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How To Make Gluten Free Lemon Cross Drop Biscuits for Easter

A Lemon Cross Drop is a dropped biscuit with lemon pudding on top. You will need a pastry bag with a tip so you can draw a cross on each biscuit with the lemon pudding.

Substitutions: Use your favorite sugar free sweetener in place of the 'white sugar' according to the conversion on the substitute.

Serves: 12

Prep Time: 15

Total Time: 35

  

Ingredients

Bisquick Pancake and Baking Mix Gluten-Free

2-1/2 cups

3/4 cup butter or margarine

2 teaspoons white sugar

1 cup water

1 egg

prepared instant lemon pudding

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

Prepare the lemon pudding according to the package directions (instant is fine). Let set (at least 30 minutes) in the refrigerator.
Have the pastry bag and tip handy for after the biscuits cool.

While the pudding is chilling....
Preheat over to 425 degrees F (219 degrees C).
Cut the butter and baking mix until crumbly.
Beat the egg and sugar together until smooth (with a whisk).
Add egg mixture, water, and crumbs together and stir until well mixed

Drop onto lightly greased cookie sheet (about one tablespoon each biscuit).

Bake in preheated over until golden on edges (about 8-12 minutes).

Remove from the over and cool on rack.

While biscuits are slightly warm....
Using the pastry bag and tips, draw a cross on each biscuit with the lemon pudding.
Dust lightly with powdered sugar

Serve warm
OR
Refrigerate and serve chilled

Refrigerate all left overs

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Image Credit: Daniel St.Pierre / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Gluten-Free and Kosher for Passover (Pesach)!

Readying a Gluten-Free Passover

Courtesy of CARLO WOLFF--CJN Staff Reporter  http://www.ClevelandJewishNews.com

Chandra Morgan-Henley is going to her mother’s for Seder. Mom will make Morgan-Henley Gluten-Free Matzah balls. “She’s wonderful,” said Morgan-Henley. “She’s the only mother I’ve got.”

So accommodating, too: Mom is broadening her culinary perspective – as well she should, given that her daughter is not only celiac, she’s in the celiac food business.

Part of what makes mom wonderful is that a few years ago, she began to “dip her toe into cooking gluten-free for me,” said Morgan-Henley, who runs Gluten Free Catering, a gluten-free baking company, out of her home in Cleveland near the border of Lakewood, OH.

Morgan-Henley bakes pastries and bread for people like her who cannot eat anything with wheat, barley or rye. Oats, too, are forbidden unless they’re certified Gluten-Free.

Morgan-Henley swore off grains altogether in 2006 after she wound up requiring transfusions of iron, she said. She was already “mostly wheat-free, but that kicked me all the way to gluten-free.

“I started baking because I got tired of feeing deprived, and I started baking for other people because they were tasting stuff I was baking and going, ‘Oh, my G-d, this is wonderful,’” Morgan-Henley said. Over the past several years, she said, there has been “a boom” in the availability of Gluten-Free foods; before, “a lot of the products were pretty awful. There are probably 15 or 20 times as many products available now as there were six, seven years ago.”

That may be because there are many more people who need such products than was assumed even 20 years ago.

According to Cindy Koller Kass, a Solon woman with high praise for Morgan-Henley’s baking, celiac, technically known as celiac sprue, affects approximately one in 100 people. If a celiac ingests a forbidden grain, the villi, projections from the intestines that absorb nutrients, flop, so the nutrients never make it into the person’s system.

“Depending on where in the intestine the villi flatten out, you may have iron deficiency anemia, you may develop osteoporosis; everybody’s different. If you’re female, you might have miscarriages as a result of not absorbing nutrients. Because it affects everybody differently, it’s hard to diagnose if you’re not looking for it,” said Koller Kass, who discovered she was celiac about 20 years ago.

Koller Kass is president of the Greater Cleveland CeliacAssociation, the local chapter of the Celiac Sprue Association of the United States.

There are 50 to 75 active members in the support group, which meets monthly. The chapter has a mailing list of 500 names.

