News & Notes: October 29, 2010

A record 1,600 attendees celebrated gluten-free living at last Sunday's Appetite for Awareness, held at the Philadelphia Cruise Terminal. I've been attending the event for the past five years, and this one was the biggest and best to date. I'll have more to share in a recap coming soon.

This Sunday, October 31, marks the end of the fiscal year for the Ambler-based National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, which organized A4A, trains local restaurants on gluten-free cooking protocols, sponsors awareness events throughout the area, and is a rich source of information about celiac disease. A generous donor has agreed to match contributions to the NFCA made through Sunday dollar for dollar, up to $10,000. If you are able to make a contribution (which may be tax-deductible), I encourage you to do so by then so that it can be doubled - no donation is too small!

Sunday also is the deadline for entering my latest giveaway - a variety of gluten-free groceries from General Mills, including Bisquick, Betty Crocker cake mixes and Chex cereal. To be in the running, post a comment to that blog entry noting your favorite gluten-free-friendly restaurant in the area. Reading your restaurant favorites has prompted me to consider creating a "Readers' Choice" poll in the near future on favorite restaurants for specific cuisines (like Italian and Mexican), markets, pizza, bread, beer and so on. I'm open to suggestions for other categories, so drop me a line to let me know what you want to see.

Los Amigos, with longtime locations in Berlin (461 Route 73 North, 856-767-5216) and Atlantic City (1926 Atlantic Avenue, 609-344-2293), has a gluten-free menu, though no dedicated fryers for chips.

In Milmont Park out in Delaware County, Carmen's Pizza (MacDade Boulevard & Milmont Avenue, 610-532-2300) has gluten-free pizza. The shop uses dedicated cookware and utensils. Thanks to reader Travis, who pens the Trav's Gone Gluten-Free blog, for the tip.

Reader Robin F. recommended modern American restaurant Supper in Philadelphia (925 South Street, 215-592-8180), saying the kitchen was "extremely accommodating" and the pastry chef was able to modify a dessert to make it gluten free.

The Beer Outlet (77 Franklin Mills Boulevard, 215-632-5035) and The Craft Beer Outlet (9910 Frankford Avenue, 215-632-2722) in Northeast Philadelphia stock bottles of Redbridge, New Grist and Estrella Daura as well as many varieties of hard ciders.

Food For All Market in Mt. Airy will have gluten-free items for Thankgiving, including stuffing, gravy and pies. Holiday orders are due by November 11.

GoPicnic just unveiled two more ready-to-eat gluten-free meals: Tuna + Crackers, featuring lemon-pepper tuna, multi-seed crackers, unsweetened applesauce, fruit & nut mix, and an organic dark-chocolate square; and Hummus + Crackers, with hummus dip, multi-seed crackers, dry-roasted edamame, fruit & nut mix, and a chocolate square. The products retail for $4.99 each and are available for ordering direct through the company. Sign up for the company's newsletter and get 10% off your first order. There's also free shipping for orders over $99.

Several readers asked last year if I was aware of any gluten-free fruit cakes available for Christmas, and unfortunately I knew of none. Kinnikinnick Foods will produce one this season that can be ordered as of November 4.

Amazon.com's gluten-free deals for October are almost done. This month's offers, which last only until Sunday, include:

• General Mills gluten-free products such as Betty Crocker mixes, Chex cereals, Hamburger/Asian Helper, Fruit Rollups and Nature Valley Nut Crunch bars are 15% off with code GENMILGF
• Glutino, Gluten-Free Pantry and Ian's products are 10% off with code GLUTENFR
• Udi's Granola is 20% off with code UDISGFGR
• Pamela's products are 5% off with code PAMGFOCT 
• Ener-G products are 5% off with code ENERGGF2 
• thinkThin bars are 20% off with code THKTHIN6 
• Nature's Path and Envirokidz cereals and crispy rice bars are 10% off with code NATPATGF 
• Oskri bars are 20% off with code OSKRIOCT 
• Boomi and PranaBar bars are 10% off with code BOOMIGFI 
• Pure bars are 15% off with code PUREBRGF 
• Pirate's snacks are $3 off with code PIRATEGF

Gluten Free Delaware's next meeting will be held on Sunday, November 7 at Christiana Hospital (Room 1000) starting at 3 p.m. There will be an open discussion and group knowledge share.

