Gluten Free Portland

Your go-to resource for all things gluten-free PDX.

Gluten-free PDX Round Up 6/23/16

GFP 2016Please let me know via our contact form if you have any gluten-free news or events you’d like us to consider sharing!

News  & Interest Round Up

Free resource. If you or someone you love are new to eating Gluten-free or have questions about testing, cross-contamination or celiac vs gluten sensitivity, grab my Gluten-free Essentials eBook. It’s free, but not for much longer!

Ever wondered if skin care products could be a potential culprit of gluten contamination? Check out these 5 facts to know about gluten-free skin care.

An interesting article showing helpful parenting tips for raising a child with celiac disease. Written by a teenager who was diagnosed with celiac disease and has worked to spread information and resources to parents, teens and kids through social media.

Check out this recent article showing the similar neurological manifestations in celiac disease patients vs. patients with non-celiac related gluten-sensitivity. The patterns appear to be similar and respond equally to adapting a gluten-free diet.

Recipes

FrittataCook this for breakfast, lunch or dinner: GF, Dairy-free Rosemary Chard Frittata. Packed with flavor, protein, and a little bit of brain power. From my blog

A must try for Indian food lovers- GF Onion Pakora recipe with avocado dipping sauce. Easy, delicious and GF!

New from NomNomPaleo. GF meals made easy with cooking in parchment packets and minimal clean up! Check out the recipe for Lemon Garlic Chicken here.

 Events

PDX (GIG) Gluten Intolerance Group Monthly Meeting. 7/9/2016 PPMC HCC 2,3 – Dr David Permultter’s BrainMaker video ( 50 min w 15 min of Q&A): Dr. Perlmutter, neurologist, explains the potent interplay between intestinal microbes and the brain.

Gluten-free Meet-up this month at Rose City Food Park in NE PDX! 6/25/16 at 4:30pm.

Gluten-free Food Allergy Fest. October 1-2, 2016. by Gluten-free & More Magazine.  I’ll be speaking there again this year. They’re moving to the Expo center!

Yours in Health,

Dr Samantha Signature siggy

Gluten-free PDX Round Up 5/31/16

GFP 2016Please let me know via our contact form if you have any gluten-free news or events you’d like us to consider sharing!

News  & Interest Round Up

Free resource. If you or someone you love are new to eating Gluten-free or have questions about testing, cross-contamination or celiac vs gluten sensitivity, grab my Gluten-free Essentials eBook. It’s free, but not for much longer!

In honor of Celiac Awareness Month, check out what they are doing in Edmonton, Alberta to raise awareness. Also, a new documentary is coming out this week called The Celiac Project, check out the trailer here.

Good news! You don’t have to worry about skipping the French baguettes while traveling to Paris- even Parisian bakeries are going gluten-free!

Check out this interesting article about Rosacea and potential co-morbidities that may be overlooked by your doctor, including Celiac disease. It appears that the correlation may be more common in women.

Recipes

halibutCook this: Coconut Lime Halibut with Quinoa and Spinach. From my blog

More veggies, less noodles in this GF chicken noodle salad recipe. In case you need another reason to try some delicious zoodles 🙂

Have you found your favorite bread recipe yet? Check out the best gluten-free bread recipes rated on Huff Post- You won’t want to miss the world’s best GF banana bread recipe!

Events

PDX (GIG) Gluten Intolerance Group Monthly Meeting. 6/11/2016 PPMC HCC8 – Annual Gluten-Free Jeopardy w/ Fabulous Prizes! Always a fun meeting with lots of laughs. AND prizes!

Gluten-free Food Allergy Fest. October 1-2, 2016. by Gluten-free & More Magazine.  I’ll be speaking there again this year. They’re moving to the Expo center!

Yours in Health,

Dr Samantha Signature siggy

Gluten-Free PDX Round Up 5/6/16

gluten-free PDXPlease let me know via our contact form if you have any gluten-free news or events you’d like us to consider sharing!

News  & Interest Round Up

My lovely friend Kyra Bussanich, owner of Kyra’s Bake Shop in Lake Oswego just WON another cupcake wars. This one was called the “Ultimate Showdown Challenge” because it was all bakers who have won before. The totally cool thing is that she did all GF baking, of course, but no one made a big deal about it. Just. Cupcakes. Really really really good cupcakes! Go get some (and drop a few off at my office if you’re driving by…) 🙂

Free resource. If you or someone you love are new to eating Gluten-free or have questions about testing, cross-contamination or celiac vs gluten sensitivity, grab my Gluten-free Essentials eBook. It’s free, but not for much longer!

