Tuesday To Do List — what to buy, spy, and try! (or sometimes cry about)

Tuesday To Do List is my newest attempt at bringing you tidbits from the gluten-free world each week. This will continue until my mind-that-doesn’t-rest comes up with another way to entertain you guys. You can read my very first to-do list here. Cross your fingers I am back here next Tuesday with another list…

A baked blooming apple? Um. YES.

Made these banana nut oatmeal bites (breakfast cookies!) and you should try them too.

Also made this potato and swiss chard au gratin dish. Very tasty! You can find the recipe here, BUT I will warn you there is very naughty language. I was able to look past it (and laugh a little) for the recipe, but beware if you’re anti-F-bomb.

This chai recipe is on my list to try this week. I’ll just be breaking the authentic rule and using honey. (it’s day 23 of 50 days of real food and I’m feeling great!)

World’s Easiest Pumpkin Spice Cake. Title alone has me intrigued. Elizabeth has never let me down and it’s semi-homemade, which I know many of you love!

While we’re talking pumpkin…are you already thinking pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving? (or tomorrow for breakfast?) Check out our friend Jules giving you the “easy peasy” way to transfer those pie crusts to the pan — then check out her entire site for recipes galore!

This beauty of a book landed on my doorstep today, a little gift to try out and tell you about — more to come, I already have 43 recipes bookmarked to try. 😉 Until then, check out Hayley’s site.

The latest from the (not really) gluten-free Cheerios saga: a voluntary recall. I am guessing this is the beginning of a much bigger situation that is going to start to unravel.

And then there’s this…this post from my friend Johnna. Warning: this one could make you cry. The cowardly actions of people sitting at home on their computers making these comments makes my heart so very sad. I am usually one to ignore the jokes and comments that are made about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet, but this? Enough. We’ve had enough. We deserve better. We just do.

On a brighter note: this week’s recap from Instagram…

  
  

Follow along on Instagram: @celiacinthecity

See what I’m pinning: https://www.pinterest.com/celiacinthecity/

As much as I wish I were getting paid big bucks to add these links to my page, I’m not. They are not affiliate links. I’m just sharing to share. 

Tuesday To Do List — what to buy, spy, and try! (or sometimes cry about)

Tuesday To Do List is my newest attempt at bringing you tidbits from the gluten-free world each week. This will continue until my mind-that-doesn’t-rest comes up with another way to entertain you guys. Cross your fingers I am back here next Tuesday with another list…

 

• Have you tried the new breads from Schar yet? (adding it to my list too!)

 

•  I spy a new gluten-free line at Coborn’s grocery stores — celiac sista is especially excited because there is one right down the road from her in MN. Their baking headquarters is in St. Cloud, MN. They even make donuts! (adding those to my request list next time I see the fam!) From celiac sista: “The chocolate chip bars with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips are *just* like the Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies!” The husband wasn’t as excited as me about this review… he of course *could* eat a Little Debbie anything right now if he wanted to so we can’t consider his thoughts. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(photo from Coborn’s Instagram) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(photo from celiac sista’s kitchen table)

• Before you buy the new GF Cheerios… be sure to read the latest from Gluten Watch Dog. I will confess: I spied, bought, and tried both honey nut and regular Cheerios and survived, BUT now I’m a fraidy-cat and probably won’t buy them again until things change. I probably got lucky and it is one of the riskiest moves I’ve made as a celiac, but wanted to be honest with you. The way they are currently testing makes me nervous. My fingers and toes are still crossed that they make changes and improvements for the future. Stay tuned…

 

• Anyone tried Do-Rite donuts? GFFs (gluten-free friends) from Milwaukee are making the trek down to Chicago for these babies — and it is on my to-do list as well!

 

• And while we’re talking traveling for good gluten-free food — add Bunky’s in Madison to your list. Headed there soon and will have a hard time deciding between pizza and lasagna. Not to mention the LIST of options from their list of gluten-free pastry and cakes!

 

• Been wanting to try homemade tortillas for a while — as soon as the temps cool down a bit (I’ve been eating cold, garden fresh veggies like it’s my job!) I’m all over these tortillas from my girl Jules. 

 

• When I was home in MN, we had a super sub night — I kid you not, one of THE best subs I’ve ever had, gluten free or not. Try one out on Molly’s Gluten Free Bakery hotdog buns like we did…

 

(also buy some of this Strongbow with honey, loving it!) 

