Gluten-free in a pandemic? No problem!

Not to make light of the current situation the world finds itself in, but I'm so thankful that I learned to self isolate when I was diagnosed with celiac in 2006.  It took me a good month just to figure out what and was not gluten-free.  Once I felt like I could feed myself safely at home, I started researching how to dine out safely.  The latter task was much harder than the former, but eventually I found others to help me learn the gluten-free ropes.  In the end, it would be more than a year before I got the hang of how to live my new gluten-free life.  From attending weddings to funerals and most everything in between, my new normal was finally set. 

So when the world started to seem like it was spinning out of control, due to some strange new virus, I immediately had a sense of familiarity.  Once again, things were not as I'd always known them.  Once again things were confusing.  Once again, I felt somewhat like an alien who'd landed on a very strange planet.  And most importantly, once again, I knew there was much work to do. 

In the coming weeks, my goal is to help people enjoy the holidays as safely as possible.  This isn't going to be a great holiday season for many families.  In fact, it's going to be overwhelmingly sad.  But there is hope for a better tomorrow.  I can't allow myself to think otherwise.  

Please stay safe and follow the science on this one - your life might literally depend on it. 

#wearamask

#washyourhands

#watchyourdistance

  

Seven Sisters Scones - a hit in Johns Creek!

Ever since Seven Sisters Scones opened a couple of months ago, it's just gotten better and better!  It's exciting enough to be able to pop in and grab a gluten-free scone (most of the time there is both a savory and sweet option) six days a week.  Now that they have lunch service, it's becoming my new fave place for quick take-out.  I served the killer chicken tortilla soup to glutenoid in-laws....yes - this is great food for everyone!

It's so nice to have gluten-free soup options (not that common in Johns Creek/Alpharetta), but I'm getting addicted to the new sconewiches (sandwiches made with savory scones).  Give me a bacon, cheddar & chive with turkey, cheese and red pepper aioli sconewich any day and I'm a happy luncher!

The staff at Seven Sisters Scones are friendly and go out of their way to provide exceptional service to their customers.  The bakery/cafe is offering specialty items for Thanksgiving this week (through Wed.) and many items are gluten-free.  Visit the bakery's website (or better yet the bakery itself!) for more details.  The pumpkin maple scones are simply amazing....and are the perfect fall indulgence!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

*Please note this is not a dedicated gluten-free bakery.   



   

Erewhon gluten-free cereal winners!

OK - the winners of the new cereals from Erewhon have been selected! Due to computer issues (thanks AT&T...) these winners will be announced next week on my Examiner.com page, when we have all five addresses needed for the company.


If your comment is listed below, you are a winner and will recieve two boxes of FREE cereal from Erewhon! Please click on my profile on this page, click on e-mail and e-mail me your FULL and complete shipping (or mailing) address. This information is being sent to Erewhon and once they confirm they have it, all addresses will be deleted from my records for good.


Thanks to all who entered the contest! There will be another exciting offer next week so be sure and follow me on Twitter (ATLglutenfree) and read my page on Examiner.com.

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Kim said...
I would love to try these cereals! I have been looking all over & can't find them!


http://samkaine.com/ said...
I've been feeding the regular brown rice version of this a 'finger food' to my baby since we don't know if he inherited my celiac or not. I'm so excited there's a chocolate version. That box will be all mine!


Katie said...
They sound great! I'm fairly new to the gluten-free world, and it's very helpful to read reviews of products before spending lots of money trying new things. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Jamie P said...
I would love to try them! The Strawberry one reminds of me Special K Strawberry...

dionne said...
I can't find these cereals anywhere, but would love to try them (especially for free!).


Special thanks to Erewhon for helping my readers get to taste these great new cereals for FREE!

Jamie's GF Kitchen - Gluten Free Gem in Atlanta!

Most of you know that I organize the Atlanta GF Dinner Club, but you might not know that I have two incredible Assistant Organizers that I could not live without! Thank you to both Lori and Jamie for keeping me sane on this gluten free journey we share. I hope one day such a group as ours will not be needed, but right now I love working with these great ladies to expand our gluten free dining out options in the ATL!

Jamie actually started a gluten free food company last year called Jamie's GF Kitchen. She serves up some of the finest (gluten free) comfort food you'll find anywhere - as well as my husband's favorite dessert ever - gluten free cream puffs. Jamie even makes them with semi-sweet chocolate on request as the husband can't do dark or bittersweet chocolate. In fact, Jamie will do anything she can, to accommodate special diet needs. Everything she makes is gluten free but she can do dairy free as well if you ask her to. Please refer to her website for more information on this.




Jamie's portions are large but you can divide portions up to freeze and use as needed. There is a certain joy in knowing you have killer mac-n-cheese in your freezer that just needs to be defrosted and reheated. We had the spicy version (Jamie offers traditional as well) with fried pork chops for Valentine's Day dinner. The husband and I made everything except the mac-n-cheese. The star of the meal was of course - Jamie's mac-n-cheese. And we're both pretty good cooks....we just don't compare to Jamie in that arena.

Below: top to bottom - brownies, cream puffs, cheesecake (with chcolate chip cookie crumb crust!) , stuffed mushrooms.



























Even though I prefer to eat out when I travel, it occurred to me that someone visiting our fair city might want to order from Jamie, so they have safe meals when here. This is assuming they have accommodations that offer guests in room food storage and heating. I think really a small fridge and microwave would be all you need. And if you don't plan to eat in your room, then just order cream puffs so you can experience pure gluten free bliss during your visit. Serve them to glutenoids to share the joy. They are fabulous, period. They might be free of gluten but they are FULL of incredible taste!!! This is true no matter what you order from Jamie's GF Kitchen.

Whether you live here or are just visiting - check out Jamie's GF Kitchen. You will not be disappointed! One day I hope we can enjoy Jamie's fabulous food in a totally gluten free restaurant in Atlanta. My theory is if you create it (incredible gluten free food) they will come!