I’ve just found the first recipe for gluten-free pancakes I’ve ever tried that’s actually worth the effort. Even better, it’s not only gluten-free, it’s paleo diet compliant… and it only has three ingredients. Yes, three.

Are you ready? Good– you won’t regret it, I promise.

Go to your kitchen and pull out a banana, an egg, and a handful of unsalted nuts (don’t use peanuts, which are legumes, if you’re following the paleo diet). I personally tested the recipe with almonds, but I don’t see a problem with using any other tree nut that you happen to have on hand.

Now, heat up a griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat and grease it lightly. I used lard. Yes, you read that correctly. Bacon grease, butter, coconut oil, or schmaltz would also be excellent choices. I’m sure plenty of you are going to insist on using vegetable oil no matter what I say, even though it’s really bad for you. But that’s a discussion for another day.

While your griddle or skillet is heating, pour a small handful of nuts into your blender. I didn’t bother to measure, but between two tablespoons and 1/4 cup should be fine. Whiz them around until they’re ground up. Add the egg. Break the banana into a few pieces and add that, too.

Whiz it around some more until it looks like batter (scrape the sides once during the process if necessary to combine everything). When your cooking surface is hot, pour out small, two-inch diameter circles of batter from the blender jar. Don’t crowd them. My batch made eight little pancakes, but of course it will vary depending on how large you make them.

Let the pancakes cook until the bottom edges just start to brown. Flip them carefully with a thin, metal spatula; they’re delicate, but not too bad if you make them tiny, as I have suggested. Continue to cook them until both sides are golden brown and the center just begins to set up. Remove them with the spatula to a warm plate and serve. And if, after trying these, you ever go back to the potato-starch-tapioca-xanthan-gum gluten-free fake pancake mix from the store, email me so that I can tell you you’re crazy, directly.

Want to dress up these gluten-free pancakes even more? Try the following ideas!

• Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on each pancake before flipping it
• Sprinkle a few blueberries on each pancake before flipping it
• Arrange a pineapple ring on top of each pancake before flipping it
• Spoon a dollop of almond butter on each pancake before flipping it
• Place a short strip of cooked bacon on top of each pancake before flipping it

Technorati Tags: gluten-free, wheat free recipes, wheat intolerance

The restaurants are doing things halfway, either. Foods containing gluten can cross-contaminate other foods prepared in the same are with the same utensils, so Subway will seal gluten-free items in plastic packaging. Employees will use a disposable, single-use knife to cut each gluten-free sandwich roll, and the same employee will go on to prepare the entire sandwich, instead of passing it on, assembly line style, as usually happens at Subway. Customers with gluten intolerance should watch carefully to confirm that proper precautions are taken, but Subway’s plan seems reasonable to prevent gluten contamination. In fact, the very transparency of the Subway food-making process is a boon to those with special dietary needs; instead of trusting what goes on behind the closed doors of a restaurant kitchen, customers can closely inspect the process and call a halt if they see anything that might endanger their health and well-being.

So here’s the call to action: Tyler and Dallas readers, I’d love it if you would all beat a path to Subway’s door over the next couple of days. I want the response to Subway’s experiment to be overwhelming. The only way we’ll get restaurants offering gluten-free options the right way is if we vote with our wallets, so go have yourself a gluten-free sub overflowing with healthy veggies and some nice, lean meat. I won’t even give you a hard time if you have the brownie, just this once (though you might want to take a gander at the ingredients list before you commit, to make sure it’s not loaded with unpronounceable garbage and fillers).

Kudos to Subway for making the effort, here. I think we all understand that companies make decisions like this based on the bottom line, not necessarily based on philanthropy. And that’s okay– their job is to make money for their shareholders. Sometimes, making money and doing the right thing overlap, and when that happens, it’s important to stand up, applaud, and go get a sandwich.

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Celiac.com has put together a resource list of wheat free recipes, free of foods containing gluten, just in time for Easter and Passover. Need a recipe for gluten-free matzoh? This is your place. Gluten and dairy-free challah? They’ve got it. Delicious desserts safe for people with wheat intolerance? Check.

Read more here…

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The chain already employs 135 in-store dietitians, but in some areas, that means there may be only one in an entire county. By utilizing a sharing program between larger and smaller outlets, Hy-Vee hopes to remedy that situation, and position itself as a valuable source of diet-based medical information.

A recent trip inside a Hy-Vee store in Columbia, Missouri revealed a well-stocked selection of gluten-free and dairy-free foods– especially for a store in a mid-sized midwestern college town. A large circular binder hung by a chain nearby for customers to use, clearly labeled “Gluten-Free Product List”. In addition to gluten-free offerings, several spelt products were also available on a shelf one aisle over.

If you live in an area with a Hy-Vee store, it’s worth checking them out; this is a company who is very obviously trying to get things right. By patronizing businesses like Hy-Vee, we can reward them for their efforts to help us, and encourage other companies to follow in their footsteps.

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Run, don’t walk, over to www.allergyeats.com, and register (it’s free, of course), then rate any local restaurants that you’ve visited lately. This site aims to provide a database of people’s experiences with restaurants nationwide. Did Mom’s Cafe go above and beyond the call of duty to accommodate your wheat intolerance? Did you get sick eating at the XYZ Deli, even after they assured you that their head cheese was gluten-free?

Use Allergy Eats‘ simple rating system to warn other diners, or to funnel business to places which cater to food allergies. You can also leave a comment about your experience, if you’d like.

This site could be an amazing resource, but it will only work if people nationwide take action to build up the database.  So why are you still sat here reading this? Go register!

Technorati Tags: gluten-free, wheat intolerance

One source that you may not have thought of is– of all things– fingerpaints. Yes, fingerpaints generally contain gluten, and with children of a certain age, you can bet that fingers, and the paint on them, will end up in little mouths at some point. While it just kills us to see children excluded from normal childhood activities, their safety and health has to come first, right?

Fortunately, one company has taken steps to put the messy fun of fingerpainting back in the lives of children with gluten intolerance. Bluedominoes now produces safe, certified gluten free and lead-free fingerpaints, as well as Play Dough, another commonly gluten-contaminated childhood staple. Both use food grade ingredients, all of which are listed on the packaging. They have also been approved by the Celiac Sprue Association.

If you have children who can’t tolerate gluten, consider supporting this innovative company by visiting http://www.bluedominoes.com.

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Now, a team of leading gastroenterologists at Rush have designed a new study to find out if mind/body techniques can help people with celiac disease adhere to this very strict diet.

Read More Here

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Gluten Free for the Holidays, and Beyond

Dr. Sheila Crowe, a professor in the division of gastroenterology and hepatology in the department of medicine at the University of Virginia, recently joined the Consults blog to answer reader questions about celiac disease. Here, Dr. Crowe responds to questions about maintaining a gluten-free diet.

Technorati Tags: celiac, foods containing gluten, gluten allergy symptoms, gluten-free, wheat allergy symptoms, wheat intolerance, wheat intolerance symptoms