Celiac Disease and eating gluten-free on St. John

[Xislandgirl]

I posted a great recipe for Quinoa stuffed peppers on the Food Porn Thread on the OT forum. It was great

Actually, it was someone else that posted it but it was from my friend's blog
here is the link

http://megpug.blogspot.com/search?q=quinoa

[Teresa_Rae]

I’ve been buying quinoa pasta for the last couple months. From a nutritional standpoint it is healthier than wheat pasta, and once you put sauce on it (in my case meat sauce) you can’ t even tell that it isn’t regular wheat pasta. My husband eats it too even though he can have wheat pasta...the only downside is that quinoa pasta is quite a bit more expensive.

I buy this kind:


X, that recipe sound good...I think I’d add some ground beef but I’ll have to give it a try

[VayCay]

have you had the quinoa grain??? because it has a nice taste to it and can be done any way rice can w/very similar cook times and is NOT expensive. well for a grain maybe, but it's health advantages make up for that extra cost. my personal favorite is kung pao tofu w/quinoa which i buy at a local service deli.

[snorkeler525]

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis but I am sure you will soon settle into your new dietary requirements. While at the yoga studio this am, I picked up a brochure for a woman who runs a gluten free bakery and she takes orders. Her web site is www.annasswedishdelights.com and her phone number is 617-584-4171.

[Teresa_Rae]

No, I haven't bought the grain itself, but yeah, I agree that from a nutritional standpoint I'd rather eat quinoa than rice.

[RickG]

I've been reading this thread with interest, so I'll pop in while I have something to contribute...

I'm a quinoa fan. It has a nice nutty flavor that goes well anywhere you would use bulghur wheat. Its quite good sprouted as well.

Make sure you get quinoa that has the bitter coating of saponins removed. If you buy the straight stuff or grow it yourself you have to do a lot of soaking and rinsing to get the coating off.

Cheers, RickG

[Travel Boy]

My mother has a gluten free diet also and this past March was her first trip to St John... Morgan's Mango chef is very familiar with this diet and can prepare many meals for you - we emailed and they were very accommodating.
We also found my gluten free snacks at Star Fish Market at no more cost then here in Minnesota.
The chef at Rhumb Lines also was very helpful when we ate there one evening.
As long as you like fish and fresh food you can eat in St John - my mother is a case study at Mayo Clinic and she adheres strickley to gluten free - enjoy St John dining.

[Patty]

Where do most of you buy the quinoa? I live in a very rural area where we only have one chain of a grocery store and it does not carry it. Do you get it on the Internet? We can get to VA Beach and Norfolk via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel if anyone knows where to purchase it in that area.

[pjayer]

For my husband, the biggest challenge was finding bread and other baked items that taste like something humans eat. The prepared breads (rice, tapioca, etc.) we found at the store are horrible, IMO. Bob's Red Mill has the best bread mix we've found, so far. I buy it at our local Kroger, but here's their website if you can't find it in your area - www.bobsredmill.com. The taste is just a bit different, but the texture is the same as wheat bread. You can make croutons out of it and have a real sandwich and toast.

Also, I use a lot of Pamela's Products - www.pamelasproducts.com. They have mixes for cakes, cupcakes, pancakes, brownies, frostings, etc. Bill enjoys their packaged cookies, too. There's a pie crust recipe on the back of their ginger snaps that I've used for key lime pie that is very tasty.

There's a "CSA Gluten-Free Product Listing" that can be purchased on-line through www.csaceliacs.org. It contains gf product listings by manufacturers and distributors, along with restaurants that have gf menus. Our favorite restaurant with its own gf menu is P.F. Chang's. If we go to a Japanese grill, Bill takes his own soy sauce to use on his food. The chefs don't always understand why, but they use it anyway.

As promoguy said, celiac disease is very manageable. It's the diagnosis that's usually the difficult part. Bill suffered with symptoms for several years before getting the correct diagnosis. He heard everything from stomach flu to stress to finally being told he needed to get a hobby. (So sorry. Too busy visiting the bathroom to fit a hobby into my schedule!) He had lost a lot of weight, wasn't sleeping, and no one could tell us what to do. It had gone on for so long, I was afraid people thought I was slowly poisoning him.

Anyway, we switched doctors, he was correctly diagnosed, and within two or three weeks of a gf diet, his symptoms disappeared. The point of this long story is to not give up, ask lots of questions, and switch doctors until you get an answer if you suspect you have celiac disease or anything else for that matter.

Thanks for all the helpful posts and to Teresa_Rae for starting the thread. This IS a great forum!

[delph17]

Hi,
Gluten free frozen pizza was available at the dolphin market to my delight.
Taco shells from starfish along with pasta sauces all organic.
I always travel with corn thins/rice cakes(square thin ones) its easy to pick up cheeses and meats.
I find bread to hard to travel with,chebe has some good mixes just add an egg/mils and cheese for easy bread sticks made from cassava flour.
Quinoa is my best friend, lots of ways to prepare and the gluten free pantry makes an excelllent brownie mix!
be prepared is my Gluten free motto.
I prefer quinoa spagetti and a mix of rice/potato/soy flour for rigatoni etc,buy a grilled lobster add to pasta sauce a few pepper flakes,mmm so good!
Lobster from fish trap!
or pancetta/peas for your allergy to shellfish, all available at the new gourmet starfish store!
Angie

[Teresa_Rae]

Pjayer- I did not have the typical celiac symptoms so now I'm on this difficult diet without any noticeable benefit. Of course my small intestine is no longer being destroyed which is life-saving, but I don't feel any different.

The only reason my doctor did the initial antibody test was because my iron was extraordinarily low. She was shocked that I have the disease and said that she'll do more routine testing for it now because of what she learned from my case.

For me getting a diagnosis of my thyroid condition (which is associated with celiac disease) a few years ago was much more difficult because the vast majority of doctors don't have a clue when it comes to hypothyroidism.

I have yet to find GF soy sauce in a store so hopefully I can find it online somewhere.

[delph17]

You have to look for TAMARI this is soy sauce without the wheat.
Eden organic and premier japan biologique are 2 brands i buy, i usually find them at wholefoods but they are both available on line at their own web sites.
They also have teriyaki,hoisin wheat free sauces from premier Japan.
my celiac was diagnosed 18 mos ago and the doctor stated it can take up to 2 years for the intestine to repair.
After only a few months without gluten my iron level increased,i have bloodwork every 6 mos now to check everything else thyroid etc

[pjayer]

I buy SAN-J Organic Tamari Wheat Free Soy Sauce at the Whole Foods Market and our local Kroger. Sounds like the same stuff that Delph uses. Their website is www.san-j.com. It makes cooking a lot easier especially if you use soy sauce for marinades and/or salad dressings.

When bayer was first diagnosed, it was hard to find gf products in our town. We started asking the manager of Kroger if she could start carrying some things. After about a year of asking (aka nagging), they started stocking different items. She even comes up to us in the store and tells us about new gf products. If you haven't started asking in your store, it might be a good time to start. I guess it's true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[Teresa_Rae]

Just bumping this up in case anybody missed it...

[Xislandgirl]

I am bumping this up again for a new member