Cereal Killer, Part I

A Product Review

I've been eating a lot of cereal lately. All summer, actually. I think cereal makes a great meal for someone with my digestive issues, so I've been dining on cereal with unsweetened almond milk at least one meal a day.

There's nothing like a good bowl of crunchy gluten-free cereal, sweetened (artifically, sadly) and topped with icy cold almond milk.

Ay, as Hamlet said, there's the rub. Is there such a thing as a GOOD bowl of gluten-free cereal?

Yes. Yes. Remarkably, yes. Several of them from a company called Erewhon, part of U.S. Mills

What you see above is Erewhon's newest product, Strawberry Crisp. I won a box at Grandma's Gluten Free Twitter Party, and the nice folks at Erewhon also sent me Corn Flakes and Crispy Brown Rice to try.

I tried. I liked. A lot.

So here's the bottom line: If you miss Special K being gluten free, try the Erewhon Strawberry Crisp. It tastes like I remember Special K tasting. The brown rice cereal makes a great pan of Crispy Brown Rice Treats (seriously, no one could tell the difference) and the corn flakes were just....delicious. With a banana, of course.

Plus, check out this nutritional data! For those of us who are being calorie-conscious, this is a good deal.



So here's what you're looking for on your grocery shelves. Don't take my word for it. Try it. It will brighten up your mornings, or your midnight snack, or your lunch....


Much love, and stay tuned for part II later this week!
Ging

Happy Birthday to my baby!

Rockin' the hat!


Goin' to the casino!


Jeffrey's homage to Michael Jackson


Chillaxin' at the mall


Always with his CD player

Jeffrey is 27 today. Oy! I'm old.

He celebrated all last week with Randy and me in Tampa, visiting the aquarium, the Hard Rock Casino, and every Best Buy and Target and mall in town. Tonight he's going to dinner with his girlfriend Dee and best friend Ms. Pam, and tomorrow Papa and Mary are coming in to celebrate. Last night, he had dinner with his Dad to begin the weekend's festivities,

I just wanted to use my personal blog space to mention a couple of things about my dear and only son. First, he continues to thrive at the Life Enrichment Center, and in the last year, he has learned to play the electric guitar. He still loves Dee, but admits to a camp flirtation with the lovely Sarah. And he never tires of sneaking up on Dad Randy, only to scream "Uncle!"

As hard as it is to parent an adult with autism, I wouldn't trade it for the world. And while my friends see their children grow and fly the nest, I do feel envy, but I wouldn't change it.

Here's to many more years of love and growth and challenge with the greatest, coolest, dude in the world.

Much love, always, to my Jeffy-pop!
Ging

Mainstream GF from Betty Crocker!

I've been meaning to post this product post for a couple of days now, but power outages have plagued my internet use.

This is in praise of that gluten giant, General Mills, and its new attention to Gluten-Free Products. So mainstream it is it has garnered the attention of the Wall Street Journal!

It hasn't been too long since Gluten Free Rice Chex showed up on the market, and now we have GF Corn, Honey Nut, Chocolate and Cinnamon Chex to go with it. (I made a fool of myself with the Honey Nut Chex. Seriously....)

And now, Betty Crocker has produced FOUR GF mixes that show up on the main baking aisle at the store. And it's promising more to come!

Somebody pinch me! When you lack the baking gene as I do, you live for this kind of thing! I can rock a cake mix!

True, they're a bit pricier than old BC mixes (I paid $3.49 for the Devil's Food Cake Mix) but in terms of ease and taste, this is wonderful. Sure it only makes one layer, but it's easy -- cut that layer in half, either long ways or across, and frost. You either have a two layer cake or half a two layer cake. Either works fine!

I made the Devil's Food Cake round Sunday night in my convection oven. It took about 32 minutes (instead of 43) in my rubber pan. I let it cool and frosted it with Pillsbury GF Reduced Sugar Chocolate Fudge frosting. We ate it while it was still warm.

And it was delicious!

I kept it in the microwave (tell me you don't use your microwave as a bread box, now really) without covering it for three days (yes, it lasted that long!) and it was still moist and delicious as I scraped the final crumbs from the plate.

Licked, really.

