Celiac Conference at duPont Hospital for Children

The Children’s Celiac Center at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware will be hosting its 4th Annual Celiac Conference on Saturday, September 26.

The event, to take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the 3rd-floor lecture hall of the hospital, is open to all children and families with an interest in celiac disease. (Child care will be available in the Child Activity Center during the lecture portion of the conference.) After the discussion, attendees will be able sample gluten-free products from vendors (Sweet Christine's and Pamela's Products among them) and socialize with others with celiac disease.

Guest speakers this year will be Ivor D. Hill, M.D., a world-renowned expert in celiac disease, and Pam Cureton, R.D., a registered dietician. Dr. Hill, a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Bowman-Gray University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is an author of the pediatric celiac disease guideline published in 2005. He led the celiac disease working group at the last two sessions of the World Congress of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition. Ms. Cureton is a registered dietician at the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland. She has served as nutritional adviser of celiac support groups since 1993 and is actively involved in the celiac clinics at the University. She is the co-author of the popular “Gluten-Free Diet Guide for Families” and has spoken nationally to medical professionals and support groups across the United States and Europe.

For more information or to RSVP to this free event, call Julann Fasy at (302) 651-5928 or email jfasy[at]nemours[dot]org or minnes[at]nemours[dot]org.

News & Notes

One local product and one local restaurant: those were the subjects of this week's postings. On Monday, I wrote about the gluten-free beef pot pie made by Twin Hens of Princeton, New Jersey, while on Wednesday, I reviewed Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, with eight locations throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

Thanks to reader Tami for alerting me about two Absecon, New Jersey restaurants that offer gluten-free options: China Sea of Absecon has a separate menu (the link is at the Gluten Free Philly restaurant page) and Calabria Pizza Italian Grill offers 10-inch personal gluten-free pizzas.

In addition to serving food that can be prepared gluten free, Kildare's Pub serves Redbridge beer and Strongbow cider. The restaurant has area locations in King of Prussia, Philadelphia and West Chester, Pennsylvania and in Newark, Delaware.

Joe's Crab Shack, with local outposts in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and Wilmington, Delaware, has a gluten-free menu available. Included are the restaurant's seafood Steampots, crabs, mahi-mahi, tilapia, steak and grilled shrimp, Key West Chicken (no sauce), salmon (no glaze), Bucket of Shrimp and Cobb Salad (no dressing).

Olive Garden has updated its gluten-free menu: gone is the pork medallions entree but there's now a gluten-free penne dish with marinara sauce. The Mixed Grill entrees on the menu should be prepared without demi-glace, which is not gluten free. On a related note, the chain is planning to open a location in Collegeville, Pennsylvania in November 2009.

Diners can now make online reservations for all Delaware Valley P.F. Chang's China Bistro locations.

I updated the site's gluten-free-friendly markets list to include two future Whole Foods Market locations: one in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania (tentatively set to open in November 2009) and one on Concord Pike in Wilmington, Delaware (in development).

Back in April, I wrote about a new line of frozen gluten-free meals from Gluten Free Café. The manufacturer, Hain Celestial, has just rolled out snack bars under that nameplate. New are chocolate, lemon and cinnamon sesame bars made with flax seed. They're available online at Amazon.com.

A Taste of Thai has introduced Toasted Coconut Fortune Cookies that are gluten free. The cookies can be ordered online direct from the manufacturer.

Kinnikinnick Foods just announced the newest version of their gluten-free KinniTOOS sandwich creme cookies: chocolate cookies with a fudge creme filling. The company says the cookies will be in stores come November, but they are available for home delivery by ordering through its website.

Wow Baking Company is offering visitors to their website a free gluten-free cookie of their choice. My older son recently tried their Snickerdoodle cookie and thought it tasted great. (Wow Baking's cookies and cake mixes are available at Amazon.com.) Thanks to Maureen at Hold The Gluten for the tip.

When my older son was younger, it was always a challenge at the start of the school year to educate faculty and administrators about his diet. Several years ago my wife prepared a two-page handout that we gave to his teachers, and we've used it every year since. The letter serves as a primer on the diet and gives them guidance about lunch time and snack time preparation, when a classmate's birthday will be celebrated and when certain arts and crafts materials are used. Just drop me a line at gfphilly[at]gmail[dot]com if you are interested in getting a copy of the note and I'll email it out to you.

Have a great weekend!

Pumping Iron

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant recently opened its eighth location in the tri-state area, and its first in New Jersey, at the former Pastavino site on Kings Highway in Maple Shade. My family and I recently ate at the chain's newest spot to sample some of the newest gluten-free offerings.

