I loved knowing that Starbucks was going to carry gluten-free treats for those on a gluten-free diet, gluten intolerant or who have celiac disease. I am celiac.

I also love how they will accommodate you by allowing you to read ingredients as well as substitute soy milk for milk in case you are dairy, lactose or casein sensitive or have an allergy. When I hear of a large company taking notice of the statistics of those in need of gluten-free foods and then catering to those needs- well thank you Starbucks! ….PAUSE…. DUMBFOUNDED…What did you say?…Excuuuuuse me, this can’t be. There must be a mistake. This is unbelievable.

OK, read it for yourself. Melissa Alison reveals the latest changes to the light Frappuccino- they ADDED gluten! Now are you thinking what I am thinking? Even my daughter asked me the obvious “Why, why would they ADD it with all they know!” That’s what I want to know- why?

Read for yourself that the new base mix for light Frappuccinos now includes gluten yet the regular Frappuccino base mix doesn’t have gluten listed in the ingredients, but is not designated gluten-free because of the risk of cross-contamination- read the full details:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/coffeecity/2011829401_new_frappuccino_recipe_deletes.html

Read, get informed and be very aware that things can change overnight- ingredients can change. Be aware, read your labels and stay in tune with changes of ingredients always for your safety and health.

Tina Turbin

Helpful Hints for Homemade Ice Cream Alternatives

1. Use coconut milk. It gives a mild, delicious taste that blends in so well with most flavors that you can’t even perceive it. I find it’s most noticeable in vanilla-flavored ice cream alternatives.

2. Add alcohol. By adding 2 to 3 tbsp of alcohol—such as Kahlua, rum, etc.—you can soften your ice cream alternative, making it more scoopable.

3. Store in multiple small containers. This is better than storing in one large container because constantly taking the ice cream out of the freezer and putting it back in can change the ice cream alternative’s texture.

4. A tight seal is a must. This reduces freezer burn. I recommend covering the ice cream with parchment or wax paper then sealing the container with a tightly-fitted lid.

5. Add more flavor. To add some tasty crunch as well as nutrition, add extras into your ice cream alternative, such as cacao nibs, unsweetened coconut, or toasted seeds or nuts.

Use your new homemade ice cream to make some fun “ice cream-sicles” with your kids.

100% pure cheese, crispy, delightful, fun, salty, and delicious. My taste testers and I all agreed these cheese crackers were full of flavor in each and every bite.

These gluten-, wheat-, and sugar-free  “crisps” are all made with zesty parmesan cheese in nine flavors: aged, sesame, Italian herb, garlic, jalapeno, flax seed, rosemary, everything, and their latest release, “minis.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

As a celiac with a sensitivity to dairy, I tend to stay away from products like these. However, Watching my staff bite into these crisps with their oohs and aahs, I had to give them a try, too. They truly are, in each and every bite, bursting with flavor and life. I absolutely loved the rosemary crisps and feel their “minis” release is more in the right direction in taste as well as in the packaging. The minis are about the size of a quarter, whereas the others are the size of a large cracker, three inches in diameter.

These crisps are the perfect accompaniment to a bottle of wine or dip or broken up on top of a salad, or alone. They really do not need a thing to improve their flavor as they actually will alone enhance any food or drink.

Barry Novick started this company all on a simple search for foods to eat on his diet and a desire to leave his position as a hospital administrator. Playing around in the kitchen with his wife, he came up with the perfect recipe which all his friends devoured and nearby stores were just as fond of. Orders were aggressively placed, and the rest is history.

Kitchen Table Bakers has a wealth of accolades from the finest magazines, numerous TV shows, and prestigious food awards. The most discerning food and beverage buyers across the country have these crisps on their shelves. Word is spreading.

Now the company has made it easier to try their products online on their website, http://kitchentablebakers.com/BuyNow.php.

I think I’ll summarize these crisps as “elegant with a kick of fun” in each and every bite.

