low gluten diet experiment and PIE

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lierdumoa is at my place for a visit and we has embarked in the adventures of PIE; being that I triangulated several "best pie/pie crust evar" recipes I've found online and we kept making the suckers until the pie was Magical.

MAGICAL.

If you've been following lierdumoa's food tags at all, you'd notice that most of her cooking involve alcohol and we were very excited to learn about this pie crust recipe that involved vodka.

Us, being, us, decided that vodka was decidedly inferior to brandy, so we found one with the same alcohol content (because that's the fool-proof recipe's secret). And then we marinated the fruit in brandy before baking. ^_^V

The recipe is alllllmost there, it's already better than lierdumoa's fave restaurant pie, but it could be kicked up a notch to become GLORIOUS; along the way I've figured out some awesome baking tips for newbies. (like why pastry flour make pie more awesome and how to half-ass it from cake flour and all-purpose)

We'll post the final when we get there. =D


On the gluten issue; I've been connecting the dots on some GI symptoms that I've been having that've been stumping my doctors and wonder if I have some sort of gluten intolerance/allergy; especially since I found out that gluten allergy can cause late onset lactose intolerance as well as fatigue.

Since I don't really like most hard/chewy breads much (I lean toward the cake/flaky pastry end of the bread spectrum, if at all) it's not really that hard of a diet for me. What I'm wondering tho, is strange stuff that gluten is in without being on the label, so I thought to ask ya'll if you know of any major culprits that had surprise gluten? I found out there's gluten in ketchup, which makes me sad, are there any other condiments that have it?

Thoughts?

Comments

[tigress35.livejournal.com]

Hi hi! How have you been?

My personal research on gluten indicates that anything processed and/or not explicitely labeled as gluten free may have it. Most grains save for quinoa and I think corn and rice (have to double check) has gluten. Gluten is often used as a binder or filler in processed foods, so something seemingly safe like packaged turkey or chicken may have it.

[permetaform]

hello! Pretty good, did a stint as a product rep, and now back to looking for a job in my field. Are you still at your apt? We should meet up one of these days!

Hmmm, good point on the packaged products. I'm hoping that I'm only slightly gluten intolerant so that trace gluten would still be fine but I'm waiting for my insurance to okay the GI doc. =\

[tigress35.livejournal.com]

I am still in the Glendale apt! We def have to get together again soon. Are you still in the same place? Not that I ever visited you there, but it was close by :)

What products did you rep?

I'm hoping that I'm only slightly gluten intolerant so that trace gluten would still be fine

I suspect so, but I'm not an expert on it, so I most certainly could be wrong. But I also suspect that the more one can avoid it the better. I think there are some who are so sensitive to it that even a little bit makes them really sick. And if I remember correctly, like you said, you've never been fond of the baked goods that are my vice.

GL with the job hunting; I keep my fingers crossed for you.

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hmmm, how's next week for you? I've several free spots then in the afternoon, or perhaps the first weekend of sept?

Yeah, I've never been at One with the baked goods, so I wonder if this had anything to do with it. The job search goes way better now than it did earlier this year, I'll tell you more when we meet up =)

[tigress35.livejournal.com]

Let me get back to you on that... potential jury duty of doom

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ewww. My sympathies.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

I'm Celiac, which means I have to live on a Gluten-Free diet. Gluten is contained in wheat, rye, oats, barley, and some varieties of wild rice. Anything that contains "modified food starch" must be assumed to contain gluten. Anything made with wheat flour (including pie crust, all pastries, and cake) contains gluten. Processed foods should be assumed to contain at least trace amounts of gluten unless they are labelled "gluten-free" and carry a statement that they are processed in gluten-free or wheat-free environments. This is because there is no single standard for "gluten-free," and some companies will label a product "gluten-free" if it has no gluten in its ingredients, but was made on the same equipment as other products which do contain gluten. This is known as cross-contamination, and is a danger when eating out, as well.