Available during lunch and dinner hours at all of its restaurants, Iron Hill's new gluten-free menu includes over 40 modified dishes, such as Brabant Mussels with white wine, leeks, garlic, parsley, lemon and cream, Voodoo Shrimp with honey barbecue sauce, white rice, sour cream and green onion, Fiery Baked Chipotle Wings, served with blue cheese dressing and vegetable sticks, Grilled Salmon with baby arugula, imported olives, red onion, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, feta and balsamic vinaigrette, and Char-Grilled Angus Sirloin with grilled fingerling potatoes, asparagus, sun-dried tomato-portobella mushroom relish.

"We took several Iron Hill favorites and recreated them to make them accessible" for diners on a gluten-free diet, says Dave Anderson, the restaurant's Director of Culinary Training, who created the menu. “We believe it’s critical to offer our guests a wide assortment of delicious food options, regardless of any dietary restrictions that they may have.”

Not only does the chain offer an extensive gluten-free adult menu, but it also has a slate for kids as well. Children get an entree, beverage, and a choice of two sides (or one side and ice cream) for $6.50. The kids' menu lists shrimp and chicken entrees, burgers, breadless sandwiches, seven different side items, and four ice cream flavors.

We started our meal with a large shared plate of the gluten-free Classic Baked Buffalo Wings served with blue cheese and vegetable sticks. The mild chicken wings and drumsticks were surprisingly tasty even though they weren't deep-fried. Both boys ordered off the childrens' gluten-free menu: my older son ordered a bunless cheeseburger with steamed broccoli and my younger one had the broiled shrimp with mashed potatoes, and both slurped down the house-made root beer. They followed dinner with a scoop of ice cream.

Iron Hill clearly has made an effort to appeal to gluten-free guests, and it shows in the large number of menu choices. The restaurants don't yet brew gluten-free beer on the premises, but Redbridge is served in bottles.

In addition to the Maple Shade locale, Iron Hill has Pennsylvania outposts in Lancaster, Media, North Wales, Phoenixville and West Chester and Delaware locations in Newark and Wilmington.

Here's the Beef

After Linda Twining and Kathy Herring found that their artisan chicken pot pie was among the most popular items ordered from their frozen dinner delivery business, the pair decided to sell the product at the retail level.

In 2007, Linda and Kathy, the co-owners of Twin Hens in Princeton, New Jersey, set out to create a shepherd’s pie with a gourmet twist. As professional chefs, they wanted to find an alternative to the standard recipe with mashed potato and decided to use a creamy polenta topping. Says Kathy: "We quickly realized that with a corn meal topping, we could easily substitute rice flour as a thickener and make our beef pot pie gluten free."

Twin Hens launched its gluten-free beef pot pie in early 2008. The Australian beef they use is grass-fed and contains no hormones or antibiotics. The beef pot pie, which takes about 45 minutes to prepare, also contains organic cornmeal and vegetables. In 2008, the product was awarded a silver medal in the Outstanding Diet/Lifestyle category at the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade show.

The 11-ounce beef pot pie carries a suggested retail price of $8.95 and is available at area Whole Foods Markets, independent natural food stores and online at Gluten Free Mall.

News & Notes

I hope you enjoyed the recent posts about my family's recent trip to Boston and my older son's week at Camp Celiac in Rhode Island.

Incidentally, Reader Bethann wrote to tell me that she recently spoke with one of the owners of Tall Pines Day Camp in Williamstown, New Jersey, who assured her that the camp is food allergen-friendly and can accommodate gluten-free diets.

I reported yesterday the cool news that gluten-free hot dogs and beer (and probably snacks as well) will be available at Philadelphia Eagles home games this season at Lincoln Financial Field. If you get down there in the next few games, post a comment to let us know what else is available and how it compares to Citizens Bank Park.

If any of you have sought out a gluten-free hot dog at a Phillies game this season, you were probably told that you have to return to the concession stand (behind Section 128) a few minutes later or wait close by because it takes longer to prepare. Well, I ordered one for my older son at Wednesday's game against the Diamondbacks. Since it was crowded at the stand, we walked briefly in a less-congested area of the concourse. When I returned, the hot dog was wrapped and ready for pick-up. What's wrong with that, you ask? Until I arrived, the hot dog was being kept warm at the bottom of a nearby SuperPretzel case that had lots of pretzel crumbs and salt in it. After paying for it, I removed the hot dog from the outside foil - it was double-wrapped - and cleaned my hands with a wipe before taking it out of the inner wrapper and putting in on a cardboard tray for my son. I appreciate that the vendor wanted to keep the hot dog warm, but the pretzel warmer was not the place to do it. (I'm not sure the employees at the stand even understand why someone might be ordering a gluten-free frank - on two different occasions, the woman from whom I ordered asked me if I was getting the "gluten" hot dog.)

