2 1/2 cups of peeled potatoes 1 cup of gluten free all purpose baking flour or rice [...]]]> Last weekend I had the pleasure of eating some homemade french fries. I have never tasted fries so good in my entire life so I thought I would share the recipe. Thank you to my lovely girlfriend for the recipe.

2 1/2 cups of peeled potatoes
1 cup of gluten free all purpose baking flour or rice flour
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 cup water or as needed
1 cup vegetable oil for frying

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and begin slicing potatoes into French fries.

2. After cutting the potatoes, sift the flour, garlic salt, onion salt, (regular) salt, and paprika into a large bowl. Gradually stir in enough water so that the mixture can be drizzled from a spoon.

3. Dip potato slices into the batter one at a time, and place in the hot oil so they are not touching at first. The fries must be placed into the skillet one at a time, or they will clump together. Fry until golden brown and crispy. Remove and drain on paper towels.

Let me know what you think!

Here [...]]]> There was an event for Mardi Gras in Eugene last night and Firefly’s Sweet Tea Vokda was promoting it for their drink specials and I was curious to see if their vodka was Gluten Free. A fifth of this vodka is about $20. After some research I found a very good post on Celiac.com.

Here is the set of e-mails that were posted:

Here is the response from our chemist:

To: Namelss

Thank for your interest in Firefly products. My name is Truman Cox and I a chemist for Firefly Distillery. To the best of our knowledge, the distillation does remove or denature the proteins and gluten associated with the starting grains in the vodka. The vodka used for our Firefly Tea products comes from corn. The flavors we use do not contain the allergens listed in the FALCP act which are wheat, milk, tree-nets, peanuts, shellfish, fish, eggs, or soy.

We have had many requests by celiac patients and have never heard of an adverse reaction to our products. As I am sure you know, please check with your doctor before consuming any alcohol products.

Truman Cox

Dan
Dan Williams
Director of Sales – Pennsylvania
THE SAZERAC COMPANY

====================

From: Sc’Eric (aka sc’Que)
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 3:49 AM
To: Scott Newitt
Cc: Dan Williams
Subject: [Fuji & Jade] Firefly: gluten content?

Scott~

Question for you… I have customers who have concerns related to gluten intolerance / Celiac disease. While it is generally understood that most caramel colouring and maltodextrin in the US are produced from corn, the recent trend toward corn-based ethanol fuels has spawned a resurgence in wheat-based sweeteners and colouring agents. I have also posited that since Firefly distills its own wheat, yes?, that it is entirely possible that you may produce your own caramel colouring from that wheat.

Celiac disease is a condition that ultimately results in malnourishment due to an auto-immune response to wheat, barley and rye glutens. Ingestion (even in seemingly negligible quantities) can lead to immediate intestinal damage that takes weeks to repair, and perhaps longer for gluten build-up to be removed. While this is occuring, you are essentially starving while eating hearty meals: you become anemic. If left unchecked, you risk permanent damage to the intestines, liver and limbic systems. The only trusted treatment at this time is to completely remove gluten from the diet.

And while distillation does seem to remove gluten from the final product, the addition of dextrins and colouring agents prior to bottling could mean the difference between a night of enjoyment and several weeks of illness.

Can you please confirm whether Firefly is a gluten-free product? Depending on how your faciliy is laid out, this would also necessarily include the possibility of cross-contamination of the final product with any of the initial wheat ingredients via airbourne dust.

Regardless of your response, rest assured that Firefly will remain in popular repute in our establishment due to it’s quality flavour and smoothness. It may may also behove you to include this information on your website for the 1 in 150 persons estimated to have gluten intolerance / Celiac disease.

Thank you for your time and honesty!

~Sc’Eric, bar manager
Fuji & Jade Garden, inc.
State College, PA

It sounds like they are very confident that their drink does not contain any ingredients that could cause harm.

If you have not tried it, I suggest you do! It is very good. If you are interested in trying it here are some recipes:

Firefly on-the-rocks

* Old-fashioned glass, filled w/ ice.
* 3-oz Firefly original sweet tea vodka
* Splash of water
* Stir well, and garnish w/ Lemon.

