Tasty Tidbits  - The Allergiesandme.com Blog

New Products and New Friends is the theme of today's post....

We added some awesome new chocolate bars this week from Yamate Chocolatier. Most of them are not only Gluten Free, Cholesterol Free and Vegan, but are appropriate for a Diabetic diet. Now how many people do we know who LOVE chocolate, but are restricted from eating it?!!
Here are just a few -
  
          

Our New Friend part is really not exactly true, we have known this great group of Canadian "Allergy Moms" for some time. Rhonda Lewis is co-founder and helped launched www.AllergySense.com last year and they are growing strong.

Rhonda describes her website this way, "It all began on our first trip together in 2007 when our husbands ran the Boston Marathon together. We chatted about our kids and life and realized quickly that 5/5 of our kids had multiple food allergies. Gluten free, nut free, egg free, dairy free, fish free… We live it, eat it and get it.

The idea for AllergySense developed as our conversations progressed. As parents of kids with food allergies and as people with food allergies ourselves, we felt the need for a comprehensive online resource for all families, newly diagnosed individuals and kids and for the allergy community at large. We started to brainstorm and met with Allergists, Support Groups, Family Doctors, Parents, Pediatricians, Grandparents, Caregivers and Businesses all of whom provided feedback that we have integrated into the site."

Check the website out at www.AllergySense.com. They recently updated the format of the site and it is great. They were nice enough to highlight one of their favorite "Allergy Free" Food companies in their recent newsletter...Allergiesandme.com!

Take a peek at them, support their efforts and tell them we said "hi"!

Drum Roll Please....the winners of our First Annual "Allergy Free" Food Recipe Contest have been announced.

We received so many fantastic entries and look forward to more of these fun contests in the future.
Here are the lucky winners:

Lori Zook of Pennsylvania took Grand Prize with her "PennyMint Patties". After I told her the good news, Lori said "Wow, what an honor! I love to share my recipes with others that have food allergies so that they can realize it is completely possible to still eat the yummy foods they desire even with food allergies." We are glad she shared them too!

Our second prize went to Kimberly Hammond of Texas. She shared her family favorite, Lemonade Cookies. Rounding out our third place winners was Suzanne Banfield from New Jersey with her Apple-Butter Nut Muffins.

Please check out the winning recipes and their stories on our Allergy Free Food Recipe Contest Winners page.

Great new recipe added this week to check out....Cranberry Nut Chocolate Squares. Jennifer at www.BakingChamber.com created this recipe new...with the first appearance at Allergiesandme.com! We appreciate all her efforts and you must check out her recipe site...fantastic dishes.



Don't forget....Sunday the 28th...that's three days away...our First Annual Allergy Free Food Recipe Contest Ends!

Restocking and stocking is the name of the game this week. We have added lot's of new items and more are coming in. New products hitting the shelves this week include Gluten and Wheat Free pastas from Bi-Aglut:

                               

Schar's has added three new Gluten and Wheat Free cookies to our offering as well:

                                       

Just to name a few. Check out the store for even more new stuff in the coming days.   

I felt the need to make this week's new recipe honor our four-legged loved ones. 

Valentine's Day always seems to be just a "hallmark moment" and not really utilized to tell the ones you love...how much they mean to you. With your family, you can communicate that with words and cards. What about Fido?! It takes more than just a pat on the head for this special day.

Our friend, Judy from www.newgrainrecipes.com has provided us with a Wheat-Free and Vegetarian dog treat you can make at home. As she states on her website, “Many people are turning to wheat free or gluten free as a way of life and not only for themselves, but for their pets too. There is research that indicates that gluten may not be any easier for your dog to digest than it is for you, and may in fact be harmful. Many dogs have allergies to wheat.”



She suggests making in the shape of people or dog bones...but you can take this recipe and just have fun with it. Let me know if you have any leftovers...I doubt it!

I am a Texas-born Girl ...and love my barbeque! I just stocked a new group of sauces from Steel's Gourmet Foods and I think you will love them. They are made with Agave nectar, so have no sugar added...and Cholesterol free. We have several of these Gluten-Free sauces to choose from: Agave Barbeque Sauce, Agave Chipotle Barbeque Sauce, Agave Mango Curry Sauce, Agave Teriyaki Sauce , Agave Wasabi Teriyaki Sauce .

    Remember, everything tastes better on a grill!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Football is in the air and that means SuperBowl parties! This can be a little tricky for those with food allergies and food intolerances. I just added a new gluten free appetizer recipe to the site today, Gluten Free Minced Meatballs with Savory Ginger Dipping Sauce. That's a mouthful to say, but very tasty. This recipe was contributed by Terry Traub, author of "Food to Some, Poison to Others". Try it and let me know how many people ask for the recipe!
                                          

In honor of Valentine's Day, we added some wonderful Gluten,Wheat and Cholesterol free dark chocolate bars from Yamate Chocolatier:  Cocoa Nibs Dark Bar, Cranberry Walnut Dark Bar and Tart Cherry Dark Bar.

Now, I have made myself hungry...time for a snack!

More recipes to try at home...just added two new ones this week. These are from new contributors to our recipe collection, Tina Turbin & Megan Hart.

Tina Turbin is a children’s book author, Danny the Dragon, and provides gluten-free support on her blogsite, www.GlutenFreeHelp.info as well as her main website, www.TinaTurbin.com. Tina has donated one of her favorite gluten free recipes, “Browny Muffins”, and it should become a household favorite.

Megan Hart is one of the founders of the blogsite, www.WelcomingKitchen.blogspot.com. In addition, she has co-authored some allergen free cookbooks with Kim Lutz. Their newest, “Welcoming Kitchen”, will be available in September. Megan’s recipe contribution this week is “Gluten Free Apple Cider Donuts”. These donuts have a coffee cake-like texture and will start your mornings off with a skip!

Check out these two new Gluten Free Recipes.

Happy cooking and for those in the path of this new winter storm...Stay Warm!

Hope this finds all of you well and getting ready for the rest of the month's holiday events.

I found a great new group in my own "backyard" over the weekend. The Tampa Bay Celiacs had their Annual Gluten-Free Holiday Cookie Exchange on Saturday...and Allergiesandme.com was invited. I met several of the group's members and the leader, Janet. It was a really nice experience and I hope to attend some of their upcoming meetings to learn more about their individual issues and needs...and to get an even better understanding of the daily struggles that people living without gluten face. This helps me to provide the needed resources to my customers. For my contribution, I brought gift bags that included the Gingerbread Man and Snowman cookies from "Cookies...for Me?" and the Thai Chi Biscottea cookies...seemed to go over well!

I would like to mention some of the other vendors I met at the meeting that are providing local goods and services. Allergiesandme.com is always looking for resources and if you are in Florida, please check them out.

Mrs. Madewell Baker, www.mrsmadewell.com
Tina  Turbin at GlutenFreehHelp,  www.glutenfreehelp.info
Lynn with The Cookie Momsters,  www.cookiemomsters.com
Morty with Katz Gluten Free,  www.katzglutenfree.com
Viitals Cafe, www.viitals.com

Until next time......

Jamie

As is the case with most of you out there...who has time to watch Oprah?! Some of you might say, who wants to!!

Aside from that, I did see a nice article on Oprah.com and I thought I would share the link: Gluten-Free, Is it for Me?

 It gives a good, well-rounded discussion about gluten sensitivities and celiac disase, as well as some steps to going Gluten Free with your diet. Every article I read gives different ideas and possible approaches, so I always want to share, even if you might find it "old news". There are always good reminders to stay safe and be vigilant about reading those food labels.

Take care and eat healthy!
Jamie