It’s Celiac Awareness Month, check out this news clip about GF flour alternatives and spreading the word on Celiac Disease.

Risks for Teens with Celiac disease transitioning into adult healthcare system. Interesting article on the obstacles that exist for pediatric patients with chronic diseases who need to transfer care as adults. So important to offer resources and support for young patients before further health consequences arise!

Recipes

hot-cerealCook this: Homemade Granola with GF Oats. Kid tested and approved. From my blog

Ever wondered how to prepare a unique recipe with purple cauliflower? Check out this one: Spicy (Italian) Purple Cauliflower from NomNomPaleo.

What’s for brunch? This recipe is a must-try: Hearty Eggs in Portabello Purgatory. From the fabulous Kyra Bussanich.

Events

PDX (GIG) Gluten Intolerance Group Monthly Meeting.  5/14/2016 Sat 10:00 AM 12:00 PM PPMC HCC 2,3 – No speaker this month.

Gluten-free Food Allergy Fest. October 1-2, 2016. by Gluten-free & More Magazine.  I’ll be speaking there again this year. They’re moving to the Expo center!

Yours in Health,

Dr Samantha Signature siggy

Gluten-Free PDX Round Up 4/25/16

gluten-free PDXPlease let me know via our contact form if you have any gluten-free news or events you’d like us to consider sharing!

News  & Interest Round Up

Free resource. If you or someone you love are new to eating Gluten-free or have questions about testing, cross-contamination or celiac vs gluten sensitivity, grab my Gluten-free Essentials eBook. It’s free, but not for much longer!

Traveling While Gluten-Free; a survival guide with helpful tips on how to avoid gluten on your next travel adventure.

GF Jewish Restaurant in Portland (Maine) cooking Passover meals – only local and organic ingredients, and 100% GF (even the matzoh!)

Recipes

fish-tacos

Cook this: Fresh and Local GF Fish Tacos with delicious slaw. Be sure to check in with your local fishmonger at Flying Fish Co. for the freshest fish available in PDX. From my blog

Tired of eating the same snacks every day? This recipe is a must: Fried Green Plantains with Mango Avocado Salsa. Thanks to NomNomPaleo for helping level up our snacks!

GF Almond Macaroons. French country-style, great for Passover, or any time you’re needing a little treat 🙂

Events

PDX (GIG) Gluten Intolerance Group Monthly Meeting.  5/14/2016 Sat 10:00 AM 12:00 PM PPMC HCC 2,3 – No speaker this month.

Gluten-free Food Allergy Fest. October 1-2, 2016. by Gluten-free & More Magazine.  I’ll be speaking there again this year. They’re moving to the Expo center!

Yours in Health,

Dr Samantha Signature siggy

Gluten-Free PDX Round Up 4/14/16

gluten-free PDXPlease let me know via our contact form if you have any gluten-free news or events you’d like us to consider sharing!

News  & Interest Round Up

Liberté from Gluten in Paris, France. “In a world of pastry, gluten-free is coming into its own”

Key Gene in Development of Celiac Disease Found in “Junk” DNA. 40% of the population carry the main risk factor for celiac disease but only 1% develop the disease according to this study.

New iPhone app “Celitax” launched in Canada to help people with celiac disease keep track of GF purchases to apply towards tax credit. Think GF alternative foods should qualify for medical expense tax credit?

Recipes

quinoa_saladNeed some new recipe ideas for this amazing spring weather? This Asparagus, Snap Pea and Quinoa Salad uses ingredients that are in season and will not disappoint! From my blog.

GF Veggie Burrito Recipe with homemade GF flour tortillas from the fabulous GFJules. Don’t forget the guac dressing 🙂

Ever waited for 1+ hours on a weekend in Portland just to get some pancakes for brunch? Make these at home and skip the brunch lines: Cinnamon Coconut GF Pancakes. From the lovely NomNomPaleo.

Events

PDX (GIG) Gluten Intolerance Group Monthly Meeting.  5/14/2016 Sat 10:00 AM 12:00 PM PPMC HCC 2,3 – No speaker this month.

Hawthorne Fish House is hosting a “dine to support” Camp Blue Spruce night April 20th between 5 and 9 PM! A portion of the evening’s proceeds will go to support Camp Blue Spruce, an overnight camp for kids with food allergies and Celiac.