 

• Or maybe try making these sub rolls to recreate them at your house?

 

• SAVE the DATE: the Wisconsin GF Expo is coming up! Saturday, September 26th from 10-3 in West Bend.

 

Until next week, my friends….

 

 

Rallying the Gluten Free Community — Support gfJules (formerly Jules Gluten Free)

I recently attended the Gluten Free Living Conference in Orlando — and as much as I want to share all of the fun photos from that weekend, there’s something else we have to talk about first.

If there is one thing I know about the gluten-free community is that when we need each other for support, people come together like I have never seen before. We rally behind those in need, give them a voice, or just allow their voice to be heard loud and clear.

So that’s why we’re here today. To clear the air. To let you know what’s been going with my friend Jules from Jules Gluten Free, now gfJules.

I know some of you are already big fans of her flour mix — it was one of the first flour mixes I experimented with when going gluten free in 2008. She is also one of the founders of the 1 in 133 campaign. Because of her hard work, the gluten-free labeling standard has passed and will go into effect in August! (She has helped everyone who is GF!)   I have had the chance to get to know Jules through her annual GF Cookie Contest and finally got to meet face to face in Orlando just weeks ago.

Here’s a brief history of how Jules started and how we got to where we are today:

• She started her company in 2006 after publishing her first book, set out to learn all things related to running a GF business and started selling her products in 2007.

• Her business was booming and as we all know, “it takes a village” to get things done, so she took on business partners (investors) in 2008 to help run the daily operations — unfortunately in recent years it became quite clear that her vision (as a member of the GF community that she advocates for, educates, and holds near and dear to her heart)  and the vision her business partners had for the company were not the same.

• Things went downhill from there with her partners behaving in a way that makes my blood boil and would take an entire blog post to discuss, (not paying her for her work, preventing her from communicating with OUR community through her business, and canceling the order for flours for her own wedding cake in just a few weeks) but instead of focusing on all of the negative (Jules wouldn’t want that!) I am here to rally our community to focus on the positive…

 

Jules is starting over…

• She has resigned from her old company and is starting a new company, gfJules. 

• Plans are in the works to bring her products back (and much more!) as quickly as possible, but as you know, this will take time and money. (I cannot even imagine the funds she has already put into this legal battle.

• She’s a FIGHTER and is NOT giving up! See that smile on her face in the photo? That’s the one she wears every single day, even when times get tough, even when people she trusted turned into something they should be embarrassed of themselves for, even when it would have been easier to just call it a day and give up — not Jules, she’s more dedicated than ever to the gluten-free community!

• The community was confused as to what exactly happened, which is why we need to rally together and get the word out about her new company, gfJules — and we need to come together to support our friend when she needs it most!

 

How we can help:

• Go check out her new site: www.gfjules.com

• Sign up for email list HERE. 

• While you’re there, read the amazing comments of support and love from our community!

• If you can, give a gift to Jules to help her rebuild her business and continue to do what she does best — GIVE to our community. There are gifts for giving  or maybe something more creative. I’m giving and hope you can too, any amount helps!

• If you are interested in giving as a group, I for one would LOVE to see a recipe for our GF Get Together Group, something Milwaukee-style — I’ve raised over $4,000 in the last four years for the Celiac Disease Foundation, so I KNOW we could get together the $300 for this gift… if you’d like to join in the fun for this gift, let me know!
• SHARE this post. Even if you are unable to give at this time, please considering passing this post along to others who may be able to help.

• Send Jules some gluten-free-style love — your kinds words of support are what is keeping her going!

Not only will I be giving to her fundraising efforts, but I’ll be shouting about it from the rooftops — I can honestly tell you that she is a kind person with the most generous heart. After being on the expert panel at the conference, she made time for each and every person who waited in line to talk with her. I snuck in for a quick hug goodbye before I hopped on my plane, and there she stood, holding the delicate hands of an elderly woman, listening to her tell her stories of learning to bake gluten-free. It was the most touching moment. She’s the real deal, my friends. She loves this community and would do the same for each and every one of us.

Let’s rally!

Honored to be part of this gluten-free world! From left to right: Andrea from Rockin’ Gluten Free, Anna from Gluten Free Jet Set, Chrissy from Glam Without Gluten, (me!) Amie from The Healthy Apple ,(in front) Johnna from In Johnna’s Kitchen, THE lovely Jules from gfJules, Linda from The Gluten-Free Homemaker , and Shirley from gluten free easily.