Tina Turbin

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

Kendall Conrad has done a lovely job of recreating her gourmet recipes and customizing them to suit the principles which healed her child’s body- More Than 150 Delicious Specific Carbohydrate Diet(TM)-Compliant Recipes.

Author Kendall Conrad was faced with the fact that her youngest child’s gut and immune system had been severely compromised after her first ten months of life after being on many antibiotics to address severe ear infections. Her daughter finally needed surgery to drain her ears at only ten months old, which did resolve the ear troubles, but she was left with digestive troubles, wasn’t thriving, and wasn’t absorbing nutrients. Conrad spent a year visiting many doctors to no avail.

Conrad was introduced to a nutritionist who introduced her to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which eliminated virtually all starch and complex sugars. The result was that her daughter began to grow and feel much better. She is now a thriving healthy child.

This cookbook and its detailed introduction shares many aspects of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet’s effects on many people with Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, ulcerative colitis,  IBS, diverticulitis, and other digestive conditions—to incredible results.

The recipes in Kendall’s book are gourmet in every sense of the word, and your family and guests will have no clue that each one of them is a strict adherent to the SCD.

This cookbook is given a thumbs up and is HIGHLY recommended by me.
Tina Turbin
www.glutenfreehelp.info

Annalise Roberts is anything but new to the gluten-free and celiac scene. At this date she is involved with celiac groups, has four books, one being  a second edition, teaches GF baking and produces and manages the ever-growing popular website, www.foodphilosopher.com, with her sister Dr. Claudia Pillow, co-author of her most recent book.
I’ve been using Gluten-Free Baking Classics (second edition) for some time now. The recipes are not only out-of-this-world but easy to play with. When adding my own touches and changes, I still have success.

Annalise’s intention with her first book, Gluten-Free Baking Classics, was to share recipes that not only taste good and are fool-proof but to offer basics for a new cook or novice to adapt the recipes easily to their own favorite dishes.
This 2nd edition offers 42 new, unique, and delicious additions—flour tortillas, doughnut holes, egg-fresh pasta, and, as I told her, my new absolute favorite, the richest, moistest “can’t-get-enough,” to-die-for “banana muffins.”

When opening any of her cookbooks, I feel as if I have a sincere friend sharing all her tried and true helpful advice, letting me in an all her little food “secrets.” Each book shares all the little nuances of that particular book’s recipes so there can be ultimate success in anyone’s kitchen following her exact recipes or adding your own touches. She really let’s you into her “test kitchen” and wants you to succeed in yours.

Her Gluten-Free Baking Classics for the Bread Machine is the book any GF cook needs to avoid the all-too-common dried out or “fallen” breads. The various reasons for these mistakes and tips for how to make many delicious, mouth-watering breads such as multi-grain, challah, and artisan breads are again liberally offered. She stresses the use of the Zojirushi Home Bakery Bread Machine model BBCC-X20 and V20 with their amazing self-adjustment capabilities.

Annalise’s concerns for health and the knowledge that so many celiac and gluten-free eaters, who find themselves surrounded by grains, often forget that this is only a portion of our food pyramid led her to another book, the Gluten-Free Good Health Cookbook, co-authored with her sister, Dr. Claudio Pillow.

Dr. Pillow had been teaching GF nutrition classes for many years, but not being celiac, she was not on a GF diet. She decided to try the diet for 2 months. Swelling in her toe and finger joints subsided, her weight stabilized, she felt better, and she had loads more energy. Soon after, she personally fine-tuned her diet with a better balance of proteins, vegetables, fruits, and carbohydrates . With this new lifestyle, the numbers of patients stood out to her who didn’t see the link between the foods they were eating and their health.

The medical profession emphasizes drugs to treat symptoms, yet what is needed is to locate the underlying cause. Food sensitivities, allergies, and intolerances, and of course celiac disease, result in physiological reactions, giving us warning signs: inflammation of various degrees and symptoms. Their book, the Gluten-Free Good Health Cookbook shows how to neutralize this inflammation and strengthen the immune system, leading to weight loss and restoring health, physical fitness, and mental clarity. In a nutshell, this book shows you how to eat smart to protect your health, offering 140 delicious and new recipes.