The Bucks/Montgomery R.O.C.K. chapter is sponsoring a fire station tour on Sunday, November 14. The event, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. will include a tour of the Horsham Fire Company (315 Meetinghouse Road), demonstrations and a potluck lunch. All family members are welcome; bring a main meal, side dish or dessert to share. To RSVP (with the number of attendees and childrens' ages), contact Holly and Steve Staugaitis at 267-664-6425.

The next Philadelphia Gluten-Free Supper Club dinner is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, December 14 at Buca di Beppo in Center City. For more information about the club or plans for the dinner, e-mail reader Adriana Z.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and happy Halloween!

Goodies Giveaway: Live Gluten Freely Product Box

Live Gluten Freely is an online community created by General Mills that offers gluten-free product news, articles and real-life stories from participants. The site also provides recipes, ranging from breakfast treats like Blueberry-Corn Muffins to dishes like Favorite Chicken Nuggets to desserts like Brownie Ganache Torte with Raspberries and Carrot Cake.

General Mills offers more than 300 gluten-free products, available in grocery stores nationwide. Keep up with new additions to the gluten-free list by subscribing to the Live Gluten Freely Newsletter. Every month, you'll receive recipes, tips, coupons for gluten-free items, new product information and more delivered directly to your inbox. Click here to sign up. Also, be sure to visit Live Gluten Freely on Facebook. "Like" the page and check out recipe ideas, product news and tips about living without gluten.

MyBlogSpark is offering one Gluten Free Philly reader a Live Gluten Freely product box, which includes an assortment of gluten-free products from popular brands like Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Chex and Larabar. The product box, a $24.99 value, contains the following items:

• Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Brownie Mix
• Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Yellow Cake Mix
• Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Chocolate Frosting
• Honey Nut Chex Cereal
• Bisquick Gluten Free Original Pancake and Baking Mix
• Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks Variety Pack - Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit Gushers, Fruit by the Foot
• Peanut Butter Cookie Lärabar Snack Bar
• Betty Crocker Potato Buds Mashed Potatoes
• Betty Crocker Red Serving Spoon
• Coupons and More

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment to this post about your favorite gluten-free friendly restaurant in the Delaware Valley (southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and northern Delaware).

Some brief guidelines: (1) please do not enter unless you or a family member is on a gluten-free diet; (2) one comment per person; (3) U.S. residents only. Most important is to make sure your comment provides a way for me to contact you. If your comment does not link back to an email address, blog or website through which I can get in touch with you (some past entrants have blocked their Blogger profiles), post your email address in the comment in the following format: "name[at]domain[dot]suffix."

The giveaway runs now through Sunday, October 31 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. I’ll randomly select one winner the next day and will contact him or her by email. If I don’t hear back from the person with his or her mailing address by the following Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern, I’ll select another name.

Good luck!

DISCLOSURE: MyBlogSpark has provided me with product samples, product information and is offering the prize pack. Neither I am nor any immediate family member is an employee, officer, director or agent of MyBlogSpark or its respective parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, advertising and promotional agencies. My full Disclosure Policy can be found at the blog's Disclosure page.

News & Notes: October 22, 2010

Make sure that you come hungry to Sunday's Appetite for Awareness event at the Philadelphia Cruise Terminal. In addition to the dozens of area restaurants and local and national vendors sampling food, there will be cooking demonstrations from Le Bec Fin's Georges Perrier, 10 Arts' Monica Glass and cookbook author Silvana Nardone. Tickets will be available at the door, but you can save money by ordering online today or tomorrow. Even if you can't make it, you can follow the action in real time on Twitter using hashtag #A4A10.

