BlessedMommy

One unlikely place where gluten hides is in salad dressings. Fillers, thickeners, vinegars, and soy sauce. Always verify gluten-free status of salad dressings before using.

Also, if you have cast iron pans, putting them in a self clean cycle of the oven (which gets up to 900 degrees) will burn off any gluten. Then re-season them and they should be safe for use.

Don't forget waffle irons! It's pretty much impossible to get the gluten off of a used waffle iron. Flour sifters should also be replaced.

Yikes, I just read through a whole bunch of reviews about Macaroni Grill cooking and preparing gluten-free pasta/food very sloppily, to the point where people found whole wheat pasta mixed in with their gluten-free pasta.     There was even one review stating that they often bring out gluten pasta when you ask for gluten free and one person was rushed to the hospital after being reassured that their food was safe.

I won't be trying this place! Who are they trying to cater to, the fad dieters?

I always get Plantars.   Yum....

Thanks for the recommendation! I was looking for snacks for a wedding reception that I was going to, and I remembered that, so I picked up a container of Planter's mixed nuts.

Does anybody have any info about them? We are going on an overnight trip this weekend and my husband asked me if they had any gluten-free options. I did a quick google search and it appears that they have options, but what is their cross contamination protocol? Anybody have any experiences with them, good or bad?

I never expected to enjoy deglutening my house as much as I have!

Being a kitchen and cooking junkie, but also being somewhat of a tightwad in some areas, it was wonderful to have a medical excuse to buy new kitchen stuff. 

So far (between birthday gifts and personal purchases) I've gotten a:

1) New cookie sheet

2) New pizza stone

3) New set of silicone spatulas

4) Two new quality wooden spoons

5) One new silicone spatula and one metal spatula

6) One new quality metal spoon

7) New cutting board

8) New Dutch Oven pot

9) New stock pot

My waffle iron, toaster, flour sifter, and blender have always been gluten-free, so no worries there.

The peace of mind of having a gluten-free kitchen is well worth the effort and to boot, I get shiny new kitchen stuff after using old scratched up stuff for a long time.

Thanks to those who encouraged me and answered my questions about making my kitchen gluten-free. I'm loving the end result.

Go Cathy! You know, if people are being that ridiculous, they need a blunt response. 

I'm in a similar situation. I may eventually pay for the genetic OOP, just to satisfy some curiosity, but I know that I can never, in good conscience, do any type of gluten challenge, based on the results of my only challenge that I've tried to do. I've been gluten-free for over 4 years, I can only imagine what a disaster a gluten challenge would be at this point! If they ever develop testing that doesn't require a gluten challenge, though, I'll be one of the first in line to try it.

The main thing is, if you've decided to forgo celiac testing, make sure that you treat it like celiac and be just as careful as a celiac would.

Clean your house out of old scratched up pots and pans that can't be thoroughly cleaned, put your cast iron pans in a self clean oven and then reason, replace scratched plastic utensils, and all wooden utensils, old cookie sheets, etc. Make sure that you take care whenever going out of the house as well, in regards to eating at friends and family members, and ordering at restaurants. 

Good luck!

I'm sorry that you got bad medical advice. You do have to be eating a normal diet with gluten for 8-12 weeks in order to avoid false negatives on bloodwork. 

I look forward to the day when celiac testing doesn't require lengthy gluten exposure.

Ditto! We eats lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, roasted veggies and potatoes, cooked beans, rice, quinoa, tofu, eggs, etc. 

Ditto! Celiac is a life long disease that is controlled by a life long strict gluten free diet. If you go back to eating gluten, you can expect your health to deteriorate even if you aren't having violent symptoms every time, because the internal damage is still being done. 

I don't get that symptom if I'm accidentally cross contaminated, but with large amounts of gluten, yes. When I did my gluten challenge, someone commented that it looked like I got punched in the face.

I treat my condition like celiac as well, although I wasn't able to get a DX it's obvious that I have severe gluten issues.

I'm not sure if I will ever get a DX, because I will never willingly or purposely eat gluten again. My doctor agreed that gluten caused my TIA and that's good enough for me, I don't care to go on to have a full blown stroke, so I feel that it's most prudent to just stay the course for life.

Ugh! It's a gluten free diet, not a low gluten diet!

I wonder where people get the idea that "a little bit won't hurt?"

They probably have anger issues from eating too much gluten. 

LOL!!! 

I'm not sure why people get so bent out of shape over what other people eat. I mean, I'm vegetarian (which actually is not a medically necessary choice in most cases) for religious reasons, and people don't usually insult that. I'm not sure why people don't grasp the idea that what other people eat is up to them. 

It's like when I told someone that I was dairy free and she said, "But I thought that you still ate egg products."

Um yes, because eggs don't come from cows and aren't considered dairy. 

Which cruise line are you using?

Oh my goodness, that's too funny! What in the world do people think that gluten is, anyway?

Thanks!

Yeah, many people don't have a clue, that's for sure! I actually found that a SALAD that I ate and thought was safe, had a seasoning that had soy sauce in it. Oy!

I'd like to experiment with Indian cooking. Anybody have any vegetarian gluten-free Indian recipes?

I haven't even really looked much at Gardein products, until when googling, I found that they had come out with a gluten free line. I'm super interested in their veggie ground "beef" crumbles, but wondered about CC issues. They say on the package that it is processed in the same facility, so I sent them an email asking if they use separate machinery. 

Does anybody know anything about them?

Open Original Shared Link

This is totally an old thread, but I wanted to share a link for a wonderful gluten free veggie meat that I found. We tried their chicken free strips and they were excellent!

Open Original Shared Link

Okay, one thing that I'm trying to understand:

The gluten free guide of do's and don'ts said DO avoid eating food prepared by family and friends, but DON'T avoid restaurants.

Now, I understand that casually eating stuff that people claim is gluten free is not a good idea. However, if you've conversed with the person and given them explicit directions on how to make gluten-free food, how is it any more riskier than eating in a restaurant and giving the restaurant directions on how to make your food? Is the guide talking mainly about people who claim the food is gluten-free, but won't provide an ingredient list and have no clue about CC?

For example, my MIL wanted to make chocolate balls for me. I went over the ingredient list with her and verified all the ingredients. I also ensured that she used a brand new jar of almond butter (to avoid CC from bread crumbs) and told her that wooden utensils couldn't be used because the wood absorbs gluten.

Washing is always a good idea--if possible. When eating at a continental breakfast in a hotel, I rinse off the hardboiled eggs before eating.