Kentucky Iced Tea

* In an Old-fashioned glass, mascerate mint leaves w/ a teaspoon of sugar and a thick slice of fresh lemon. (Alternately, fresh raspberries also work really well with mint.)
* Fill w/ ice.
* 3-oz Firefly orginal sweet tea vodka
* Dash of Zen green tea liqueur (opt.)
* Splash of water
* Shake well, garnish w/ mint sprig.

Carolina Sweet-tini

* In a cocktail shaker add ice and…
* 3-oz Firefly original sweet tea vodka
* Dash of triplesec
* Splash of Clementine juice (You can substitute OJ–extra pulp is always best!)
* Splash of Water (This really is key!)
* Shake vigorously for one minute. Strain into a chilled martini glass.
* Garnish w/ Orange wheel.

They have a nice selection of starters, grilled [...]]]> In honor of the Super Bowl Champions New Orleans Saints, I would like to show you a Gluten Free restaurant in New Orleans. I have not been but I would love to go there one day. Bonefish Grill has quite a Gluten Free Menu.

They have a nice selection of starters, grilled fish, other grilled items, wines and cocktails. So if you ever get a break from Bourbon street head to the Bonefish Grill!

Click on the link for some reviews: Bonefish Grill Reviews

“Something you’re eating may be killing you, [...]]]> I heard of a good article about Celiac Disease and Gluten more specifically. It talks about Gluten and that it might be reasons why you are feeling ill. A lot of people are giving up Gluten to see if that is what was causing them to feel sick.

“Something you’re eating may be killing you, and you probably don’t even know it,” cautions Mark Hyman, M.D., in a blog post on the Huffington Post.

“A recent large study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people with diagnosed, undiagnosed, and ‘latent’ celiac disease or gluten sensitivity had a higher risk of death, mostly from heart disease and cancer,” he writes.

Gluten: A Friendly Ingredient in Bread or the Evil One That’s Killing Us All?

1) Lactose Intolerance

2) Reaction to Gluten

They give a pretty basic description of Celiac Disease

People who [...]]]> I stumbled across this article from a major news source MSNBC. It talks about potential reasons why people may be having bloating, cramping or general GI discomfort” and say “your diet may be to blame”. They give 2 potential reasons:

1) Lactose Intolerance

2) Reaction to Gluten

They give a pretty basic description of Celiac Disease

People who have a condition called celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease affecting the digestive system that is triggered by a protein found in wheat, barley and rye called gluten. When a person with celiac eats gluten, the body’s immune system responds by attacking the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. If you or your doctor suspects you may have celiac, you can be screened using a simple blood test. If the blood test is positive for celiac, your doctor will likely take a tissue biopsy of your small intestines to confirm the diagnosis.

Individuals diagnosed with celiac disease need to eat a gluten-free diet for the remainder of their lives in order to remain symptom-free and prevent additional damage to their gut lining. That means they have to completely avoid wheat, rye, barley, and any ingredients or food additives that contain these grains. Individuals with celiac cannot eat standard bread, pasta, or baked goods made with wheat flour (or any condiments or other processed foods with gluten-containing ingredients or additives). Thankfully, because celiac disease is now recognized as a common condition, there are lots of new gluten-free versions of our favorite foods available on the market to make life easier.

They also give some product ideas for those looking to go Gluten Free.

CEREALS
Nature’s Path Gluten-Free Whole O’s, Crunchy Maple Surprise, or Mesa Sunrise
Arrowhead Mills Organic Maple Buckwheat Flakes
Erewhon Gluten-Free Crispy Brown Rice Cereal (Regular or Mixed Berries)
Health Valley Organic Blue Corn Flakes
Barbara’s Bakery Puffins (Honey Rice flavor only) or Organic Brown Rice Crisps
Corn or Rice Chex
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal

BREADS
Ener-G Bread: Seattle Brown Loaf or Brown Rice Loaf
Food for Life: Wheat & Gluten Free Whole Grain Brown Rice Bread, Rice Almond Bread, or Raisin Pecan Bread
Food for Life Whole Grain Brown Rice Tortillas

CRACKERS
Mary’s Gone Crackers
Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers

PASTAS
Deboles Pastas (multigrain varieties)
Hodgson Mill Gluten-Free Brown Rice Pastas
Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pastas
Le Veneziane Corn Flour Pasta

SNACK BARS
Lara Bars
Kind Bars

BAKING MIXES
Arrowhead Mills Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Mix
Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix
Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix

If you are looking for some more product ideas make sure to check out my Product Reviews!