Taking into account the allergens which may reside within it, each recipe has detailed “cook’s notes” offering additional hints, suggestions, and/or details. Annalise Roberts has stepped into a more detailed territory than usual, one which is travelled by many others preceding her, but with her abundant experience in this field and teaming up with her sister, what results is a book unlike others.                                              

Annalise holds a world of knowledge and experience, and we are all very fortunate that she has generously taken care to see that we have the opportunity to take advantage of this in our kitchens and households.

I give Annalise and her three books a thumbs up and HIGHLY recommend them. Please visit her site:  www.foodphilosopher.com

Tina Turbin
www.glutenfreehelp.info

The number of allergy-free eaters has skyrocketed, leaving many people in dire need for foods that are not only safe but appetizing, for themselves, their loved ones, and oftentimes children. Allergen Free Baker’s Handbook offers 100 recipes which are free of the ingredients responsible for 90% of the allergens facing our society. If you’re concerned only about artificial and refined ingredients, look no further.

Author Cybele Pascal allows none of that in her kitchen, let alone her recipes. The least tolerated foods are eggs, tree nuts, milk, wheat, soy, fish and shellfish, including gluten, sesame, and dairy according to many tests as well as according to Cybele.

To ease the challenges faced by most families and cooks when confronted with a scene of multiple allergies, Cybele looked over many recipes, making the necessary “adjustments,” and tested these on two strict critics—her two sons, Lennon and Monte. My personal opinion is her two sons approved of 100 recipes with an exact science all of their own—and to a pass—using standards much higher than even my own.

Cybele has gone a step further by taking into account the subject of nutrients and has adjusted each recipe to include healthful flours such as quinoa, sorghum, and amaranth, without losing the flavor and texture of the particular recipe’s “traditional counterpart.”

While sweetness is not a concern for most bakers, Cybele did take concern to use agave in at least 30% of her recipes and substitutions can be made in her other recipes with some testing in one’s own kitchen.

Knowing personally how much goes into cooking and testing recipes, I can give this book a thumbs up based alone on her care and consideration in successfully omitting 90% of the allergens people and families face. The recipes are absolutely delicious, beautifully presented and quite easy to make.

I give Cybele Pascal a  thumbs up for all her hard work and is HIGHLY recommend her book to anyone with celiac disease or food allergies.
Tina Turbin
www.glutenfreehelp.info

Ivan Nikolov- owner Viitals

Tampa, Fla. October 7, 2009  Viitals owner Ivan Nikolov announced the opening of his new retail storefront, which offers gluten-free healthy choices for those trying to live a healthier lifestyle. The bakery had been strictly wholesale until its grand opening.

This bakery offers gluten-free, hypoallergenic, high in protein, organic ingredients snacks, such as muffins, crackers, cake-bars, loafs, and more.

The Bulgarian bodybuilder, Ivan and NPC Tampa Bay Classic overall winner and his wife started this bakery to service the needs of the growing community with allergies, celiacs and the general public looking for higher protein and nutritious snacks.

The opening of his new storefront, Ivan said, now makes him not only a wholesaler, but also a retail gluten-free cafe.

Ivan states that his products are made in a dedicated gluten-free facility, and they are hypoallergenic, vegetarian or completely vegan, all-natural with many ingredients that are organic. He balances his products by adding protein, making them a complete meal.

Ivan said customers will be served gluten-free bread, cookies, brownies, cakes, VIITALS smoothies with organic fruit and protein, gluten-free sandwiches and gluten-free soups.

For more information about VIITALS Bakery visit:http://www.viitals.com

And their awesome menu they updated this month: http://www.viitals.com/VIITALS-Menu.pdf

Tina Turbin

After my personal success with Bio-K+, which has their home base in Canada, I reached out to find out more about this company.