Koller Kass discovered her condition when her mother was about to enter a hospital for gall bladder surgery and coincidentally, Koller Kass wasn’t feeling well herself. Her mother suggested Koller Kass see the mother’s doctor, who diagnosed her as celiac. At the time, the disease was so rare the doctor ordered another round of tests.

When the diagnosis was affirmed, her mother’s doctor warned her that a Gluten-Free diet was “very difficult to follow”; meanwhile, Koller Kass’ brother, who is also a doctor, told her to adopt it immediately. At the time, she said, a Gluten-Free diet was a challenge; no products were so labeled.

“I figured I would go out to dinner one last time because I didn’t think I could go out to a restaurant ever again because there’s flour in everything,” said Koller Kass, who attends Park Synagogue. “My favorite food was Eggplant Parmigianino; I thought I would miss that the most. So I went to an Italian restaurant, and as it turns out, they did not bread their eggplant.”

After that meal, she fasted for Yom Kippur, and then began the gluten-free diet. “Psychologically, I cleansed my body for Yom Kippur and started the diet the next day.”

As for Passover (Pesach), Koller Kass said “a Gluten-Free diet is a Passover diet all year long, minus the Matzah.

“Matzah is the biggest barrier to truly observing Passover,” she added. “For many years I had to make Hillel sandwich with just the bitter herbs and charoses, but recently Yehuda came out with a Gluten-Free Matzah-style cracker, which is actually very good. It looks like regular Matzah, but because it does not have any wheat in it, it is not technically Matzah; but it is Gluten-Free and kosher for Passover.”

Here is Morgan-Henley’s Passover “Matzah” recipe:

You will need about four eggs and about a half-cup of vegetable oil; a pinch of onion powder; salt and pepper to taste, and enough dried potato flakes to make it thick.

Beat the eggs and the oil together until they emulsify, then sprinkle in some potato flakes and seasonings. Keep stirring with the fork and sprinkling in the potato flakes until there’s enough to form little balls.

Let it rest for five to 10 minutes, stir with the fork again; you can do it with bare hands if you want to wash your hands with Dawn detergent afterwards.

Then form it into balls the size of walnuts, drop it into boiling water, boil for 18 minutes with the lid on, and there you have it.

Morgan-Henley has used three kinds of gluten-free Matzah, all available at Unger’s on South Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights, OH.

The first is Shmurah Matzah, made from certified Gluten-Free oats, but expensive; the next is Yehuda Matzo squares, made mainly from tapioca starch; the last is Manischewitz, new to Unger’s this year; she wasn’t sure how the Manischewitz would work – it’s “sturdier” than the Yehuda, she said – but she will be back for more.

This year, she’ll bring her mother something new: gluten-free cake meal. “They make the Matzah and then they grind it up to be made it into a cake. I bought a package for my mother so she can make her sponge cake Gluten-Free.

“When I bake, you can’t tell it’s Gluten-Free unless you see me eating it,” Morgan-Henley said, laughing.

Our Latest Product Review... "WAHM Reviews SensitiviTees"

WAHM Reviews SensitiviTees

Posted by Ann Cowan on March 19, 2013 at 11:55 AM  WAHM Reviewer - Traci Tamlyn

"SensitiviTees: Specialty T-Shirts with Sensitive messages; Gluten-Free, Food Allergies, Gay Marriages, Adoption, Breast Cancer Awareness.

When I was first introduced to this product I was so excited! My son has a Dairy allergy and now that he is mobile and independent, 3 years old, it is more difficult at large gatherings to make sure he isn’t given something with Dairy in it. The t-shirt I requested will help tremendously with this issue. It has a large cow on the front and written underneath, in large print, it says Dairy Allergy. I was able to base my size decision on measurements they provided for youth shirts. A youth size would have been too large for my son so I ordered a toddler size. After communicating with Stacy at SensitiviTees I received my package a week later. To my surprise the package included the t-shirt I requested and a long sleeve shirt also.