I've posted to the restaurant list updated gluten-free menus from two Jose Garces restaurants, Chifa and Amada. His new place at Philadelphia's Cira Centre, JG Domestic (2929 Arch Street, 215-222-2363), doesn't yet have a similar menu, although requests can be accommodated.

Good Eatz Green Cafe in West Reading (701 Penn Avenue, 610-670-4885), the sister business of Rick Allebach's Good Eatz Bakery, offers plenty of gluten-free options for breakfast, lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch.

If you're flying in or out of Terminal E at Philadelphia International Airport, you can grab a quick bite off the gluten-free menu at Cantina Laredo in Terminal E (215-492-1160).

Connie at The Pop Shop in Collingswood let me know that the restaurant now uses bread from Miller's Gluten Free for its grilled cheese and other sandwiches. We stopped in last Saturday night, and our older son gives it a thumbs-up. The bread is now sliced thicker so that there's one large sandwich rather than two smaller ones.

Philadelphia's all-gluten-free Sweet Freedom Bakery is now taking orders for Thanksgiving goodies, including pumpkin and apple pies and pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes. Order before November 18 by calling 215-545-1899.

The Mag Bar, located at Maggio's in Southampton (400 Second Street Pike, 215-322-7272), serves New Grist beer and two varieties of Woodchuck ciders.

Acme Markets is offering customers with gluten sensitivity a tool to help them shop for gluten-free foods. The new program will begin in this month and roll out in phases during the next three months. As part of the program, select stores will have signage and special merchandising sets to help make it easier for customers to find gluten-free products. Shoppers can also stop at the customer service desk at any Acme to pick up an in-store shopping list/guide to gluten-free products. More extensive gluten-free shopping lists as well as recipes and snack and meal solutions are available at Acme's gluten-free website page.

Allergen-friendly Ian's Natural Foods keeps the new products coming, and this one looks particularly promising. Now available are gluten-free chocolate-covered wafer bites, similar to Kit Kat candy bars. The treats are available at glutenfree.com ($4.99 a bag) and will soon be in stores.

Shabtai Gourmet Gluten Free Bakery has just won the Kosherfest Best New Passover Product Competition for the fourth time. The winning product this year is Yidels Mini Swiss Chocolate Rolls, which will be available in time for Passover next Spring. The bakery will be participating in A4A.

The gluten-free muffins and cakes from Butterfly Bakery, which until recently were available at Wegmans, have been discontinued.

Tomorrow at Big Blue Marble Bookstore in Mt. Airy (551 Carpenter Lane, 215-844-1870), author Jae Steele will read from her new cookbook, Ripe From Around Here. The book, which emphasizes the importance of local, sustainable eating, has many gluten-free recipes for meals like Polenta Spice Pudding, Love Muffins and Springtime Tabouleh. The event begins at 3 p.m.

The next Chester County Gluten Intolerance Group meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 1 at Paoli Hospital, with guests Keith J. Laskin, M.D. (medical director of the hospital's Celiac Center) and dietitian Nancy Patin Falini (author of Gluten-Free Friends: An Activity Book for Kids) set to speak. The event will be at the hospital's Potter Room (Zone B, Level 1) beginning at 6:30 p.m. Register by calling 1-866-CALL-MLH.

Finally this week, here's a preview video for Appetite for Awareness featuring Sixers TV play-by-play announcer Marc Zumoff:

I hope everyone has a great weekend, particularly if you're attending A4A!

O'Canada

Founded by the Weinberg family in 2007, O’Doughs bakes healthy gluten-free breads, pizza shells, cakes and buns at its suburban Toronto facility. The company uses all-natural ingredients such as flax, potato, tapioca, soya and rice flours.

We recently had a chance to try O’Doughs products and, overall, thought they hit the mark. (After trying the samples, we liked most enough to buy more product during our summer trip to Canada.) All of the products are best stored frozen but, in the case of the cakes and buns, taste fine after being defrosted or microwaved.