I can report that this time out the roll, while on the burnt side, did stay intact. At a game earlier in the season, the bun was crumbly. My son was disappointed, though, that there were no gluten-free snacks available, notwithstanding what the Phillies have posted on the team website.

Congrats go out to reader Tammy for winning the recent Betty Crocker Gluten-Free dessert mixes giveaway. Thanks to everyone for entering!

P.F. Chang's China Bistro has updated its gluten-free menu, adding such items as fried rice. The revised menu is posted at my restaurant page.

A reader wrote to tell me that Mugshots, a coffeehouse with locations in Philadelphia's Fairmount and Manayunk sections, now sells gluten-free vegan cookies made by Liz Lovely.

Another reader is seeking recommendations on gluten-free/dairy-free-friendly restaurants in Sea Isle City, Avalon or Stone Harbor, New Jersey. If you have any good experiences with eateries in those towns, please post a comment or email me and I'll update this post.

There are lots of new products to mention this week. First, Barbara's Bakery has introduced a version of its popular Puffins cereal that is labeled gluten free. The company's Multigrain Puffins are made from gluten-free oats, brown rice and corn. Here's the ingredient list:

Corn Flour, Dehydrated Cane Juice, Brown Rice Flour, Whole Oat Flour, Fructan (NutraFlora® Natural Dietary Fiber), Oat Hull Fiber, Calcium Carbonate, Natural Flavor, Baking Soda, Natural Caramel Color, Sea Salt, Ascorbic Acid, Iron, Annatto, Vitamin D, Vitamin E (Mixed Tocopherols [Soy])

I found the product at the Cherry Hill Wegmans, where all Puffins cereals are on sale this week for $2.50 a box. The Multigrain Puffins label contains the following additional information:

No peanut ingredients used in this facility. Made on equipment that also manufactures products containing soy, wheat, milk, almonds, and hazelnuts.

In light of its testing to ensure the exclusion of gluten in its Multigrain and Honey Rice Puffins (which does not contain oats), Barbara's Bakery considers both cereals gluten free. I spoke with the company's Technical Services Coordinator, who told me that the lines are cleaned before production of the gluten-free varieties and that the cereals are tested to ensure that gluten levels are below 20 ppm.

Blackwood, New Jersey's Caesar's Pasta announced this week that it has added two more pastas to its line of gluten-free frozen entrees: potato gnocchi and spinach-potato gnocchi. Both of these new pastas are vegan and all natural.

Be on the lookout at Whole Foods and other markets for gluten-free BBQ Chicken Pizza from Glutino.

French Meadow Bakery, which not long ago introduced gluten-free tortillas made with rice and tapioca flours, is, um, on a roll. (I couldn't pass that one up.) The company has just added two new gluten-free bread loaves to its product line - white sandwich and cinnamon-raisin. Both breads are also free of casein, lactose and peanuts. You can receive 20 percent off of your purchase from the bakery's online store by entering code fmb423ss34 at checkout. You can also print a "$1 off" coupon from the company's website for in-store purchases.

Jessica at buckmontmom.com emailed me about a new gluten-free snack called GoGo Squeez. It's 100% fruit squeezable applesauce that comes in a resealable pouch. GoGo Squeez comes in five flavors: apple, peach, banana, strawberry and cinnamon. The product has no added sugar and is also dairy-free, gelatin-free and Kosher-certified. The snack is available nationwide at Whole Foods.

Bella Monica's gluten-free flatbread pizzas will be available in all Wegmans markets this fall.

I wrote in June about an reformulated oat-free version of original Kix cereal from General Mills. While shopping for groceries last weekend at Wegmans, I found the 10-ounce box in the cereal aisle.

Van's International Foods issued an allergy alert this week and is voluntarily recalling the 12.4-ounce packages of its frozen Van's Wheat Free Homestyle Pancakes with the lot number "200060629B1" because they contain undeclared wheat, gluten, milk and egg in the product. The 118 cases of the product may have been distributed in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Idaho and Hawaii, through retail outlets that include but may not be limited to Whole Foods, Wegmans, Giant Carlisle, Sprouts and Martins. The recall follows on the heels of the company's inclusion of barley malt in its original formulation of the pancakes.

Save the date: the Whole Foods in Wayne, Pennsylvania will be holding a "Gluten-Free Italian Food Fest" on Saturday, October 3 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

If you've read this far, thanks! Tune in next week for a review of the gluten-free offerings at Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant. Don't forget to email me at gfphilly[at]gmail[dot]com with news of upcoming events, new products and menu additions.

Have a great weekend!