Gluten-free Food Allergy Fest. October 1-2, 2016. by Gluten-free & More Magazine. I just got the word I’ll be speaking there again this year. They’re moving to the Expo center!

Yours in Health,

Dr Samantha Signature siggy

Omission Beer Press Release

A few weeks ago, I posted about a mysterious invitation I got to a beer tasting event. The event was delayed until next week, but today I got a press release from them. Here it is in its entirety. It mentions that the beer is brewed using barley, which is a source of gluten. I’ll be curious to hear what they’re doing to remove the gluten from the beer. The press release also mentions that the CEO is celiac, and so is the wife of the brewmaster.

Check it out.

OMISSION BEER:

BREWED WITH BARLEY, SPECIALLY CRAFTED TO BE GLUTEN-FREE

 

Coming Soon to Oregon

“Drinking is Believing”

 

PORTLAND, Ore. – March 26, 2012 – This spring, Craft Brew Alliance will launch Omission Beer, the first craft beer brand in the United States focused exclusively on brewing great-tasting craft beers with traditional beer ingredients, including malted barley, that are specially crafted to be gluten-free. Omission beers are brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing in Portland, Ore., which uses a proprietary brewing process to reduce the gluten levels to well below the widely accepted international gluten-free standard of 20 parts per million (ppm) for food and beverages. (The international gluten-free standard was set forth by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which was created in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization.) Omission Beer is expected to release the first beers in its portfolio, which will be available only in Oregon, on April 2.

“Developing great-tasting, authentic craft beers that happen to be gluten-free was a personal mission for our brewmaster and me, and it’s a mission that our team really got behind. The launch of Omission Beer is a game changer for celiacs and the craft beer community,” said Terry Michaelson, CEO of Craft Brew Alliance. “As a 12-year celiac and longtime craft beer enthusiast, I’m thrilled to introduce two delicious craft beers that can be enjoyed equally by those who are affected by gluten sensitivities and those who are not.”

Unlike many other gluten-free beers currently available, Omission beers are not brewed with sorghum, rice, tapioca, buckwheat or quinoa; they are brewed using traditional beer ingredients: malted barley, hops, water and yeast.

“Omission Beer has been a work in progress for the last six years,” said Joe Casey, brewmaster at Widmer Brothers Brewing. “My wife was diagnosed as a celiac in 2006, and since then, we’ve made it our mission to brew a great-tasting craft beer using traditional beer ingredients that everyone of legal drinking age could enjoy. After years of hard work, mission accomplished.”

Gluten-Free Guarantee, Every Batch Tested:

Each batch of Omission Beer is tested by an independent lab to ensure that all Omission beers contain well below 20 ppm of gluten. Gluten levels in Omission beers are tested using the R5 competitive ELISA test. Beer will not be released to consumers until test results are received and after an extended quality assurance hold.

About Omission Beer

Omission Beer is a new brand of gluten-free craft beers, available only in Oregon. Brewed by Widmer Brothers Brewing in Portland, Ore., Omission is the first craft beer brand in the United States focused exclusively on brewing great-tasting craft beers with traditional beer ingredients, including malted barley, that are specially crafted to be gluten-free. Each batch of Omission Beer is tested using the R5 competitive ELISA test to ensure that it contains gluten levels that are well below the international standard for gluten-free of 20 ppm. Drinking is believing.

About Craft Brew Alliance

Craft Brew Alliance was formed with the merger of leading Pacific Northwest craft brewers Widmer Brothers Brewing and Redhook Ale Brewery in 2008. With an eye toward preserving and growing one-of-a-kind craft beers and brands, CBA was joined by Kona Brewing Company in 2010. For more information about CBA, visit craftbrew.com.

I’ll be attending the event next week, and bringing along our official gluten free beer correspondant so that we can get an educated taster to give the beer a try. We’ll post our results after the event!

Gluten Free Controversy on Dr. Oz

We were notified that Dr. Oz was doing a segment on gluten free diets on his TV show today. Naturally, we had to tune in. Here’s the executive summary: If you’re sensitive to gluten, then you should probably stop eating it. 99% of the people who are gluten intolerant still don’t know it. However, the gluten-free diet isn’t necessarily healthy, and is not a good way to lose weight.

For the curious, you can watch the episode online here on the Dr. Oz website.