I was very happy with the quality of the shirts. The t-shirt is a thin material and will not be too heavy for the summer months. The long sleeve shirt is a thicker material and prefect for other seasons. Upon receiving the package I washed the shirts according to the washing instructions provided. They washed up very well. They are made of 100% cotton and it is recommended to air dry them, which I did.

The first time my son wore the t-shirt my family loved it! He was able to wear the long sleeve shirt to a community event and we received many compliments for it. People were able to ask questions about his dairy allergy and understand it better. I felt that he was safer around people who do not know about his allergy, while wearing his Dairy Allergy shirt.

You can find out more about SensitiviTees on their Facebook page, blog page and webpage.”

I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

How to Celebrate Pi (π) Day with a Gluten Free Pie Recipe

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

• 4 large sweet potatoes, cooked, peeled and cooled
• 4 Tbsp. Earth Balance Vegan Butter Sticks, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp. honey
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp. Simply Organic Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. Simply Organic Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. Simply Organic All-Spice
• 1/4 cup dairy-free milk such as So Delicious
• 1 tsp. Simply Organic Almond Extract
• 1 9 inch gluten-free pie shell

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, beat sweet potato flesh and butter until creamy. Stir in remaining filling ingredients; mix until smooth.

Transfer mixture into prepare pie shell.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Set aside for 15 minutes before serving.

Recipe type: Dessert

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

Serves: 12

Notes

Serving size: 1 slice Calories: 200 cal • Fat: 6.2 g • Protein: 3 g • Carb: 38.7 g • Fiber: 2.8 g • Sugar: 26.1 g • Sodium: 237 mg

(courtesy of the Healthy Apple)

Allergy-Free Main Dish Recipe: Mexican Chicken

Recipe Information

Ingredients          chicken tenders or cut up chicken breast        onion        garlic        red bell pepper        oil 1     tsp  chili powder 1/4  tsp  ground cumin 1     tsp  salt 1     can  corn, drained (optional) 1     can  black beans, rinsed & drained (optional) 1    lime

Instructions Saute chopped onion, garlic, and red pepper a few minutes in vegetable oil. Add chicken tenders or cut up chicken breast chunks. Saute until chicken is almost done, then add chili powder, ground cumin, and salt. Stir and simmer a few minutes. If using, add drained corn and black beans. Squeeze fresh lime juice and serve.

Substitutions   Use dairy, soy, corn, wheat and/or gluten free ingredients as needed. To make corn free, omit canned corn. Verify ingredients of chili powder for added corn and/or gluten ingredients.Recipe Created By: Lynda Mitchell Copyright (c) 2005-2011, Kids With Food Allergies Foundation.

A Poem for International Women’s Day

(courtesy of  www.anitapoems.com, writing poetry to help fight breast cancer)

Today is InternationalWomen’s Day and I would like to dedicate the following poem to my wife, mother, sister, mother-in-law, cousins, aunts, friends, and all the women on earth.

I truly hope that this poem helps bring awareness about women’s achievements and current struggles. Overall, I’m also hoping that it will remind all the men out there about the importance of all the women in their lives.

Women’s Day

It’s a time to celebrate,
all the women in our lives.
Our mothers and sisters,
daughters and wives.

We must remember,
to appreciate and respect.
With their beautiful hearts,
how our days they affect.

Each woman is gentle,
caring and kind.We must respect,

both her body and mind.

Let’s acknowledge and celebrate,
all the things they achieve.
We encourage each one,
when we support and believe.

To their hardships and struggles,
we must open our eyes.
Act with compassion,
when we hear all their cries.

We must always love them,
and genuinely show.
This is the key,
for our relationships to grow.

The celebration begins,
when we are aware.
Our feelings and love,
every day we must share.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) is running a Gluten-Free Spring Recipe Contest (deadline: March 29, 2013)

Submit your original gluten-free recipe in the Spring Gluten-Free Recipe Contest for the chance to win $100 worth of products from the Gluten-Free Choices line.

To give you some inspiration, the NFCA will highlight products from each brand in the Gluten-Free Choices line throughout March. After the contest is over, they will pick some of their favorite recipes (including the winners) and publish them in an e-cookbook that you can download for free.