To satisfy that sweet tooth, the company makes three loaf cakes, all of which are delicious: Banana (with chocolate chips), Carrot, and Chocolate. The cakes are sweet and moist, and show no signs of the grittiness that mar other gluten-free sweets.

We were also impressed with the flax and white pizza kits. The square personal-size pizza shells come with packets of tomato sauce that can be combined with toppings of your choice, then baked in the oven to the desired level of crispiness.

The flax sandwich bread (topped with poppy seeds) and white bread (sprinkled with sesame seeds) are better toasted than at room temperature. While serviceable, they're not airy or pliable like Udi's version.

O’Doughs' white and flax buns have quickly become our son’s favorite for hamburgers. They’re just the right size, complementing the meat patties without being “bready.” Also available are Apple Cranberry Breakfast Buns.

O'Doughs will be participating at Sunday's Appetite for Awareness, where you can sample the products. The company is expanding distribution in the United States and is working on availability at East Coast stores. In the meantime, orders can be placed online for home delivery.

DISCLOSURE: While O'Doughs provided product samples for me to review at no cost, such compensation did not influence my review. Neither I am nor any immediate family member is an employee, officer, director or agent of O'Doughs or its respective parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, advertising and promotional agencies. My full disclosure policy can be found at the blog's Disclosure page.

News & Notes: October 15, 2010

I was happy to publish a guest restaurant review for this week's feature, and the timing was fortuitous. Reader and Philadelphia Gluten-Free Supper Clubber Adriana Z. wrote about the group's recent meal at Adsum in a week in which the restaurant received lots of good press. Food critics at the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia City Paper also found much to recommend.

In restaurant news this week, contemporary American Za Restaurant in Pennington (147 West Delaware Avenue, 609-737-4400) notes gluten-free items on its lunch and dinner menus.

Gluten-free pizza and pasta are available at Medford's Illiano Cucina Mediterranea (200 Tuckerton Road, 888-748-4765).

Reader Annsley K. let me know that the chef at Olive on Third, a newish Italian in Philadelphia's Society Hill section (516 South 3rd Street, 267-519-9498), is knowledgeable about celiac disease and can easily accommodate gluten-free dietary requests.

Currently served in bottles at Northern Liberties' Swift Half Pub (1001 North 2nd Street, 215-923-4600) are Redbridge, Original Sin Pear Cider and Magners Cider.

New to the list of gluten-free friendly caterers is Jack Kramer's Catering in Philadelphia (4217 Chestnut Street, 215-662-5300). Operations manager Brian Miller, who has a family member with celiac, told me that the caterer can prepare gluten-free foods for corporate and social events. The company will be participating in the Appetite for Awareness event on October 24.

Gluten-free breakfast choices have increased with the introduction of a couple new items. First, Glutino has debuted glazed original and chocolate donuts, six to a box. Look for them in the frozen food section of supermarkets and health food stores.

Smart Ones, made by Heinz, has added a Cheesy Scramble with Hashbrowns frozen dish. It's made with scrambled egg whites and Monterey Jack, cheddar and reduced-fat mozzarella cheeses with a side of potatoes.

October 24 stands to be a busy day in the local celiac community. In addition to Appetite for Awareness, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is hosting area benefit walks. One will be along the Camden waterfront, where "Team Celiac" will be participating. The three-mile walk begins at 9:30 a.m. Readers can register for the walk or make a donation. The other will be at Bucks County Community College in Newtown starting at 10 a.m. Advance registration is recommended.

A new book for children called “Mommy, What Is Celiac Disease?” is available exclusively at Wegmans through December 31, 2010. Katie Chalmers’ book grew out of personal experience: she learned in 2007 that she had the disease and, after having her children tested, learned that her daughter Morgan has it too. The book is available at Wegmans for $11.16 (a 20 percent discount of the list price) and will be carried in the Nature’s Marketplace area of the store, where gluten-free foods are sold. Chalmers will sign books at Saturday, October 30 at Wegmans in Mount Laurel from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Sunday, October 31 at Wegmans in Malvern, also from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Enjoy the weekend and root on the Phillies!