I wasn’t actually aware that anybody was touting the gluten-free diet as being great for weight loss. So that was news to me. On the show they did some product comparisons, and the basic gist of the matter was that gluten free versions of many popular foods are more caloric and contain less fiber. Of course, we ARE talking about a TV show here, so they might have just picked out the most egregious offenders, because that makes for good TV. At the same time, we’ve spent some words on this blog talking about gluten free products and health. Mostly it’s been me complaining about how most all gluten free breads are made of starch and rice flour.

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure that I’ll say it again. If I could eat wheat, I would. First off, there are some items that you can’t get gluten free. Like a good brioche, a divine sourdough, or good bagels. Second, there is a reason wheat has been cultivated and eaten by mankind for all time: It’s good for you. Whole wheat is high in protein, fiber, minerals and vitamins. It’s an aid to digestion, and has countless culinary uses.

The segment on Dr. Oz struck me as having a dual personality. On one hand, Dr. Oz kept talking about how gluten does cause inflammatory problems in people who are sensitive to it. He even went so far as to recommend that people who have inflammatory symptoms try a two week elimination diet to see if they might have a sensitivity. But then he kept bashing the diet as being unhealthy and fattening.

It was interesting to hear the list of health problems associated with gluten sensitivity. Among the items I heard mentioned were fatigue, inflammation, depression, anxiety, irritable bowel syndrome, and even heart disease and cancer. Also, they mentioned that the inflammation caused by gluten can increase the insulin in your body, which can lead to weight problems, among other things.

Also interesting, there is a one week diet plan on the Dr. Oz website, here. Also, he has a couple of pages on celiac disease and gluten, here.

In the end, I did appreciate the show, although I thought that it sensationalized the subject matter in a way that may not have been very productive. It is a bit of a double-edged sword. I wouldn’t recommend a gluten-free diet to anybody who doesn’t need to be on it. BUT, for those of us who do, it’s truly life-changing. AND, just because something is gluten free, it doesn’t mean that it’s not junk food.

Questions From Our Readers and Updates

In the past couple of days, we’ve received a handful of questions from our readers. I’m posting them here with the hopes that someone else will have some helpful information. We also have some updates on past reviews.

Our first question comes from Jack, who will be visiting Portland soon and will be staying near downtown on SW Morrison. His 5 year old son is celiac and Jack wants to know if there is somewhere nearby to get gluten-free hamburgers or hot dogs. The only place we know about is Deschutes. Does anybody else have any options?

Next, we were contacted by a reader who was looking for a place in Portland to get gluten-free cosmetics, toothpaste, and over-the-counter drugs. To me it sounds like a job for the Triumph Dining Grocery Guide. Does anybody know of a place in or around Portland to get these sorts of items?

Last, we received a request for somewhere to get a slice of good gluten-free pie. We definitely want an answer to that!

Next up, I don’t know if anybody checks up on past reviews we’ve done, but every once in a while new information becomes available and we make changes to our reviews. We recently changed our reviews of the above-mentioned Deschutes Brewery, and of Picazzo’s Pizza in Sellwood. We have news about Sweetpea Bakery.

Look for some exciting news about bread and buns coming this Wednesday!

Site News: New Gluten-Free Restaurant Classification System

Over the past two months we’ve been doing a lot of thinking and soul-searching about how we look at restaurants and how gluten-free restaurants can be. For instance, we reviewed a certain restaurant in Portland, and someone who went there later reported that their server told them that the fries weren’t safe. When we called the restaurant about the fries, we were told that the fries were safe. Whether or not they were safe hinged on whether or not the fryer was dedicated gluten-free only AND all the employees followed that.

So here’s the deal: We know that some of our audience needs to stay away from all gluten at all times, and we know that others are eating gluten-free for health reasons and are going to be OK with some here and there. We also know that depending on how they’re set up, and how vigilant their staff is, different restaurants have varying degrees of control over how gluten-free their food is.

Sooooo… we have decided to create a classification system for restaurants based on our experiences with them and things we know about them. This shouldn’t replace vigilance on the part of our readers, but I think it will ease our minds a bit. We don’t really want people to walk into the restaurants we review and assume that they don’t have to worry. Here’s what we’ve come up with:

Gluten-Free Mostly Safe – We will use this to designate the few places that have dedicated facilities or who (like the Whole Bowl – except for their cookies) are gluten-free by nature.

Gluten-Free Friendly But Ask Questions – We will use this to designate places at which most gluten-free people should be able to enjoy a meal after they ask a question or two and make sure their waiter or waitress is on board. Usually this will mean that we have asked questions about cross-contamination.