As a single person just starting out on trying a Gluten-Free diet, possibly the best book I can recommend for you is Shreve Stockton's Eating Gluten Free. It contains some very easy recipes for all meals, plus breads and desserts, but more importantly, it includes lists of ingredients in processed food that are "hidden gluten." It also contains advice on noting symptoms that might indicate accidental gluten ingestion, which can be useful if you're not used to connecting certain symptoms to gluten ingestion.

Along with diet, though, you'll want to consider cosmetics, skincare, and bath and body products. These are things that get absorbed through your skin and work their way into your intestinal tract, and these are things that frequently include gluten, often in the form of wheat or oat proteins. I am still on the lookout for bath and body products that meet my other requirements while being gluten-free (I am very, very sensitive to smells, and things like the basic Dove and Ivory scents make me nauseated), but I use Everyday Minerals cosmetics and BeautiControl lipstick (all BC cosmetics and skincare are GF but their lip gloss and lip balm).

It can be pretty overwhelming to be diagnosed with Celiac and suddenly feel like you're surrounded by poison, but California is actually a good place to find a lot of GF options, and a good, basic advice and cookbook (also look for work by Danna Korn) can really help as a guide when you're starting out. There are also Celiac fora online for specific questions and locations. You might Google for one in your area, which could also lead you to a local support group.

[wordkink.livejournal.com]

I would that since hanging out with Rana I've taken to reading all kinds of labels and one of the best places for easy one person gf food is trader joes. They have a lot of options and usually their staff is pretty well infomed on products too.

Good luck with all of it. :D

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

I will second the rec for Trader Joe's. They have great variety in their prepared meals, plus they label for responsible processing practices, which means if they're making a product that's going to be labelled gluten-free, they make it in a separate area and on separate equipment from products that contain gluten.

[permetaform]

cool! Thank you for the advice =D I'll look up those books; with luck I may be only gluten intolerant as opposed to celiac; I should know in a bit once the paperwork for the GI doc goes through. ::crosses fingers::

But yeah, luckily I'm living in CA right now; which has more options. Also that I don't really like lipstick...though I clearly need to do more research on lip balms. Luckily I already like Everyday Minerals.

Have you tried a company called LUSH for bath stuff?

Eh, I think I went through a whole WTFWORLD with High Fructose Corn Syrup having mercury in it; though clearly gluten is a much more extreme case of it. I'll keep you updated with what comes up.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

You'll need to follow the same dietary conventions whether diagnosed as gluten intolerant or as celiac, though most of those I know with gluten intolerance are less likely to get sick with trace exposure. So you wouldn't have to worry as much about things like sauces, but you'd still want to avoid eating bread, cakes, muffins, etc.

For lip balm, I go with Burt's Bees. Both their honey and mint lip balms are gluten-free. And yeah, I've tried LUSH, but they actually use a lot of chemicals in their products, and I have too many chemical sensitivities for that to go well.

Rune's on a mission to eradicate HFCS from her diet, which has made me more aware of what it's in, but I already had a bit of a reaction to it and find it has a vile aftertaste, so I aim for the stuff that uses cane sugar anyway. GF products frequently veer toward "healthier," which can be a problem if you have to limit your poultry/soy intake while still getting a high-protein diet, but it does mean you'll often find they use organic ingredients, minimal dyes and preservatives, etc.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Many commercially sold soy sauces!

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yeah I discovered that recently; but since I'm also on a sauce-kick re:cooking I'm down to cobbling together my own.

Apparently, most commercial soy sauces throw in other grains to boost output, ::makes face::

I found a good thread here
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=103707
that outlines how to make the soy sauce on your own.

[permetaform]

oh, also that the flour used to make the loaf is for the purpose of attracting mold, in theory you can replace it with other flours; rice in particular seemed to be used in older soy sauces.

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oh interesting, I found this:

"Reputable brands of Soy Sauce, such as Kikkoman, because they are fermentated for such a long period, test negative to gluten as a finished product."

o.0 huh, so I'm guessing it's a matter of degree and trace gluten? Or perhaps improperly filtered sauce.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I don't know much myself-- do you mind if I point another friend who was recently diagnosed with gluten issues this way? You guys could trade notes.

[permetaform]

sure!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Have done!