Celiac Support Network

Well, after a nice break for the summer, we will start meeing regularly on the 3rd Monday of each month, starting tonight, September 15.  We meet at 7:00 pm in the Willis Recreation Center (upstairs) of the First Baptist Church of Middleville.  If Thornapple Kellogg Schools are closed due to bad weather on the day of our meeting, our group will also be canceled for that month.

Tonight, our guest will be Robin Green from Midge’s Muffins (www.midgesmuffins.com).  If you’ve never tasted Robin’s treats, you’re in for a sweet surprise!  They are AMAZING!  She will be bringing samples, as well as product that will be available for purchase.

We will also be talking about take-along foods…foods that are easy to take along for lunches or to school.  So, bring your ideas to share and packaging, if you have any, so we can look at other potential allergens.

Forest Hills Foods will be holding another Gluten-Free tasting day on Monday, March 10 from 12:00-7:00 pm. Enjoy!

http://www.cedarpoint.com/

Cedar Point is working on incorporating gluten free items in the park for the 2008 season.
They have already written a section in the employee handbook about gluten and cross-
contamination. They are planning GF hamburgers & hotdogs (both with buns!), corn dogs
and chicken strips with dedicated fryers for these and the french fries.

Gary Jones is the man who is heading this up and he was very passionate about CD on the
phone. He doesn’t have any friends or family members with the disease, but has come to
realize the need for gluten free items after attending local support groups and reading
information online. He was very knowledgeable and almost had me in tears of joy to hear
his enthusiasm! He asked me to pass this news on to all my support groups.

If anyone is planning a trip to Cedar Point you can email him at gjones@cedarpoint.com to
get the most up-to-date gluten free info.

 *Thanks Nicole!

Camp Manitou-Lin in Middleville Michigan has arranged a week for g/f kids to come.

Date: Aug 17 - 22
Cost: $419/week (includes meals)
10 to a cabinAges for overnight camp are 7 - 15

 *Thanks, Nicole!

Handy little list of Meijer brand products that are gluten-free!  Nice job, Meijer!

We’re thinking about taking a road trip over to Trader Joes…if you’re interested, drop me a line & we’ll figure out the details.

What a great meeting we had tonight! Our monthly meetings have become a real bright spot in my life…thanks for being a part of that!  Special thanks to our guests, Erin from Coco Charlotte Gluten-free Gourmet Bakery and Paul Swanson from Full Flavor Foods. The samples they brought were nothing short of amazing!

We had several new people attending for the first time at this meeting and a really nice attendance, considering some messy roads.  I’m so glad that you all ventured out for the meeting!

New samples for this meeting from Pamela’s (cookies, chip clips, hats & t-shirts), Glutino (pretzels), and some other fun stuff. The vendors have been very generous in sharing samples with us. It’s so nice to be able to try new products without spending a lot of money, only to find out we may not like the items.

Join us on Saturday, February 16 from 10 am - 3 pm for our 1st Gluten-Free Fair at the Hudsonville Harvest Health Location.  We will sample a wide variety of Gluten-Free products, vendors will be on hand to talk about their products and we will feature Special One Day Pricing on certain Gluten-Free Products!  Customer drawings for baskets of G/F products. Bring your favorite - tried and true - Gluten-Free recipe to share or email it to Info@HarvestHealthFoods.com.

I just ran across a new site that has some gluten-free baking mixes and thought you might be interested.  Cara’s Cafe has coffees, teas, and cocoas in addition to her gluten-free and/or sugar-free baking mixes.  Another source for us!  Yippee!

Hey, we tried the Spinach Parmesan Risotto and used the Lundberg Wild Rice in place of barley in a homemade soup this last week and the entire family loved them both!

I did find a new chocolate cake mix at Meijer this last week as well. It is put out by Bob’s Red Mill and I will let you know how it bakes up because if it is good, which I have every confidence that it will be, it is about HALF the cost of the chocolate cake I’ve used the last 4 or 5 years. I’m anxious to try it just to save the money. Eating gluten free feels a lot better to the gut but not necessarily to the pocketbook as we all know.

I did notice, but didn’t take the opportunity to read yet(sigh), the article in RD that mentions Celiac Disease as a reason for stomach troubles. It is great to see CD coming more and more to the forefront of the minds of those who can help and being suggested as a possible resolution once identified.

Thanks again, Kim, for all of the great samples you handed out. I have seen several of the products on the shelves since we picked those up and it is great to now know for sure that some items that aren’t shelved specifically in the GF section are indeed gluten free!

I’m looking forwad to the next meeting on the 17th and hoping to see everyone out for the guest speaker and getting ready for the Christmas rush. See you all there!