-palooza!

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When I lived in my house in Georgia, my daughter had painted on the inside of the mailbox “I love gettin’ mail!” along with a smiley face. My mail carrier told me she never failed to smile when she opened my mailbox.  But I do, I do love getting mail! And I got a lot of it this week!  

My daughter, Becca, sent me a package from Colorado. She had been on a trip to New Mexico a couple weeks ago, and bought that purty chili ristra for me.  She also sent the fabric for me to finish her quilt:
 
and a loaf of gluten free bread from Udi’s Bakery in Parker, Colorado:

 
And when I opened the box, I also found her green ink pen she hasn’t been able to find. thanks Becca!

 
I loved that bread so much, I ordered a case of it for myself, and it arrived only two days later! all the way from Parker to Greensboro, Alabama:
 
  
I saw this fabric online a month or so ago on Etsy in one yard lengths, and had been trying to find  a seller with three yards in one piece. I was so happy to find it! It’s called Fairy Tip Toes, and it is soooo cute.  It was also delivered to me this week. I have to make a baby quilt for my new FabGrandchild that is due in May. In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, my son’s wife, Sarah is having a baby! We’ll find out in two weeks whether it is a boy or a girl. I am so hoping it is a girl so I can use this fabric. But, it it’s not, I’ll just make something for FabGrandaughter, Sarah, with it. 

And. the last thing I got in the mail was a new copy of “The Essential Gluten Free Grocery Guide”.I love this book! I can find out really quick if something I want to buy is on “the list” or not.

Ooooooo, I can hardy wait for next week to see if I get anything good in the mail!
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Butterball Turkey Goes Gluten Free!

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I received an email from Megan at Triumph Dining, the folks who publish “The Essential Gluten-Free Grocery Guide”, that I just had to share:

“…We don’t normally reach out to our fellow bloggers with news (we don’t want to clog your inbox)… But this was really exciting, and I thought you might be interested to know! Butterball turkey now offers gluten-free gravy mixes with a bunch of their turkeys.  I think this is super-cool because 1) Butterball is synonymous with turkey, and it’s exciting to see someone so mainstream do gluten-free, 2) as you know, gravy is almost never gluten-free, and 3) the GF gravy isn’t a specialty version, but it’s the default option for some turkeys.
It turns “gluten-free going mainstream” on its head! Instead of having specialty gluten-free options (like Betty Crocker mixes) alongside “regular” gluten-full options, this is a company that’s making the gluten-free option THE default option.  Our wonderful blogger, Tiffany, uncovered this story. And we are super-excited about it, and thought you might be too. The full story is here (just in time for Thanksgiving!):
http://www.triumphdining.com/blog/gluten-free/2009/11/butterball-now-offers-gluten-free-gravy/
….. here’s Butterball’s number if you want to do some investigating on your own, 1-800-BUTTERBALL..”
Now that is news that the Gluten Free world can really be thankful for!
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What A Great Day!

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As if this:

 
Or this:


 
Or this: 


 
Or even this:


 
Were not enough reason to call it a good day, someone came by my work station today and brought this:


 
She said she had had a visitor who left them behind, and she would not ever eat them, so she gave them to me.

And then, another co-worker came by a few minutes later, and brought this:


 
A half dozen home made chocolate chip gluten free cookies. Okay, I ate three of them, and they were yummy!  He said a friend of his is starting a gluten free company in Tucson, and when she came to visit she brought these for me. Well, by then, I was feeling really extra special and very loved.  And then, another person came by and brought this:


 
She had been down to Flagstaff, and was shopping at Frontier Foods, and when she saw their gluten free aisle, she thought of me. And that Cranberry Pomegranate juice? Because she knew I had that kidney stone last week, and just wanted me to have it. 

People, I am so high on this spontaneous show of love from these people!  I can’t tell you how good this made me feel today.  I can hardly wait for tomorrow…
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