I will still be a patron of the gluten-free companies (Bob's Red Mill, Pamela's, and Gluten-Free Pantry all come immediately to mind,) as those as my mainstays) that have served our community so well--I'd hate it if a company that has been so dedicated to the GF community lost business because of this -- but I am seriously thrilled to see these products on the mainstream shelf. Somehow having this on the main baking aisle seems so.....normal.

Betty Crocker, I thank you from the bottom of my gluten-free tummy -- and heart.

Much love, and pass the cake!
Ging

You're invited

For directions to the venue, visit the Middle Georgia GIG Website.

A Special GF Anniversary

This week marks the first anniversary of the Gluten-Free Bloomin' Onion (and other gluten-free delights) at the Outback on Crossville Road in Roswell, Georgia. Yes, I am their biggest fan. But Tom and Julie and the gang deserve appreciation and love and OUR BUSINESS for SO GETTING IT when it comes to gluten-free food.

Take tonight, for instance. I ate dinner at a lesser Outback and was handed a menu with items literally scratched out with ink. I didn't fret much, as both Randy and I were there for steak and a baked potato (with a gift card, to boot!)

But seriously, folks. Instead of ONE Outback that gets it and takes it seriously enough to draw customers from all over the United States (seriously...Julie told me she's had visitors from Maine come in for the GF Bloomin Onion), why not a short-term goal of oh, I don't know, 10 in big cities like Tampa (the mothership, for God's sake) and maybe a few others.

I know it costs money and takes training and time. And I once again send much love and kudos to Julie and Tom (and Victor, our waiter when I ordered this glorious onion a few weeks ago) AND all the great crew at Outback Roswell on Crossville Road.

Happy Anniversary to the Gluten-Free Bloomin' Onion. And here's to MANY more outlets like this! And Julie, you're a credit to the gluten-free food industry. I wish there was a special prize, because you deserve it for your service to the GF community.

If I haven't said it enough, THANK YOU.

Much love, and here's to the coconut shrimp, too~
Ging

In praise of People who GET IT.

You've noticed my absence, I hope. I've been AFK (ok, AFWiFI) for about a week, and I haven't had the chance to update a post. A part of my vacation was a trip to Washington D.C. for the Edelman New Media Summit, which was incredible! I thought a lot about my role in social media this week, especially in light of this blog, my tweets on Twitter and my posts on Facebook.

All of this has made me think about the purpose of this blog. As most of my readers know, the last six months has been rough on me, as I've grappled with a new diagnosis and adjusted. Lately, I've seem myself go more toward product previews and reviews, and I've been honored by all the GF vendors who have sent me food to try. This has been exciting for me.

But it also signals a paradigm shift for me. I'm not the Gluten Free Paula Deen any more. I'm more the Gluten Free David Horowitz. I don't try to convert recipes because I don't cook much any more, and there's so much more I can't eat.

In a way, that is probably good. You see, we need a lot more attention out there to the gluten free diet and way of life. We need to be engaged in a conversation about our needs with the vendors who do -- and sadly, who don't -- GET IT. And we need to throw our love and money toward those who cater to our needs.

The rest be damned. Or, in my general case, excoriated. Or simply exposed.

A few examples I pulled from the conversation at Edelman: Did you know, for instance, that McDonald's has a team of bloggers who write to the different crews (their audience) about issues in the different Micky D's locations? Knowing this, I pulled the SM guy from McDonald's aside and told him it would be great if someone would plant a blog discussion with these crews about how to handle a gluten-free request in a store. I reminded him of the children out there who still want the Happy Meal Experience...without the bun. And how simple it is to just GET A MANAGER when a GF request comes into the shop.

I also met Starbuck's SM director, and I told her about my last blog post in praise of the GF Orange Valencia Cake. She told me more GF is planned (YAY) but best of all -- that idea came from the mystarbucksidea.com section on the Starbucks site. Starbucks in listening...

So are Austin Grill in D.C., McAlister's Deli, and Legal Sea Foods -- three places in the last 10 days I've gotten a safe, GF menu meal that was more than "leave off the bun." Kudos especially to McAlister's, which is rolling out its new menu in the next few weeks. Good stuff! And of course I had to stop by Roswell Outback -- more on them in a few days. They're coming up on an exciting anniversary...