How to Enter

Submit an original gluten-free recipe through this online form or by e-mail to contest@celiaccentral.org.

All entries must be received by Friday, March 29, 2013

Entries must include:

►Your contact information (Full name and phone number)

►Title of recipe

►Recipe Category (Entrée/Side Dish or Baking)

►Ingredients

►Directions

►Number of servings

►Prep time and cook time preferred, but not required

Prizes

Grand Prize: Gluten-Free Prize Pack

One lucky winner will be chosen from each Recipe Category to receive a gluten-free prize pack from Gluten-Free Choices ($100 value).

e-Cookbook Raffle Winner

One lucky winner who signs up to receive the e-Cookbook will win a gluten-free goodies from the Gluten-Free Choices brand!

© 2013 National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. All rights reserved.

Delicious Nutrition in any Language

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has designated March as National Nutrition Month®. Recognizing our country’s rich cultural diversity, the Academy has initiated “Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day” to help Americans of all cultures make delicious, nutritious choices about what to eat from their homeland cuisines.

Eating well to boost your health and maintain a healthy weight starts with some smart, conscious choices, including cutting out white flour and white sugar and curtailing your intake of saturated fats. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans offer these recommendations for a healthy eating plan:

• Emphasize fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and, if you consume dairy, choose low-fat or fat-free milk and milk products.*
• Include lean meats, poultry, and fish if you eat meat; everyone should include legumes (beans, nuts), and eggs (if you are not vegan or are an ovo-lacto vegetarian).
• Avoid or limit your consumption of saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, and added sugars. Check the Nutrition Facts panel on food labels for total fat and saturated fat.

Regardless of your cultural heritage, there are so many ways to pack in the nutrition without packing on pounds (of course, we expect you are exercising and staying active!).

Make every calorie count. Eating well goes beyond counting calories—it means eating nutritiously in terms of vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients. Choose whole grains, unprocessed or minimally processed foods, natural or certified organic foods; include plenty of fruits and vegetables every day.

Mix it up. Vary your menu to encourage sampling and broadening the types of foods kids are more apt to try. Protein is available in meat, beans, and nuts; many different fruits offer wholesome fiber and vitamins; try side dishes made with whole grains, fruits, nuts, or vegetables.

Make it colorful. Fruits and vegetables come in a rainbow of colors, each overflowing with essential vitamins and minerals such as Vitamins A and C, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, and many more. Dark leafy vegetables are nutritional powerhouses.

Keep it fresh whenever possible. Fresh fruits and vegetables pack more nutritional punch than processed, canned, or frozen foods.

Americans are lucky to be able to enjoy so many wonderful ethnic cuisines within our borders. Here is a small list of delicious ethnic dishes that support the guidelines for good nutrition:

Italian – minestrone soup bursting with vegetables, beans, and pasta; gnocchi (made with potato flour); homemade tomato sauce; whole wheat pasta with vegetables and olive oil.

Greek – tzaziki sauce (made with low-fat yogurt, garlic, and dill) served as a dip with fresh vegetables; dolmas, the stuffed grape leaves filled with ground meat and/or rice, vegetables, dried fruit, pine nuts.

Chinese – stir fries made with fresh vegetables (bok choy, snow peas, carrots, bean sprouts), and tofu, chicken or lean beef.

Japanese – udon noodle soup with buckwheat noodles, bean sprouts, snow peas, tofu.

Central/Latin American –sliced, grated, or chopped jicama (root vegetable) used in salads; homemade salsas with tomatoes and chiles (as dips and toppings); quinoa, a versatile grain that cooks quickly, can be used as a side dish or in salads (gluten-free!); sliced avocados; fish stew.

Caribbean – grilled pineapple; mangos and other tropical fruits; Cuban black beans; curried sweet potato soup.

African – pumpkin puree, pumpkin-nut soup; rice with beef and beans; African vegetable soup with sweet potato, garbanzos, and vegetables; couscous with vegetables.

Indian – fruit chutneys, whole wheat naan, dal (lentils and seasonings), tandoori chicken.