Bio-K+ started with two people and a vision, which all merged into a reality. Dr. Francois-Marie Luquet and Mr. Claude Chevalier met over twenty years ago at a dairy industry conference and discussed the health benefits of probiotics. Fast forward many years and their paths crossed again. Dr. Luquet shared his new strains of acidophilus with healing and health benefits. A company evolved.

Dr. Luquet is by no means new to this business. He brought many years of research and development with him from well-known names as Dannon and Activia. This new “strain” and concept was new, unique, and allowed the strains to live in high dosages before getting to work in the body, unlike its predecessors.

Each product contains a proprietary type of L. acidophilus and L. Casei. I was well-informed each behave different—acidophilus more antibacterial, and L. Casei more antiviral, yet when together they can antagonize one another. Bio-K+ has developed a way these strains can survive together, in the manufacturing, in combining, and in refrigerator storage—all until it reaches our system, producing effects well-documented over and over in individual, clinical, and hospital studies. Nothing comes close to these studies in what products I’ve tested and what I’ve read thus far. I am impressed.

The company currently has less than sixty high-quality people in the facility itself overseeing the two-week process it takes to make each and every batch. Currently it’s available in soy (mango flavor), original (unflavored), and fruity (pineapple and vanilla flavor), and soon a rice-based vanilla will be available.

Bio-K+ has a minimum of 50 billion L. acidophilus and L. casei per 3.5-oz. little bottle. Compare for yourself—nothing comes close. I was also sent (and you can read on their website) a number of clinical results and hospital testimonials. The company’s products are superior, and so is its staff.

Note: It was explained to me that the number CL1285 after the name Bio-K+ simply indicates the specific C strain and is just arbitrary, but that the strain is unlike any other available.

This product is given a thumbs up and is HIGHLY recommended and I will be on the radio with BioK PLus as well as an supporting an product give-away for four days.

Tina Turbin- founder of www.glutenfreehelp.info.

I have a new absolutely favorite dessert. I feel like I am in the snow and eating clean bright snow as this ice-cream touches my tongue. This magic is the Decadent Coconut Milk Mint ice-cream from Turtle Mountain. No casein and no dairy!

Tonight I was on my way back to my studio in the car, fighting no traffic as my husband and everyone else in the USA ( or so it seemed) was tucked behind the TV watching the SuperBowl. I stopped for a few necessities, such as a dessert to dive into before walking the puppies when I go there. I have tried Turtle Mountain’s Chocolate( delicious) and Vanilla, as this is what my husband always gets us. Tonight it was my choice. I never knew they had Mint! My hubby has been holding out on me. My oh my! How did they know MINT is my absolute favorite ( besides a delicious GF carrot cake with thick cream cheese frosting). I then stopped for a quick meeting with their manager at the Health Food store discussing a GF event I will do and then I had to stop at one other store for another necessity, not so glamorous as a dessert- for Swiffer Sweeper wipes. The puppies are forever tracking in dirt everywhere from the yard with a smile as if this is their job and I appreciate all their hard work.

Anyhow, I got home about 35 minutes after grabbing that little pint of yum- my mint ice-cream. I opened the top, I knew it would be slightly melted but what the heck. Ice-cream is good no matter what. Well, let me tell you, it was perfectly creamy, soft-serve style and the best darn ice-cream I have had in years. No dairy reaction ( all coconut milk) and no sugar shock. It was so minty and had this large very thin shavings of  curled chocolate all throughout. Oh my, I can not even describe the experience and I was not even hungry, so that gives it even a greater rating.

This is not a technical food review. This is a moment of bliss that I am still on a high from and had to run in to my studio and share this with you. Please do yourself a favor and take a moment for yourself one day and give this a try. Let me know what you think.

The company has a number of other types of ice-creams but this is by far the BEST one for any mint lover, like me.

Tina Turbin