We have to praise those who GET IT, because it will make more companies try.

Imagine, for instance, that the Chef at the Georgetown University Hotel and Conference Center was clueless to the needs of a GF person, offering fruits (just fruit) for a mid-day meal at a long conference. When I asked about protein (really, some cheese would have been fine) the chef's message through the server -- "there's plenty of meat on the sandwiches. Just take off the bread." WTF? A kind server named Tyrone made sure I got some plain cold grilled chicken, which was fine. HE GOT IT.

That chef, though, seriously needs some education. The next day, when I asked about dessert instead of the cheesecake, the response through the server? "Eat the top and leave the bottom." I truly pity any student or faculty member with GF needs at that location, I do. Thank goodness my university GETS IT.



To end this post, I want to give a really big shout out and thank you to the Simonds Family in Ellijay (and Talking Rock) Georgia. Jena, my dear, dear friend and former student, invited me up for a girl's weekend. I had no idea that her ENTIRE FAMILY -- her lovely Mother Beth, her talented Daddy Doug, her beautiful sister Krista and handsome husband Matthew -- had been researching how to feed me safely for weeks. There was GF bread, a delicious dinner (oh how wonderful it was -- deviled eggs, pork chops, squash casserole, all faves! PLUS make your own banana splits!) that I felt completely safe eating. I felt loved. I felt special. THEY GET IT and I love them all for it and will never forget that special feeling. MUCH LOVE!

Much love, and much praise, for People Who GET IT!
Ging

Dear Starbucks: I love you!

I have to say the month of May in Milledgeville has be pleasant. I've had lots of visits from my Randy, my Maymester class has been awesome, and I've made some tremendous new gluten-free friends here on the blog and on Twitter.

But the highlight of my month has been the introduction of the new Starbucks Gluten-Free Valencia Orange Cake, which, I gotta say it, I love. (And I apologize to Blackbird Coffee in Milledgeville for that, because you're my favorite coffee house. But you don't have a gluten-free cake for me, now do you? But I do love your coffee).

First, the whole cake is high in protein and has under 300 calories. (It is made almost entirely of eggs). Second, it isn't too sweet. Third, with the carb count, it really works okay for me as a meal (not a treat, mind you, as a meal). This post HERE has all the information on the new treat.

I also love that it is sold in individually wrapped packages, frozen. I often buy a four pack of them and take them home to my freezer. I try to stretch those four out for more than a week. At just under $8, it's really lovely.

It especially fits in well with my new eating plans. Of course, I have always lacked the baking gene anyway, with rare exception. This case is perfect for me in my world today. I could serve it to guests for dinner. I could HAVE it for dinner. Randy and Jeffrey game me two cakes for Mother's Day! Wonderful. Of course, the idea that I can go into a Starbucks with a non-GF friend and have a treat means a lot to me, too.

I simply enjoy it for so many reason.

But mostly, it reminds me of my Aunt Katie. She was really my Dad's cousin's wife, which makes her my what, second cousin"s wife, but anyway....I always called her Aunt Katie and called him Uncle Rudy. She taught at Avondale High School, and I'm mentioned here on the blog before -- They called her Mrs. Rudy, and she was a much loved home ec teacher. Anyway, the year after she retired, I hear they brought her out sitting in a rocking chair in a giant gift box at Homecoming. She was a wonderful person all around.

ANYWAY she made this cake every Christmas that she made in bite-sized mini cakes, and Uncle Rudy always delivered a tin of them to our house. We'd exchange tins, usually, with ours filled with Italian Anise Cookies (which today would be considered biscotti...but again...I'm digressing.

The annual Orange Blossom cake of my childhood is truly identical to the Starbucks GF Valencia Orange Cake. I mean, they bring be back. My Mama always kept those Orange Blossoms in the fridge, and when I eat the Starbucks Cake cold, it brings me back.

I couldn't be happier. Thank you, Starbucks, for listening to your GF community. Even if not everyone likes it, we LOVE that you've done this. So thanks. A lot.

Much love, and happy May...
Ging