Gluten Free Sunscreen

Here's a helpful article if you're looking for gluten free sunscreen this summer!

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Lazy Pickle

An Ottawa deli called Lazy Pickle has recently started offering gluten free sandwiches and paninis! They have a grocery area with all gluten free foods. I asked them recently about what precautions they take to ensure that the gluten free deli offerings are free from cross-contamination and I got back one of the best responses ever.

Thank you for your questions. We have a separate counter where we prepare our gluten free sandwiches and paninis. All of our utensils, panini press, cloths, and sink are all separate. Staff wash their hands regularly and wear gloves when making GF food. We have a completely separate fridge as well that only GF ingredients get stored in at all times.

We have researched all of the ingredients that go into our sauces and sandwiches/paninis and have spoken with manufacturers at length regarding how the products are made ensuring that they are made on separate GF lines. We even have some letters from some of the manufacturers certifying that their products are made in a certified GF facility.

This being said, we take every precaution to prevent cross contamination but we can not guarantee 100% that there will be no exposure to gluten as our main menu is not gluten free.

It is *always* a risk to eat out, but it sounds like Lazy Pickle is doing everything they can to make it safe!

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Barbequing

It is barbeque season :) You probably already know that you can't cook gluten free food on a glutened grill. Maybe you can be careful enough by wrapping your gluten free food up in tinfoil to cook it on a shared grill, but it depends what you're comfortable with. You'd want to be careful that the outside of the tinfoil wasn't put onto the plate you are eating other food off of, and make sure that the tinfoil doesn't get punctured...Personally, that all makes me a bit uncomfortable. Something that I hadn't thought of before this month is gluten in charcoal. Are you using a charcoal barbeque? Did you know that some companies use wheat as the binding agent? This can get onto your food!

I contacted Kingsford (the brand we've been using) earlier this month to find out if there is gluten in their charcoal. In their response they indicated that Kingsford Charcoal is gluten free. Phew!

Just one more thing to be aware of!

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Odwalla

Here is the response I received from Odwalla concerning gluten in their products:

Thank you for contacting The Voice of Odwalla. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to our loyal consumers.

The beverages that do not contain gluten are:

Apple Juice
Blueberry B Superfood
Citrus C Monster
Berries Go Mega
Mobeta
Orange Juice
Pomegranate Limeade
Protein Monster Chocolate
Protein Monster Strawberry
Protein Monster Vanilla
Red Rhapsody
Strawberry Banana
Strawberry C Monster
Strawberry Lemonade
Summertime Lime
Super Protein Original
Super Protein Pumpkin
Tangerine
Wellness

Odwalla beverages that contain gluten:

Serious Energy
Superfood Original
Super Protein Vanilla Almondo

Odwalla beverages that do not have a gluten status right now:

Carrot Juice -organic
Carrot Juice-conventional
Grapefruit
Pomegranate
Lemonade Base
Lime Juice
Lemon Juice
Lemonade
Mango Tango
Pink Poetry

All of the Odwalla bars are NOT gluten free.

Be assured that our plants have policies and procedures in place to identify the top 8 allergens and take the steps necessary to eliminate risks associated with the cross contamination of allergen and non-allergen containing products.

If you have any additional comments, please feel free to contact us again.

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Sweet Potato Biscuits

A couple of months ago I made my first batch of Sweet Potato Biscuits - AMAZING! They were so good, I couldn't believe it. I've been waiting for a chance to take some great photos of them for a post but today I realized that there's no way my photos would turn out better than the ones on the site that inspired me. I adapted a recipe from Gluten Free Zen and have borrowed a couple of photos from there. Enjoy these biscuits warm with some butter or make little sandwiches out of them. They don't taste gluten free at all. Just delicious.

Photo credits: http://gluten-free-zen.com/

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Ingredients

¾ cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
1/3 cup milk, plus 2-3 tablespoons more
1 ½ cups gluten-free flour mix (including xanthan gum)
   (I use Silvana's Gluten Free All Purpose Flour Blend)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons cold butter

Preparation

Line a baking sheet with parchment and pre-heat the oven to 425° (or 400° for convection).

In a small bowl, whisk together the sweet potato and 1/3 cup milk. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter with your hands until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the sweet potato mixture and fold gently to combine. If necessary add more milk 1 Tablespoon at a time until all the flour is moistened, but not too wet.

Sprinkle the work surface with flour. Turn dough out onto surface and knead lightly 2 or 3 times until the mixture comes together. Gently pat the dough out to a 1/2 inch thick round. Cut the dough into the shape you prefer. Gently re-pat the scraps out and cut more biscuits. Place the biscuits on the lined baking sheet and bake 12 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with butter and honey.

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Druide's Citronella Insect Repellent Lotion (spray)

I contacted Druide this week, a company who makes an all-natural, biodegradable insect repellent, to find out if their product is gluten free. Here is my inquiry:

I'm very interested in purchasing Druide's Citronella Insect-Repellent Lotion (spray) and have a question regarding it's composition. I would like to use this product on my son, who has celiac disease. He is extremely sensitive to trace amounts of gluten (wheat, rye, oats and barley) and while this product shouldn't enter his mouth I just want to find out if it would be safe (from a celiac perspective) for him just incase. Are there any gluten-containing ingredients or could any of the ingredients be cross-contaminated with gluten?

Your response to this inquiry would be greatly appreciated. Your product looks wonderful and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to use it!

Their response:

Thanks for your great care in The DRUIDE's Ecological Line.

The Citronella Insect Repellent lotion is a gluten free product.

Succinct response, but provided the information I needed! This product seems to be sold in quite a few locations in Canada (not sure about the US). You can check their store locator to be sure, though all locations are not listed. I found the product on the Mountain Equipment Coop website (I believe they ship outside of Canada) as well as locally in a grocery store and a couple of natural foods stores. The reviews of it on Mountain Equipment Coop are great. Sounds very effective. I'll be picking some up for sure!

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Easter Candy

The Gluten Free Easter Candy Lists from MyGlutenFacts.com are out. You can check them out here:

There are separate lists for Canada and the US, as well as separate lists for Jelly Beans!

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