Eastern European – beets, buckwheat, egg noodles, stuffed cabbage (with lean ground meat or pureed steamed vegetables).

Bon apetit, buen provecho, guten Apetit . . . enjoy!

*There are many excellent dairy alternatives for those who wish to avoid dairy products, such as soy, coconut, almond, hemp, and rice milks, and frozen desserts and cheeses made from these products.

You’re Eating Toxic Chemicals, Even If You Eat Organic And Avoid Plastic

A new study found remarkable levels of endocrine disruptors in even carefully catered diets.

You do everything right. You eat your organic produce, free-range meat and eggs, and hormone-free milk. You studiously avoid plastic containers that could leach Bisphenol A (BPA), a possibly toxic estrogen-mimicking compound. Does it matter? A new study indicates that it does--but only to a point. In fact, you could eat an organic, local diet without any plastic exposure and still end up with high levels of toxic chemicals in your body.

Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana, a pediatrician focused on endocrine-disrupting chemicals and health impacts at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, noticed that her patients often asked how they could reduce exposure to endocrine disruptors at home. So she and her colleagues set up a study to test the efficacy of a written recommendation versus a five-day catered diet to see which (if either) would reduce exposure to BPA and pthalates, a group of chemicals used in plastics that have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and more. The results, published this week in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, were somewhat shocking.

Sathyanarayana’s study consisted of 10 families. One group of random participants was given written guidelines from the national Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit on avoiding BPA and pthalates in daily life (i.e. avoid canned foods when possible). The other group was given catered food and drink from a local company that offers organic, fresh, and local items. Both groups were asked to drink filtered water and avoid plastic drink containers. "People tend to focus on the organic part of it, but it was also fresh foods when possible, and no plastic used in cooking, preparation, or storage of foods," she explains.

The researchers assumed that urinary BPA and pthalate levels would drop in the catered group compared to the group using written instructions--people are generally bad at following advice from their doctors after all. "Instead we saw big spikes and increases in the catered diet group and no changes at all in the written education group," she says.

Sathyanarayana’s team tested the food samples in the catered group to find the source of contamination. The culprits: milk, cream, ground coriander, and other spices. "I honestly don’t know why the spices were more contaminated or why the dairy had higher contamination, but I do know it’s consistent with other reports," she says. In general spices, high fat dairy, and animal fats tend to have higher phthalate concentrations--but not at the levels reported in Sathyanarayana’s study.

What happened? Remember: That milk came from local farms in glass containers. And the coriander and other spices, while not local (many aren’t produced in the U.S.), came from an organic company trusted by the caterer.

Nonetheless, Sathyanarayana stresses that this doesn’t mean chemical exposure is out of our hands. "We do have national studies that [look at] general population exposures, and they don’t see concentrations this high. Other food studies don’t document concentrations in food this high either," she says. "It was a fluke in the sense that we happened to have a catered diet with several spices and dairy with higher concentrations."

It’s not like going vegan would have solved the problem. The kids in the study had higher phthalate concentrations, possibly because the caterer gave the families snacks (bread, cheese, etc.) that they turned into grilled cheese. "But even without the dairy, we still wouldn’t have seen results we’d hope to see," says Sathyanarayana.

The authors conclude in their study: "It may be that our findings reflect an isolated rare contamination event because of unusual processing or a packaging abnormality. It also could be the case that the food supply is systematically contaminated with high phthalate concentrations, which are difficult to identify."

Sathyanarayana isn’t planning to dig deeper in the supply chain to figure out where the chemicals came from--that falls outside her research interests, though she hopes that advocacy groups will pursue the issue.

There are still ways to reduce BPA and phthalate exposure, despite what the study’s results indicate. Sathyanarayana recommends a fresh food diet with reduced animal fat and canned food intake. "Diet can really contribute to your chemical exposure," she says.

(Courtesy of: Ariel Schwartz is a Senior Editor at Co.Exist. She has contributed to SF Weekly, Popular Science, Inhabitat, Greenbiz, NBC Bay Area, GOOD Magazine and more)