Gluten-Free Friendly But Be Warned – A place we might put in this category would be a bakery that cooks wheat goods and gluten-free goods in the same facility and that was unable to convince us that they are safe (Sweet Pea Bakery, we are looking straight at you) and some of the pizza places around town who offer both gluten-free pizza and pizza on wheat dough. While someone who is gluten-free for health reasons would probably be OK eating here, we would not recommend the establishment to people who are very sensitive to gluten.

Obviously what you choose to do with the information is up to you. We’re not doctors, and if you find yourself wondering how much you should worry about cross-contamination, that’s a question for your doctor.

We plan to go through our restaurant listings to categorize everything, but this is definitely going to be a work in progress. If you have any information about various restaurants in town, drop us a line or send us an email. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate it!

Gluten Free Food Fair Wrap-up

We got to the 2009 Portland Oregon Gluten Free Food Fair a little late. They were already doing the lottery drawings. We walked around and sampled a lot of food, took some photos, and talked to people at the booths.

Sift Gluten Free Bakery

Sift Bakery – They are a gluten-free and vegan bakery. A lot of cafes in Portland carry their cookies, which I think are pretty good. In my opinion they make the best packaged gluten-free cookie. They also had some cooking sauces there. They had a couple different kinds of Thai curry paste, a hot chili oil, a Thai hot sauce, and also a Thai peanut sauce. Their peanut sauce was good but I make better. 😉 They also had falafel crackers that were really good.

Mississippi Pizza Pub

Mississippi Pizza Pub (See our review of the Mississippi Pizza Pub) – They were handing out squares of pizza. While we were walking around the tables, a couple of times I overheard someone tell a friend “There’s more pizza out. Let’s go!” The pizza was good. Sienna asked the guy there about how to get a crust more crispy and he said that olive oil is good for that. Now we’ll have to experiment!

muruku-dscn4067

Muruku Snacks – SCL Marketing – One of the more interesting items at the fair. These are basically like fried chow mein noodles, and are delicious. I love fried chow mein noodles!

Gloria's Delicious Gluten Free Desserts

Gloria’s Delicious Gluten Free Desserts – This person was selling dessert cookbooks. We tried her samples and they were really good.

New Cascadia Traditional Bakery

New Cascadia Traditional Bakery (See our reviews of New Cascadia Traditional Bakery) – We’re big fans of New Cascadia. They had a bunch of their gluten free products to sample. I tried a piece of their coffee cake and Sienna tried their cranberry raisin walnut bread.

Ener-G Foods

Ener-G Foods – Ener-G Foods had a booth, which I was really excited about. Mostly because they seem kind of hit-or-miss to me and it’s nice to sample a bunch of things without having to buy them. I liked their pretzels but wasn’t excited about their cookies, bread or bars.

Angeline's Gluten Free Bakery

Angeline’s Bakery – Angeline’s Bakery had a bunch of bread and cookie samples out. Their bread is very sort of white-bready, but good white-bready.

Some of the booths we stopped by but didn’t take photos of:

Papa G’s – They make different tofu meat substitutes which we both love, and also have a vegan organic deli with some gluten free items.

Wendy Cohan – Author of the Gluten Free Resource Guide, who also has classes on gluten free cooking. We talked to her for a while about making gluten free pizza crusts and she had a lot of tips for us.

New Traditions Bakery – I’ve looked these folks up on the internet and can’t find anything. They had a bunch of different kind of cheesecakes. The cheesecakes are free of gluten, nuts, eggs, and dairy, which brings up the question: What the heck are they made of? Whatever it is, there was a sign that they did contain soy. I thought they were good, although they really had more the texture of a frozen ice cream cake.

Lingonberries Market – The gluten free, wheat free, allergy-friendly foods grocery store in Vancouver Washington, which we’ve been to once, but keep meaning to get back to so we can take some pictures and do a review.

There were a lot more booths than I’ve included here. There were some booths selling baking mixes, one booth with exercise “power bars” that pretty much tasted like all the rest of the ones you’ve ever tasted, and even a cosmetics booth. After we left, we were waiting for the light to turn so we could cross the street, and a couple of people drove up in a van, rolled down a window, and asked us if it was worth going to the fair. We told them definitely yes. It’s always good to check out new things and find out what is good (or not) without having to buy so much stuff. We’re looking forward to next year’s food fair.